I began my drum quest at the age of 8 playing with Tinker-Toys on whatever I could hit that wouldn't break. I graduated soon to several toy drum sets that enabled my to gain a fundamental understanding of the basic components of a drum set and how they related to each other as well as other instruments.

My first 2 drum heroes were Carmine Appice and Liberty Devitto - 2 NY natives that influenced me greatly. My first concert was Ozzy Osbourne on the Bark at The Moon tour and Carmine was playing drums at the time - man what an impact that had on me. My Aunt who worked for Columbia Records at the time got me a ton of albums from various artists including Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Boston, and Billy Joel. Later I would discover Nicko McBrain, Scott Rockenfield, Simon Phillips, Stewart Copeland, Steve Gadd, Will Calhoun and a TON more. Nicko had a major influence on me in terms of general rythmic sensability - years later I'd get to meet him to tell him myself.

I entered my first drum battle at the age of 14 and was a finalist - 1 of 15 selected out of over 150 entries. I did not place but for the first time my parents saw me play an actual organized and relatively musical solo - from that point on they became even more supportive in my playing.

I began taking lessons from local Jazz greats Howie Mann and Al Miller and proceeded to gobble up books and drum charts. I started playing in local garage type bands by this time as well.

It was also around this time that I heard Neil Peart...indirectly; in the sense that I never actually owned a Rush album. This was a choice I made only because ALL of my drummer friends were listening and analyzing them so I thought I would take a different route just to try and get my own sound happening. Well - I had a friend who was and still is a huge fan and constantly played Rush and I sort of absorbed some of Neil's musical sensibility through listening to Moving Pictures and other great albums they created. It's kind of difficult to not get moved and inspired at some level by Rush and for me specifically Neil whether you are actively or passively listening.

At this stage in my playing that I decided I wanted to try and meld the technical thinking man's drumming with that of spontaneity and reaction. Some music calls for more of one than the other - but it is all part of the quest.