I started out playing clarinet when I was maybe 8 or 9. It was fun for a while, and taught me the basics of reading music. I never really liked it that much though, and dropped it when I left elementary school.

In Junior High, I started playing drums. I took Percussion twice a week at lunch hour, which let me learn several instruments over the course of 3 years. Mallet instruments like vibraphone and marimba, snare drum for work on the basic rudiments, and of course drum set as well.

In high school I pulled together a drum kit with pieces scrounged from pawn shops. Once I had a kick, snare, and hi-hat, I could start jamming with my friends who were also getting started.

Later we formed a hardcore band called No Offense. That was Ian Hart on guitar, Jake Dambergs on bass, Alfred Wooley on vocals, Jimmy (oh man, I forget his last name) on guitar, and me on drums. It was a lot of fun for a few years... we only broke up when I was moving away from Halifax in 1993.

Around that time I started getting more into African and Latin music. This was mostly congas for me. We formed a group called Batuque that played around Halifax quite a bit. We busked a lot, and learned a lot of pieces that we could perform in shows. At one of those shows, we opened for Afro Musica. They asked me to join them on congas.

Afro Musica was (and still is) primarily a soukous band. I played with them for a few years (at the same time as No Offense and Batuque). I quit the band when I moved to Geneva, but they continue playing. The only original member is Ed Matwawana, the lead singer.

Finally, I also played in a street samba band based in Halifax, called Samba Nova. We basically copied some of the rythms from Brazillian Carnival samba and played around town.

Ah, so much fun and so many good memories! Lately, I'm lucky if I get to jam with friends once every few months. I still love music and still love to play though.

Recordings