We are getting ready for a very busy Summer. We have 35 shows from June-Aug! I sometimes think I am going to cut back on how often we play, but we get so many great opportunities it is hard to say "no". We are super fortunate to get to perform so much.

We have played some really cool places the last few weeks. We played a VIP party inside Ball Arena right before the Colorado Avalanche playoff game. We also played a private event at eTown. They are a nationally syndicated radio broadcast/multimedia production company with a long history. We also played a really fun sold out show in Ft Collins. Below are a few pics from these concerts.

We've had some really fun shows lately. Below are a few live and behind-the scenes shots.

I don't talk about music gear very much, but I wanted to share something. I've probably played 4,000 concerts in my career so far. Up until very recently, the way I have heard myself is by having a speaker blasting sound in my face. This is a common way performers have done it for years. Some of the downsides of this method is that it is usually very loud, and if you move from in front of the speaker, you don't hear yourself very well.

There is an alternative way for performers to hear themselves. You may have noticed a lot of musicians wearing earbuds. These are called "In Ear Monitors" (IEM's). I tried them several years ago but didn't love them. Plus I was stubborn and resistant to change.

A few months ago, I met Jimmie Dean. In addition to being a great drummer, he is a rep for Ultimate Ears. Long story short, he really educated me on the advantages of modern IEM's. He even let me demo several models. When I decided to buy them, they did a custom mold of my ears so they fit perfectly. This has been an absolute game changer. I can hear myself so clear and at a reasonable volume. It may be the best gear decision I have ever made.

Jimmie provided the best experience I've ever had when buying music equipment. He went way beyond what I could have possibly expected. He became a friend in the process. If you are thinking about IEM's, he is THE person to talk to. His web site is www.deanmusicgroup.com. Thank you Jimmie for making such a big impact on my performing career.

That Eighties Band officially turns 20 years old this month! When I started this project, I never imagined it would become the most significant work of my musical and professional life. It has been rewarding beyond my dreams.

I'm grateful to all the musicians who ever lent their talent to this project. Most importantly, my friend Mick Drybread who has been there since day one. Amy LeRoy, Martha Forester Suarez, and Kevin Keena have also played pivotal roles through their years of dedication and awesome work.

None of this would be possible without the nice people who come to our shows, and the people who hire us. Words cannot express how much we truly appreciate you.

I'm not sure how much longer we will continue, but chances are it won't be another 20 years. However, we're having more fun than ever, and we have never had better gigs. As long as people want to see us, God willing, we plan to keep performing.

We have some exciting things planned throughout the next year to celebrate this special milestone. Stay tuned :)

Sometimes random cool things happen. Brad Gillis from Night Ranger and Ozzy Osbourne came to our show last week. The first "heavy metal" album I ever bought was "Speak of the Devil" by Ozzy Osbourne. I must have listened to it 1,000 times. Brad Gillis was the guitar player. Anyway, he came up and played a few songs with us. It's not every day you get to play "Crazy Train" with the actual guy who played guitar for Ozzy!

In other news, I did a fun interview for CanvasRebel Magazine. You can read the article here.

One thing I really enjoy besides music is video production. I just bought a new camera, studio lights, and some software. I also built a little home video studio. My first project is a retro MTV style video covering The Cars "Just What I Needed". You can check it out here.

Everything is going great with the band. We have a lot of cool shows scheduled for 2023. I recently recorded a vocal version of "Eyes of a Stranger" by Queensryche. They are one of my favorite bands and I think Geoff Tate is one of the best singers of all-time. I posted the video on Facebook and it kind of went viral. Since not everyone is on Facebook, I wanted to post it here for anyone who wants to check it out.

Wow! What an awesome Summer. We were so happy to play so many cool places. Below is a stage pic from our final Summer concert for 2022. Also, you can watch a fan shot compilation video from some of shows.

Thank you Shoutout Colorado for your interview with me. That was fun to do.

It's been a while since I posted here. Things are going well on this end. It seems like people are really ready to be out after being locked in for so long. We've had some awesome concerts lately. Our 2022 is at max capacity and we really cannot add anything new, except for maybe a few shows in December. We have 30 shows scheduled for this Summer and will be playing several new places. Looking forward to it.

