In prehistoric times I was a death metal guitarist and cookie-monster vocalist. Although the growl has long since left my voice, and my playing is less aggressive, I retain two things from that era: one, a fondness for lengthy, complex, quickly changing songs; and two, a decent ability to play such music on guitar while singing. That ability, however, has been tested to the breaking point with Good Place, No Place, making me feel like "butter stretched over too much bread,", which is one reason why I've put down the guitar and focused on vocals.

Once upon a time, the song writing of the band was split rather evenly between Alex and I. These days, Alex has established himself as the most prolific guitarist alive, so I mostly serve a support role--which suits me well, since lyrics come to me much more easily than guitar riffs. The parts I do write have what someone might call a "grandiose plaintiveness". On scale of mundane to bizarre, I tend towards mundane--though I aim for easily likeable riffs with notes that generously sweep up and down. People throw the word "melodic" around, but I'm interested in another word: "melodious." The great majority of my riffs are written to either be the main hook of the song, or platforms for my lyrics.

I'm obssessed with lyrics. Hyper-critical of my own work. I can forgive silly or sloppy lyrics in my favorite bands, but for Blue Sky Theory, I'm not a good Christian, so to speak. I take them very seriously, and you can bet that in "Good Place, No Place" and later songs, every line and word has been painstakingly considered--hopefully to good effect. I revise lyrics constantly. One of my favorite things in life is to realize my lyrical skill has matured; one of my least favorite things is to realize an older lyric is ineffective. It's my seesaw dilemma. My goal is to follow "Good Place, No Place" up with an album of lyrics that will never deteriorate with age--perfection of imagery and semantics. Yeah, good luck.

This band is the only one I've ever been in that seems to have its own spirit apart from the individuals who form it--perhaps because the roots of Blue Sky Theory stretch back through almost a decade. It feels larger than we are! I'm glad to be the voice of the beast.

Artists I like: Kansas, Midnight Oil, Fields of the Nephilim, Yes, Opeth, Blind Guardian, Dragonforce, Hammerfall, Mastodon

Lyricists: Edward Ka-Spel, Joanna Newsom, Tom Waits, Colin Meloy, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Mastodon.