Noteable events in my musical career:

1977-1981	my interest in Kiss (from a visual perspective) was great, being an artist, I would illustrate their make-up designs regularly
1979	Kiss Dynasty was my first album, it was a christmas gift that I had begged for for months. Of course, when I played it for the first time, it skipped (gotta love vinyl!!). I never had a copy of that album that didn’t skip until I bought it on CD!
1980	While listening to my Kiss album, I would wrap myself up in a red crazy carpet and while adorning a kids snow shovel, I’d climb up onto the house oil tank and pretend to be performing as Gene Simmons on stage.
1980	My favorite Kiss characters were Ace Frehley, followed closely by Peter Criss strictly based on the make-up design and colours!
1983	The Police Synchronicity was the first album that I purchased myself
1983	This was the year I discovered Motley Crue and I was blown away by the album Shout at the Devil! I suddenly wanted to be a bass player big time, I just loved the whole persona of Nikki Sixx, his look, his image and his attitude. This is when I decided that when I grew up I wanted to be a rock star. I started working out ways I could pursue that interest.
1984	I wanted badly to buy a bass guitar but my parents decided that if I was going to learn to play a stringed instrument, it would have six strings… fine with me, it was a start!
1984	Started guitar lessons with a friend of the family who was a guitar player. I was learning basic chords how, to tune the guitar etc…
1984	My parents bought me the acoustic guitar that I was learning on from my instructor
1984	After about six months of playing folk songs such as “Blowing in the Wind”, my interest in playing guitar dwindled dramatically! My fingers hurt and I didn’t like what I was playing so my guitar went into the closet for a few months.
1984	A friend from school showed me his electric guitar and showed me some songs he had learned (Van Halen, ACDC, Black Sabbath) and that peaked my interest again, I had now discovered the power chord!
1984	Pulling out my acoustic guitar again, I started learning some of the songs that I enjoyed listening to so much
1985	Playing these songs on acoustic never felt right so I bought my friends electric guitar from him for $100
1985	I went to a local music store and bought a small Peavey practice amp which I still have today
1985	At this point I started writing my own songs
1985	With a couple of cassette recorders, I would record a guitar track, play it back in one cassette player, play my guitar along with it to record both guitar tracks with the other cassette player. Then I would play that back and sing along with it to record my vocals. Mulit-track recording before I even knew what it was! I later found out that this is how most musicians starting out worked, it wasn’t ingenious or unique on my part!
1985	Chatting with my cousin Bill Jolin (who lived in Calgary at the time) via snail mail, he would send me lyrics that he would write and I would put them to music and record them.
1985	Started taking a guitar class in high school, my school was the first in Ontario to have a music class exclusively for guitar
1986	Did my first onstage performance in front of a crowd with my fellow classmates at a highschool event
1986	Recorded my first song at school after class with my teacher on his recording equipment for a Toronto Song Writing Competition.
1987	At this point I’d now written between 20 and 30 songs that I had recorded using my home made cassette recording system that I had established.
1987	I wanted badly to be in a band at this point, my cousin Bill being a drummer (now living in Oshawa – Greater Toronto Area), was anxious for me to move to Oshawa to start that band with him and play shows in and around the GTA.
