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BIOGRAPHY

As a fairly average child growing up in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City during the 1980s, music was always a constant presence in my life. My initial exposure came from piano, trumpet, drums, and also from my brother, Tom, who was making a mark in the local metal scene as a singer, song-writer, and guitarist in a band called Red On Black. Beginning at the age of five, Tom introduced me to rock and metal bands such as Kiss, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Def Leopard, Ratt, and Alice Cooper; all of whose characteristic heavy rhythms and heart-tugging melodies I immediately gravitated to. As I entered my teen years during the 1990s, I was drawn to new sounds that were part of my neighborhood and school culture; the gritty lyrics and infectious music behind popular hip hop acts such as The Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, and Bone, Thugs, and Harmony, among others. My late teens brought me into contact with the fast-paced and often emotional rhythms of ska, pop-punk, and hardcore social scenes, and bands such as Goldfinger, The Descendents, Earth Crisis, and Strife. As I continued to move through different social scenes and towards adulthood in search of my ultimate place in life, it became clear that the most personally rewarding and most common denominator among all the roads I had traveled and the many people I had met over the years was music. Now, I just had to figure out how to earn a living from it.

At the age of eighteen and fresh out of high school, still with much confusion about my future and despite increasing warnings to “grow up” and “do something with my life”, I continued to put my focus more on music culture than school, work, and other responsibilities as I felt “doing something with my life” according to someone else’s terms wasn’t worth doing if there wasn’t passion behind it. Music culture was where I found satisfaction, so consequently, I continued to involve myself in local music scenes as a supporter and a promoter. It was spiritual to me and no cubicle or campus could even come close to overthrowing its thrown. If that meant me having to be the “black sheep” of my family and society, then so be it. For better or for worse, it just felt right at the time and I always trusted my gut instinct.

I believe it to have been fate that lead me to a sports arena in Morris County, New Jersey during the summer of 1999. My friends and I often drove aimlessly among the unassuming roads of Jersey suburbia looking for a place to party, but on this particular night, our journey lead us to what would turn out to be one of the biggest parties of my life.

A few days before, a friend had encouraged me to purchase a ticket to what I was told was a rave. Now bear in mind, I had no idea what a rave was at the time. I was still an avid supporter of the punk and hardcore scenes and the electronic music scene simply did not exist in my life. Dancing? Me? No way, I thought. I had previously dabbled with some commercial radio dance music in the past, but had for the most part all but forgotten my brief interaction with electronic music years ago. After finally entering the arena, however, I was blown away and immediately realized that I was making my way through an entirely new dimension of untapped sound, visual stimulation, and social interaction.  The sum of all these attributes created  an interactive environment I had not been witness to before at any other musical or social event. The lyric-less music and lack of a spotlight on any particular performer seemed to offer an entirely unique experience for each individual, creating a non-linear atmosphere with unlimited possibilities for entertainment.

After recovering from an initial sensory overload of sight, sound, and emotion, I had all but quit school and work to run away with this electronic circus known as rave, becoming a regular at most events around New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with a fierce conviction for spreading the word about this growing underground phenomenon. As I became further involved with the culture, however, I soon came to know the risks associated with holding such open-ended and often lawless events as well. Like anarchy, the rave experience was great in theory, but often flawed in practice. Such freedom devoid of checks and balances in the hands of man almost always falls victim to corruption. In the year 2000, after becoming witness to a rapid decay of quality and safety at events around the New York City area, due to what I feel was greed and substance abuse, I came very close to retirement from rave culture. After all, I wasn’t getting any younger and had grown to feel uncomfortable within what I once considered my sanctuary. Maybe it was finally time to “grow up” like everyone had been telling me.

After some serious soul searching, however, I found that I could not help but be drawn back to the music and the idea that rave culture had not reached its full potential in New York just yet. At the very least, I wasn't satisfied with my tour of duty in the rave scene. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was my responsibility to be accountable for the forward movement of both my life and also rave culture in New York as whole. If I wasn’t part of the solution, I was part of the problem, right? If I had merely given up, then I guess I wasn't as passionate as I had claimed to be all along, anyway. I had learned a lesson that I still carry with me today: Don’t ever give up on something you believe in, no matter what obstacles you are faced with or how many times you might fail along the way. I now don’t think that anything is impossible. At the very least, I find comfort in the fact that we have the rest of our lives to achieve whatever it is we’re working for.

By late 2000, I had started my rave rehabilitation project by purchasing vinyl and becoming proficient with beat-matching. In 2002, after some time of practice and promotion of my first mixed CDs, I drew the attention of Hardmind Productions of Long Island, a like-minded group of individuals who held a similar “do it yourself” attitude and passion for the advancement of rave culture. This new union lit a fire of strength and initiative that lead to both the continued success and exposure of Hardmind as well as my growth as a DJ in the local Northeast rave scene through free events and music distribution. Later, I would team-up with DPIM Recordings, who also shared a similar conviction for reaching rave culture’s full potential.

