Progressive 70's/80's rock such as Yes, Styx, Rush, & Dream Theater.
Pink Floyd, NIN, Boston, Phish, Rush, Spocks Beard, Led Zeppelin, Prince, Deep Purple I also have weak spots for southern black gospel choirs and George Winston 
Stage Gear:
Keyboards/synths:
Stuff not always on stage:
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 Grew up(?) in Burnsville, MN. Moved to Mankato, MN for college at MSU (Computer Science) While in Mankato, planted roots by joining 69 Cents in 1998-99, finding a day-job, and buying a house - which is controlled by two cats Rocky & Bullwinkle. Dayjob: Systems Administrator for HickoryTech Internet Favorite food: Pagliais "palace" pizza - with pineapple Least Favorite food: Those marshmallow "Peepz" things at easter. Yuk! Musical stuff: Studied classical piano at the prestigious McPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis starting at age 7 through my teens. Other kids went out to play. I came home and practiced playing scales. Picked up piano study again in college. How I became a Niner Shortly after college, Dale & I used to work together at HickoryTech. He mentioned one day that he played guitar, so I mentioned that I played keys, and Dale gave me this look like he just won the lottery. I guess keyboard players are hard to find! Because they had no other choice, Nick, Dale & Chad had to bring me aboard if they wanted a keyboard player. :o) I hadn't played rock keys in quite a while, and learning all the material and getting the gear I needed was a challenge, but live playing is the highlight of my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Whats a typical day in the life of the Niners keyboard guy? Trying to re-create all the sounds for covers is the biggest challenge to learning new material. Learning the actual musical notes isn't even half of the job. I'm responsible for playing every sound that is not a guitar or bass. In any given night, I am the piano player, the Hammond player, the synth player, the horn section, the string section, and even cover guitar and drum parts quite a bit. (which is why I bring four keyboards with me to shows). Each of those parts is a completely different playing style, and is like learning a new instrument for each one. Every wierd synth sound, loop, or sample in a song needs to be programmed and re-created using my gear, which is always a challenge. Keyboard guys are definitely underrated, and the cheesy sequenced stuff from the 1980's and those little toy keyboards you buy at Wal-Mart gave keyboards a bad name. My style is always to make keyboards sound natural and earthy, not electronic. First Gig: At age 15, I saved up for my first synthesizer - a Yamaha CS40M. It weighed 150lbs, and could only play 2-note chords, but to this day I wish I still had that wicked-sounding beast. A guitar-playing friend and I played at a pool party for one of his neighbors kids. The first song was "Riding the Storm Out" by REO. In the next few years, I picked up some cool vintage gear like a Rhodes 73, Yamaha CP-70, Ensoniq Mirage, Roland SH101, Korg Poly61M, Korg Poly-800II, Korg SQD-1, Yamaha FB01, and other goodies. I ended up selling all of it in order to go to college, and am kicking myself now when I see how much these old vintage boards are going for on E-bay. Hobbies: I like traveling, and have been to 35 states + Canada. --- On weekends when the Niners aren't playing, I often jump in my car on Friday, and just randomly drive for 2-3 days exploring new places with no set agenda where I may end up. --- I love the outdoors, tromping around in the woods, and exploring new out-of-the-way places. Even when out in the woods, I have geeky hobbies such as Geocaching and Metal Detecting. --- I'm known to be a computer geek. It pays the bills, and prevents me from getting a sunburn. I try to hide the geekiness when we play, but I think the secret is out. However, I'm not the only known computer geek in the band - I hear there are at least 2 others... Little-known facts: --- In college, I hooked up with a group of other geeky people over the internet who liked hacking the video game DOOM just for fun. (TeamTNT) We got so good at customizing their game that Id Software bought some of our work from us, and released it as the game FINAL DOOM for PCs and consoles. Neat, huh? |
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