I started playing drums when I was ten. I poked around on the guitar about the same time, but didn’t really take it seriously until I realized that drums were a big pain in the ass (and that I wasn’t any good at them). I played around with various garage musicians throughout high school (OSA, Untitled) but nothing very serious.
One night in 1994 I ran into an old Boy Scout buddy, Orris Polk, at a party at Mike Bennet’s house. I found out that he’d recently started playing bass, and soon afterwards I was invited by Fernando Braxton to come play with him, Orris, and a new drummer in town from Emory, Texas named Ryan Brown. Thus was born Fatsoul.
Fatsoul played pretty heavily for many years, but shortly after our first album was released in 2002 we started to go our seperate ways. People ask all the time why we broke up, and I never realized we did. We just stopped booking gigs. Still, every few years we get the itch to jam and book something, so don’t give completely up on us. We’ve all known each other too long and been through too much to be done forever.
On August 25, 2001, I started dating the love of my life, Krystal Harmon, and we were finally married on July 3, 2004. Shortly afterwards, I started feeling a burning urge to express how much she means to me. Having always been a frustrated songwriter, I was surprised to find that melodies and lyrics flowed like a waterfall when talking about her, so I wrote and recorded an entire album for her in secret when she wasn’t at home. A year later, "Krystal’s Album" was given to her on her birthday. Since this album is a reflection of my love for her, I felt it inappropriate to mass produce it and have only made a few copies for close friends. You’ll find some of the songs here.
Nowadays, I’m a happily married complete person with a great career as an environmental chemist with the City of Sherman and plans for children. I’m also heavily involved in promoting Projects Abroad, a volunteer placement organization, because of where I used to live in Amazonian Peru.
I still like to get out and play music however, and the spawn of that desire has been some of the most interesting musical experiments in my life, including "Bridgeclub", "The Red Wasp Incident", "Stompin’ Elf", "Electric Beaver", and "The Mike Richardson Dilemna". Not to mention all the tribute nights I’ve been so fortunate to be a part of.
My journey has been pretty interesting, so keep checking here for updates.
hey man -- just wanted to say congratulations on the the new bundle on the way!!! jenny and I cannot think of two better people as parents! can't wait to rock out witcha next month. -j
You must first discover the inner chi of the tiller in order to master the art there of, of the tilling process!!! .......? (a bit confusing, but i like it)
Jake, I'm glad you put "beginning" on your page. It was my favorite song from that album. OK now I must get back to this prison special on national geographic, so I can learn all about why I wouldn't want to work as a prison guard.
Jake, Agreed. One could argue the relationships between me and my guitars are more consistent bonds than some of my "beautiful babies." Living so close, there's no time like the present to catch up on some lost time. (This excludes weddings, barmitzfas, funerals, etc.) It's time to do something that's needed to be done, years ago. Work on an album together.
