“I remember when I was very young playing piano and songwriting at my grandmother’s house. I would escape to the spare room where the keyboard stood and derive childhood joy playing the keys and feeling some of my first creative memories. So much of my art practice still centers around the same magic I felt then, the joy of creating music.
I performed in bands throughout middle and high school. I met my good friend Sam in college, and we formed The Medium, a project still going today. For a few years, the band lived under one roof and we had a strong singular effort to make music as our career. There were lots of breaks, the biggest being supported by Finn Wolfhard, the Stranger Things star. Indie music eyes on us after our first album release. Everything momentum was on the up up, right until covid hit, totally stalling our trajectory and changing our lives. No more shows. We were a performing rocking band, for crying out loud. We lost the stages to do our show, and our agent. We almost had a big big label pick up our second album, spent over a year schmoozing and waiting, only to have it turned down. Our friend Micheal eventually decided to move out and quit the band. Hard times. But there is a universal balance – when something is lost, something is always gained. This change sent me on a spiritual quest, spawned willpower, curiosity and frugality. Making records was always so expensive. Before I was so reliant on the band, producers, managers to make things happen. But the child in me knew he had to create freely!New creative outlets must be tapped for my soul’s sake. I began learning how to do every step of the process myself – how to record, piecing a record together, playing every instrument I had access to, collaborating with more musicians outside of the band. I was only 25 and ever eager to learn.
With this, gathering materials, I began forming my first home studio. I went on to produce an EP and album for my new solo project. In 2022, I began producing the next Medium album, with some aid from friends, all recorded at home, no big fancy studio. We played Bonnaroo. We toured the south and northeast a few times more. My latest solo album, Dark Green Curtains (my finest work), I recorded and even mixed myself. My wife and I designed and sewed the cover and credits, made the music videos and booked the album release show. I’ve walked every step of the process of creating music in our contemporary world. The pace has only hastened as I improve. A new Medium album I’ve recorded and mixed is almost done, and a new solo album is written ready to record. I turn 30 this year. I’ve now had my first client. He and his friend stayed a weekend at my place and I engineered and produced the record, added overdubs, and I am presently mixing it. This summer, I began teaching group and solo vocal lessons to new students. It has informed my artist mission. I spent so much time cultivating music in myself, I feel it’s time to begin focusing on others. In the age of AI, where art and music has become cheaper by the day, we need more people inspired to create, especially music. I want other child artists to be seen, heard, guided, inspired. I want to help bring more song ideas into the world, make singers out of everyone, move and touch people, like pretty flowers spread over a hill side.”