Fun DMC is made up of a diverse group of musicians who cover a wide array of artists. The remarkable thing about this band is that you can take five different personalities with five very different musical backgrounds and channel that energy into a single idea. On stage we are one unit, bringing you the best in mashups and medleys. However, each member still retains their individual personalities and influences and that often surfaces during each performance. With that said, this is the fourth installment of Fun DMC: A Musical Journey.

I come from a musical family and my parents always encouraged me to be learning an instrument, starting from a young age with violin and piano lessons (although I’m told all I talked about what playing guitar). In grade school, I picked up saxophone as part of the school band and kept up on that all through high school, which taught me to read and arrange music. My parents encouraged me to listen to a large variety of music, so my early influences are all over the place with an emphasis on classic rock and radio pop. Once I was old enough to start using my paper route money to buy my own music, I started immersing myself into popular 90s hip hop and alt rock (especially No Doubt, Presidents of the USA, and Ben Folds Five), which stuck with me through my teen years.

Around my sophomore year, I picked up my dad’s bass guitar and taught myself how to play, using a Queen’s Greatest Hits book to follow along and became captivated with it. I immediately started playing in the church worship band, in the school jazz band, and formed my own swing band (a genre which had recently become popular for a short time) with other local marching band members. Not long after I graduated high school, I had become obsessed with ska and punk culture. After dying my hair orange and finding some like-minded folks in Central Illinois, I spent a few years traveling around the Midwest in ska bands (which really cut my teeth on bass). Fun fact – this is how I met former Fun DMC members Sam and Aaron Eversole.

Once the ska/punk thing had settled down a bit and I started college (and my hair was back to a normal color), I found myself playing bass and keys in a few power pop group that really helped me hone in what I liked about playing music – sugar sweet harmonies, catchy hooks, and upbeat songs. While there was still a soft spot in my heart for artists like Queen, Reel Big Fish, and Green Day, I fell in love with bands like The Red Hot Valentines, Fountains of Wayne, Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, The Cars, and Weezer. During college I also spent a lot of time learning music production and spent countless hours recording the bands I was in as well as other local acts.

Flash forward a few years all the bands have broken up and I was happily married and into a career I loved, Robert and I threw around the idea of putting together a cover band that played all of our favorite songs from the 90s. As Closing Time, we gave it a good go and through that group, I was able to really push my limits as a bassist and keyboardist also learn a lot about live sampling, turntables, and MIDI programming.

Once Closing Time broke up, we started Fun DMC. This group built upon a lot of my previous interests and influences but also forced us to really work hard on production (coming up with and then arranging mashups, MIDI programming, etc). It also gave me the chance to throw back to a lot of my favorite 90s hip hop acts from my youth.

Nowadays I will listen to a little bit of everything, but spend most of my time under headphones listening to a lot of poppier rock groups: Foxy Shazam, The Mowgli’s, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, MeWithoutYou, Emery, Death cab for Cutie, Ben Folds, and OK Go.