I’ve been tapping my fingers on white plastic keys since receiving my first Casio keyboard at the age of three. I taught myself to play all the songs I heard around me, from the Beatles to Zeppelin to Christmas songs. I have fond memories of MTV’s early days - Thomas Dolby, Ultravox, Flock of Seagulls, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Talking Heads, and more. I remember when radio stations played a wide variety of music, and taping my favorite tunes on a tape recorder. I was a teen during the grunge era, and gravitated heavily towards Chris Cornell’s voice full of soul and sorrow, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, and the Meat Puppets (thanks to Nirvana). All this while discovering more of Black Sabbath, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, and never losing that love for 80’s electronic awesomeness. Over time I realized a love for singing, but I’d rarely (I can count the times on one hand) sang in front of another human. It was scary, I hated the sound of my own voice, and what if I sucked? I was singing to Queen, Soundgarden/Cornell, Tori Amos, Concrete Blonde, 70’s Judas Priest, and Ann Wilson/Heart in my early to mid 20’s to practice a wide variety of styles and ranges. I took voice lessons - twice - but had to stop going because of the anxiety I’d experience before my lessons. I never stopped playing music. I rented a saxophone in the 5th grade and found it fun and easy - but at the end of the year we couldn’t afford to buy it. After upgrading my Casio in the 7th grade, I continues to compose tons more songs, but never thought much of it. It was fun. My attempts to learn guitar started with me holding a right handed guitar upside down wondering why it sounded like shit. It took me a few minutes to figure out that I apparently was of the McCartney, Hendrix, Cobain, and Easton ilk (not so in talent, obviously), so I eventually purchased a left-handed guitar. I do know how to play a right-handed backwards - it’s just slow going, as one can imagine. Never feeling a true connection with the guitar, I imagined myself playing a theremin or an upright bass or drums (I found I have a proclivity for the latter) but I never wavered on my love and connection to my own voice. In 2005, I discovered Garage Band and eventually, Logic Pro, and started making instrumental music like a madwoman. But never lyrics. Lyrics would require me to sing, and that would sound bad, mmmmkay? I stopped giving a flying fuck about being a crappy singer early this year (2018), and lo and behold - now I can’t stop making music WITH lyrics. I still do instrumentals of course, but the floodgates are open. Hate my voice, love it, or be apathetic - I enjoy what I do and the way I feel when I sing and make music. The rest is irrelevant.