About Me
I'm in a band called Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags . But sometimes, I play solo. And this is my story.It's taken years to achieve this lot in life. To list all of the things that have transpired would be doing a disservice to any that I have forgotten. Oh, who am I kidding?I grew up tall on a Idaho farm, chasing the pigs around while moonlighting as a three-sport high school athletic hero. All the fancy cars and wooing feminine eyes grew into an incredible bore, so I left for secondary education in the grand state of Oregon. I had heard there to be 'diversity' abound on the campus of Linfield College, so I signed up sight unseen. During my freshman year amongst the predominantly wealthy, Caucasian, Christian, *ahem-republican-ahem* populace, I found my true love - a shiny guitar, which introduced me to a completely new way to woo the opposite sex!The next few years were a blur musically, from all the time drinking beers in my dorm room in an attempt to improve my sluggish fingers, though never successfully breaking thru to my Eddie Van Halen Eruption goal. So, I took up the bass my senior year, hereby placing my EVH dreams in a remissive state. With this new and somewhat cumbersome instrument, I went on to play in a band called Pollyanna. Not surprisingly, we thought we were being clever with the name, but it only took about ten minutes for fate to plant egg all over our faces. During the oppressive naming the band meeting, none of us had ever heard of the Disney movie of the same name. Our friends tried to save us and told us of the animated motion picture, but to no avail. We were incredulousor stupid. We kept the name and it is thorn that sinks deeper into our jiggling sides as times progresses and ripens the irony already pungent upon the memory in our minds.As my senior year came to an end, the band was, well, disbanded and I was left looking for work. On the horizon, I knew some fellows in a group called The Radio Flyers that were in need of a bass player as the one they had went AWOL (or spontaneously blew up, for you Spinal Tapians). Knowing that they had regular gigs in Portland, I eagerly joined and immediately became the whipping boy for all of the bands jokes I had the distinct honor of having to sleep with the least of attractive girl in the bar at the drop of a hat. Apparently, it was part of the job description. I soon picked up a life-saving drinking habit that allowed me to show up in some of the seedier places and complete my nights work. These were the dark times, my friends.Time wore on, and I yearned to pick up the guitar once again. As luck would have it, my good friend, Kris Kirkman was coming back from over seas and we sat down one fateful night in McMinnville to forge our destiny. It was then that we chose the name for our providence - Purusa, the embodiment of soul. The event was paramount, as it guaranteed our future of sounding overly pretentious when explaining what the name of our band meant.Purusa, while struggling out of the gate, began to find its own after hooking up with Prepaidfriends Records. Without the weight of booking their own shows, the band raced out on the road both North to Seattle and South to LA. The shows got progressively better, and the CDs kept on selling. Sadly, the band took a nose dive as marriage, divorce, rehab, and marriage all combined to sack our collective heroes which commenced the slow, but painful, decline towards disintegration in 2004.Since then, I have been biding time in my nest while writing songs and developing my own set list of music. After the Purusan flame-out (I must say that delicately, what with the divorce and all), I didnt want to be left without work as a lead guitarist. I mean, really! They are like one hundred million and one lead guitarists that post on craigs list everyday! Still, I was able to find a band in My Favorite Everything that spoke to me musically. I enjoyed a nine month run that saw our shows and crowds grow significantly. Yet, the music wasnt enough, as I began to come into my own as a solo artist performing my own material.Which of course leads me to right here, at this very moment, as you are reading this. I wonder if you actually believe anything that Ive written. Then again, does anyone that reads the bio of a band believe everything that is written? I surely dont. Shockingly, it is all true(yes, even the pigs), though taken with some artistic license, which mainly is reflected in the wooing of femalessigh.
