Music, Music, Music

So much music and fun over the past year! Played nearly 60 shows in 2017 between Irrashional, The Dukes & Smith Band, and other projects/fill-in situations. Having so much fun with Irrashional as we add new venues and the number of people coming out to support us grows...plus the originals are starting to take shape as we now have three that we are performing regularly.

2018 has started off with a bang as I was able to travel out to LA to attend NAMM. Saw more than 40 people I recognized ranging from celebrities to up-and-coming artists I follow on YouTube/social media to people I have worked with in LA, Boston, and Charlotte. And the gear was amazing...walked over 18 miles in the three days we were there. Also toured the USC campus.

Spring Break 2018 was incredible. Started out performing with Irrashional at a cool venue on Lake Norman named Apps & Taps...and then on to Nashville! We were fortunate to have the opportunity to open for Resurrection - A Journey Tribute (RAJT) at 3rd & Lindsley in downtown Nashville for a sold-out crowd of more than 500 people, and I was able to sit in on a couple of Journey songs. It was an amazing night including hanging out with RAJT at Waffle House after the show. Toured a few colleges while in Nashville - the search continues.

Going to be a fun year with lots more music. Stay tuned!

Summertime!!

The year is flying by...hard to believe it's July already! 2017 has been fun as my band Irrashional continues to ramp with more and more shows, The Dukes & Smith Band is busier than it ever has been, and my Irrashional band mates Christian, Junior, and I won "best live music" as part of our high school's theatre team in competition at nationals in Kentucky. Between Irrashional and The Dukes & Smith Band, we've already passed the 40 mark on shows booked for the year. I'm excited to have been invited back to GRAMMY Camp in Los Angeles for the second year in a row and will be headed there next week. We return for three weeks and more shows and then it's off to Boston for a week at the Berklee College of Music's Guitar Sessions program for a third year. Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new friends. In the past week, I've finally begun a deep dive into arranging music for the play our theatre team will perform this year. Hopefully we'll have some of the same success we had last year - will be interesting as this play and the style of music is very different. If you're in the area, watch for performances by Irrashional and The Dukes & Smith Band. Make sure to check them (us) out at irrashionalband.com and dukesandsmith.com, or check us out on Facebook. Onward to the rest of summer!!

Looking back at 2016

2016 was a crazy fun year...Grammy Camp in LA, The JAM Advanced Camp in Nashville, Guitar Sessions at Berklee in Boston, performing with The Glass Hammers, The Dukes & Smith Band, and my new band Irrashional, providing music for our Theatre team's play and winning the opportunity to compete in nationals in March 2017, opening for Resurrection - A Journey Tribute at 3rd & Lindsley in downtown Nashville, getting to see Satriani, Vai, Vince Gill, Chon, road-tripping to Indianapolis to see Toto/Lukather, and seeing John Petrucci with Dream Theater. Did I say crazy fun?

Not sure how 2017 will stack up against that, but dates are starting to get booked through September already and we're looking at options for the summer. I just wrapped up performing as 2nd chair snare drummer for our All-District band (yes, snare drum) which makes me eligible to audition for All State. Looking forward to competing at national play competition with our Theatre team in Lexington, KY in March and looking forward to performing with The Dukes & Smith Band and hopefully lots of gigs with my new band, Irrashional. Check out Irrashional at http://www.irrashionalband.com.

Here's wishing everyone a great 2017!

Back from GRAMMY Camp and off to Nashville!!

GRAMMY Camp was amazing and Nashville is off to a great start! Spent 10 days in Los Angeles at USC working with very talented high school students from all over the US and the excellent faculty. Learned a lot about having a career in the music industry and spent "a week in the life" of a studio musician with a performance on the final night - all music performed that night was written and arranged by the students at GRAMMY Camp that week!! Had great fun hanging out with "The Flock".

Week 1 at The JAM Camp in Nashville was awesome. Had great instructors and was matched up with excellent musicians. Worked/performed with Jazz/Fusion and Hard Rock bands. To end the week, I was extremely fortunate to be part of the opening group for Resurrection - A Journey Tribute for a sold-out crowd at 3rd and Lindsley in downtown Nashville!! The guys from Resurrection are amazing musicians and great guys. Thanks so much to Mr. Vic White and the whole band for allowing me to be a part of the show!!

Looking forward to Week 2 at The JAM!!

Crazy Fun Summer Ahead!!

School is out and the summer is heating up! Have played a quite a few shows in the past couple of months with The Dukes & Smith Band and The Glass Hammers. Now comes summer...I'm excited to have been selected as a participant in the 12th annual GRAMMY Camp in Los Angeles!! I'll spend 10 days there in June working with industry pro's and gaining hands-on experience in the music industry. In July, I'll return to Nashville to participate in The JAM Advanced Music Camp for two weeks, and then it's off to Boston in August to participate in Berklee's "Guitar Sessions" program. Can't wait to work with all the other musicians I'll meet. Will have several shows in North Carolina in between each of these trips. I'll post updates. Have a great summer everyone!!

Had winning performance at annual LNCharter HS Talent Show!!!

Had a winning performance last night at Lake Norman Charter HS's annual "Saturday Knight Live" talent show!! Had great fun performing a Rush medley with the Sturt Brothers, Junior and Christian!! Here's a link...  https://youtu.be/PFdf3GML1HA 

Nashville Performance on Saturday, Nov 28!!

Nashville bound in just a few days to perform at Nashville's 3rd and Lindsley as an opener for an awesome band, Resurrection - A Journey Tribute!! The show starts at 8pm on Saturday, Nov 28. Will be a crazy day as I perform at AmeriCarna LIVE 2015 for the third year in a row at 11am ET that morning and then hit the road. Thanks so much to Resurrection for the opportunity!!

Festive Weekend Ahead!!

I'll be performing with The Glass Hammers on the Main and Kids stages at the Apple Festival in Taylorsville, NC (9:00am and 10:30am) and then trekking to Cornelius, NC to perform at Laketoberfest at 4:00pm this Saturday, 10/17!! My dad will be filling in on drums for us this weekend. Can't wait to perform and meet lots of people - hope to see you there!!