My journey to becoming the bass guitarist/vocalist and leader of The RADIO PLAYS has not been a typical one. I didn’t start playing the bass in my teenage years and continue up to today. However, in 1968, I was the lead singer and “tambourine man” of a Junior High School “cover” band, The Underground Translations, which won the school’s battle of the bands contest with inspired renditions of “House of the Rising Sun” (The Animals), “GLORIA” (The Shadows of Knight), and “Light My Fire” (The Doors)!
 

My musical interests began singing in church as a child and ignited into a passion upon watching The Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan show performance, which soon had me singing along with their songs on the radio in our garage. However, other than the brief Jr. High band experience, this passion often took a back seat to many athletic, academic, scientific, work, and family interests most of my life. 
 

In 1998, I began a renewed faith journey, which led me to becoming a member of the worship team at Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California, as a vocalist and percussionist ever since. And, needing more volunteer bass players during the pandemic influenced me to buy a Hofner “Beatle” bass, take an extensive training course, and become a monthly contributor to the team as a bass guitarist after sitting in on mid-week rehearsals for some time.

 Today, I’m exploring my dreams to bring joy to audiences through playing bass guitar and singing as a member of The RADIO PLAYS. 

My main bass is a Spector Bantam 5, a short-scaled variety that perfectly fits my “short-scaled human” frame!  A Mark Bass 58R 500-watt amplifier head and matching 58R 103 Energy cabinet gives me the ability for you to “feel” my signature “pocket playing” style. I’m a true classic rock, pick player who uses a unique picking technique courtesy of a discussion years ago with my favorite bass player, Chris Squire of the progressive rock band YES. 
 

I'm a late bloomer. Although I tried taking some singing lessons in high school for a short time and later at age 21 auditioned and was accepted into a small theater company, I only performed one show as a chorus singer and dancer before moving to a different state. I really did not continue with it until 2019 when I joined the Intel weekly "Jammers" band, which play for internal events and parties.  

I joined as a keyboardist, as playing piano was something I had done as a kid being chosen to play in the Young Musician concerts at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I played off and on for many years, mostly writing my own songs or just improvising and learning some contemporary songs.

I picked up keyboards again in 2017 after my passion for equestrian riding was curtailed due to a fall that caused a Mild Traumatic Brain injury that took 2 months from which to fully recover. 

In 2019 when I joined the Intel "Jammers" band as a keyboardist, I began to sing and in January 2020 began to take lessons from Ken Tamplin's vocal academy. In 2021, I began taking lessons from professional rock and roll singer, Sara Loera. At Sara's suggestion, I also took a choir course at a local community college. In 2023, when the Intel "Jammers" reformed after the Pandemic, I returned as a lead singer and continue singing and playing with them today.

In August 2024, Rob contacted me after viewing my profile on BandMix and invited me to audition for The RADIO PLAYS. After the audition, the band asked me to join it. And, as it's said, the rest is history!

My journey into the world of Drumming began one early Christmas morning, when my folks presented me with my first drum set, at the tender age of 7. What were they thinking! Well, that cardboard and paper drum set didn't last too long. Thankfully! But it evidently did plant a seed that would eventually grow into a real love for music and drums.

Early gigs provided growth opportunities to enjoy the artists of the time like Elvis, and of course the Beatles. Unfortunately, life and career interrupted the drum growth and kept drumming to an occasional gig for a party, wedding, graduation, etc. But then, much later, as careers were winding down, the time and opportunities for playing again opened up. I resumed working with drum coaches and doing gigs with a variety of bands over a 12-year time frame.

The past 2 years I was the drummer for a local band, The Street Wheelers, that played original songs along with Americana and classic rock. Recently I was approached to help form the new band, The RADIO PLAYS. This is a great opportunity to play so many of the hit songs that I grew up with and play with a great group of musicians.

I typically play a full set of DW acoustic drums and use a Roland electric set for smaller venues. Rock on!

I first picked up the electric guitar at the age of 14 years old, growing up in Oakland, California.  It was 1968, so obviously I was heavily influenced by the guitar greats and guitar centric music of the time. Guitarist like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and the many psychedelic and British blues bands, caught most of my attention at that time. 

I started playing with others later in high school and after graduation, mainly for fun at parties in garage bands. Then the U.S. Army called, whereby I wasn't able to play much during those three years.  When I started college afterwards, I picked up where I left off. I started honing my guitars skills and tried squeezing in as much playing as possible in between my college studies.  

Upon graduating from college with a degree in architecture, I continued playing in casual bands and playing casual gigs such as parties, etc. However, life's priorities changed. I settled down, got married, raised two active children (soccer dad), as well as my career as an architect became increasingly demanding. I had to unfortunately put down the guitar for around 20 years! 

Then, around 2007, after taking the family on a vacation to Spain, the itch to play guitar again returned. This time I began dabbling in flamenco guitar. I became a student of it for about five years. However, after my children grew up and went on their own, and retiring from my career as an architect, classic rock and the blues, as well as picking up the electric guitar started calling me again. More recently, I’ve played regularly with the local classic rock band, “Unbridled” from 2016 through 2022. Now, I am excited to continue the musical journey with The Radio Plays band. I play classic Gibson (SG, Les Paul, ES-335) and Fender (Stratocaster, Telecaster) Guitars, and use Blackstar (HTC Mark II) and Fender (Blues Junior IV, Champion) amplification with various effects pedals.

I've always been mesmerized by iconic guitar talents such as Brian May, Ted Nugent, Terry Kath, Carlos Santana, and Richie Blackmore to name a few. I first got motivated to start playing guitar watching the TV coverage of Live Aid in 1985. 

Me and one of my roommates decided we would learn to play guitar and bass and start a band, so for the next big concert we could be there instead of watching it on TV. I've been playing guitar ever since, though my roommate never took up the bass.

Since then, I've been in several Alternative Rock, Blues, and Classic Rock bands such as Cats in Heat, Crunchy Frog, Full Frontal Nudity, Plastic Sole, The Walker Blues Band, The Detonators, and Squander. 

I have taken a couple of breaks from music to perform, direct and run local community theaters, but my passion and focus is solely on music now. I'm elated this opportunity to join The RADIO PLAYS as a guitarist/vocalist came along at just the right time.