The Music Vault

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• 2009 – The Nobodys Sessions: This is a set of songs we recorded in one evening in Rob Gerami’s basement studio in Clayton, Ohio around March of 2009. It’s me on guitar and vocals, my brother Jeff on drums, and Chris Motter on bass. All the guitars are acoustic.

Brainstew – Greenday cover, Chop Suey – System of a Down cover, Crunchy Granola Suite – Neil Diamond cover, Cumbersome – Seven Mary Three cover, Holy Diver – Dio cover

• 2001 – j alone: This is the CD I did entirely by myself. I sang and played all the instruments, wrote everything except “Doves” and engineered and mixed everything alone. There is some decent stuff in this collection, but I was in a pretty weird place in my life and you can hear that in a lot of the songs. Hopefully in the next couple years their will be a new “j alone” release with a cooler vibe.

j alone intro, Pride, Those Things, T.A.T.W.I.L.B., Stay, Shut, Shade of Gray, Life, Lately, Finally Feel, Drain, When Doves Cry - Prince cover, Inside – Acoustic demo song that didn’t make release

• 1997 – Drummer-for-hire Studio Sessions: I received a phone call from my good friend John Hughes that he had a session scheduled that he needed a drummer for. This was the result of the afternoon session with a local folk music guy.

Own Power, In A Box

• 1996 – Grin: All original project featuring, Jon Faber, myself, and a bass player named Phil. The song “Comfortable Stride” made a “Best of Dayton” compilation CD in 96′ or 97′. We played a few really cool shows and had a lot of fun writing this CD and recording it. This one was recorded at Refraze Studios in Dayton with our friend John Hughes behind the console.

Odd Man Out, Velvet Drowning, I, Rites of Passage, Ballad of the Bipeds, Bestseller, Secure, Comfortable Stride, Choice, Sor: Etude in D

• 1995 - Surrender Dorothy: This short lived (for me) band consisted of Jon Faber on guitar, Scott Wallace on vocals, Myself on drums, and a guitar player and bass player of which I don’t recall. If this band would have started five years earlier it would have stood a chance. It was definitely a hair metal band. If only I had a picture to show you. The song I have is a good solid hair metal song… Enjoy!

Never Surrender

• 1994 – Free Studio Time With Jon Faber: My good friend Jon Faber had recently won the “best guitar player in Dayton” contest at McGuffy’s and received some free studio time as a prize. He had this song written so we went in and had some fun one afternoon. I love this song. It’s got it’s moments of genius and it’s moments of “yikes”, but all and all it’s a solid piece of my music history that I’m glad I still have. Interesting side note: I only had a snare, bass drum, high hat and one china cymbal for this session.

Be That As It May

• 1994 – DR. X: The Chillicothe Recording Workshop session. Recorded “On the Hill”. This is the same studio that most of the first Festive Skeletons CD was recorded at. Same engineer too. Our good friend John Hughes was behind the console on these two songs. This is the second DR X band. The only remaining original members from the original DR. X, which is listed below, are Keith Wood, and myself. This version of  DR. X featured Ken Coggeshall on vocals and Bill Staudt on bass. I was always really pleased with the performances on these two songs. DR X later went on to re-record these songs without me for their debut CD. It’s a shame really as this session sounded really great. Enjoy!

The Last Thing, DMHC Man

• 1994 – DR. X: The FJM session was recorded in a day just like most of the stuff on here. It turned out pretty crappy. The performances and the sound quality pretty much blow. These are some classic DR. X originals though that some of you may remember hearing us perform live. Again, this is the second version of DR. X with Ken and Bill.

12 Minutes, Sit and Look Out, What About You

• 1993 – The Progressive Basement Tape: This one instrumental was recently found by Chris Motter who is playing bass on it. I’m sure this was recorded originally on cassette. Keith Wood also played on this one along with myself playing the drums. We were very into Dream Theater and Fates Warning at the time and it shows. The song is very progressive rock/metal and worth a listen.

Basement Instrumental

• 1992 – The Original DR. X: This is the full length studio record from probably the best original band I was ever in. We all were very humble and in a happy place during the recording of this. I think that’s why it came out so well. It was recorded in the late Joe Miller’s basement studio in Belmont before he moved in to the FJM Studios on Dryden. Great guy. The band at the time consisted of Jane Updegraff – vocals, Keith Wood – guitars, Dan Reck – bass, and myself on drums. This one is worth downloading and listening to in it’s entirety for sure. Enjoy!

Who Asked You, The Tide, The Love, Speak My Name, Sign From God, Familiar Lies, All I Have to Give, January 5, Instrumental

• 1989 – Shadowcast: Shadowcast consisted of Randy Davis on guitar, Joel Borchers on guitar, Chris Motter on bass, Nathan Via on vocals, and me on drums. I’m guessing on the year for this. It may have been 1990 I don’t remember. This single song was recorded down in Chilicothe at The Recording Workshop but not on “The Hill”. I don’t remember which studio it was in. The engineers name was Tony something.

Prelude

• 1989 – Shadowcast: These two songs were recorded one studio over from where “Prelude” was recorded. This was a fun session. I think we spent the night in a motel room down there during the two day session. Being away from home in the studio for more than one day with the band felt really cool. I still enjoy listening to these two songs as they still stir up memories from those two summer days the we spent being a “real band”.

Necropolis, Black Trinity

• 1989 - Shadowcast: We recorded this song at some studio on East Third St. in Dayton. It was our first true studio recording experience. We had no idea what we were doing. The engineer did a great job with the vocals and the song as a whole.

Private Reality

• 1988 – Shadowcast: This song, I believe, was my first “multitrack” recording I ever played on. It was recorded in the basement of my parents house out in Waynesville with Randy’s reel to reel 4 track. No lie!

Word Void

• 1984 – Iron Saint: Wow… I don’t know what to say. Iron Saint consisted of Scott Wallace on vocals (He was the singer years later for Surrender Dorothy, see above), Evan Kirk on bass, Walt Tracey on guitar, Randy Davis on guitar, and me on drums. We played a show in my parents basement at a party. This cassette recording of a practice is from either the day before or the day of the show. Also, the intro that Scott Wallace created for us is here for your laughter as well.

Iron Saint Intro, Breaking The Law