Since my first gig, I had dreamed of becoming a full time musician. But by 1992, I thought the chances of that happening were getting slim. I had watched Jon BonJovi & Dave Bryan become international stars, along the way helping Dave"Snake" Sabo & his band Skid Row get to platinum status. Meanwhile, I had spent several years going thru an endless succession of bands, projects, and showcases, hitting every rehersal spot in New York & New Jersey, playing with countless musicians, all for naught. So when the phone rang in late September, 1994, I just shrugged my shoulders, and said "Sure, send me your tape", not giving the call much thought.
Until the tape got into my tape deck.
That tape, and the subsequent meeting I was to have with the players, was the first in a series of events that would see me quitting my day gig, starting my teaching career, and take me out of the New York / New Jersey club scene and onto stages from Anchorage, Alaska, to Stockholm, Sweden. But, as I was to find out, there was a price to pay.

Somewhere in September of 1994, I recieved a phone call from Vic Pepe. I had heard that he had been producing and writing songs with the likes of ALICE COOPER and BATON ROUGE. Vic had a new project he was producing, and a drummer was needed. I said I would definately be interested, and a tape arrived a few days later. The songs on that tape were just plain - killer! Heavy bass & drums, great guitar playing & amazing vocals, intelligent lyrics - everything I wanted in a band. So I set off on my Harley for Toms River & my first meeting with DEREK TAILER, CHARLIE SABIN & TONY PALMUCCI. After the usual pleasantries, they laid out their game plan.

First off, these guys did things a little different. Actually, ALOT different. Up to this point, every band or project that I had auditioned for based their rehersal times around the collective members "day job" schedules, in effect making music a part-time endeavor. Not so with the these guys. Rehersals were six days a week, 11:00 AM untill 3:00 PM, at the band house in Toms River. The band was everyone's full time job, the rest of their lives falling around rehersals. The theory was "You can't expect full time results from a part time job." Great. How do I break it to my new wife that I was quitting my $75,000-a-year day gig to go & play drums all day with an unsigned band in Toms River? To my amazement, she was as enthusiastic as I was!

Several weeks later, I found myself in the basement of 189 Dayton Avenue, writing & rehearsing with Charlie, Tony, and Derek. In less than a month, we were in The Van, heading out on the first of what would be several trips to the Pittsburgh area, playing for Steel Town's metal faithful. Blondie's, The Mouse Trap, and the legendary Decade became regular stops on our road Out West. While we weren't making any money, we were definately getting tighter as a unit, starting to sound like - well, like "Us!" In addition to live shows, we were recording as often as possible. With Vic at the helm, we were confident a record deal was in our future.

But suddenly, in late Spring of '95, Charlie Sabin decided to leave the band. With our lead singer gone, it was back to Square One. Charlie posessed an amazing voice, one that was key to how we wanted to sound as a band. Quite a hard thing to replace. A few months of lack-luster auditions went by, leaving us with no replacement in sight. Morale was low. The three of us were trudging thru our old numbers, not sure if we would survive as a unit. A dark time indeed. That is, until one day Tony decided that we had wasted far too much time looking for a new singer, suggesting that he take on lead vocal duties. With much skepticism, Derek and I joined Tony back in the basement.  Shakey at first, but with growing skill and confidence, Tony started singing. Over the next few months, we started evolving into something new. Old songs were re-arranged, new songs were being written. The result was a new musical direction, one we were all growing excited about. Tony could actually sing! Gigs were being booked again. Hope was being restored to the STRENGTH camp!

One night in July of '95, STRENGTH opened for Dee Snider's band WIDOWMAKER. What was to come of that night soon opened up the world to the three of us..........

I had been watching Dee Snider since my friend Kenny Walus first brought me to see Twisted Sister at the Fountain Casino in the Summer of 1980. I'll never forget the way Dee commanded the stage, his presence demanding your attention every second he was there. I became a huge fan that night, seeing them whenever I could. So when the opportunity for STRENGTH to open for his band WIDOWMAKER at the Birch Hill in July 1995, I was excited at the thought of opening for one of my heros.

