Bio
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Affiliations | Discography
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I was born on the 27th of March in 1986 with my twin brother Chris. I grew up in Syracuse, New York and still live there today. My father, a popular electrician, knew quite a lot of people and it was perhaps him that opened my eyes to the world of music. My father took me and my brother to drum corps shows all over the northeast and I loved every single one of them. When I was asked in elementary school what instrument I wanted to play I immediately chose drums. However, this isn’t where I began to play drums… I have been involved with percussion since the age of eight when I was given my first sticks and drum pad. But at this age it was more of a toy than an instrument, though I did advance further than the other students in the elementary school band. It wasn’t until age eleven that I knew for a fact that I wanted to drum for the rest of his life and it was a parade that solidified this decision. It turns out that the parade was prior to a drum corps show and the drumline that rattled my bones was in fact the 1997 Syracuse Brigadiers; a drumline that I would soon find himself very much a part of in the near future.
“As the drummers marched past my bones rattled and I never wanted them to stop.”
I excelled quickly and was asked to play in the junior high school jazz band as an elementary student and also asked to join the high school marching band while in junior high. My first experience with Liverpool’s Marching Band in 1999 was a great one. In the bass drum line as the second bass I learned discipline as well as respect. I first played tenor drums in 2001 in my high school’s tenor line. My instructors and section leaders pushed me to learn and retain information quickly. In 2002 I became center snare and section leader of the drumline. Though snare was not something that was interesting to me, I was asked to push the line from there. Due to a change of instructors and their ideology of player placement I became center tenor in 2003 and my senior year.
During high school I performed with the concert band, concert ensemble and symphonic band as well as orchestra, jazz band and chorus. I performed many NYSSMA solos, receiving a couple perfect scores, and all state bands as well. I also traveled to Virginia for a Yamaha Sounds of Summer camp in 2002 where I was ranked number one of the tenor drummers by John Pollard. Also in 2002 I was asked to perform with the collegiate percussive theater at Onondaga Community College who placed first at the NYSPC Championship that year. The next summer, in 2003, I tried out and made the first drum and bugle corps I would march, in Syracuse, New York. Martin Hotte put me in the bass line, on bottom bass, my first year. The Syracuse Brigadiers placed second that year in the World Championships held in Scranton, Pennsylvania. During that year I taught my first group, the Rhythms of CNY. In 2004 my high school formed a percussive theater group where I played center tenor and served as section leader. That indoor line won best snare, tenor and bass caption awards but placed second by one tenth of a point in the NYSPC Championships. During my senior year I was invited to the CNY All-Star Percussion Ensemble and played for a day of percussion in 2004. After graduating from Liverpool High School I joined the tenor line of the Syracuse Brigadiers for the 2004 season where I was taught by Tony Shuker.
After high school I decided to go to Onondaga Community College for a few years for some basic humanities courses. At the same time I began instructing high school drumlines starting with Paul V. Moore High School in Central Square, New York. I also taught the high school’s percussive theater, parade band and the middle school’s parade band. In 2005 I marched again with the Brigadiers tenor line and at the end of the year I transferred to Oswego State University as a European History major. Early in 2006 my percussive theater at Central Square won the State Championship for the first time in their history. During my last year in the Brigadiers tenor line, and drum corps, I performed in the 2006 World Championship I&E contest, a solo event that was focused solely on marching instruments, my tenor solo placed third and was the highest score in world class. Later in 2006 I joined the staff at Oswego High School as a consultant for their marching band’s drumline, while I continued to instruct Central Square’s lines. In 2007 I instructed, for the second time in a row, the state champion percussive theater of Central Square. Later in 2007 I began writing a comprehensive tenor drum instructional book which I plan on finishing sometime in 2009. Also in 2007 my brother and I began a progressive band called A Corvus. This is where I pushe my creative drumset ideas to construct three albums being recorded by the band. My creativity is also pushed as I began writing percussion music such as percussive theater shows and books.
My latest consulting was done at Phoenix High School on their visual staff for the percussive theater. During the same time frame I joined the band Our 11th Hour as one of the founding members. On the side I write for my solo projects Девять and the Powers of Ten. The final solo project that I composes in my spare time is Патрик Роналдович Франкьблаклей and is a biproduct of the ideas I decide not to use in any other context (outside of piano). Currently, I also records drums and percussion as an freelance artist for people across the country, through recommendations and other affiliations, as well as continuing to work with Central Square and at the same time recording with A Corvus, Our 11th Hour, Девять, Powers of Ten, and Патрик Роналдович Франкьблаклей.
Some quotes that I enjoys are…
“Know thy self, know thy enemy. One thousand battles, one thousand victories.” - Sun Tzu
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” -Mahatma Gandhi
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to kill a fly with a sledgehammer.” -Major I. L. Holdridge
“Those who know how to win are more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.” -Polybius
“No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and it’s not the same man.” -Heraclitus
“Sometime the truth hurts, and sometimes it feels real good.” -Henry Rollins
“Savor the moment and feel your blood flow.” Arjen Anthony Lucassen