My Dad majored in music at Grand Canyon State University in Phoenix and played on the varsity tennis team all through college. He went on to become the choir teacher at a local high school for a little bit, and then went on to become the director of music at a church called Olivette Chapel there in the Phoenix area shortly after marrying my Mom.

All this to tell you the beginnings of my musical roots. My Dad also was in a Christian band called "Unity" when I was very young, and they played all over Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California. I don't remember much of that, but I have heard some of their songs on an old tape I used to have and all I can say is my Dad rips on the flute solos.

After a while working at the high school and the church, my Dad became a pastor at a church called Foundation Fellowship. Bob Hughes -- Augie and Eric's Dad -- was also a pastor there. That is how I met Augie, Eric, and Scott Hughes (Scott was the youngest Hughes brother at the time and also my best friend for over 20 years).

After living in Arizona for my whole life, my dad and family decided God was telling us to move to California to become part of a PDI-related church there. So we moved to Pasadena, a little north of Los Angeles. I still kept in contact with the Hugheses, though, and a few years after moving to Cally, at the ripe old age of 19 years, I packed up my things and moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia.

I worked on the sound crew and helped in the youth group -- whatever they needed me to do, I did. I can honestly say that there is almost nothing in this world more fulfilling than serving the local church.

Except maybe marrying my wife, which is what I did in 1997 on July 11th.

Bethany and I met in Virginia Beach when I was visiting my friends there. She was also part of the church there. When I went back to California we wrote and talked on the phone all through her school year and then I moved to Virginia in 1994.

Let me backtrack here, the first visit I had to Virginia Beach was in 1992 after I graduated from high school, and I came out to be a part of the church and just serve them for the summer -- what my Dad called a mini-missions trip. During this trip is when someone, I think Scott Hughes, taught me some chords on an old acoustic guitar and that was the first time I ever played the guitar.

So back to 1994, I moved out to be a part of the church, which was nothing short of life-changing for me. There's nothing like serving to draw you closer to God and develop character in your life.

Anyway, Bethany and I married on July 11th, 1997. A couple years earlier Bethany's older sister Heather married our drummer Augie Hughes. So now Augie and I were kinda brothers-in-law ... weird.

About a year after marrying Bethany, Eric approached Augie, me, and Mike (our bass player) about starting a band to begin to do outreaches on the college campus. We were stoked! That was the small begininngs of what is now the New Attitude Band.

It still amazes me at how God "sees through eternity" and sovereignly orchestrates things to his perfect plan. Well soon after starting the band we added Ted Slater as our piano/keyboardist, and also added Sean Thomas as our percussionist. We still do our outreaches to the college campus and also play during youth group worship nights, in addition to being on the worship team at our church, Sovereign Grace Church.