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I've always been into making electronic music.. I received my first keyboard in the 6th grade from my parents for christmas.... then in the 10th grade my father scraped together $2000 and bought me an Ensoniq VFX sd II... which had it's own built in sequencer, and I immediately began making sequences and songs that reminded me of my heroes : Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, New Order, Dead or Alive, Pet Shop Boys... and so on.. I formed my first band with my best friend 'JOE' and we called ourselves 'Darius Pogue'... (I still use the initials 'dp' for some of my projects and remixes) ...by the time I graduated high school I had 2 huge shoeboxes full of lyrics, songs, and ideas that I still pull from today...

After graduating in 1991, I quickly relocated to Chicago where I got my first Mac computer.. it was 1992 and it was called a 'Performa'... I purchased the sequencing program called Logic and began making music with a computer.. while in Chicago I started creating industrial music, based around the concepts of my new music heroes : Nine Inch Nails, Front 242, Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, Meat Beat Manifesto, Ministry, KLF, KMFDM, and still Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk... my friend 'JOE' moved to Chicago a fews years later and I wrote tons of songs, and we performed in a few bars... Eventually 'JOE' moved back to our hometown in Cincinnatti and I began making more chilled out electronic music without a singer, using loads of t.v. samples and other bizarre sound effects based on my new music heroes: Nightmares on Wax, Daft Punk, Coldcut, DJ Accucrack, and a handful of other unknown acts that I can no longer remember....

After 5 years in Chicago I had another 200 experimental songs under my belt and another 2 shoeboxes full of lyrics... I left Chicago in 1997 and moved to Phoenix Arizona, where I met up with my next collaborator 'Matt Kelly', aka, MK Ultra, aka K. Roxwell... he was a dj that spun hip hop beats for a small St. Louis hip hop act called 'Fat Trash'... we hit it off immediately and began making full blown electronica.. we called ourselves specificus and started pumping out tracks based on new influences such as : The Chemical Brother, The Crystal Method, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and lots of hip hop acts... the first track we created was a song called 'Conversation With Your Hitman'.. which can be checked out at www.specificus.com almost all of the early music that we created is posted at that site.. it's tricky to find and download the music at the site, but I assure you it can be done, and it's worth it.. some of the music is so 'out there' it's unbelievable... very experimental... and in my opinion very cool... all of the tracks are very rough demo's so don't judge me on the production or the mixes... I still plan to put together a proper Specificus album and get it released someday...

In 1999 K. Roxwell and I moved to Hollywood, where we both got unpaid jobs working in a recording studio called Tone King... we were scrubbing toilets, paying bills, cleaning, and doing a whole lot of struggling.... and then one day the boss got the gig recording and mixing what was to be called 'KISS ALIVE IV'.. a live KISS album... I hung out with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, fetching their lunches, cleaning up their messes, stealing their guitar picks, and fondling their guitars...

One day while working with KISS the boss got a call that a producer named Walter Afanasieff and the songwriter who wrote 'Livin' La Vida Loca', Robi 'Draco' Rosa were going to be coming into the studio to work on some new ideas for Ricky Martin... the boss knew that I was proficient at running 'Logic' so he set up a small writing lab in his studio b room, and put me in the room as the programmer / engineer... basically to be in the room, run the computer.. record the ideas.. make rough mixes, and send them home with a cd...

After working with Walter A. for about 3 hours we broke for lunch and Walter and I starting talking.. he asked me 'why are you working in a dump like this?'... I said I was just hanging out for a great opportunity, and he hired me on the spot.. offered to move me to San Rafael CA, put me up in his multi million dollar guest house, loan me a Range Rover to drive, and start training me to become his 'right hand man'... the first song that we started and completed was She Bangs for Ricky Martin, which was started in Hollywood and completed in San Rafael... I worked with Walter A. as a programmer and engineer for the next couple of years. During this time I got to experience first hand how an amazing producer works.. I learned how everything is done, from recording, layering and comp-ing vocals, to knowing how get the best performances out of the artists.. I got to see how hit singles are conceived, demoed, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered... and everything technical that lies in between.. During my years with Walter A. we worked with the following artists : Ricky Martin, Celine Dion, Santana (my personal favorite), Destiny's Child, Beyonce, Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson, Placido Domingo, Josh Groban, Joey Mcintyre, Billy Mann, Robi 'Draco' Rosa (another personal favorite), Stephen Jenkins (3rd Eye Blind)... Neil Schon (Journey), Aldo Nova, Bruce Roberts... and handful of others great songwriters that I can't really remember right now... and of course Darren Hayes

I became fast friends with Darren when he started coming in to the studio to work on some of his demo's, and eventually I co-wrote one song with him for his first solo album titled : 'Spin'.. the song was called 'Crush (1980me).. it was a throwback to the 80's song.. very pop... quite fun... you can hear it : ... here.... Crush 1980(me)

this was the first song that I ever had released...

After we finished the 'Spin' album, Darren invited me to come on tour with him and let my electronica band 'Specificus' be his support band for his world tour.... we toured for a year all across the globe : England, Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and countless other places.. The experience was amazing, and I got to see the world with my friends... you can see clips of me on the tour with Darren on his documentary DVD titled 'Too Close For Comfort Tour'... (here's a link to buy the DVD)...

