Ok, here's my musical life story....

Currently I am the drummer for Hot Action Cop from Nashville, TN... Here's the story on how I got there...

I started out playing drums at the age of 10. By the time I was in Junior High, I was ready to start a band. Luckily, my older brother Bill started out playing drums around the same time, so he showed me a lot of things & vice versa eventually. He had awesome set of Pearl Exports that he would let me play sometimes. Also, he gave me my first set of drums, which jump started this passion. He was in a band too, so I got to watch them practice & play, which was totally sweet. I used to live to hang out with them. He was a HUGE influence on me.

My first gig came in 1989, playing with my band "Ressless" we opened up for another local band called Triad. I was a Freshman in high school, what a trip that was. This was my second band, but first to play out with. Actually, one of the members of this band, Dj Ashba, went on to California & played with a lot of cool people like the Bullet Boys, Beautiful Creatures & toured OzzFest & all that good stuff. He is now know for being Nikki Sixx's guitarist in Sixx:AM.

Then came an another band called "Decadence" who brought in a good friend, Pete Ramsey. That was a pretty cool band that played all kinds of 80's rock/metal as did the past bands. We played a couple of gigs or so before that disbanded. That later formed an original band called "Judgment" which also included Mr. Ramsey. In that band we hooked up with a team of brothers who worked well together. We recorded a little bit & never really got a chance to perform for many people at all before that band decided to move to Florida in which I stayed here in Illinois. Eventually Pete moved back & we started jamming again. Our big accomplishment was learning the whole Queensryche - Operation Mind Crime album just drums & bass. This was a major step in my musical evolution.

By then, I was almost out of high school. We hooked up with a couple of guitarists & started practicing. These guys were really into the Classic Rock, so that's pretty much what we played. We searched for singers with no avail. Finally, I said, "Give me a mic & let me try it". All of a sudden, I found a new talent. Singing & playing drums actually seemed to come natural to me. So we played quite a bit for a year or two as "Ruby Max". A name that Pete came up with off the top of his head right before the deadline of an ad in the local paper. That band cultured me a lot in the older music.

From that band, enter "Krankinstein". A local guitar hero who we all knew for a while, who was undoubtedly the best of the best anywhere in the area was putting together a new project & wanted to recruit myself & Pete. Bob Molton was mostly known for his guitar work for the top band in the area named "Hanover Fist". I remember going and seeing these guys when I was in grade school. They played at the Boys & Girls Club. I was completely blown away by them. These guys were like Rock Legends, seriously. I actually got a chance to open up for them back in like '89 when I was 15. Now, it's 1993 & he's trying to recruit us. "Krankinstein" was then born. We were all from Pontiac, IL. We really were having a hard time trying to find the right singer around there. So Bob, being the Peoria connection, worked at a music store in P-Town & had this guitar student that wanted to try out singing for us. Along came Ryan Rose. Ryan brought an incredible vocal range & guitar work like no other. A super band was formed. From the first gig in Peoria, Krankinstein quickly became top draw at every place that we played. I got my first real taste of hands on songwriting with this band. We shared the stage with many other bands including MUDVAYNE at their beginning. Those were the days. Sometime in late '96, the monster was dismantled.

Everyone went on to do different projects from there. Ryan went to "Jynx" & Pete & Bob started "Vent". I then took one of my songs that I was writing at the time, "Hate Me", and recorded it for a local compilation CD called "Localmotive Vol. 1" I also continued to put songs on each of the Localmotive CDs thereafter. I adopted ZD2 for my solo music right after the first Localmotive Vol. 1.

My next band was quite the departure as I stepped out front to play guitar & be the lead vocalist along the side of a phenomenal guitarist named Dan Sidell. That was quite a challenge for me & also, one of my biggest fears. It just seemed like I was naked without drums covering me up. "Wunderkind" actually did way better than any of us hoped. We played about a year or so, maybe more until circumstances beyond our control caused me to come out of drum retirement.

I brought along a new bassist named Tony Higbee (currently of Caprice based in Nashville) that I was jamming with on the side. This band finished out some Wunderkind gigs & developed into "HedSprung" with the addition of a second guitarist, Ted Renner. We played quite a bit & then decided to take a break. Tony & myself decided to try out a 3 piece with one of our good friends & former band mates of mine, Ryan Rose. This project was called "Dirty Little Mimes" which was spin off name from a Jackyl song. Ironically, this band opened up for Jackyl & Soul Motor (Brian Wheaton of Tesla) in Moline, IL. That was kind of a trip. I'm sure the guys caught onto the name thing, but they didn't give us too much shit about it.

