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Ian's first bands were typical cover bands and short-lived original garage bands, while working at Drum Word in San Francisco, then one of the premier drum shops in the country.
Ian attended Musicians Institute in 1991. After graduation, Ian moved back to San Francisco and became the Drum Department manager at Guitar Center. Ian joined his first real band, Silent Cry, in 1993, playing progressive metal with constantly changing time signatures. Unable to ever find a permanent vocalist, Silent Cry disbanded on friendly terms a year and a half later. Moving to become the Drum Department manager at B-Street Music, Ian spent the next summer playing free lance gigs for cash in smoky bars in the San Francisco area, where he often found himself playing R&B covers with guys twice his age. When a good opportunity arose to acquire free recording time, Ian recorded a short demo of himself playing different styles, accompanied by the ex bass player from Silent Cry, Keith Mitchell and Tim Beckstien on guitar. Armed with this tape, he moved to Los Angeles. |
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Once in Los Angeles, he was almost immediately offered the chance to join the band Near Death Experience, a dark pop/rock band, who had just released their first CD.
Over the next four years Near Death Experience would play everywhere in the greater Los Angeles area, showcase to every label in the world, be written up in nearly every industry magazine, and become a dominate band on the LA scene. During this time, Ian was also given the opportunity to play on the UPN Channel 13 News theme. With Near Death Experience, Ian recorded the single, "Anastasia," which received college radio play across the USA, and was featured on the Triple X/Hollows Hill compilation album "Dim View of the Future" as well as the Foundation Forum 1997 compilation CD.
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During the day, Ian attended California State University, earning a degree in Business Administration with an option in finance. However, soon after graduation, the band faced several challenges, and after several member changes, management changes, and a changing music scene, Ian and the then remaining band members decided to put NDE to rest to explore other options. Ian took a job working with legendary drum salesman Glenn Noyes at West LA Music, Handling sales efforts of high-end drum and recording equipment to VIP high-profile clientele, both local and international Next, Ian recorded an industro dance single, "On Your Knees" with singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Dieta Klaus, which was released under the name "Idol Worship." The single quickly got the duo a lot of acclaim, and an offer to play at the Key Club on a Saturday night. Idol Worship's first show ever drew 250 people, which lead to more gigs, including playing at the House of Blues for the Los Angeles Music Awards. With Ian co-managing the band, Idol Worship went on to win several local awards, and was named among the Best Unsigned bands by Music Connection Magazine. Idol Worship went to work on recording a full album, while their first single, and a follow up single, "My Darker Side" received regular spins at six Los Angeles area dance clubs. Idol Worship continued to gather critical acclaim, and record contract offers. But just as quickly as Idol Worship had gone from non-existent to the top of the Los Angeles scene, the band fell apart.
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Well before the band's demise, Idol Worship had taken a break for some needed rest. During this time, Ian hooked up with some close friends and joined the Death Rock band "Without Tears". Based solely on the various band members reputations, Without Tears' first show packed the Que Sera in Long Beach to full capacity, which led to the invitation to play the prestigious El Rey Theater. After Idol Worship, Ian continued to gig with Without Tears. Using his own home studio, Ian recorded Without Tears' six-song demo "Tatters" and a song for the tribute album to Rozz Williams of Christian Death. |
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While playing at night, Ian took computer classes and became doing free lance Network administration jobs, as well as a temporary position with AECOM doing an internal audit to reconcile employee pension accounts. Next Ian joined the post production subsidiary of IMAX films, Produced value as general problem solver across multiple departments, including Accounting, Post-Production, Quality Assurance, Digital, and Shipping, working on such films as Stars Wars Episode 1, the Matrix trilogy and Harry Potter among others. In 2004, Ian put his finance degree to work in a new way, doing Quality Assurance for a wholesale mortgage company. Finding he took to real estate transactions like a fish to water, Ian thrived Performing in-depth analyses of credit reports, appraisals, insurance documents, title reports, VOE, VOR and other common loan documents while analyzing loans for problems, and identifying what the problem was, how the problem was created, what the solution was, and how to avoid this problem in the future | |
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The next few years Ian worked on a variety of projects, including recording with former Silent Cry bassist Keith Mitchell.
In 2006, Ian formed a new band, The Myriad Form, and learned Protools software. The band quickly attracted an international fan base, and were regularly getting spun by DJs in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, East Coast, the UK, Germany and more. In addition to playing drums with The Myriad Form, he has done all the engineering for their recordings, as well as played guitar on a song he wrote all the music and lyrics for, "Ashes to Earth." As the bands manager, The Myriad Form produced a full-length independent album in 2007, which has sold copies from Japan to the Netherlands to Brazil. Ian also took up Sony Vegas video software and produced a number of promotional videos for The Myriad Form. With changes in the economy, Ian conducted extensive research regarding possibility of launching web-based business and Assisted business associate in project to explore possibility of expanding small business in the music industry. After exploring those options, Ian returned to school an earned the equivalent of a second bachelors degree in Accounting, while managing residential property. |
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