I believe in music

• My musical background

• My notable performance history

• My current projects

• My greatest influences

My musical background

I began creating music at the age of 4, fortunate to have parents who are passionate about music and music creation. My first classes were in groups, where I became familiar with basic theory concepts, and learned to play and perform songs on piano.

I immediately was rebellious to theory. I realized that I had a special connection with music, but I also realized that everyone around me could always do much better than I did with sightreading. I often tell a story about a candy bar (or rather, a lack thereof) that emphasizes my innate resistance to reading sheet music.

I have always preferred the method of learning by ear. I learned songs such as Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin, Mozart’s Sonata in C, and many others by watching and listening to my Mom play.

Following the relentless pursuit of ‘the right teacher,’ I began to find my musical home. Between a beloved teacher introducing me to Ableton live, another wonderful teacher introducing me to the fundamentals of improvisational blues piano, Youtube teaching me guitar in the same way that I learned from my Mom, and School of Rock (which I will explain in detail in the following paragraphs), I began to solidify my internal identity with the creation of music.

School of Rock was an extremely influential extra curricular activity in my musical journey. School of Rock can provide students with lessons, cover band organization, and the opportunity for students to perform at many different venues in the surrounding area. For any readers interested in learning more about school of rock, I will link the company information page here.

Being primarily a vocalist with the School of Rock, I took pride in being the ‘front man’ for the majority of my performances. In being a part of both the School of Rock house band, and the School of Rock Allstars national touring program, I was extremely fortunate to play venues such as Red Rocks in Colorado, Lollapalooza in Chicago, the KBPI Rock and Roll Car Show, The Knitting Factory in New York, as well as many incredible venues all across the United States.

As much as these experiences showed me, this was with the structure of an organization doing much of the heavy lifting. I began to realize this with the creation of my own band, Running with Scizzors. Specifically I began to realize the work involved with the organization of a band, and the booking of shows. With a few originals, but primarily covers, we were very fortunate to play at The Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, FoCo MX in Fort Collins, as well as The Parker Days Festival in Parker. We also took the opportunity to play as an opening act for Trapt, Drowning Pool, and many other acts.

Following a voice change and an in increase in schoolwork, I left my band Running With Scizzors and began to pursue my personal projects more seriously. During my time in Running With Scizzors, a primarily metal band, I began to fall in love with writing softer, prettier songs on guitar and piano. The impulse to write this type of music first came to me following my first high school breakup. In around two years, I wrote somewhere in the order of 10-20 songs, but I had no money to record them. This is when I started to learn music production.

I purchased Ableton Live Suite 10 as a commitment to my solo musicianship in the beginning of 2020, and released my first single to Spotify a couple months later. This song is called Blue: An Anecdote. In the process of attempting to record my songs, and create new songs with Ableton, I absolutely fell in love with the process of producing songs within a Digital Audio Workstation. Becoming acquainted with this method of creating music has lead me to a deeper understanding of the ‘special connection’ I have felt to music since a very young age.

Seeking a way to further my music education, I enrolled in college level Jazz programs, production programs, and songwriting programs. Due to reoccurring pneumothoraxes (lung collapses) and persistent chronic pain, however, I had to medically withdrawal from all of my schooling.

Despite the pain from medical problems, I felt very fortunate to have been afforded the time to create my first EP: “The Consequences of a Vision”. In the process of creating this EP, I learned a ton about the process of refining my music production abilities to match more professional standards.

I have been extremely grateful to have my project Four Woroo as a sandbox for the experimental music I want to create. In my many years of writing music, I have realized the unique pressure of creating music with a goal of refinement and listenability. In beginning to experience this, I decided to create my low pressure project Four Woroo. Through this project, I have allowed my creativity to run wild, and in doing so, I have created some of my favorite songs ever.

Now I am seeking to perform and develop a brand. I fully intend to make music my full time career, whatever that may mean. I intend to write/perform as many songs for as many people as I possibly can for the rest of my life.

My notable performance history

My current projects

Currently, I mainly have work to show from Evan and Four Woroo, but I have many unreleased songs that I intend to release sometime soon in the future.

Evan is what I see to be the culmination of all of my songwriting with instruments. Having played piano and guitar for the majority of my life, I wanted to create a project for all of the songs I had written with these instruments alone.

As mentioned before, I created Four Woroo initially because I wanted a place to upload songs that were very experimental and over the top. This project evolved into something much bigger than I initially intended for it to become because I felt very comfortable with the premise of the project. This being said, I am both proud of this project, and feel a need to excuse it. This project is my creativity unleashed, and I intend to always keep it this way. For this reason, I eventually may go forward more seriously with a project that goes by a different name (which I will explain in the following paragraph) and keep Four Woroo more personal.

My greatest influences

Here is my Topsters haha: