Chops, power, feel, touch, and a little flash are what I go for when it comes to my playing style. 

For me, it started in my suburban St. Louis house when my dad first got cable TV. It was the mid 80s, and I saw MTV for the first time, with all of the great videos they had on rotation. I would record the videos on the weekend at my dad's house, and when I went back to my mom's house during the week, I'd come home after school and watch the tapes, which I still have to this day! 

My father is a country musician, so, growing up, there was always a Haggard or Jones song playing on the stereo, giving me a love and appreciation for Country and Western music.  My sister, however, was a fan of several styles of music, and became the one person I give the most credit to for teaching me that it's okay to be into Hank Williams Jr. as well as Guns and Roses, and Michael Jackson simultaneously, which helped my scope and versatility...

...but the moment I first saw the video for the Motley Crue video 'Home Sweet Home' with all of its 'on the road' images that I said to myself that 'I want to do THAT when I grow up.' 

I soon begged my dad to buy me a drum kit, and I got my first (real, not toy) kit when I was 11.  My mom and dad where cool to let me play the drums in the house, and by 13 years old, I had joined my first band.  My first gig was my bass player's sister's 13th birthday party, but I knew right then and there that I was hooked on performing more.  That band and I went on to play for 9 years covering the hole in the St. Louis music scene, and worked a lot of backyard kegger-parties jamming on a flat bed trailer.  Through all those years I was in my school's concert and marching band, but I couldn't read music, so my teacher would have to show me the song, and I would memorize it.  My marching band years in High School are some of my best memories in my drumming career.

 
After High School, I took a 2-year break and tried to make a go of it with the band that I had been with since I was a kid.  One morning I got up early and was flipping through a Modern Drummer magazine and saw an ad for the Musicians Institute.  I was facing a 40-hour a week job, or finding a college that I wanted to attend, seeing as regular college classes didn't appeal to me...

...and just like that I made up my mind that the Musicians Institute was the school for me.  After my mother and I flew out to see the campus and take the tour, I was sold.  I broke the news to my band and relocated to Hollyweird. I was only 22 at the time.

It was at M.I. that I was exposed to many styles of music that I had never before tried to play on drums, and some music styles that I'd never heard before.  All of the jazz and latin and hand drumming they taught me was pretty new to me, and I was eating up the fact that I got to wake up every morning and play drums all day.  I was able to play with and record with musicians from all over the world, and it was in this time, the year and a half at M.I., that I really started to come into my own as a professional drummer.  In this time I also started to do many Top 40/Cover band gigs on the weekends, which was great for playing a lot of variety and I credit this to both M.I. and to those cover gigs for being able to play more then just one kind of music on drums. 

Along with an education I also made many important contacts at M. I..  I made life-long friends there and met the man that would take me on my first tour, my first recording session for a record label, and many other exciting firsts, when I was 23;  that man is D.H. Peligro from the Dead Kennedys and I wound up playing drums for him, in his own band called Peligro. Through D.H. I met the rest of the members of Dead Kennedys, and got to fill in for D.H. on a 2005 tour with that band.

It was one of the major highlights of my life. 

In 2006 I recieved a call for the Russian pop group TATU, and jumped on the chance to go tour with the biggest band to ever come out of the world's biggest country; it's been a life-changing experience, to say the least.  In my years of living in Los Angeles, I have had the pleasure of jamming, writing, recording, and touring with many great bands and artists. 

Here are a few :

Meat Loaf, Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Dead Kennedys, D.H. Peligro (Dead Kennedys, Red Hot Chili Peppers), Dave Weiner (Steve Vai Band), Mia Tyler, Hed PE, SX-10 (Featuring Sin Dog from Cypress Hill), New Dead Radio, 3rd Wish, Blind by Choice, Lifeline, Ellsbeth...

...and more to come!