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I grew up a full-fledged card carrying member of the KISS Army. I refused to listen to any band that was not covered in clown white facepaint. Then KISS went disco and i decided to bail out and give all the other bands in the world a listen...
My brothers were much older than me so I spent my childhood in a suburb of Rochester, NY being force fed Foreigner, Kansas, Boston and Styx. Mullet Rock
Fast forward to high school and I'm cutting my teeth in bars as a drummer in a heavy metal band. I'm 17 and my hair is big and bleached. My first club gig is in West Virginia where my life is nearly ended by a coked-out hick who thinks his old lady is giving me the hairy eyeball.
My pseudo-glam-pop-metal band goes on to sell out one club and one club only on a regular basis before disbanding after a glorious 3 year run.
I am rescued from the dark depths of metal by Crowded House, Elvis Costello's 'Spike' and a band called the Beatles. Yes, I was a late bloomer. I dont even think I could tell John from Paul until my 18th birthday. The discovery changes my life. I immerse myself in 'Revolver' and 'Rubber Soul'. The drumsticks are retired and a Fender Stratocaster is purchased. I decide to be a singer and a new band is formed.
The Excentrics are born and my first frontman gig is opening for Cheap Trick. Wow. The experience is unreal and, at the time, I thought I ruled. I was awful. I would get better. We go on to release three records over the next ten years. We do the label-showcase-give-us-a-deal-please thing and always manage to 'just miss'.
The Excentrics disband and Getaway Car is formed with Matt Miceli (Excentrics guitarist) and Chris Reardon (Earth to Andy bassist). We opt for no permanent drummer and enlist an all-star cast of bashers to keep the beat.
Getaway Car lands a song in a national Pontiac Vibe TV spot that debuts on the 2003 MTV Movie Awards. We also win the WHFS(r.i.p.) battle of the bands to open the legendary HFStival at RFK stadium in Washington, DC.
A friend calls and suggests I audition for a female artist he works with in NYC. I do and I get the gig.
I join Atlantic recording artist Lucy Woodward as her touring guitarist and backup vocalist. The tour takes me all over the US, Japan and New Zealand. I wake up early every morning and we hit upwards of 4 radio stations in a day to promote her debut release 'While You Can'. I play everywhere from high school gyms to malls to fashion shows to an outdoor gig in Houston for 25,000 people. Occasionally a 'car service' actually comes to my house and takes me to the airport. Cool.
Now what. My old friend Pat McGee calls me to ask if I can play keyboards. I tell him a little and he enlists me to learn 40 songs in 10 days. I join the band on a whirlwind radio promo tour to support their Warner Brothers release 'Save Me'. We play something like 19 shows in 20 days and hit, at times, five radio stations in a day.
Pat and I sing the national anthem at Wrigley Field and US Cellular Field in Chicago, Fenway Park in Boston, RFK Stadium and the Verizon Center in DC and Jacobs Field in Cleveland.
I stay on with Pat McGee for close to two years. We tour with Better Than Ezra, Vertical Horizon, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and HANSON!
I also briefly play guitar with my uber-talented friend Adam Richman in support of his debut release on Or Records 'Patience and Science'.
Now I'm, producing records (Getaway Car's 'All Your Little Pieces'), co-writing songs (JJ Appletons 'I Mean Well') and making the occasional cameo (duet with Butch Walker on his Cover Me Badd album).
Stay tuned...
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