Today, I remain an active participant in all areas of rave culture including DJing, original music production, event production and consultation, dance, and general advocacy. Future projects include continued production of original music, mixed CDs, local event production, national and international tours, and consultation and motivation for others, in and outside of rave culture, to continue pursuit of their individual goals and true happiness.

Original Music:

Snakes, 2008
Blvd (Sunrise Highway RMX), Vizionary Mindz, 2008
Tortured Soul, DPIM Recordings, 2007

Mixed CDs:

Driving Miss Crazy, 2008
The Hardmind 5 Year Anniversary, 2006
Sparked, 2005
This Means War, 2005
1999, 2004
Learning The Hard Way, 2003
My Definition, 2003
Real, 2002
Devastate You, 2002
Chaos, 2001
Dropping Acid, 2001

Past DJ Performances have occurred in:

New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Florida
Wisconsin
Ontario, Canada
Quebec, Canada

Past Event Production and Collaborations include:

Events:

Up In Smoke
Synchronize
Sesame Place
Secret Sound
Uprising
Collaborate
The Pit Record Release Party
Dance For Peace
Unify
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Ravin’ Eve
Crush: The First Annual DJ Auction
The Eleventh Hour
The Afterlife
A Family Affair
The Time Machine
Saturday Morning Cartunes
Thundertrax
Independance Day
Here To Stay
Blending Formz
Enter The Dragon

Promoter Affiliates:

Vitus
Floorburnerz
Kind Recordings
Groove Therapy
Digital Entrapment
The Luv Vibe
V is Hardcore

For Past Event Performances, Please Visit My Archives

Electronic Dance Music Influences:

Hard and Acid Trance and Techno, Psychedelic Trance, Hardcore, Hard House and NRG

DJs Gonzo, Jevic, The Dever, Sykopath, Dread, Kookane, Rankin, Punch, Samson, and Excel

Producers D.A.V.E The Drummer, Mark Tyler, The Geezer, Jeff Amadeus, Glenn Wilson, Kai Tracid, A.S.Y.S., Lab 4, Casper, Midi Miliz

Labels Smitten, Stay Up Forever, Cluster, Infected, No-Entry, Re-Entry, Punish, Compound, Tracid Trax, Chaos, Noom, Tinrib, DP, Dip, Hadshot

This biography cannot tell the entire story of my life past and present. For more information, you are encouraged to contact me on Myspace!


