A lot of people people think I'm from Las Vegas. Others believe I was found incubating in a dinosaur egg unearthed in the Smoky Mountains. Neither is true, but the mistake is understandable. I actually grew up in Evergreen Colorado which is in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains just west of Denver. As early as I can remember, I've had a freakish fascination with drums and drumming. So, to save their furniture from my relentless banging, my parents bought me a set of drums and some drum lessons.
I moved to Las Vegas when I was 19 and after earning my degree in Music Performance from UNLV, I stuck around Vegas. I stayed because I was already plenty busy playing in lounge bands, subbing on shows and playing a decent amount of jazz gigs. I also taught at UNLV for a couple years as adjunct faculty teaching drum set in the jazz program. All in all, it was a pretty good life. So good, in fact, that it irritated me. I realized that to be happy, I needed to find the one place on earth that would allow me to play in tiny clubs for almost no money. Naturally, I was also compelled to live in the one of the most expensive housing markets in the world. New York was the clear answer. So in 2003, after 11 years in the desert, I packed up my drums and moved to Brooklyn.
It's awesome.