We never had a TV show, but if we did, I created the intro we would have used below. I also made a potential album cover for the band :)

We had a very busy Summer. We played all over the place. It was nice to see friends and familiar faces, and to meet so many new people. We took a lot of video and I am working on that now. This is a small clip that shows what it looks like to me from the stage. At this particular concert, the crowd was even bigger than the video shows. We have the coolest job in the world, in my opinion. I am conscious of how fortunate we are, and I will never take it for granted.

Things are pretty slow in the concert world. We are hoping things get closer to normal in 2021. We have been doing some stuff behind the scenes, but there is not a lot of music news to report at the moment. I’ll share a quick personal story in the meantime. After having a kidney stone attack in 2019, I quietly started a 16 month experiment with my diet. I increased my water intake, significantly reduced sugar, salt and meat, and eliminated alcohol 100%. I’ve had pretty good results. No new kidney stones so far, and I’m getting close to where I was in 2010, which was part of my goal.

Slowly we are starting to get back to playing some shows. People have been very creative in how they put them on. For example, we are doing a drive in show on Sunday. It is good to be getting back. Hopefully it will continue.

I have always enjoyed video work. Recently I did my first scripted video. I sang, shot and edited it all myself. It is a cover of "Cuts You Up" by Peter Murphy. He is one of my favs. Nobody can touch what he did originally, but I tried to recreate his video. It was a fun project.

I like to practice singing. Just for fun here is a small peice of "Take Hold of the Flame" by Queensryche.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. I've been playing lots of bass during this downtime. Steve Harris from Iron Maiden is one of my biggest musical influences. Here's me playing some of his signature bass lines.

The House Hunters episode featuring the band was chosen as a "Fan Favorite"! HGTV reaired it last night. You can watch it here. We are very thankful to HGTV for exposing the band to literally millions of their viewers! If you want to read more about how all this happened, scroll down to some of my previous journal entries

This can't be real. My friend Billy Bunting died. He was the lead singer for the U2 tribute band "Under a Blood Red Sky". The minute I met him years ago, we became instant friends. Truly, I have never met anyone so genuinely kind and supportive. He made me feel like he was my biggest supporter in the world. He made a lot of people feel that way. He can never be replaced, but I swear to God, I will do my best to continue his legacy of kindness until we meet again.

It's has been a while since I updated. 2019 has been a really amazing year for the band. Tons of great concerts. We have met so many new people, and enjoyed seeing our existing friends who have come to our shows. I hope 2020 is a great and safe year for you.

In this band, I wear a lot of hats (singer, manager, truck driver, web developer and more ha ha). At my core, I am a bassist. I bought a 6-string bass for Christmas. I have not had one since I was in my early 20's. I love it. Here is a video I made.

I was interviewed in The Pueblo Chieftain and for Grapevine Magazine. We will be heading to Pueblo to play "Festival Fridays".

Here's a video from our first show ever in Fort Collins (5/11). Thank you SO MUCH to the 750 people who bought tickets and made it a great night!

On Monday 5/6 at 8:45AM MST, I will be doing an interview on Good Day Colorado (KDVR-TV Fox 31). They asked to speak about my skin cancer journey and its impact on my life as a professional musician. It is part of the American Academy of Dermatology's national skin cancer prevention campaign. I caught mine early, and I am OK, but I'm very happy to help raise awareness about this issue. For more information, you can visit www.aad.org/public/spot-skin-cancer

Amy (our keyboard player) and I have been dating for 10 YEARS! I am so lucky to have her in my life. On New Year's Eve, I asked her to marry me, and she said "yes". We are very excited to start this next chapter together.

BIG NEWS! Amy and I bought our dream house about 6 months ago. We had to keep it a secret until now. Why? Because we auditioned for a show called H0USE HUNTERS on HGTV, and they selected us for our very own episode! They filmed us over 5 days last Fall. It is premiering world-wide on Friday Jan 5 at 8PM MST, and on reruns and on-demand after that. The episode is called Colorado Farmhouse Rock. There might even be an appearance by That Eighties Band. H0USE HUNTERS attracts 25 million viewers per month, so this is huge exposure. Hopefully the editing makes us look like nice people (we have not seen it yet). More details soon.