1987	Using college as my opportunity, I took the Greyhound 13 hours South to Oshawa to interview with Durham College to attend their Graphic Design Program
1987	I was accepted into the Durham College Program
1988	Moved in with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins in Oshawa to go to Durham College
1989	With my newly received government grant, I went directly to Long & McQuade and purchased a new amplifier to go with my next purchase, a red Charvelle Jackson Model 5 guitar from a fellow classmates husband
1988/1990	We jammed regularly in my Uncles house and my writing continued
1990	I started collaborating with fellow guitar player and College classmate Steve Parsons
1991	Bill moves out of his parents house and gets an apartment with his new girlfriend. The new place has a vacant garage in back
1991	Bill, Steve and I start to jam regularly in that garage
1991	Started working on a new music project with another classmate Chris Trubella who was getting into playing drums at the time. He had a friend that sang and another friend that played bass
1991	At the singers grandmothers house, we wrote songs, rehearsed and talked about possibly playing our first show in the very near future
1992	We booked our first show and as the reality of performing live drew closer, the singer backed out due to stage fright
1992	With no place to rehearse and no singer, Chris and I started working acoustically writing in his apartment and rehearsing where ever we could. I would play guitar and Chris would sing
1992	We recorded our first two songs together “Her Name Was Agnes” and “More” at Frank Ross Recording Studio – a studio converted from a garage that had 1/4” reel to reel equipment. I wrote and played all guitars while collaborating with Chris on the lyrics and song structure, Chris sang and played drums. There were no bass tracks on these recordings
1992	Met with bass player (another fellow graphic design classmate) Lance Pilon. We let him hear our recent recordings and he was interested in playing bass with us
1992	As a trio we continued to work on new songs and went back into the studio to record some new material whenever we had a couple of songs to record
1992	We put up some ads locally looking for a drummer as Chris had turned his focus to singing
1992	We set up in our first rehearsal studio
1993	After trying out several different drummer candidates over several months, we finally found someone that we clicked with and Adrian Lawrence became our first official drummer
1993	We continued to go into the recording studio whenever we had anything ready to record
1993	After long debates and discussions, we finally settled on a name for our new band, Riddle Me This…
1993	Frank Ross eventually booked us our first live gig, a band wars competition that he was involved in. Although we were one of the finalists in this competition over several weeks of performing, we were unable to make it to the final show due to scheduling conflicts
1993/1994	We continued to write, rehearse, record, book and play live shows until our drummer ran into some personal conflicts and had to leave the band.
1994	He continued to play shows with us until he helped find his replacement Gord Clement. Without missing a beat, things picked up right where Adrian left off
1994	I buy a second Amplifier along with some new effects pedals
1994	Rebuild the first electric guitar I purchased years ago with all new hardware (Sperzel Locking Machine Heads, Floyd Rose Tremolo, and an EMG active Pick-Up) creating a beat-up but awesome sounding stage guitar that I could let lose with on stage and not worry about damaging – not to mention, it now glowed in the dark
1994	Due to planning changes in the building that we rehearsed, we were required to leave our rehearsal studio and find a new space to practice. We found our new rehearsal space in Ajax, a communal band space where 4–5 other bands rehearsed at any given time as well, scheduling practice time within the space.
1995	We recorded our first official demo tape, a six song recording that was recorded in one day. The recording was live off the floor (with the exception of a few dubbed guitar and vocal tracks) at our rehearsal studio.
1995	Designed and produced Riddle Me This… t-shirts in preparation for the release of our demo tape
1995	I buy a new Boss GT4 Stereo effects system to work with my two amplifiers.
1995	We have our demo tape release party in Toronto.
1995	We play our first live recorded performance at the Groovy Basement in Toronto.
1995	After playing many shows, we decided to go back into the recording studio to produce our first professionally recorded CD. Spending a weekend at Chalet Studios (Bare Naked Ladies, Rush), we recorded six tracks with the intention to go back and record the other six tracks at a later date. We never did make it back into Chalet Studios to complete the project due to lack of funds, so all we ever got from that recording session was a quick board mix of the songs we recorded
1995	We win the Moon Room Bandwarz competition and recorded a song for their compilation CD. Again we record this song live off the floor, this time right at the Moon Room club
