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Born and raised in South Hill, VA, I started getting into music in my early teens, and a few years later I decided to try to play drums.  A drummer friend told me I should try guitar instead because drums were so hard to move around and set up, and you were constantly buying sticks, heads, and cymbals.  His advice led me to buy my first guitar in 1982, but I didn’t start playing seriously until I graduated from JMU and moved to Richmond in ’87.

  My first gigging experience was with Faucet, an alternative band I helped form in the early 90’s.  The last gig we played was with a classic/Southern rock band called High Roller which included Joe Jones on drums.  After that very gig, I decided to take a break from playing but I kept running into Joe at shows.  I’d go see Cheap Trick, and there’s Joe.  Go see Foghat, there’s Joe.  Motorhead?  Joe.  Obviously, we were into a lot of the same bands and I remembered how good High Roller was, so I told him to call me if they ever needed a guitarist.  Not too much later, it happened.  At that point I hadn’t played in a good 3 years so it was quite the clamfest, but they asked me to join anyway!  The band stayed together about 2 more years and 5-6 bass players, calling it a day in 2000.  Joe and I later formed the hard rock/old school metal band Payback.  When Joe had to step down due to an injury, Payback trimmed back the metal and morphed into Hedley Lamar with another drummer and a new singer.  I played with Hedley for over a year before leaving in 2005 due to a health issue (no, not rehab!).  At my farewell gig with Hedley, Carlos Petrus who was new on the scene sat in on vocals for a set.  Once I got back on my feet, I jammed with a lot of great musicians and made some good friends but nothing ever totally clicked.  At a gig I played with the Richmond Rock Exchange, I met bassist Alan McCleaf who was playing with his band, Steppin’ Stone.  We discussed our mutual admiration for the band Kix and stayed in touch, jamming whenever we could.  I met Randy when he and Joe invited me over to jam on some Thin Lizzy early Summer ’07, and that’s where the band bio picks up the story. 

I’m a rhythm player at heart and I realize I’m too sloppy to be a guitar hero, but even though I love going “ker-RANG, kachunga, giggity, giggity” on the big strings, sometimes I like to go “meedly meedly meedly” on the tiny strings too, so I do play some loud guitar (as opposed to lead guitar).  One of my trademarks is dropping riffs from other songs into the song I’m playing to see if anyone in the audience (or the rest of the band!) notices.  My favorite guitarists are Malcolm Young and Rick Nielsen, and I get a lot of inspiration from bands that have 2 guitar players who work great together like AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Kix, the Stones, Aerosmith, and Rhino Bucket.  I try to play with the right tone and feel for songs, and listen out for those “little” parts that can make or break a tune.

  Oh, and if you ever get that same advice my drummer buddy gave me when I first decide to play, you’re welcome to come move and set up my speaker cabinets, amps, pedalboard, wireless, and multiple guitars at any gig you want.  As for the expense, try buying 12 guitars and 7 amps, plus strings, pedals, tubes, and all that goes with it for a while.  I could strangle that guy, but I could hug him too.  Playing guitar puts a smile on my face so wide I could eat a banana sideways!

Influences:

Malcolm & Angus Young - AC/DC

Rick Nielsen - Cheap Trick

Brian Forsythe and Ronnie Younkins – Kix

Georg D’olivo, Greg Fields, and Brian Forsythe (again) – Rhinobucket

Ted Nugent

Aerosmith (especially Jimmy Crespo)

Thin Lizzy

Equipment:

’67-’72??? Gibson SG - Heritage Cherry

’74 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe – Goldtop (thanks, Randy!)

’81 Gibson Les Paul Standard - Tobacco Burst

’84 Gibson Les Paul Custom - Black Beauty

’91 Gibson Les Paul Custom - Alpine White

’94 Gibson Les Paul Special double cutaway- TV Yellow

Early 80’s Hamer Special – checkerboard

’87 Jackson USA Custom Shop – checkerboard

’04 Fender Telecaster ‘52RI – natural

’04 Synchromatic (Korean Gretsch) DuoJet Malcolm Young model – natural

Martin HD-28 6-string acoustic

Guild Jumbo 12-string acoustic

’79 Rickenbacker 4001 bass - black/white

Mesa Boogie Amps

Marshall Amps