Happy Thanksgiving. We have been playing a ton. We only have a few more public shows this year. Would love to see you if you can make it. We are working on lot's of things behind the scenes. Will be excited to share everything with you soon! Here is a cool video from last week. It is us playing the same song, at the same club, on two different nights. Awesome crowds. I appreciate it so much and will never take it for granted.

It has been way too long since I posted here. With Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc., there are so many places to keep up with. I've been doing my journal here for over a decade. I plan on posting here more frequently in 2016. Lot's of really cool things have happened. Some of the highlights:

We have played some really cool venues, including Sports Authority at Mile High. We also flew to Indiana for a NYE show.

A few months ago, the guitarist from Quiet Riot played a few songs with us. As an 80's band, that was really cool for us. Here is a video of one of the songs.

Thank you to everyone who came to our recent shows. It was so great to be back! Unfortunately, I need to have a 2nd surgery next week. During my recovery, my awesome band members will be covering our private events. Sadly, we have to cancel all public shows for about the next month. The best place to see our current schedule is here on our web site. My surgeon is one of the best in the world for my type of injury, so I am in good hands. I cannot wait to get back on the stage again.

I was recently in a serious accident at the conclusion of one of our shows. I suffered a rare knee injury that will require major reconstructive surgery this week. We have had to cancel all shows since this the accident. Unfortunately, all shows for the next month have also been cancelled. After surgery, I will undergo a lengthy rehab period, during which I hope to be able to perform in some capacity. On top of all of this, our dog Blanket went into emergency surgery this week and has been in critical condition. God never gives us more than we can handle, but Amy, Blanket and I would appreciate your prayers. I'll miss everyone, but I look forward to getting back to performing ASAP.

Our dog Sammy died Monday night. He was homeless when we adopted him 4 years ago. He became a big part of our family. He had a gentle soul. He was so happy to live with us. He LOVED Amy. I have never seen anything like it. All he wanted to do was be with her. When she was gone, he would spend most of his time looking at the door, waiting for her to come home.

He had a bad heart the whole time we had him. We did absolutely everything possible to manage his condition. He was so strong, and only wanted to please. He never gave us a bit of trouble. I thank God he did not suffer long. I am glad we were there for him all the way to his last breath, but it is something I wish I would never have had to witness.

Sammy, you left a big paw print on my heart. I know I will see you again. Until then, God bless you little man. Here is my tribute to you

Westword just interviewed me for an article on That Eighties Band. So awesome!

We just posted our 2013 schedule. 75 shows so far. More to come. We are very fortunate to be booked so much. If you have seen us in the past, we truly appreciate YOU! Hope to see you in 2013.

I also wanted to mention...Almost 18 years ago, I adopted a kitten. I named him Calvin. He has been with me every single day since then. In October, he was diagnosed with severe kidney failure. We gave him the best medical care around, and a lot of love. As a result, he had a great few months. He recently took a turn for the worse. On Christmas Eve, he died peacefully in my arms. I am heartbroken. I want to thank Amy for helping me take care of him. We had to give him fluid injections 3 times a week, and I could not have done it alone. I also want to thank God for being with me during this difficult time. I made a little tribute video for Calvin to honor a life well lived. He will be missed very much.

Things are about to get really busy for That Eighties Band. We have a ton of shows coming up this Summer that will bring us to a lot of cool places. Tomorrow we are playing a new venue called The Rex. Tickets sold out for it a month in advance! So cool.

Congratulations to my friend Kyrylo Fesenko for signing with The Indiana Pacers! He is an awesome guy and a great supporter of That Eighties Band. He took Amy and I out the night before he left. We will miss him, but are SO excited for his future. Good luck Fes!!!

Happy New Year! We have been so busy playing, and doing a LOT of behind the scenes stuff as well. It's all good, but I sometimes run out of time. Here are some highlights since I last wrote…we played a corporate party for Google. We did an awesome NYE show in Denver for 3,000 people. I doubled the size of our sound system. Now we can be REALLY LOUD if we need to. On NYE we met Kyrylo Fesenko, who is an NBA player. He has come to a few shows, came to a party at my house, and even took me and Amy to a Denver Nuggets game. All this reminds me that we truly have the best job in the world.

