About Me
I started in the music arena at age 5 in 1965 inspired by chuck berry, elvis,the beatles bands that were on the radio and that my rockin mom brought me to,,icoming form a musical family, most everyone played an instrumenmt or was in a band or recording star or made aliving playing music nationally as well as locally in portland and regionally my granfather and uncle Homer were drummers
Homer can be fond in several jazz hostory boks and "stumptown jazz a book about teh famous jazz scene portland was known for in the 40's 50's and 60's before the coliseum and rose quarter were built, vancouncouver and williams avenue reached all the way to the steel bridge and black jazz clubs dotted evety block. they played withteh likes of sammy davis jr, dizzy gillespie,tommy dorsey, all on thier way to teh new llos angeles scene, later homer became a well known radio star on NBC and when TV came along he balked and passedon what became the "ernie kovacs show" the most innovative program on teh new medium, my granfather, was also a drummer and his billy emerson band did swing, played teh crytsal blalroom withthe ball bearing floor, and raised my mom on his pay form that until a blakc spot appeared on his lung and was forced to quit the life or die, he chose life, his family band kept rollin like a train and released many a record.you may ask whats this have to do with metal- well alot of teh beats that are now in death metal came form those swing beats just played a zilliion times faster!.i started on drums at age 7 playing all the time later to guitar and tehn bass because tehre was a lack of bassists at age 15 iu was always jaming witholder dudes and audtioning for bands with guys older than me.. who looked at me with my chest length hair like ok well be nice- give him a shot til they realised i could more than keep up my mom started a program at mdaison high for kids who wanted to drop out that specialised in rock shows and anything multimedia tokeep em interested, i was there so much i fell behind in my 5th and 6th grade classes but learned video, and everything about rockn roll equipment and was always jamming. at age 14 i began to hangout at teh local rock club called no dogs allowed, id get there on tues afternoon and help set up the bands, and then return on fri and sat to stand in teh doorway til teh gig was over and then load em out they were all touring bands and you could not play original music in portland so heartand many opf that era before they started mking records were on this circuit and would stay at motels along barbur blvd which then sported a whorehouse, and the turqoise room so i d go hang with em all week smoke joints of brown weed and jam til they had to go to work,, kids my age were just too "young" for me and my chops were pretty damn good by then and i starte dplayin bass after going to jams where there was 6 gtr players and no bassist, after playing"bass" on my gtr one night a guy said hey manget a bass an dyou can pay all night so i traded my gtr for one and spenthe next year everyweekedn out in teh country(now a suburban wasteland knwn as scholls and hillsburritobut then it was all tress and farms taking lsd, and finding women much older than me more fun than the school girls who giggled too much..( being around 5 women as a child my family didnt want me to turn ouyt to be a "sissy" whats now called gay.. so when i discovered my granpoas playboy collection they wer emore than pleased.. and to keep me out of trouble masturbation kept my nose in a book so to speak while otehr kids were breaking into houses i was dreaming of miss march.. with her tan lines on her boobs...and playing my gtr...and bass and a druims set i was given- no kids my age wqnated to jam as much as me and theyd leave their gear in my moms basement (where i do all my music even today its a magic subterranean room for me my roots are there...my muse is there....
by age 17 i was recording down there with mick zane of malice and the proto punk man in portland eric freyor as we called him'airy boner" by age 19 i had my first real recordin g session produced by rob sample a local radio dj on KVAN teh most rockin station in town..he got me a deal. with andy mckaie who had come through cbs as head pr man and arista when cbs did a massive cutback and started what i believe tobe the first real indie label 'matchbox" and i recorded teh ravers i was ateenage rocknroller,which was pick of teh week in billboard and the album to waytch in cashbox mag(thanx to andy;s poersuasion and his education he gave me showed me what the biz was like...no fsairy tle or dream it relaly is who you know and how much you can spend on ads!...
later i used that wilt wild dogs and dr mastermind, mayhem evil genius church of el duce,and all teh rest of the bands ive been wth since.. to this day he is my mentor and the reaosn i do reocrds myself rather than on a "real " label heedin his warning and.. suggestion. when its time and they want you theyll all show up .. til then make some money without any interference. so i did.. and.. this site is a platform for all metal and rock musos,fans nd supporters of music. teh rest of the world 80s music nevr died. so im thankful for that but id like to se portland stay loyal to somkething long enough for it to work out..everyone ive come across keeps changing with the music trends that are on mainstream media...
i attribute it to lack of pro sports teams in the area. and pople just not fuly immersed in their belief( if its on mtv or the raido it took6 years to get there and the next trend is coming...thats why i like motorhead and ac/dc and think metallica isnt anygood anymnore while megadeth keeps pounding out whatthey do best liek anthrax..none of us regular guys can afford teh indie promoters to get on radio or the "connections" out here in the shit kicker land as the big city guys think of oregon... we're all dirt farming vegans to them with guys who sing about their daddy not being around..
so believe in yourslef people do what you do and keep doing it persisitence DOES pay off and it keeps you form wondering"what if"sooner or later whatever it is it will come back around...(it would help if teh radio didnt make fn of things not on their playlist but theyre paid to say those things so teh current bands seem....current.
so thats me in a nutshell... youd be bored with tales of teh guns in my face abd al teh rest ive seen but it comes out in my music...and i wouodnt trade my life for anyone elses and if nobody else digs what i do I do and they call that keeping your integrity
