Hear it from me…

I was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. I started my musical journey at a young age; always banging on pots, pans and anything that would sound like a drum. My musical interest was always directed towards the drums and it was in these early years that I developed my ear and began to understand different rhythms and beats. My Mother was a singer in cover bands in the 80’s and my Father was also a gigging bass player throughout the same time.

In 2001 I started year 8 at Perth Modern School. I would hang out with my friends that used to jam Blink 182 songs in the music rooms at lunch time. I didn’t play an instrument yet, and after having been kicked out of the optional music program (for not having prior music theory knowledge) my desire to simply play in a band was unyielding. So I hijacked my Dad’s bass and began to teach myself how to play after school. 8 months later, my Dad bought me an electric guitar for my 13th birthday. I would play one instrument unrelentingly for a month, then decide I missed the other instrument and would alternate my practice like this for years.

It didn’t take long for me to become hooked on the power of music. I joined my first original band Seraphim at age 15 and found anything other than playing bass and performing in Drama class inconsequential. The band went on to garner significant attention within the Perth Alt Rock scene. After releasing our debut single “Habit” to great reviews, Seraphim eventually disbanded at the start of 2006. 

In 2005, while completing my final year of High School, I went to an all ages metal show (as I always would) and saw a melodic death metal band called Inter Alia play. After talking to the duo, Toby Bishop & Michael Lenane afterwards I managed to convince them they needed me as their bass player. And easily enough, I joined the band! It was an incredibly busy year for me; I remember one overwhelming few months of attending year 12 classes, performing/rehearsing in Drama class as the lead role of Mac the Knife in the final year 12 play The Threepenny Opera, gigging with Seraphim and Inter Alia AND moving house all at the same time. My tenure in Inter Alia only lasted out the year and while my dedication to the band remained, the band eventually came to a halt and I decided to move on.

In early 2006 I was approached by brothers Ben & Daniel Mazzarol and was offered the bassist's role in their new original death/doom metal band Noctis. After playing and attending many local metal gigs around Perth, I had by mid 2007 also joined death rock outfit Psychonaut, featuring VOYAGER guitarists Mark De Vattimo and Simone Dow. 

By this stage, I had become friends with the members of VOYAGER. I would help with roadie duties and even do lights for them at many shows. For my own enjoyment, I had already learnt (and written my own bass lines) to every Voyager song. It's strange, but I had an intuitive feeling that I would eventually join the band and made sure I was ready to go at moment's notice. Later on, the band split with their bass player Melissa, and I was the first and last person to audition for the bassist role.

In late 2007 after just having turned 19 years old, I was invited to join VOYAGER.  Several months after joining the band, we did tours to Sydney and Melbourne to promote the newly released album "uniVers". In early 2008 VOYAGER then successfully completed a European tour to Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

I was still very excited to be playing music in Noctis; In 2007 we released our debut EP "Of Future's Past" and in the years to follow, my involvement in the band continued to evolve. With the departure of original lead vocalist (and my close friend) Samuel Terlick, I for the first time in my career became the frontman and lead vocalist of Noctis. This shift to the forefront of the band brought with it new responsibility in the form of composing lyrics and vocal lines whilst maintaining my role as bassist. 

After several years of intense writing sessions and lineup changes, Noctis home-recorded a concept double-album titled "Silent Atonement". I conceived the concept of the album and became heavily emotionally invested in the process of writing the lyrics and co-writing the songs with Daniel. Sadly, with the upwards of 2 years it took to complete, we'd all started to shift our artistic vision for the album and conflicts and arguments became commonplace within the band. With the increased tension, I along with guitarist Simone Dow decided to exit the band in 2011. The album was eventually released independently by founder Daniel Mazzarol. 

Since joining VOYAGER, I as the bassist and backing vocalist of the band have released 4 full-length albums and have toured extensively both nationally and abroad. I’ve played shows in The United States, Canada, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Europe and Scandinavia and we’ve supported some of the world’s biggest metal bands such as Deftones, Opeth, Katatonia, Orphaned Land, Leprous, Karnivool, Rhapsody of Fire, Devin Townsend, Queensryche, Alestorm, Evergrey, The Algorithm, Amorphis, Epica, Nightwish, Soilwork, Oceans of Slumber as well as playing the prestigious PROGPOWER EU & USA festivals multiple times.  

In an effort to make music a full time occupation, in 2014 I decided to learn a large collection of cover songs with the intention of performing them as a solo act around my hometown of Perth. Making the transition from bass player to fully-fledged professional singer & acoustic guitarist, I’ve amassed hundreds of solo shows in this time; playing at weddings, awards night ceremonies, private and corporate fundraisers/events, pubs, restaurants and is on-call as a last minute fill in bass player for Perth's other great acts: Nathan Gaunt, Monty Cotton, The Healys & Blue Hornet. 

I also do commissioned voice overs; you can listen to some of my work at the VOICE OVERS page. I love recording them and I’m also keen to do some acting in the future.

In 2017, Voyager released our latest album GHOST MILE to critical acclaim. We were nominated for a Progressive Music Award in the Best International Band category with the likes of Devin Townsend, Opeth and Dream Theater following an achievement of hitting our Pledge Music album pre-order campaign in just one week. The release of this album saw us tour nationally with The Algorithm, headline PROGPOWER EU festival as well as closing out the year with a 5 week tour of Europe, Ireland and the UK with Uneven Structure (FRA) and performances with Norway’s Leprous at the Australian PROGFEST festivals in Melbourne and Brisbane.

In 2021, I continue to play acoustic cover gigs with my duo Fhloston Paradise with Voyager drummer Ashley Doodkorte, and as trio with The Healys.  

I have also completed my debut solo EP “Birthmark” which will be released in on the 25th of October 2021. The tracks are heavily influenced by VAST, Opeth, Pink Floyd and Paul Dempsey.

I thank you for taking an interest. stay tuned for the next installment :)