2012 is looking like it will be an amazing year. I just posted about 75 shows for 2012! There will be more to come. Hope to see you out there!

Last week, we were hired to play a private party in Aspen for OWNER of The Kansas City Chiefs, Clark Hunt. It was a birthday party for his wife (former Miss USA). They were so nice. What a cool experience! It is not every day we get to meet and perform for someone who owns an NFL team.

Jani Lane, the singer from the band Warrant died today. I never met him, but I thought he was a very talented and underrated musician. He pretty much wrote all the Warrant stuff when he was in the band. He had a really good voice as well. It was tough watching his downward spiral as he seemed to struggle with alcohol the last several years. Very sad. He will be missed.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. It was nice to take a mini-vacation from the band and be with family. We will be all over the place in December. I am working on the schedule for 2011 and will post all that ASAP. Every now and then, some people ask me what I look like off stage, without makeup, etc....Here it is :)

Halloween weekend was very cool. Trickeration sold out all 1,500 tickets. When there are that many people, sometimes it gets a little scary. People start hanging on the speakers and trying to jump on stage. People get pushed and start falling down. It is pretty crazy, but a lot of fun.

Shyla died tonight. She was my cat for the last 16 years straight. I know it might not mean much to others, but it means a lot to me. I don't have kids, so my pets are like my kids…and she was special. She was the first pet I ever had. I bought her as a kitten so long ago. I remember when I first saw her. She was 8 weeks old. She stood out from the whole pack. She was so sweet.

She was my friend. She was with me longer than anyone else in this world. Every job, every move, every everything, she was there. She was sick lately. I get so busy with work and the band and life. Wednesday, God told me to go spend time with her. She was so frail. Vets could do nothing. I told her how much I loved her. She knew. And we both knew time was short :( I prayed that God would let me have just one more weekend with her. To take her outside, to see, to breath, to live. Tonight I learned that God had other plans, and it breaks my heart. But I know God is good. And if that is true, Shyla is in Heaven right now. And I will see her again. Until then, I say, "Thank you Shlya. You taught me more than you could ever know. I will miss you so much. I love you baby."

I just finished up booking most of our shows for 2010. We are playing all over the place this Summer. Lot's of cool outdoor concerts. As always, you can see our schedule on our home page.

We are fostering a 5 year old Pekingese dog. I named him Blanket. An animal rescue found him wondering the streets of New Mexico with one of his eyes hanging out :( He is super sweet and very well mannered. He is great with kids and other animals. He weights 13lbs and does shed! If you are a totally awesome person looking for a dog, or know someone who is, let me know and I can put you in touch with the adoption agency. Until then, he is very happy being a part of our pack.

Our St. Patricks weekend was amazing. We did 3 shows in less than 24 hours. Some bands would say that is crazy, but I say if the opportunity is there, go for it. On Saturday afternoon, we played in front of a ton of people at Jacksons Lodo. Saturday night, we headlined the Jagemeister stage at Fado. OMG. It was unbelievable. 2,000 people, plus a line to get in. Full concert production. A lot of groups never get to play something like that in their life. We are very fortunate.

This Saturday, we are doing a huge 80's Party downtown at Jackson's in Lodo. $15 to get in. 80's attire is a must! It is going to be huge. If you are on Facebok, check it out here. Last week, we did a a show for The Loveland Police Dept. They were a really fun group. If you are ever up there, drive the speed limit, then say "hi" to my friend, Officer Rob Pride. He is a big 80's rock fan, and one of the coolest dudes I have met in a while.

Lot's of animal stuff lately. We did a show at The Denver Zoo. Right in front of the elephants. It was one of the most unique settings we have played in front of. A few weeks ago, we played an event for Colorado State University. I got a pic of me and the CSU mascot "Cam the Ram".

The Alice 105.9 show was great.  Slacker & Steve and the absolute best.  We were so happy to be a part of that.  Also, listen to what Slacker & Steve said about us on air.  Thanks dudes!

