Music

My Projects

Houtakker

My "pop" project. Band members included Paul Newmann, Justin Fernando, Matt Ibarra, Jake Acosta, many others. 

Royal Osprey / Twin Cats

I started this project when I first moved to Chicago and was living in Albany Park. Twin Cats was much more of a solo outfit until I collaborated with Kyle Klipowicz on the mixing stage.

When I got a cease and desist letter from a funk fusion band in Indianapolis, I decided to change the name to Royal Osprey. I released an EP to supplement a midwest tour, and recriuted Jake Acosta to come along and play with me as a duo. We brought an interface and my laptop, and we ran our stuff through effects and backtracks using Ableton Live, and did a more drone/ambient type of set. This was me transitioning to a full band set up, which is what Royal Osprey ended up being. We only recorded a little bit under that group, but we played out a lot.

Pieken

I started getting way more into synths and gear just from acquiring random pieces (shout-out to Midwest Buy & Sell). I made some corny music under this name, and put it up on Soundcloud.

Herb Chamber

When I had an RMI in my apartment, I also had some fairly sick and cheap outboard effects, like a Pioneer reverb unit and a Yamaha rack delay. I started making some beats with these things in mind. I saw a billboard ad for this politician named Herb Chambers, and created a Soundcloud account under this name where I could drop some of those beats. This might make a comeback once I get a new sampler...

Olympics

Olympics was a 4-piece indie rock band from Manhattan, KS. Roommates having fun making music and hosting house shows. 

Aid

Aid was my first-ever "band". My good friend Matthew Hoppock coaxed me into playing an open mic, and I have no idea how or why I used this name as my name, but that's what it was, that's what it became. Shortly after, Matthew suggested we do a split CD-R, and I proceeded to really become immersed in making music.

Other Associations

J Fernandez

Fantastic indie rock band from Chicago from the great Justin Fernando. I played keys and sang harmonies. Used a Whitehall Grand Prix combo organ and an E-MU Shortboard, analog delay pedals and a Moogerfooger MF-101. For our Euro tours I had to switch to a Yamaha Reface YC. Always used some kind of amp.

Pet Lions

Such a fun Chicago indie pop band. When I joined, I took over for Tom Owens. I played guitar and keys and sang harmonies. I used a bunch of different amps and guitars and synths. For those, I used a Casio MT-100, a Poly-800, and a Crumar Orchestrator. Karl Østby is an amazing songwriter, and Matt Dahl and Shuhei Yamamoto really inspired me and taught me a lot about being in a band.

Distractions

This was the first band I joined in Chicago that wasn't my songwriting, and it was such an amazing time in my life. I played guitar, sang harmonies. Lots of delay pedals and tube amps, it was always changing. Tom's songwriting and playing had an immeasurable influence on me.