Hometown: San Francisco
Current Home Base: San Anselmo, Ca
Tours/Travels: See Shows and Workshops
Age: 28
Current Project: "The Art of Live Looping" - Completely live electric cello through looping, layering and arranging.
If you would like to learn more about me, and what I do, you can read the long version of my bio.
My first instrument was piano, which I still play. I took lessons as a young child, but instead of practicing the scales and sight-reading I was supposed to be practicing, I was trying to play my favorite tunes by ear, and write my own music. So I quit lessons, because I was bored with the "simple" stuff... Although, that is a decision I now slightly regret, since now I can only really play piano by ear. However, it helped a lot with my compositional skills, so in that sense, I am very happy that things went the way they did. I don't consider my piano skills to be professional by any means, but I do feel that way about my compositional skills, and ultimately I am more interested in creating my own music than playing other people's music.
I picked up the guitar my freshman year in college, simply because it is the most common instrument to find at random people’s homes... Since I feel most at home when I am creating music, I decided it was time to learn one of the most commonly played instruments, so that I would always have something to play on, wherever I was. I still play guitar now, and although I am not a professional, I can hold my own. I have not had a single guitar lesson in my life (Which is probably why I haven't gotten any better in a while...), except for friends helping me out with certain things along the way. I love my friends...
I took up the cello in middle school for a few years with Robin Bonnell (Berklee Symphony), and Barbara Andres (San Francisco Symphony), before quitting cello in high school, due to mostly a lack of motivation and a diminishing music department. It wasn't until college that I took the cello back up to do a project that I called "Wootah". But in "Wootah" I primarily played keyboard, so I really only picked up the cello to record the album, and then put it down again, until I met Rick Hardin years later. So I essentially lost about 7-8 years of playing experience in there all together... Which I am frantically trying to make up for...
I also play percussion fairly well (not just on my cello), and I can dabble on just about any stringed instrument since I have underlying knowledge of a keyed instrument, a fretted instrument, and a fretless instrument. I have a hard time with wind instruments though... Just never really tried to learn any. Totally different ball game...
Bose L1 stereo setup, with T1 technology and 4 B1 bass units
Boss RC-50 Looping Pedal, linked through midi to a Boss GT-8 effects processor. I also have a Boss RV5 reverb pedal, Line 6 Echo Park Delay, and Fulltone Clyde Delux Wah to mix things up a bit.