When I was in high school, I was in a heavy metal band called Spade Spade. Our influences were bands like Iron Maiden, Queensryche and Fates Warning. We made a pretty good impact on the underground metal scene, especially in Europe and Asia. Several months ago, I was contacted by some fans of the band. They are based in Athens, Greece and have a record label called Steel Legacy Records. They expressed interest in signing Salem Spade and releasing our back catalogue. I have been working with them to get this released. Well, this week it came out! They are releasing it in two stages. Stage 1 is a very limited pressing of 330 albums. Yes, albums. The vinyl kind you spin on a record player. This release is for collectors. After just a few days of being available, it is almost sold out. In Stage 2, they will be releasing CD copies with bonus live video footage. I am so honored that after all these years, a band I was in back in high school is getting this much exposure. I want to thank Kostas Kounadini and Panos Tsioubris for their excellent work in making this a reality.

What a great weekend. Country legend Martina McBride hired us to play her birthday party after her Colorado concert! We arrived at noon in Colorado Springs to set up. This was a huge production. There were 6 tour busses and 4 semi trucks. With band, sound, lights, video, staff and security, there were probably over 200 people involved in setting this up. The tour manager took great care of us. We had full back stage access, including catering and a dressing room. We also got great tickets to the show. There were about 7,000 people there. A band called Little Big Town opened the show and were very good. I did not know what to expect with Martina McBride, but I can honestly say it was the best vocal performance I have ever seen. Her voice is amazing.

After the show we went back to the VIP room to play. It was as big as most of the clubs we play at. The crowd consisted of all the bands we had just seen on stage. Let me tell you, singing in front of one of the best singers in the world is intimidating, but she was so nice. She took the time to tell us we were great and asked for us to play longer than we were scheduled. We got a chance to talk to all the band guys and there was not a bit of ego from any of them. Experiencing that level of kindness from people at that level was really something.

Just got back from my mini-tour with Moore. Let me tell you a story. Our bassist Chadwik has been friends with Corey Taylor from Slipknot for a long time. I have been at band practice when Corey has actually called him. In case you do not know, Slipknot is like one of the biggest metal bands on the planet. Multi-platinum act. One of my favorite bands by far.

We played in Des Moines, IA on Friday (Slipknots home town) and holy cow, Corey showed up. Not only that, he stood in the crowd and watched the whole set. I do not get nervous performing anymore, but this was only the 3rd time I have played guitar in a crowd. Having someone of his stature was there was crazy.

After the show, I went downstairs to the dressing room. Chadwik came down and told me Corey was looking for me! Long story short, he said was curious about how I get my heavy sound. I was STUNNED to get these compliments, even though I fully realize he may have just been being nice. Next thing I know, he invited the whole band back to his house! So we are all riding in the Moore van cranking up Skid Row and end up at his house. He had a ton of great stories and could go into comedy if he wanted to.

One thing he said blew my mind. They just got off a world tour. He said they played in front of a total of 3.1 million people on that tour. Referring to a lyric in the Bon Jovi song "Dead or Alive", he said "I've literally seen a million faces, and I've rocked them all". That is success, my friends.

I just got back from a US tour playing bass with Vox Demonna on the Orgy, Godhead, Society 1 tour. It was incredible. I got to play in front of thousands of people. The highlights were Chicago and Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, we played the club where Prince filmed Purple Rain. The crowd was huge and enthusiastic. The House of Blues lived up to its reputation as one of the best places to play in the world. The venue was beautiful and the staff really takes care of the bands. I heard that Chicago has the craziest fans in the world. They do!

I became a fan of all the bands we played with. Orgy is brilliant. Great songs and a great look. Godhead writes really, really good stuff and are real cool guys. We hung out with Society 1 more than any of the other bands. The temp drummer for Society 1 is Adrian from Powerman 5000, the band I tried to audition with last year. Small world. I got his contact info and told him I am the man if Powerman 5000 loose their bassist!

Big changes with That Eighties Band, but what else is new. I have been inspired to try something very unique and will be revealing more on that soon.

Welcome to my new section of the website. I am sure you are all familiar with the online journal format. I'll try to update it with my thoughts and all the latest happenings with That Eighties Band.