Chris
Chris
Having a father who played piano, a brother who played guitar, and a grandmother who played violin, I guess it was somewhere in the blood to play an instrument. When I was four years old, my brother who played in a band at the time, put me behind his drummers drum kit and said, “Let’s see what you have.” To his surprise I started playing the opening drum beat to the reprise of Sgt. Pepper. He said,” You should take lessons, you have something.” My mom hired a drum teacher whom we had fired only two weeks later. It looked like I was going on this journey by myself.
After studying Beatles and Stones songs for a few months, I had joined my first band at the age of eleven with a neighbor down the street. A few years later at the age of fourteen, I was asked if I knew who John Bonham was. I said, “Sure do.” We need a drummer who can play Led Zeppelin, The Who, and The Doors. We have a gig in two weeks in a garage with another band. I told him I’m in. Groups of people were coming in and out of the garage when we were playing saying they could hear it half way down the street. They had asked us when are you doing this again, we want to invite are friends next time. Soon after that, we had entered a Battle of the Bands in a gymnasium. At this point, performing in front of people is what I wanted to do.
Soon after that, I was involved with many bands ranging from Rush and Yes cover bands and everything in between. The one experience that stands out was performing many outdoor shows with a band called “Classic.” There would be anywhere from 3000 to 7000 people attending each show.
I would like to give special thanks to Tama Drums and Zildjian Cymbals for keeping my sound perfect. Also to Ringo Starr, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Bill Bruford, Neil Peart, Phil Ehart, Carl Palmer, and Thomas Lang for introducing me to their music and for all of those whom I’ve jammed with and have been supported by over the years. Thanks Again!