I grew up in the 90s in a small hockey obsessed mining town called Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario that developed a small scene of teenage punk bands that intertwined with other local punk scenes in Northern Ontario. I started in a band called Understatement where I played bass and took over vocals at the end of the band’s 2 year life. I briefly played bass for local band The Subverts in 1994. (yes I know there are a few bands with this name) The Subverts were the final incarnation of the first Kirkland Lake punk rock band to record an album. They also helped form the IOLB (Imperial Order of Low Budget) a school club which allowed us to use our school’s name and assets to put on local punk rock shows. (Thank you Mrs. Rumble. While the band I was in at the time (Understatement) was not directly involved with this coup (many of my past and future band mates were so we certainly benefited from it. My girlfriend, at the time, who was acting as the band’s manager, pitched the idea of an out of town show in an effort to get exposure for my band and the scene in general. This show, which become known as The Platypus Gathering happened at the New Liskeard Community Hall in February 1994. The lineup was made up of several Kirkland Lake bands and two local New Liskeard bands. This show served as the catalyst for the melding of several small local DIY punk and alternative rock scenes into a regional one.
I went on to play in local bands Cragmatic Pope and Swank at the height of the scene’s popularity from 1995-1997 recording two albums with Cragmatic Pope and one with Swank. Afterwards, I formed The Deefons who I played with from 1997-1999 and recorded two albums with them.
At the end of the decade the kids grew up, got married, moved away and moved on. So did I. The era came to a close.
I moved to North Bay stopped playing in bands and went to college. I uploaded a couple songs to this new fangled Internet thing and allowed the negative feedback I got to eat at me. I quit playing and writing altogether. When my relationship of 6 years fell apart, I entered another. I was encouraged to write and play once again. I wrote some new songs and had some basement jams with my Deefons bandmates YeTI and Ty, but it never got back off the ground. We were all getting older, settling down, and building our families so time became scarce. 5 years later my relationship collapsed and I was devastated. My only focus now being the children. I focused on raising my younger son who had been diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome and making sure I was a persistent presence in my older son’s life who was living with his mother in Kirkland Lake. During the times when I had my children I was a full person, when I didn’t have them I was lost.
It was during these “lost times” where I would, despite my best efforts to not explore my pain through music, what I can only describe as “vomit up” songs which became Reset The World. I would record immediately with whatever instruments and cables were available in an effort to purge the songs and move on. If the recordings sound raw and affected it’s because they are. I recorded the songs as quickly as possible to prevent myself from spending time tinkering with the songs; an activity which I equated to emotional torture at the time. This act; however, would allow me zero emotional distance from what I was doing. I also refused to attempt multiple takes because I simply couldn’t handle it at the time. Fast forward and the pain associated with these songs feels like a distant memory.
In 2008 I had a big “fuck it” moment and uploaded a bunch of songs from one of my old bands The Deefons and some of the acoustic stuff to the IMP (then IAC) and more in 2009. I later spent $200 of my student loan money to buy a digital tape deck and ripped my old copies of my local band collection and uploaded my own songs by my previous band CRAgmatic Pope. I was only responsible for a third of the material. It would be another 10 years before the other 2/3 would be released. I made a friend in University who became my collaborator in The Sky Hits The Ground. I had shown Mike my older music and some old acoustic demos. Mike started sending me back my demos having essentially finished my songs. We began playing and recorded an album in 2009 and 2011 when my life would allow. We later released a single called Timebomb Syndrome which was part of the Reset The Word song series I had started as a solo artist; however this time the song didn’t come instantly but was painstakingly revised and reviewed for 4 years. There is one more song left in the series I have yet to release which I wrote in 2009. I love IMP and have been uploading music here since 2008 in various forms. I’ve created a couple of stations and have been here adding music on and off since then. Over much of 2019 and 2020 I have been releasing music that digs further back in to my archives where I’m not the singer songwriter but am playing on the recording. I got to play in some cool bands as a side man as well and wanted this music to be heard. Recent additions include Swank, The Subverts and Charlotte’s CRAgmatic Pope songs.
My influences are 90s alternative, shoegaze, grunge, and several varieties of punk rock. I have a soft spot for thrash and hair metal but you won’t hear that in my music. Specific bands that have influenced me are Nirvana, The Ramones, Bad Religion, NOFX, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Descendents, The Cure, Pink Floyd, Sonic Youth, The Damned, and Weezer to name a few. |
