The Narrative Behind The Sound

My journey started when I was about two years old. My first real memory of sound – apart from the voices of my family – was a little orange record called The ABC of Sound. I was obsessed with “N for Nightingale.” I just adored that sound; it was an amazing thing to me. I listened to it for what felt like years.

Eventually, I became aware of the music my family was playing. My father loved swing, jazz, and big band, so I grew up on the likes of Frank Sinatra and Matt Monro. Then I discovered my oldest sister’s 78s from the late 50s, which introduced me to the rock and roll greats like Elvis. My other sister had a collection of albums and singles from the mid-60s; I’d listen to them as she bought them, which left me well-versed in the entire Beatles catalog.

It was a sharp turn, though. One day I was listening to the Diddymen and Western themes, and the next, I was discovering Led Zeppelin. I’d seen them mentioned in a music magazine, sought them out, and was immediately hooked. By the time I was eleven, I was buying everything in the charts – Slade, T. Rex, and the glam rock of the era – but I was also diving into the “heavy” stuff like Deep Purple and the American alternative hippie scene. I just adored it all.

In the early 70s, I had a revelation. I came across an album by Tangerine Dream called Phaedra. I was drawn in by the cover and the marketing blurb that described it as “music that melts”. It changed my life. It was the first time I had ever heard synthesized sounds of that nature, and it completely changed the game for me.

I was starting to play keyboards and guitar around that time. I’m entirely self-taught – I always have been – and I began playing along to these records, gravitating more and more toward the synthesizers. Then I discovered Ashra Tempel and their drummer, Klaus Schulze. When he moved away from the drums to become a solo keyboard player, his work blew me away. Albums like Moondawn were incredible, but my personal favorite is Mirage.

There is a track on it called “Crystal Lake” that is almost entirely made of what sounds like metallic bells. I remember listening to it during a snowstorm in the late 70s, under the influence of some “unusual substances,” and it was a life-altering experience. I couldn’t believe how those melodies flowed to form such wonderful cosmic patterns.

That is my foundation. Even though I’m versed in the classics – classical, folk, and the history of music – it was the ability to create sounds that hadn’t existed before where I found my niche. I love creating musical voyages that take people beyond the norm. That’s why I play with rhythm; I’ll start with a beat and then intentionally move behind it, as I did in Galactic Nomad. I enjoy playing with timings, signatures, and the tension of starting or stopping off the point of the beat.

This was how it all began. I’ll be sure to add more to the story as we go.