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What is your date of birth?
August 24th -
What is your sign?
Watch for Ice on Bridge -
When did you begin playing music and why?
I really cannot think of a time I haven't made music, even going back to noodling on my great grandmother's piano. I could play this really cool tune at age eight. I thought that this composing thing was a cinch! I was surprised a few years later to learn I had been playing the opening riff to Smoke on the Water…but I didn't know any better. Back then, in 1972, I only really listened to what my parents did, which wasn't much. (How you can have been a teenager in the 50's and be nearly apathetic about music is beyond me!) Then, in 1976 I discovered a certain face painted band that was part circus, part rock spectacular…and that big fella that breathed fire and spit blood, baby I didn't care WHAT that thing in his hands was, I wanted to play it. But I digress away from Mike's questionnaire (for those who care about such things as who wrote these questions). I first “- officially” played a small plastic instrument called a flutophone (and you may keep your comments to yourself thank you). Each and every fourth grader at Central Elementary was given one and our regular everyday teacher instructed us in its use. It had ten child sized finger holes and was perpetually (and hopelessly) out of tune. I've come to realize that poor Mrs. Kidd must have really offended somebody on the school board to be sentenced to this daily cacophony. Think twenty five pairs of fingers clawing down the world's scritchiest blackboard and you'll about have it.
Then in Grade Five I signed up to play the trumpet taught by a real teacher educated in music and everything. It was a gold Conn 20B Trumpet which played nice. (For reasons belonging only to devoted grandparents, to this day I have a cassette recording of me on that trumpet playing Snowbird which was a big hit for Anne Murray in 1970. Man this kind of musical exposure should have been classified as mental abuse, but my folks footed the bill for the horn so I'll shut up about Anne Murray and the Mills Brothers…) From here I graduated to a really hot silver Bach Stradivarius Model 37 trumpet in Grade 10. In the “- How Short Sighted are We” Department: I sold it for $200 bucks in 1990. Now you can't touch a used one for less than $800 even on E-Bay…but while I had it, well it taught me how to love music. Then in high school I also discovered the bass guitar (the instrument of choice of the aforementioned fire breathing role model) and the rest is history. -
What was your earliest equipment?
I bought a 1968 Fender Precision Bass from Roslyn's Music in 1979 with my own money. It took me four more months (working for the princely sum of $3.75 an hour) to earn enough for a 60 watt Fender MusicMaster Amp. Oh if I'd only stopped there…I experimented with many, many (many) kwipment set ups over the years which have included; an Ampeg 120 Watt head and 4x12 cabinet, a Fender Bassman with a 4x10 set up, a Peavey Mark IV 400 Watt head with first an Earth Cabinet and then a Peavey 2x15. I replaced that head with a Sunn 600 watt head that I used for years. I also fiddled with a variety of pedals including a Boss flanger and a Univox Envelope Follower. -
What is your current equipment set up
? I've discovered that in the bass department less is more. I'm currently playing through two amps run in series (yes, this is less). A Fender Bassman 60 and a Hughes and Kettner BassForce XL 200 watt rig. Both are tidy little stage amps. I can stack them or run one on each side of the drummer (depending on how much I want to mess with him). Plus they both have balanced XLR outputs so if the gig site is big, I can run a direct signal to the house PA and that guy can make me loud! I am organic only using the amps themselves for sound definition. No pedals.
My guitar collection has grown depending on my particular need/desire of the moment. I still have my trusty 1968 Fender Precision (with both the stock pickups for the Precision as well as a Jazz pickup cut in). A Fender Jazz Five String (my current weapon of choice) and a Washburn headless (Steinberger design) that I converted into a fretless bass a few years ago. I also have a Fender Strat six string for some rhythm work. Rounding out the collection is a Washburn acoustic six string and a Fender acoustic 12 string.
In the monitor and sound department, I have an in ear monitor set up with SHURE E2 ear buds which for good or ill allow me to hear with perfect clarity what I am singing. My mics are a SHURE 58 and a SHURE 57. I have PA speakers out the whazoo (why anyone would actually put anything IN their whazoo in the first place puzzles me though…) including four Community Cabs, 2 JBL All In Ones, 2 Peavey SP-1's and four JBL Eon powered speakers. Plus I have SHURE wireless gear for my guitars when I feel like roaming around without falling over things. -
Who were your first influences musically?
Gene Simmons (ok I’ll finally name names…), but then, the minute (I mean the very minute) I heard 2112 it’s been Rush’s Geddy Lee. -
Who are your influences now?
