At the age of 13 I was inspired to save up for my first electric guitar after hearing Queen’s News of the World. When I discovered Jimi Hendrix the die was cast, and I spend much of the next ten years or so playing lead guitar, writing songs and generally rocking out with various bands.We thought we might create this page as a gentle reminder that not all classical musicians spent their youth entirely on the musical straight and narrow.
During my college years when I was studying at Indiana University I played for my first two years in a band made up of four quite good musicians with diverse talents but possibly excessively diverse tastes.We worked under the names “Graffiti” and “Screaming Yaardvaarks.” The other band I spent a good chunk of my college years in was an acid funk ensemble called Watchmen. Both imploded just when we were
getting noticed by higher powers and neither survived long enough to do a complete album. All that’s left now is a few demos we recorded. The best of the originals are from the dying days of Watchmen, and I’m still sad the band folded before we could finish these sessions. Ah well, in another life….
Even today, I still listen to rock and funk, and occasionally play. Last summer (2008), I even directed a Funk Band at the Oregon East Symphony’s Summer Music Center. Our performance came as quite a surprise to some of the orchestra’s more distinguished patrons and fans…
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