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A native of the Houston Heights, during the 70's through the 90's I was always surrounded by music. My mother would turn on the Elvis Presley and Barry Manilow records and introduced me to the clarinet. My father exposed me to various country and southern rock artists. As a kid we used to travel to the Cormier's house. Earnest Cormier, Jr. would throw on the Kiss records and I was blown away by the power of those heavy crunchy bar chords. Earnest Jr. had a huge drum set that I loved to play on, and I knew then I wanted to play drums. Earnest Jr's father, Earnest (A.K.A. Frenchy), played Cajun music and periodically squeezed that accordion. Somehow and someway that music burned a hole in my heart with its fiery fast rhythms, the slow danceable waltzes, and the soul of the Zydeco. I did not realize it though, until 20 plus years later. I studied band at Hogg Middle School under the direction of Mr.Chapman and later studied with Mike Lefarve at Houston Percussion Center. I always studied percussion in mostly the rock, pop, country, and Latin formats on a self-instructional basis and taken master classes with some of the best drummers in Hollywood and New York. The main drumming influence for me is Bobby Rock. He produces some of the best study materials around and leads a clean lifestyle that is rare in the business of music. Playing in several bands from Rock, Country, R&B, and Christian I gained experience to drive the Cajun, Zydeco, Swing, and Waltz music of Grand Texas. I came into contact with Mr.Steve Bing through my playing at St. Mark's United Methodist Church. He is a great person and I knew when I heard his fiddle and accordion playing I had met someone that took his instrument as seriously as I take my drumming. Steve invited me to a practice at his home and the rest is history. I found that everyone was as serious about their instruments as I was about my drums. Grand Texas is not a band with a couple of stars. It is a band full of star quality musicians that could easily be called GRAND BAND. |