On the rare occasion I stray from Geddy and friends, I’ve found I enjoy Victor Wooten, Les Claypool and Tower of Power’s Rocco Prestia (who’s instructional video Fingerstyle Funk is a must have for any aspiring bassist out there). -
Was there one musician in particular that you wanted to emulate?
Ok everyone who says I sound “- just like Geddy Lee”, yes I know it and yes it is largely on purpose. But. Emulation takes many forms so I'll tell you this story. A few years ago I was at a Winter Drum Line competition in Dayton and the group was playing a Victor Wooten song which surprised me since he's more of a “- musician's musician” than a main stream guy. Then I see the group's bass player, a big rangy kid with a wild mass of red hair kinda hunchin’- over his guitar as they started. I thought to myself “- oh this kid must just be dyin’- Wooten's stuff is just so over the top and particular in style that this kid, this mere boy, surely wasn't expected to actually play it with any faithfulness?! I assumed they would have written the piece to put the really funky triplet basic patterns on some drums. Well they played it and this kid just let it go. I mean he played it perfectly, but more than that he was just living in the thing. And I thought to myself, wow, to see a musician (he quit being a kid on the spot) playing that well and with that much fun in his face really hit me in a soft place. I thought to myself that it had been a long time since I felt that way about my instrument. You sometimes just plateau and accept what you do as “- good enough” and stop growing. This 17 year old reminded me of that. I promised myself that I would make an effort not to stagnate. In an effort to continue growing, the idea to form Feedback was born. A band to push each of us to grow, to expand out of our comfort zones and, if we're very lucky, inspire others to play with love and passion. After that show I walked down and shook the red haired bass player's hand. I said to him, “- That song. You took the time to not only learn it, but you really found yourself in it didn't you?” He said yes. I said to him, “- Thank you.” -
Does your family support you in your musical career?
From the oldest to the youngest they do. Except my teenage daughters don't like it when we fool around with popular songs of today. They say we should stick to music “- in our era”. Fortunately I think music itself is timeless. -
What is your current job?
I am a Technical Assistance Specialist for the Bureau of Outcome Management in the Children and Family Services Division of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Which is a cool enough title but my business cards are the size of 8” x 10” sheet of paper… -
Do you own any pets?
Yes and I'd rather not talk about it… -
What is your personal opinion about the music scene today?
Right now it seems we are in one of those strange times where there is really nothing new under the sun. All the songs and movies are remakes of something. We must be on the verge of something new but for right now we are just kind of stuck in an eddy. -
What would you change about the music industry if you could?
Taking the money out of it for the producers and promoters and creating zones where music can be heard by people. I believe we will see the evolution of Web Based Artists in the very near future to do just this. -
Sex, Drugs and Alcohol?
All things in moderation (said the guy who won't even take an aspirin…) -
The louder the better or give me some earplugs?
Loud = Love. -
Name a couple bands that people should know more about.
Flim and the BB's, Bela Fleck, Oteil Burbridge (The Allman Brothers and The Aquarium Rescue Unit), Tower of Power and, of course, Rush. -
Name a couple bands that people should stop listening to
. I don’t believe you should ever stop listening to anybody. But you should be able to compel them to play what is in their hearts and not to churn out the soulless stuff that Corporate America tells them to… -
Where do you see Feedback in five to ten years?
OUT of my garage. Somewhere where Heat and Cold aren't the alternating sixth member of the band. Playing what we love, where we love to play. -
What is something that just drives you nuts?
Stupid narrow minded people. I don't care if you disagree with me but allow a passionate debate. If space allowed I would tell what practices for us are really like when an issue comes up and we all very spiritedly begin the discussion! But, at the end, whether we have confirmed or convinced each other of anything is irrelevant. We have created a safe space of dialogue and THAT is what is cool. -
What makes you happy no matter what else is going on in your life?
My wife, my children and music. Books too. (Mom and Dad are still pretty cool too) -
What is your favorite color?
Am I secretly trying to cross the Bridge of Death? Are you the Old Man from Scene 12? I don't want to be cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril! -
Are you single or married with children?
SITCOM. (Second Income, Three Children, Outrageous Mortgage…) -
What is your favorite TV show?
The West Wing, Benny Hill, Sàbado Gigante. -
Are you a home body or is it let's find the party?
I’m sorry, I had to change the record and get more ice for everybody…what was the question? HEY! Put the cat DOWN man! -
Finally, are you the life of the party or the nerd in the corner talking about Star Trek?
Yes. Or we can talk about music, books, the politics of dancing…t he politics of ooo feeling good, The politics of moving… Is this message understood? I wonder.