The Man, The Mission.
		BIOGRAPHY As a fairly average child growing up in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City during the 1980s, music was always a constant presence in my life. My initial exposure came from piano, trumpet, drums, and also from my brother, Tom, who was making a mark in the local metal scene as a singer, song-writer, and guitarist in a band called Red On Black. Beginning at the age of five, Tom introduced me to rock and metal bands such as Kiss, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Def Leopard, Ratt, and Alice Cooper; all of whose characteristic heavy rhythms and heart-tugging melodies I immediately gravitated to. As I entered my teen years during the 1990s, I was drawn to new sounds that were part of my neighborhood and school culture; the gritty lyrics and infectious music behind popular hip hop acts such as The Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, and Bone, Thugs, and Harmony, among others. My late teens brought me into contact with the fast-paced and often emotional rhythms of ska, pop-punk, and hardcore social scenes, and bands such as Goldfinger, The Descendents, Earth Crisis, and Strife. As I continued to move through different social scenes and towards adulthood in search of my ultimate place in life, it became clear that the most personally rewarding and most common denominator among all the roads I had traveled and the many people I had met over the years was music. Now, I just had to figure out how to earn a living from it. At the age of eighteen and fresh out of high school, still with much confusion about my future and despite increasing warnings to “grow up” and “do something with my life”, I continued to put my focus more on music culture than school, work, and other responsibilities as I felt “doing something with my life” according to someone else’s terms wasn’t worth doing if there wasn’t passion behind it. Music culture was where I found satisfaction, so consequently, I continued to involve myself in local music scenes as a supporter and a promoter. It was spiritual to me and no cubicle or campus could even come close to overthrowing its thrown. If that meant me having to be the “black sheep” of my family and society, then so be it. For better or for worse, it just felt right at the time and I always trusted my gut instinct. I believe it to have been fate that lead me to a sports arena in Morris County, New Jersey during the summer of 1999. My friends and I often drove aimlessly among the unassuming roads of Jersey suburbia looking for a place to party, but on this particular night, our journey lead us to what would turn out to be one of the biggest parties of my life. A few days before, a friend had encouraged me to purchase a ticket to what I was told was a rave. Now bear in mind, I had no idea what a rave was at the time. I was still an avid supporter of the punk and hardcore scenes and the electronic music scene simply did not exist in my life. Dancing? Me? No way, I thought. I had previously dabbled with some commercial radio dance music in the past, but had for the most part all but forgotten my brief interaction with electronic music years ago. After finally entering the arena, however, I was blown away and immediately realized that I was making my way through an entirely new dimension of untapped sound, visual stimulation, and social interaction. The sum of all these attributes created an interactive environment I had not been witness to before at any other musical or social event. The lyric-less music and lack of a spotlight on any particular performer seemed to offer an entirely unique experience for each individual, creating a non-linear atmosphere with unlimited possibilities for entertainment. After recovering from an initial sensory overload of sight, sound, and emotion, I had all but quit school and work to run away with this electronic circus known as rave, becoming a regular at most events around New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with a fierce conviction for spreading the word about this growing underground phenomenon. As I became further involved with the culture, however, I soon came to know the risks associated with holding such open-ended and often lawless events as well. Like anarchy, the rave experience was great in theory, but often flawed in practice. Such freedom devoid of checks and balances in the hands of man almost always falls victim to corruption. In the year 2000, after becoming witness to a rapid decay of quality and safety at events around the New York City area, due to what I feel was greed and substance abuse, I came very close to retirement from rave culture. After all, I wasn’t getting any younger and had grown to feel uncomfortable within what I once considered my sanctuary. Maybe it was finally time to “grow up” like everyone had been telling me. After some serious soul searching, however, I found that I could not help but be drawn back to the music and the idea that rave culture had not reached its full potential in New York just yet. At the very least, I wasn't satisfied with my tour of duty in the rave scene. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was my responsibility to be accountable for the forward movement of both my life and also rave culture in New York as whole. If I wasn’t part of the solution, I was part of the problem, right? If I had merely given up, then I guess I wasn't as passionate as I had claimed to be all along, anyway. I had learned a lesson that I still carry with me today: Don’t ever give up on something you believe in, no matter what obstacles you are faced with or how many times you might fail along the way. I now don’t think that anything is impossible. At the very least, I find comfort in the fact that we have the rest of our lives to achieve whatever it is we’re working for. By late 2000, I had started my rave rehabilitation project by purchasing vinyl and becoming proficient with beat-matching. In 2002, after some time of practice and promotion of my first mixed CDs, I drew the attention of Hardmind Productions of Long Island, a like-minded group of individuals who held a similar “do it yourself” attitude and passion for the advancement of rave culture. This new union lit a fire of strength and initiative that lead to both the continued success and exposure of Hardmind as well as my growth as a DJ in the local Northeast rave scene through free events and music distribution. Later, I would team-up with DPIM Recordings, who also shared a similar conviction for reaching rave culture’s full potential. Today, I remain an active participant in all areas of rave culture including DJing, original music production, event production and consultation, dance, and general advocacy. Future projects include continued production of original music, mixed CDs, local event production, national and international tours, and consultation and motivation for others, in and outside of rave culture, to continue pursuit of their individual goals and true happiness. Original Music: Snakes, 2008 Blvd (Sunrise Highway RMX), Vizionary Mindz, 2008 Tortured Soul, DPIM Recordings, 2007 Mixed CDs: Driving Miss Crazy, 2008 The Hardmind 5 Year Anniversary, 2006 Sparked, 2005 This Means War, 2005 1999, 2004 Learning The Hard Way, 2003 My Definition, 2003 Real, 2002 Devastate You, 2002 Chaos, 2001 Dropping Acid, 2001 Past DJ Performances have occurred in: New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts New Hampshire Florida Wisconsin Ontario, Canada Quebec, Canada Past Event Production and Collaborations include: Events: Up In Smoke Synchronize Sesame Place Secret Sound Uprising Collaborate The Pit Record Release Party Dance For Peace Unify Dick Clark’s New Year’s Ravin’ Eve Crush: The First Annual DJ Auction The Eleventh Hour The Afterlife A Family Affair The Time Machine Saturday Morning Cartunes Thundertrax Independance Day Here To Stay Blending Formz Enter The Dragon Promoter Affiliates: Vitus Floorburnerz Kind Recordings Groove Therapy Digital Entrapment The Luv Vibe V is Hardcore For Past Event Performances, Please Visit My Archives Electronic Dance Music Influences: Hard and Acid Trance and Techno, Psychedelic Trance, Hardcore, Hard House and NRG DJs Gonzo, Jevic, The Dever, Sykopath, Dread, Kookane, Rankin, Punch, Samson, and Excel Producers D.A.V.E The Drummer, Mark Tyler, The Geezer, Jeff Amadeus, Glenn Wilson, Kai Tracid, A.S.Y.S., Lab 4, Casper, Midi Miliz Labels Smitten, Stay Up Forever, Cluster, Infected, No-Entry, Re-Entry, Punish, Compound, Tracid Trax, Chaos, Noom, Tinrib, DP, Dip, Hadshot This biography cannot tell the entire story of my life past and present. For more information, you are encouraged to contact me on Myspace!
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