1995	Gord announces that he is leaving the band due to financial constraints and the search for a new drummer begins
1995	Chris gets married
1995	Chris announces that he was leaving the band to move to Vancouver.
1995	We play our last show together at the Opera House
1995	Lance and I decide to hire Mike Manheri as our new drummer and Gord works with him to learn the songs
1995	Lance gets married and at the wedding, Gord tells us that leaving the band was a mistake and he would like get back in. Since we had a new drummer now, and with Gords previous vocal experience, the recent vocal vacancy seemed logical, so Gord re-joined the band as our lead singer
1995	We again were playing shows and shortly thereafter started planning and rehearsing to record our first full length demo CD
1995	During pre-production, Mike leaves the band
1995	Without a drummer, we decide to program all the drums for the CD
1995	We rent all the necessary recording equipment from Simon Head and over the month of December (in a bedroom, on our own) we record our first full length CD – Anomaly
1996	We have Simon Head mix the recording
1996	We have our recording mastered and I design the CD art
1996	I build my first guitar from scratch with the body made out of clear acrylic
1996	We use Music Manufacturing Services to make our CD’s
1996	We enter the track “Stutter” from the CD to two radio station Music Search Contests
1996	New drummer John Levasseur joins the band
1996	We have our CD release party at Chameleon Cafe where we announce that we were one of the finalists for the CFNY New Rock Search Competition
1996	We start hearing our songs being played on the radio
1996	We start playing and booking shows through CFNY
1996	We play EdgeFest at Molson Park where over 20,000 people were in attendance
1996	I buy a new custom built guitar
1996	We were asked to be part of a Rogers Cable TV series where local bands were interviewed and did an on-stage performance for the show
1996	Our rehearsal studio was broken into and most of our equipment was stolen the weekend before the Rogers Cable recording. Long & McQuade lent the equipment needed for us to do our performance
1996	I start to build my second guitar from scratch
1996	We do the Rogers recording
1996	We watch ourselves on TV for the first time
1996	I replace my stolen amplifiers with a new Fender single 12” and a Marshall 2-12” cabinet along with the new Boss GT5
1996	We start receiving fan mail, signing autographs, getting phone calls and being recognized locally in the malls and restaurants
1996	We are asked to contribute a song to a Kiss Tribute Compilation CD.
1996	We record “Almost Human” for the Kiss Compilation
1997	For the second year in a row, we win the Moon Room Bandwarz Competition and contribute a song to their compilation CD
1997	Lance finds out he is going to be a father and decides to leave the band
1997	We leave our rehearsal studio in Ajax and move into a new rehearsal studio in Oshawa
1997	We bring in a new bass player, change the band name to MK Ultra and start working on new material unrelated to the Riddle Me This… work
1997	We bring in Mike Bryant from Shadwell’s Jacket to play keyboards with us
1997	We play a couple of local shows with our final show as a group taking place in Oshawa. We had our own lighting tech and roadies to set up and take down for us
1998	I buy a mixing board and set up a little recording studio at home
1999	Gord, Lance and myself start to get together again once a week at Gord’s apartment to work on music
2000	I sell my mixing board and the three of us buy a new digital mixing board together and start digitally recording songs at Gord’s place
2000	I buy my PRS Custom 22 guitar
2001	I start working on my own in Gord’s studio on some solo music
2002	I buy my BC Rich Virgin guitar
2003	After several years of getting together once a week but not really accomplishing anything significant, we decide that we weren’t really getting anywhere with our efforts and call it quits
2003	I buy Lances Vantage bass guitar off him
2004	I continue to work out of Gord’s studio on my solo music
2004	Gord helps me set up my own recording studio at home
2004	Lance and I start getting together again to work on music and we form the project Sliver to which we start to re-write and record the songs that we started but never finished with Gord
2004	I continue to work on my own music as well
2004	Sliver completes a country tribute CD “You’re Lookin’ at Country” as a christmas gift to our parents
2004	We create a very limited run of “You’re Lookin’ at Country” CD’s to sell to friends and family
2005	I buy my BC Rich Beast guitar
2005	Lance sets up his own recording studio at home and starts to work on a solo project, Sliver is put on hold indefinitely
2006	I record my first full band (Harvesting Humans) in my home recording studio.
2006	I continue to develop the Sliver work on my own
2007	After ten years in limbo, I pull out the second guitar that I started building to complete the project
2007	Purchase an existing guitar body from ebay to paint and build my way
2008	I still write and record on a regular basis as new songs pop into my head. I’m in the process of building a full recording studio in my basement with a separate recording room adjacent to a sound proof rehearsal room. When completed, I will be completely set up to record full bands
Future	Continue to write and record my music, build my guitars and sell them on my website and ebay. I also still intend to complete the Sliver project of songs