A Violinist from the Future

Spicy Violin

The Story Behind The Music

Growing Up

It all started on a 5 acre plot of land in Roanoke Texas, on the outskirts of Dallas Fort Worth. Growing up homeschooled, I had a lot of time to practice the violin, and generally stay immersed in a musical environment. My mother, a singer and vocal coach, would often be playing her favorite Christian worship tunes while I was in the other room hoping we would have lasagna that night.

I started playing violin at the age of four, learning from a lovely lady who I called "Miss Becca". On our first lesson, she knew as a rambunctious male child, I could not be trusted to hold a real violin, so to get used to the instrument, I practiced holding a cracker jack box (that's popcorn for all the kids) with a ruler taped to it. But a few months prior, I had a traumatic experience where I was eating popcorn, and as small children sometimes do, choked on the seeds. I thought I was going to die.

At the end of the lesson, I distinctly remember bawling my eyes out because I thought I was going to be forced to eat the cracker jack box. Fortunately, I was assured soon after that no such thing would occur. After years of violin training with her, we reach the age of 10, where I'm in orchestra class.

The conductor was a very intimidating eastern European man with a thick accent. Dr. Galaganov, as we called him, was a Viola professor at TCU but was equally proficient at playing the violin. He must have seen some sort of potential in me, because he picked me out along with a female violinist of the same age, to be the only two non-college students he took into his studio. It was quite an honor.

Whatever Ms. Becca didn't cover in our 6 years together, Dr. Galaganov did. He was by far the most intense teacher I've had, and there were a lot of other ones sprinkled in throughout that time. After developing an extremely solid technical foundation, I quit violin at the age of 15. My teacher gave me an ultimatum, either start practicing 2 hours every day, or he'd drop me as a student. The decision was obvious.

I began going to a private Christian school as a Freshman in high school, and being one of the top college prep schools in the state, I had to work harder than I ever had at studying, test taking, and overall socialization, which had never occurred so frequently before. It was there that I met a guy named Aaron, the worship leader, who rocked my world with a brand new piece of technology.

Enter: The Loop Pedal

The Boss RC-30 Looper was by far the coolest thing I had seen up until that point in my life. It had two channels that you could loop independently or together, and came with preset drum beats and 99 memory slots to save your ideas to. Graciously, he let me borrow it for two weeks, and it was the first time in 9 months that I had even considered pulling my violin out of the closet. I had an old Zeta electric violin that my Dad had gotten me for my 10th birthday that I played like, once. Acoustic violins just sound better. But electric was all I had to use with the loop pedal, so I began composing original songs with this device that was the size of a bible.

Fast forward 6 months later, I finally saved up enough to afford one of my own. Immediately I started learning covers so I could start going out to do my first street performances. Making almost $200 back in 2012 for 2-3 hours of work as a 16 year old was CRAZY, and I did it on my very first time busking. So, I immediately dropped all extracurriculars to focus on busking every weekend. I consistently went out two times a week after that, and after many many years, that is how I developed the unique style of playing that I do now.

What is that style you might ask? It's nothing all that complicated. I combine Classical technique, some fiddling influence, and a generally Pop music sort of melody line, all while sliding around a bunch (a huge no-no for classical people) and adding lots of licks and riffs. After developing this style, we now land in Austin Texas, my first apartment away from home home at the age of 21.

Spicy as an Adult

I was always fascinated with electronic music, probably because I played so much Dance Dance Revolution as a child, but it never occurred to me that I could make a viable career out of making it. I had dabbled with VST's, synthesizers, and music making software before, when I self-released and recorded my first album in 2015, Beautiful Mystery. But now I took the leap and invested no less than 5 hours every morning into producing music, learning new tools, and developing various skills to help me in my musical journey.

I did this until the pandemic hit, which obviously disrupted everyone's life, but due to living with an ex girlfriend and having an opportunity provided to earn money in a new industry, I decided to move to Virginia to work for my brother's business.

Construction was challenging, and overall pretty miserable, but I'm glad I did it. It gave me confidence in building things that I never had before, and at the very least, it gave me a few good stories to tell. I did that for one year and finally said enough is enough. I was set to move again, this time, to Tampa Florida. Always chasing the greener grass like a cow.

Let me tell you, that phase didn't last long. I settled myself back in Dallas Fort Worth once again as of February, 2022. I realized that this place has a lot to offer and is nearly perfect for a unique artist like myself. Being very fortunate with referrals and recommendations, business has picked up like it never has before. I do a combination of live looping, similar to how I started but with a vastly more complex system, and playing with tracks that everyone knows and loves. Most violinists stand very still when they play. I on the other hand, love to move around and put as much energy as humanly possible into my performances. I am very glad to be able to do what I do, and I hope you join me for the ride. it's only just beginning.