I started playing drums in 1998 when I was 12 years old. I took a few lessons with a local drummer who played at the church my family was attending, and then started teaching myself by playing along to records I liked. I thought it would be cool to be a professional rock drummer as a career, but I wasn’t sure if that was going to be possible.

In my early 20’s, I figured out that being a rock drummer was going to be a tough career to make money in (especially living in a small town outside of Fort Worth, Texas), so I started looking for remote work I could do to earn money while traveling, especially work that was related to the music industry.

I started by learning graphic design and website development, then also started studying recording, mixing and mastering, marketing, audience growth, social media, and video production.

Around that same time (2010-2012) I had discovered and fell in love with podcasts, so I started applying the skills I’d learned to helping people start and grow podcasts. This provided me with a basic income while I was going out on the road to play shows with a new band I had just joined, Kolton Moore & the Clever Few.

We recorded two albums and played hundreds of shows between 2012 and 2014, ultimately burning out from the stress of the road and being a young and relatively unknown band. But the work we put in during those early years eventually paid off. After a few years of being inactive, our fan base had exploded in size and were demanding new music and live shows. This fan enthusiasm helped convince us that it was time to get back to playing music together, and in late 2019 we started working on a new record and playing live shows. Covid & 2020 derailed us a little bit, but by 2021 we were back on the road and learning how to be a band again after a 5+ year hiatus.

I continued my work in the podcast industry while also working on my drumming and the band. In my mind, there really isn’t much difference between podcasting and being in a band. There’s a lot of overlap in the skills required, and how you grow and cultivate an audience and community.

There’s more to this story, so I’ll keep updating this page as I have time. Leave a comment if you have any questions about any of it.

My Gear

Here’s all the gear I use.

I’m a longtime Apple user, so my main computers are a Mac Studio at home, a Macbook Pro for the road, and an iPhone 16 Pro.

Drums

C&C Player Date 1 - 13", 16", 22" (Main Kit)

Yamaha Maple Absolute Custom - 12", 16", 24"

Snares

Ludwig 8x14 Flat Black Beauty (Main Snare)

DW 6x14 Maple

Ludwig 6.5x14 Supraphonic

C&C 8x14 Player Date 1 Mahogany

Cymbals:

22" Meinl Byzance Medium Crash

21" Meinl Byzance Matt Halpern Double-Down Crash-Ride

21" Meinl Byzance Brilliant Ride

20" Meinl Byzance Medium Crash

19" Meinl Byzance Brilliant Crash

18" Meinl Byzance Dark Crash

16/14" Meinl Byzance Stack (custom combo)

16" Meinl Byzance Medium Hi-Hats

14" Meinl Byzance Medium Hi-Hats

Synths/Pads:

Roland SPDX Pro

Camera / Recording Gear / Mics:

Sony A7C Mirrorless Camera with 20mm 1.8 G lens, 35mm 1.4 GM lens, 85mm FE 1.8 lens

GoPro Hero 12

Apollo Twin Mk2

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (3rd Gen) Audio Interface

Audix D6 Kick Drum Mic

Shure Beta 52A Kick Drum Mic

Sennheiser e604 Tom Mics

Shure Beta 87A Snare Mic

Shure KSM137 Small-diaphragm Condenser Microphones, Stereo Pair, Overheads