History
1998-2004(?) - X-21
In the summer of 1998, I met Shaun Ferris through my job. He was/is a bass geek, and I'm a guitar geek. We got along on many levels. Insanity was enjoyed by us, and those who managed to get in the path of the waveforms emitted from the various objects used as speakers. This can get weird. "Full" X-21 info can be found here. This project disbanded in the summer of 2004 when I relocated to NJ again. But with the advent of the internet and broadband, insanity may re-occur at anytime. Be afraid.1998-2004 - Dessajo & Jake Skylyr
Dessajo and I tried so hard to make music together during these times. Some times were more productive than others. We managed a few pieces together which made it to the Demos CD, and some stuff that did not. But generally, everyday life just made this musical collaboration rough, if not impossible. But she made her vocal and lyrical contributions to my work when we were able to. Dessajo is an amazing vocalist, but the end of our relationship together, as well as relocation to different parts of the country in the summer of 2004, are what put an end to the bits of magic we were able to create together. More info on our work can be found here and here.1995-2003 - Jake & Chuck
I met Chuck DelHierro in the fall of 1995. We jammed together off and on for a good number of years. Chuck plays guitar, bass, and does some vocals. We worked on a lot of different things together, with the bulk of the outcome done between 1999 and 2003. Some originated at the studio of the late Gene Scott. Many melodic ideas were tossed back and forth between us, generally with him on bass and vocals and myself on guitar and vocals, with the occasional exception to this of course. One of these pieces is on my Demos CD "Riding On The Wings", and the introduction to the song "Reinvention" originated from a jam session in early 1996 with drummer Lillie Johnson(/Allgood). Many good times, lots of good melodic jams and complete songs, and a wealth of musical knowledge and wisdom got passed between the two of us.1997-1998 - Obscure
A friend of my friend Fern (see Detrimental Absence below) was Vince Lupone. He was looking for musicians to form a progressive metal project. We hit it off and we began to work together. Arguably, I was the lead guitarist, and he was the rhythm, but it was a blurry line. He relocated to his home in the greater Phoenix area in the summer of 1997, and we went through a few lineups in the following year. (Many of the people Vince was much more in direct association with, so in order to make this complete and thorough, I would need to get with him (or you can at www.VinceLupone.com. I will do the best I can.) We had Mike Harris on bass, and Casey Dixon on drums. There were 2 singers, and a keyboard player a few times as well. Special thanks go to Chris Eckhart "Eckie" for all of his help and support. We played some shows in the Phoenix area, and even recorded a demo at a friend's studio (Go Hector!) in Nogales, AZ. The commute, and general hassle of everyday life forced me to part ways with Vince and co. in the summer of 1998. Vince continued on through many incarnations of Obscure, which evolved into Cast Of Shadows, then into Vince's solo work, and now his new band The Asylum (check his site for a full history).1997-1998 - Grimble Wedge
Upon returning to AZ, in early 1997, a friend of a friend was in a band looking for a lead guitarist. The friend happened to be Ed Nossem, bass player and vocals with Grimble Wedge (currently in the AZ band Wurm). At the time the lineup was him, Mike Panico on guitar and lead vocals, and Jim Pavett on drums and vocals. I auditioned, and shortly after joining, Jim left to pursue his studio (Allusion Studios) and other musical projects (Warp 3 with Ryan Maza, an amazing guitarist). So we began to look for another drummer, and stumbled across Dale Page. We played around the Tucson area, but things never took off or worked out, and we fizzled out by the fall of 1998.1996 - Uprising
While in NJ in the second half of 1996, I jammed around regularly with old friends. The most notorious of these was the "Uprising Jam". This was in the summer, along with Mike Pieper on drums, and Tom Lesniak on guitar (now both with Dirty Brown Sound). I played "bass". I was playing my Rickenbacker guitar through a Whammy Pedal down one octave to simulate bass. It was convincing enough. But there was a lot of random jamming with myself, Mike, and Tom Lesniak. Those times will be referred to as "Uprising" for purposes of this. These were abandoned when I went back to AZ in December of 1996.1994-1996 - Detrimental Absence
We were not always called Detrimental Absence, but when we weren't, we had no name, so I use the moniker to refer to a few lineups of the bands I tried to work with along with my good friend Fernando Ma on bass. Initially it was Darin Guthrie on drums, and we were a power trio. Our primary show was at a pep rally at Rincon/University High School in Tucson, AZ in the spring of 1995. For a short while we also had a singer whose name escapes me (Fern, help...). Then for a while Fern and I worked with drummer Ryan Chaffey. These groups basically disbanded in the summer of 1996 when I went back to NJ.1990-1993 - Dirty Shame
This was my first band. My dad used to jam with some of his friends, and I started tagging along. The name came from my dad's ex-boss Sam Muziani, as it was a "Dirty Shame" what we did to music. It didn't take long for me to become the lead guitarist. We went through some personnel changes along the way, but the longest lasting lineup was myself on guitar/vocals, my dad on bass/vocals, Tim Nestor on drums, and "Unstable" Bob Gable as lead vocals. (Honorable mention go to the passing "members" as well: Bruce Pogosaew on Keyboards, drums (once) and occasional sound, Mike Bias "Ibby" on vocals, John "Muzz" on drums, Joe Pampani on guitar, Mike Jenkins on drums, and Ray Jenkins on Guitar/Vocals.) We played around the central NJ area between 1991 and 1993. We disbanded in December of 1993 when my family moved from NJ to AZ.