It all started with the ukulele...
Uhh, yeah. Ok, I know you're thinking "Huh??" Yup, I got my first taste of music back during my 4th grade compulsory ukulele lessons in Kailua, Hawaii. A little strumming, a little singing and I started to get hooked. That lead to school chorus, a switch to woodwind instruments (sax and clarinet, mainly) in junior high and high school and the beginnings of college study as a music major. Then...I realized that my career path was leading me to a job as a high school band director. WHAT?!? No way! Ok, seriously, I mean no disrespect to school band directors. That's a fine gig and I owe quite a bit to the directors I had in school. It's just not the right gig for me, and by the end of my freshman year in college, being a music major was no longer fun.
So, I switched gears in order to become a fine capitalist and make a ton of money. I did play in a couple of pop/rock bands and, yes, I did try my hand at becoming a rock star, but alas it was not meant to be. I recorded one of my songs for an Epic Records compilation album called Street Rap '90, which was a cool experience, but I hadn't really found my niche yet. As I climbed the ladder of corporate America, I kept working on my songwriting chops and it wasn't until years later that a call from a friend led to a song of mine being placed on a solo release that Grammy-nominated Crusaders Saxman Wilton Felder was working on. A Techno track of mine called "Information" was selected, and I set about rewriting the lyrics while Wilton and my good friend George Shaw rearranged the song into a Smooth Jazz/R&B track. Yes, this could be the very first time in history that a Techno track managed to get reshaped into Jazz/R&B.
That experience sucked me right back into the music game, and I started writing like crazy. That lead to my first indie release in 2004, the election-year Hip-Hop satire "Get Rid of Your Bush" which was played all over the country on college radio and at Kerry-Edwards fundraising events. Later that year, my first Electronica EP titled "Sub-Urban" was released. The Breakbeat and Trance tracks on "Sub-Urban" received good reviews and I kept on writing. 2005 brought my first full-length release, the Breakbeat and Drum 'n Bass heavy "Turn It Up!", and by the end of that year I was placing my music in television shows and indie films. 2006 found me providing music for a new Court TV series called 'LA Forensics' as well as a bunch of shows on MTV. Wilton Felder's solo project "Let's Spend Some Time" was also released in '06, which included the reworked version of my Techno track "Information". At the 2006 X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival, a motocross film that I provided some music for called 'Rhythm & Blitz' was nominated for best soundtrack.
So far, 2007 has found me providing music for the Discovery Channel series 'Combat Zone' as well as season 2 of Court TV's 'LA Forensics' and more shows on MTV and the Oxygen Network. I'm busting my butt preparing two CD releases for this year, so listen for a bunch of new music from me as you'll be able to get it here at druu.net first.
Druu at MySpace