My first job out of high school was as an improv comedian and associate producer at a comedy club, it was an awesome and hilarious 2 -3 years.
Then, after that little comedy interlude, I got back into performing and recording music. I wanted to know how all the parts fit together and how to play many instruments and how to best record and manipulate them.
I started playing in bars when i was 14, since then i’ve played local gigs, toured nationally in planes, trains, vans, and 1 boat, with many local heroes, unsung heroes, national treasures, and Juno (like grammy’s but Canadian) winners and losers. I’m most happy that through music i’ve made my best friends. (Check Out: Jeremy Fisher, Hawksley Workman, Kellylee Evans, Steve Boudreau, Wayne Eagles, Craig Cardiff… and there are others)
Around the same time i started playing gigs, i started recording on the changing technologies that let me hear my ideas back to me. From 1″ 8track reel the reel machines to the computer. Learning by trail and error I eventually became proficient enough to be asked/sought after to record/mix/edit albums from FreeJazz to Grind Core to Folk to Spoken Word to Pop and so on and onward.
All this time i was paying the bills working as an instrument repair technician for first Songbird Music and then Dave’s Drum Shop. Dave Dudley (the “Dave” in Dave’s drum shop, along with his family) has supported me through all my adventures and I really appreciate that.
The new situation i’m in is a great mix of Comedy/Musicality/Technical ability. Through my friendship with Dave Cooper i was asked to write songs on Nickelodeon’s Pig Goat Banana Cricket. It was my first experience in animation and I took to this fast paced world pretty quickly. Before i knew it i was getting more offers/requests from more legacy companies and i’ve been making funny songs and dramatic scores since and It’s Wicked! If you told 12 year old me I’d be working with the people and companies that I do now, 12 year old me would have to change his pants, twice.
I’m really thankful that the crews of the shows I’ve worked on so far have been nice enough to teach me about all the parts they provide, from storyboards, to colour correction, to character design, to even how the executives make decisions. I’m getting to learn all the parts of this cartoon orchestra!
I was lucky to be nominated for an Emmy for the work David Burns and myself did on Pig Goat Banana Cricket. Though we did not win, it’s pretty okay to be an Emmy loser.