Hello Everybody,
Let's see I was born Charles Alan Riley on October 13, 1974 at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa FL. Ever since I could remember I have had a deep love for music. My father and my older brothers always had musical insturments, particuarly guitars. Even though my father loved country and swing music my brothers were into classic rock and blues. I guess that's where I developed a diverse taste musical tatse. My first musical encounter was when I was about 11 or 12 I enrolled in the school orchestra I played the violin because my parents had one lying around ( it sounded horrible), the insturment was way too small for me and I was a big kid. Around the age of 15 I started taking guitar lessons from a litte old lady who taught out of her house, Kay Saunders was her name I think. I had also enrolled in the Yamaha Rock School at Paragon Music. I was in the very first class that was ever held there back in 1989. My first garage band was me and some guys from school we were called Delusion (I later found out that there was a metal band with that name but we had first, I swear). I played guitar and my friend Jeremey Ford played bass (I owned the bass) and Cecil Raby also played guitar (ok he didn't really play we just turned his amp off and faked it ) and no drummer. We played the school talent show and a couple of parties. By the time I got to high school I was enrolled in every music program they had to offer. I was in multiple garage bands at that time and we always get together to jam at my parents sandwich shop they owned after hours. About that time me and my older brother Tom started hanging out at the public access T.V. station and we started a show called Metal Masters (which still airs today!). I got to meet and see a lot of live bands. The bug bit me harder than ever before. Around that time is when I started to play the bass in the school ochestra and jazz band I played both upright (standup) bass and the bass guitar and I knew then it was my calling. After I graduated high school, I attended H.C.C.. Most of the classes I took were music. After a couple of years I dropped out of college and decided I wanted to play live. The first band I was in that acually played clubs was this original alternative band called Random Access. We did about 6 gigs, made no money and broke up. The first real working band I joined (with paying gigs)was called 24-Seven. We were a local cover band that had a real good singer (Chuck Larkin). Then I joined a Hendrix tribute act called A New Band Of Gypsies, with Mike Wade on guitar and the 24-Seven drummer Tony (bandana ) Inman. We played all over the Tampa Bay area. Around that time I lost my father to a heart attack and I got deep into blues music. Listening and playing it was like therapy to me. The first blues jam I ever went to was at Dave's Aqua Lounge and it changed my life. From there I started working with people like Joe Ish, Molten Mike and Johhny G. Lyons anytime they needed a pick up bass player I was there. Then I joined the Glen Mancini Band, this guy was an awesome guitartist and a great singer. He taught me a lot about playing and it was the first band I played with that had a following. During that time my chops on the bass were getting tighter. Thats when I caught the eye of Damon Fowler. I first met Damon and his cousin Aaron at a jam session, but he didn't notice me untill he saw the Glen Mancini Band. After that we started to jam together. That was around 2000. That is when they approached me about replacing their bassist at the time, Ed Mo Lanier who is just an awesome player. We rehearsed for several months but politics got in the way and I quit the band before I ever joined and missed out playing on the Roots and Branches album. Within a day of quiting I got an offer to play with hair rocker Kenny Mcgee and Lefty. At first I turned it down because I wanted to rejoin the Glen Mancini Band and I never felt I'd fit the immage they had. But my friend Chris Dunn who was singing back-up in the band at the time and the rest of my friends convinced me to join. Kenny was a local hero because the band Lefty was one of the top bands in the early 1980's and he was signed to Capital Records in the 90's. We played about four to five nights a week it didn't pay much money. But it was production and I learned a lot about entertaining people, and the dark side of the music bussiness. So I did that for about a year and a half and quit. Around that time Aaron Fowler invited me to come jam with him Damon and Ed Wright at the Brandon Brew House. Eventually I joined the Damon Fowler Group. In 2003, with drummer Don Stahl we released live at Skippers. Since then we've toured the country, opened for headline acts and played festivals. I have also had the joy of playing with Ed Wright and Tommy Bell every Monday night at O'Briens in Brandon as ED ZEPPLIN!
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