Biography
I am a pianist, guitarist, vocalist and saxophonist specializing orchestral, hardcore, metal, techno-industrial, and other electronica styles, with a solid background in rock, jazz and folk. I began music training with classical piano and jazz saxophone, adding the guitar in junior high. I have sung and played in blues, avant-garde and heavy rock bands since. I studied jazz guitar and continued to play saxophone in jazz and concert bands throughout high school and college, where I studied with Ornette Coleman sideman, Bobby Bradford. After completing 2 years of classical composition and analog synthesis studies as an undergraduate at Pomona College in Claremont, California, I graduated in 1987 with a minor in music composition.
From the mid-to-late 80s I played in a blues-based band called Hell Toupee (aka Mental Floss), then I attended G.I.T. (Guitar Institute of Technology) in Hollywood, CA, graduating in 1991. While I was attending GIT I was playing the Hollywood circuit with a band that already had some sucess in the LA area, but needed a replacement singer, then guitarist - posts which I filled consecutively.
After moving north to Oakland I toured and recorded with my band SOURPUSS until late 1999. We had three independently-released CDs, UnAmerican Institution (1993) , Prison Charisma (1999) and Rise (2001). . The music has been described as "Mr. Bungle meets the Partridge Family".(Click to download audio samples). We had had a lot of fun, toured nationally with M.I.R.V. (a fun band if you haven't seen them) and shared the bill with Bucket head.
In late 1992 I became Music Director for 47-Tek, Inc. making early 3D fighting games, first for the PC (Sento, 1993 - Team 47 GoMan, 1995) then for the PlayStation and Saturn (1995).
Random fact: I spent 2 years as an investigative journalist for Media Alliance publication, Propaganda Review.
I began working for Atari Games in early 1998. Arcade titles made at Atari include California Speed, Area 51: Site 4 among others. My console titles include Gauntlet Dark Legacy (PS2, XBox, GameCube) and Doctor Muto (PS2, XBox, GameCube). I've been more seriously studying classical piano for the last two years with Dora Jibitskaya (Oakland, CA) and increasing my understanding of the mechanics of music, composition and technique.
I have recently settled in Long Beach with my wife, Stephanie and daughter, Eve. I work as a freelance composer.
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