As soon as the tour was over we went back to San Francisco and I began making new tracks for an unnamed side project with Darren... after being back from touring for just a couple of days Darren became interested in one of the tracks that I was working on, which became the first song written for his second solo album.. the song was called 'Sense of Humor'.. we were both very excited about this new song and new direction and it is still my favorite song from his second solo album titled : The Tension and the Spark ... you can hear the song here : SENSE OF HUMOR

Over the next couple of months we wrote and produced the following songs : LIGHT , HERO , DARKNESS , UNLOVABLE, LOVE AND ATTRACTION, EGO (another favorite) and the first single POPULAR! there are a couple of clips on youtube where we performed the song on different tv shows around the world, and you can catch of glimpse of me performing HERE, and HERE.

We also wrote and produced the B-Sides TOUCH and 'Zero' (couldn't find a link)... and I also co-produced DUBLIN SKY and VOID and 'Feel' (couldn't find a link)....

We were both extremely proud of this album, and we went to the UK for three weeks to have the tracks mixed by one of our mixing engineer heroes Mark 'Spike' Stent ... he mixed the entire album with us, and it is still one of my career highlights.... after we had the album mixed we moved to the UK to promote the album.... we received amazing reviews (which I will post in a series of blogs eventually, once I round them all up), and Darren put together the next tour (The Dark Light Tour), and we took it out on the road... this time I was on stage with him performing our songs...

When the 'Dark Light' shows were completed we went back to the UK and put together a new single to go on the Savage Garden Greatest Hits album that Sony wanted to put out... This song was called SO BEAUTIFUL ... the song did well, and I still have people tell me that it has been played at their wedding... which is great (and a little creepy)....

When we finished doing promo for 'So Beautiful', Darren and I went back into the studio and began working on more new songs.. we had tons of great demo's, but after living in the UK for 18 months I was ready to get back to the States. I moved to the desert in Phoenix Arizona, set up a studio in a spare bedroom, and starting working on some new ideas...

While in Phoenix I reconnected with MK Ultra and worked on some new specificus tracks... I also formed another electronica chill out duo with Australian songwriter / producer Vince Pizzinga... that project is called The Beautiful Left and we completed an entire album in 2 weeks.

I also started making a handful of new tracks, and after a short visit from Darren they became the central theme to his 3rd solo album titled : This Delicate Thing We've Made ... on this album we collaborated on the following songs : 'WAKING THE MONSTER, 'HOW TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE', STEP INTO THE LIGHT , LISTEN ALL YOU PEOPLE , THE GREAT BIG DISCONNECT, THE FUTURE HOLDS A LIONS HEART , 'MAYBE', 'LUCKY TOWN', 'A HUNDRED CHALLENGING THINGS A BOY CAN DO', 'LOVE IS IN EVERYTHING, and the first single ON THE VERGE OF SOMETHING WONDERFUL

Darren put together a very impressive tour for this album with an amazing tour designer named Willie Williams called The Time Machine Tour and took it out on the road with his new band... I got to see the tour from the audience in Australia, and was very impressed by it's magnitude. The DVD of this show can be purchased HERE

In May of 2007 I signed a publishing deal with Simon Moor at Sony ATV Publishing in Australia and moved to Sydney, which is where I am right NOW.... I have been working as a songwriter and producer for a handful of up and coming acts... including 'The Adventure (I've written 5 songs with them, and they are working on an E.P. which will contain two of the songs that I co-wrote), Penny Phillips (we are working on an album at the moment that I am producing.. it is amazing and the songs are going to blow you away... I promise), and Axle Whitehead ... I co-wrote and produced 9 of 11 songs on this album, and we are very excited about it. Axle and I have become close friends, and I have had a great time writing and hanging out with him. We currently have a new single at radio titled Anywhere which I co-wrote with Canadian songwriter James Bryan on a recent songwriting trip to London. It is the second single from Axles forthcoming album. The first single called I Don't Do Surprises , co-written with Axle, went GOLD in Australia, and has been used on 3 Compilation Albums, including the 'NOW' series, and will be used in the Playstation 3 game Sing Sing Karaoke.

It is also being used in 3 t.v. promo clips, one for Channel 9 and two for Channel 10.. you can see one of them here CHANNEL 10 PROMO and the other one is posted under my 'VIDEOS' tab on this myspace page.

I've also produced a new version of the song 'Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime' for the Channel 10 show 'The Biggest Loser' in Sydney.. it is being sung by female artist Robyn Loau... (I can't find the link.. but maybe I'll put the promo up at this site eventually).

I am also putting the finishing touches on a the soundtrack for an independent film that I have co-written the script for. It is a music based project that revolves entirely around songs that I have written or co-written with other artists. Stay tuned on this myspace page to hear more about it. The movie is called 'Before the End'... and it's going to be killer.

Currently, June 2008, I am on a 3 month songwriting trip, that will take me to L.A., Toronto and Nashville.