FROM STATIC

I GREW UP FEELING LIKE A 4,000-YEAR-OLD ALIEN IN A CHILD’S BODY.

I found out when I was younger that I had a laundry list of what the education system liked to call “learning disabilities,” but I didn’t like that term, so I myself view these as “differences in learning abilities.” This was part of how I was able to self-teach.

I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 16, but before that, I had to find my way to information that I wanted to excel at without knowing why I was struggling. Being dyslexic and heavily dysgraphic, I learned through listening, seeing, and experiencing. This later turned into my approach into seeing sound when I create music.

Since I grew up in a pre-Youtube world and couldn’t read music, I needed to learn the harmonic and frequency balance of music by ear and touch, which set me on a path of being in a state of always learning, growing, and needing to get better, finding any non-traditional way of getting there. I knew I wouldn’t be a Berkley kid. To this date, I never officially passed algebra, even though I took it 5 times.

Since its conception in the early ‘90s, the sonic vision of Ours was carefully created and curated by Jimmy Gnecco. Like a great painter, Jimmy brought together the complimentary colors that pieced together the artwork he’d so thoughtfully and carefully crafted. During my tenure in Ours as we created more music, we worked with producers Rick Rubin, Peter Katis, Tim Palmer, Henry Hirsch, and Jason Corsaro. We got to open for and tour with bands including Marilyn Mason, Blue October, and A-Ha. My most out-of-the-world experience was performing at Wembley Arena.

Many years later after touring the world with the same quest for knowledge and growth, I needed a change that would have me living a more elevated life. So in early 2012, I had my last drink and started actively living life awake and sober. Living as a sober musician heightened my ability to recognize learning opportunities around me to the nth degree. My life became clearer, my creativity suddenly more accessible, and my relationships more clear-sighted.

Then, a good friend and tour manager Gene Bowen found out that I was living a sober life, and asked me if I wanted to be a part of him and his business partner Jack’s non-profit, Road Recovery, working as a Youth Mentor for at-risk youth battling adversities. I’ve been helping youth facing adversities ever since, and have since been running our studio with the experienced I’ve gained from my time on the road, the collaborations I’ve had, and the people I’ve learned from.

I’m grateful for everything that has helped me to becoming a full-time musician.

— STATiC