After a year or so, I decided to leave the band & try new avenues of music. I joined a pre-established band with some friends of mine called "Nevyds Krest". I fronted this band for only a couple of months. The guitarist, Brian Kurland, lent some guitar work for the ZD2 song "Step Inside" and also helped in the recording of it.

From there, I decided I need a break for a little while. At first I kept jamming with the bassist that was in Nevyds Krest for the same length of time as me, Shawn Barclay (original bassist of MUDVAYNE). Joined by Mario Ramirez, we jammed for a while writing songs. Shawn also layed down the bass track on one of my ZD2 songs, "Fossil". Shawn & Mario went on to form "Sprung".

A year or two later, I got the itch again & went over to watch my good friend Pete who was messing around with some old friends of ours. Pete & I decided to get back together & jam. I called up another friend of mine from Pekin, Josh Thompson, & asked him if he would be interested in jamming. We looked for singers for a while with no luck. We decided on a name for this project, it would be called "BRAILLE". Then, I got a call from a friend needing a fill-in drummer. I then started playing with the "Bar Flyz" while we were looking for a singer for Braille. The BarFlyz kept me occupied for quite a while as it seemed like we would never find a singer for Braille. Finally, we just made the decision that we would go out as a 3 piece band. I would do double duty on drums & vocals & split the songs with Mr. Thompson on the Guitar. Finally we were ready to start playing as Braille. Braille has continued on strong for a few years and played all over the Central Illinois area.

Late 2004 some very good friends of mine from "The Shake" were looking for a new drummer to add to their line up. Shannon Woulfe, they're previous drummer was moving on. This was definitely not an easy gig to walk right into, but the transition to "The Shake" was somewhat seamless. The Shake was one of the most entertaining bands around the area and has some of the most talented musicians I've ever had the privilege to play with. Mike Layne, owns & operates NoiseGate Studios in Pekin. Ryan Rose, bassist extrordinair (my old singer/guitarist in Krankinstein). Rod Teaney and his knack for doing just about any style of vocals is a show within himself. Those were very fun days indeed!

Eventually, we felt the need to branch off. Mike, Ryan & I ended up leaving to form a band called StepDown. Our good friend Cody Barra was invited to join as well. We had been having meetings with the local rock station (currently 105.7 the X, 99x at the time) to become their house band. This means great things in the world of promotions, which I am very big on! Ryan actually didn't last long before he felt it wasn't the direction he wanted to go. So, Cody who was hired in on guitar moved to the bass. We then decided to pick up a front man and rhythm guitarist. Dirk "the jerk" McCoy from Sinking In came in as well as singer Sean Rennau from Nuance. This combination was very impressive live. Also, since just about everyone was versed on other instruments, it gave me a chance to play guitar, bass & sing quite a bit throughout the night! The band was a huge success.

A couple years later, I had a chance to go see one of my favorite bands, Hot Action Cop in Bloomington, IL. I got to hang out & talk with the band & their manager most of the night. The guys were extremely cool & down to earth. Turns out the manager mentioned something about possibly needing a drummer down the road. I didn't think much about it at the time. The next weekend, my wife & I were headed to the warped tour in Chicago. We got word that it was sold out, so we ending up stopping at my sisters about half way there. We checked to see where HAC was playing (Cincinnati). It was only about 4.5 hours away, so we decided to be adventurous. Once again, we hung out with the band & talked some more. I expressed my interest in possibly trying out. I was actually going down to Nashville with a couple of the guys from StepDown the following weekend. HAC already had shows lined up for that Friday & Saturday. A couple of days before we went down there, the manager called & said that their Saturday show got canceled & asked if I could try out... the rest is history!

You can see a huge gallery of vintage pics here..

This is from 1990... The band's name was Ressless. The picture was taken by my sister (Keri Jo) in the upstairs of my parent's house. Yes, I know we look very silly. LOL. The band consisted of Bob Vinson, DJ Ashba, Rob Hilligoss & Myself. Feel free to laugh & comment.



Here is some of the National Acts I've had the privilege of sharing the stage with: 10 Years, Mudvayne, Quiet Riot, Jackyl, Soul Motor, Foghat, 38 Special, Ratt, Smile Empty Soul, Ligion.