I play guitar, I write code. One is my passion, one is my income. I really would like to combine those traits so that my passion does become my income. I just can't get enough of music!
Here's a little more about my background:
I've have always been immersed into music since I was a little kid. Probably the person that was most influential on me getting into music was my maternal grandmother. She constantly had music playing where ever she went -- I am very much the same now. Of course, she wasn't listening to Dream Theater. Instead she had a steady diet of Classical, Latin, and Italian music (she was born in Sicily and moved to Argentina when she was 8 years old). That music has also influenced me.
I started playing guitar when I was in the third grade (1977). I played only acoustic guitar for the first five years. During this time, I started playing for church services for school (6th grade) and got into the folk group that played for Sunday services (7th grade).
I got into AC/DC in the 6th grade and my taste for rock/metal was born. I bought my first two albums shortly after, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. Other favorites at the time were Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I then started getting into the more obscure, metal groups like Accept (before Balls to the Wall), Mercyful Fate, Fates Warning, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Yngwie, etc... I had a taste for the long complex songs with many parts; usually involving virtuoso playing so eventually I found a name that described most of the groups I enjoyed the most -- Progressive Metal.
I played in a few bands in high school including an 80s glam metal band! Hey, it was hard finding other musicians into the music I was into.
I was supposed to audition for Mystic-Force in 1988 (which was right up my alley), but they decided to drop the second guitar from the line-up. From August 1990 to April 1991, I played in the Mid-Atlantic regional classic rock band, Archer. We pretty much played out every weekend all over Baltimore, the rest of the state and the surrounding states of Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Washington D.C. (I know, it's not a state). We did some cool stuff, but my heart wasn't really into playing classic rock and I think it showed in my playing. That caused some friction, so I left.
A few various auditions and jamming around I answered an ad in May 1992 for a local band doing *exactly* what I wanted to do. We became known as Vortex. We got along great, played some great music, and sounded really good. We played out one gig with Mystic-Force on New Years 1992 and things subsequently fell apart. I don't think I'll ever completely understand why, but I have my theory.
Meanwhile, I had gotten involved with going back to school and stayed out of the scene for many years. By the time I got out of school in December 1998, I was a father to two boys. Needless to say, being married with kids, a house, and working full-time didn't leave much time for playing music. The Internet allowed me to stay very much in touch with the whole progressive scene, so I hadn't forgotten about music -- far from it really. The calling was getting stronger and stronger.
In 2001, I met Dave (Vocals) and Ron (Bass), two new co-workers who started at the company within 3 months of each other. This proved to be the meeting that would result in pulling me out of "retirement" and the forming of Critical Path. We got rolling pretty quick once we found a drummer. After playing a big farm party near my home as a first show (definitely FUN), We jumped right into performing at the now-defunct Baltimore landmark, The Thunderdome. R.I.P. We covered progressive and classic metal from bands like Dream Theater, Queensryche, Fates Warning, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Rush, etc... We played out [mainly] in Baltimore until May of 2003. Dave can now be found playing in Alive-n-Kickin' . Ron can be found beating the hell out of his bass in Divison . It was during this time with Critical Path that I met Odin's Court , Divison , and Images of Eden since these three original bands were opening shows for us at the Thunderdome and The Hot Spot in Essex, MD.
In November of 2003, I made the drive down to Jaxx in Springfield, VA to see Metal Church in concert for the first time in 20 years. I also decided to go there instead of the following night to support Ron since Division was one of the opening bands. This resulted in running into Matt from Odin's Court where he approached me about joining OC for the first time. After some deliberation, about a week later I decided to go for it. After learning some of the material, I realized that Matt was an exceptional writer and I was hooked! On Jan. 29, 2005, I drove 140+ miles along with Savino Palumbo (a phenomenal, young keyboardist from Baltimore, MD) where history was made and the new lineup for Odin's Court was complete, or so we thought... In the summer of 2005, original member, Scott Adley (Bass) alerted us that the Navy was transferring him to Japan for three years. Though this wasn't a happy occasion, it really had a silver lining. The vacant spot in Odin's Court was a perfect fit for a good friend of mine, Craig Jackson. Craig and I have wanted to play together for a while -- this chance finally came. I now feel that the line-up is the strongest it has ever been and we do not only bring new life to some of OC's most classic songs, but we now have the ability to breathe life into some of Matt's more complex compositions and push the limit's of the band harder than over before. Additionally, more people now contribute to writing so this should also add a new dimension to our music. I am very proud to call these guys my band-mates. They are not only awesome writers and performers, but they are also awesome human beings! And THAT is perhaps one of the most important factors of having a successful band! Odin's Court has been gaining amazing momentum in the past year and I see a good future with Odin's Court and think that many people will find out who we are!
Hey, it takes a while to state almost 29 years of history of my playing. This is one aspect life of many, but this site is mostly for my music side. Which remember, IS my passion!
Thanks,
Rick
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