As we were going thru our set, I looked over my shoulder, and what do I see? Dee offstage watching my band, pumping his fist in the air! We exchanged smiles, he gave me the "thumbs up", watched for a few more minutes, then disappeared. After the show Dee's road manager, Cooch, came up to me & said "Dee wants to see you in his dressing room." "Why would Dee want to see me?" I thought. I followed Cooch to the dressing room, where I saw Dee standing with my bass player, Derek. "You two sound great together. I'm putting together a band to go out & do some area shows, playing all old Twisted material. I'd like you both to do this thing as my rhythm section." I looked at Derek, saw that he had already agreed, and said "I'm in! When's rehersals?"

And so began my time spent as a Sick Mutha F*cker, playing Twisted Sister tunes with the King SMF himself.

A few rehersals later, and we were off on a 12 show Tri-State run. The response amazed even Dee! All the shows were close to "Sold-Out!" The word spread, demand grew, more dates were booked. Offers started to come in from Detroit, Chicago, St.Louis. What started out as a little idea to grab a few bucks was turning into a part-time job! Along the way, the SMF's lead guitar player, Spike, had other comittments to attend to, leaving us with a vacancy. Derek and I quickly got Dee to hire Tony as Spike's replacement. Now STRENGTH was, in effect, Dee's backing band for the SMF's. Within weeks, we were not only doing the SMF shows with Dee, we were opening the shows as STRENGTH! Couldn't have planned this if we tried!

The next few years found me traveling from Anchorage, Alaska, thru Canada & the American West, up and down the East Coast, and eventually to Europe. STRENGTH opening, 1/2 hour break, then a full set with Dee & the SMF's. A great time for me. Making a few bucks, playing with one of my heros, and getting my band to play in places I'd never even heard of, much less planned on visiting! But as the song says, "All things must pass...."

I was growing restless with STRENGTH. It had been 4 years, a few label showcases in New York, and still no record deal in sight. The financial strain of rehearsing every day was starting to wear down my belief in the band, as well as my life at home. With Tony growing increasingly unreceptive to any help with the song writing, I was feeling creatively stagnant, as was Derek. I handed the guys my resignation. As well, I felt my time with Dee was coming to an end. For me, the SMF'S had run it's course, and resigned my chair. I started putting feelers out, looking to see what other gigs were available......

After a great two week run thru Scandanavia with the SMF's, followed by a much-needed vacation in Stockholm & Visby (Where?) with my wife, I came home to a phone call from Skid Row's Snake Sabo. He had a new project called OZONE MONDAY, and along with fellow Skidster's Rachel, Scotti and Rob, had been writing and recording with singer/songwriter Shawn Mars, formerly of MARS NEEDS WOMEN. There were a few dates boked, dates that Rob couldn't commit to, and Snake wanted to know if I was available. I said yes, and on September 19th, 1998 - I remember this date, 'cause it was Diamonds and my 5th wedding anniversary - I did my first OZONE MONDAY gig at the Fast Lane in Asbury Park. It was an "Unplugged" show, with me playing just kick and snare. The night went well, everyone felt great. A few months later they offered me the gig.

I always describe OM as "Cheap Trick on steroids." It was pure power-pop, much more radio-friendly than what I had been doing in STRENGTH. They were very successful as SKID ROW, had the ability to get label people to hear the material. And it didn't hurt that they had a pretty powerfull consiglieri in one Doc Maghee. When I look back now, it all looked like a great move, with all the pieces in place. Add to this the experience of my first gigs as a member of OM, and you get a pretty mind-numbing experience.

My first full-on gigs with OM were opening for KISS on their "Psycho Circus" tour. Nassau Coliseum, then the Meadowlands. I can't even begin to describe what I was feeling as I climbed the 7 steps to the stage on those nights. I don't remember much, it all seemed to happen so fast. I remember being so jacked on adreneline at Nassau that I broke 4 drumsticks - on the first 4 strokes I played!  Throwing the sticks into the audience, I hit Rachel's wife Donna in the head, and later got yelled at by Doc, as well as Gene Simmons, for doing so. Oops! The next night in New Jersey, the curtain seperating KISS' set from ours tore loose from the truss above me & came down on my back, tangling me up for the last two songs of our set...