My mom is a classicly trained pianist of over forty years, she sings as well. My grandmother also played the piano and sung, and my dad played the bass for a bit..so I guess it all started there for me. Both my dad an mom loved rock and roll and metal, and my first real interest came in the form of an album entitled Welcome to my Nightmare by Alice Cooper. When I was old enough to understand what music was and such I realy got into 80's heavy metal and thrash, with King Diamond leading the way for me. I didn;t get interested in becoming a musician until I turned 17. My influences include but are not limited to:

Kelly Schaffer
Paul Mavisdal
Chuck Schuldiner
Alex Skolnick and Eric Petersen
Jeff Waters
Jason Becker
Marty Friedman
Dave Mustaine
Ihsahn
Michael Akerfeldt
Trey Azagthoth
Ralph Santolla
Andy Larocque
Michael Denner
Pete Blakk
Hank Shermann
Ace Frehley
and the list goes on and on.