Photo courtesy of Bob Holtsman

Music has always been a huge part of my life since I was a kid, thanks to my dad's incredible vinyl collection. You could hear Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Elvis and James Brown blasting 24/7 in our household or during family cookouts. Over the years, as my siblings got older, it became 80s ghetto blasters wearing out tapes of Led Zeppelin, The Police and Prince. I had no idea how lucky of a child I was to be exposed to all of this amazing music and that my passion for it was growing.

By the time I got to grade 6, my oldest brother, Efren, was already touring in a cover band playing in small towns and bars in our city of Saskatoon (hometown of Joni Mitchell, by the way). By grade 8, I was their lighting tech at their high school dances. The band's school bus full of their giant clunky PA system and lights was parked in our driveway and our basement was their rehearsal space. I would often daydream about doing what my big bro did for a living, being a professional touring musician.

So in high school, I started my own band where I was the lead singer/bassist and began writing original songs. My bandmates and I would sneak into the basement and secretly rehearse using my brother's band's gear for months in order to audition for the big annual high school Variety Night. To our school, it was a pretty big deal - a ticketed talent show that was open to the public in our 250 capacity theatre. Despite there being intimidating senior bands, we passed our audition and got in!

The night of the big show, we were scheduled to close by performing last. As the lights dimmed and the anticipation built up, we stepped onto the stage and did our best rendition of "Free Fallin’" by Tom Petty. Girls started screaming and as we played our last note, the crowd cheered so loudly and gave us a real standing ovation. We felt like the freakin’ Beatles! I was on cloud nine and didn't want the night to end. That was the moment I knew I wanted to make music.

Fours years later, I got signed to Warner/Atlantic with my next band, Wide Mouth Mason, and we were opening for The Rolling Stones. I definitely made the right choice to pursue music because 25 years later, I'm making the best music I've ever made and having more fun than ever with my new band, The Steadies!