Posts Tagged ‘KORN’

Las Vegas, NV- It’s New Years, I’m standing on a penthouse balcony on the 27th floor of the exclusive Turnberry Towers. The Stratosphere is ablaze with fireworks and my heart is alive with hope. I marvel at how everything happens so fast… The past year has yielded many new horizons for my brother & I. Let me give you a run-down of how 2010 changed our lives:

In January, we record a killer single called “Lighthouse” with Grammy-nominated producer Kevin Churko. Working with him was one of the coolest, easiest experiences of our professional careers and the final product is absolutely stellar. Around the same time, IN THIS MOMENT begins their new album with him and the band is looking for a guest male vocalist for their metal duet “The Promise.” Kevin recommends me, everything happens so fast and the next thing you know my voice is on a national radio song, my brother and I are touring with them on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Fest 2010 and I’m making out with Maria Brink on the set of their music video in Tujunga Canyon. Over the course of the summer, we sing on-stage with ATREYU, eat lunch with Jonathan Davis of KORN, sign autographs like actual celebrities, shoot t-shirt cannons off the stage with FIVE FINGER DEATHPUNCH, perform in front of tens of thousands of people and visit most of our family while exploring the entire United States in our mom’s decade-old mini-van.

After Mayhem Fest, we come home from tour to a broken band. Two guys whom we thought were our best friends for nearly 5 years, whom we thought we could count on no matter what, show us their true colors and bail on the most promising project in Las Vegas. We then link up with another drummer (who comes from a rock and roll royalty, no less) but the poor guy just can’t control his demons. I personally know how difficult an endeavor that can be. So we remain in musical limbo until one evening Chris Howorth from IN THIS MOMENT calls me up and invites me out on their winter tour with NONPOINT and TAKING DAWN… but this time I get my very own bunk on the bus! Everything happens so fast and the next thing you know, I’m making appearances at radio stations, working out in different cities with Ken from NONPOINT, singing on-stage with his front-man, Elias and my little tour-blog is picked up by major music website, Metal-Army.com; I even got to know the guys in TAKING DAWN a lot better and hopefully made amends with them.

So here I am, standing atop a million-dollar high-rise, staring out over the sparkling desert landscape that is America’s playground. Instead of coming home to a world of uncertainty, my brother and I feel more focused than ever before. This time, I returned home to several opportunities to collaborate with some amazing, well-known artists, including the guitar player from our favorite band of all time. We’ve had a taste of the good life, of the dream we are dying to live; we’ve been instilled with a new fury to persevere and we’ve found a true brother-in-arms in our bassist Flavio Ivan Mendoza.

Like I said, everything happens so fast and the next thing you know…