I started playing the drums in 1974.  OK, actually, I started playing clarinet.  Then came braces, which were supposed to straighten my teeth, correct my overbite, and all that ... but which had the unfortunate side effect of rendering any kind of decent embouchure pretty much impossible.  Yep, I coulda been Richard Stoltzman or Kenny G ... but instead found myself playing the bass drum in marching band.  After a while, I worked my way up to the "tri-toms" (man, those things were heavy) ... but at the same time started learning the fine art of "four-way independence" (i.e. doing four different things at once with my hands and feet).  My first band consisted of guitar, drums and piano.  We were called "Spaced Out" ... which fit pretty well, actually.  We also won our high school talent show, which provided us with enough cash for a couple of pizzas.  At this point, I knew that there would be no going back to the clarinet. 

Next I played in "Ignition" (our band logo was a set of car keys), then "Tachyon" (we had a band logo, but by the time you looked at it, it had already moved on), then "Conquest" (favorite memory: playing a small-town prom in Wilson, OK, and blowing out the electrical system for three blocks with a set of homemade flash pots whilst playing Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever," which then turned into an impromptu drum solo ... in the dark.  Good times.).

Being a practical sort of fellow, I decided to go to college.  I majored in music, which pretty much tells you that that business about "being a practical fellow" in the previous sentence is a lie.  But hey, at least I graduated.  With honors, even.  So there. 

The grand procession of bands continued: "DayStar" (not to be confused with "Death Star"), "Foundation" (with my good buddies Dave McKerley, John Foster, and the crazy-amazing guitar dude Mark Cruz), plus a few others that never made it out of the garage ... erm, I mean, "rehearsal studio." 

While in college, I found my life's purpose (to be a disciple of Christ), my life partner (Katie), my main musical cohort (John Eargle [OK, we actually met in High School, but that's another story]) ... and several years thereafter, my "real" calling.  In order to claim my "real" calling, I had to let go of my "original plan" (which had basically been: practice a lot --> get really good --> be in a band --> get "signed" --> write and record hit after hit --> tour a lot --> make obscene amounts of cash -- wash, rinse, repeat.  Kind of a lame plan, now that I think about it.) 

So I put the drums in storage, left Oklahoma to pursue a Masters of Divinity (it's not as uppity and all-holy as it sounds, trust me), and then returned to "real life" to work with college students in campus ministry.  Fun - really.  Later I became an associate pastor, serving churches in Oklahoma and Texas.  After that, someone had the bright idea that I ought to be the "main" pastor at a church in Wichita Falls, TX, so I did that for a while.  This was actually pretty cool, so when somebody else asked me to become the lead pastor at my current church in Denton, TX, I was OK with that, too.  I still am.

Y2K found me relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and it was then that John and I began to develop a NEW band - "Phase III," if you like - which we called "Touch the Sky."  This later became the name of the first Supernal Endgame album (see what we did there?).  Over the next eight years, we learned that it's hard to move forward with a band when you're constantly having to replace a different band member every few months or so.  Finally we got a clue, and decided to focus on finishing up the album that we'd started recording sometime around 2006.  After hearing what we'd already done up to that point, we scrapped most of it and basically started over.

You can probably put the rest of this together yourself (at least, my mother can - hi Mom!).  Released album independently in 2009 ("Touch the Sky, Vol. I"), which was picked up by ProgRock Records for a re-release (with some of the material remixed/improved) in 2010.  We also contributed tracks to "The Haiti Projekt," "A Flower Full of Stars: Tribute to The Flower Kings," "CPR 4," and "Tales from the Edge: a Tribute to Yes."  The first three of these are currently available (as is our debut, TtS V. I), and rumor has it that that last one will also be released ... someday ... 

Oh, and by the way, we're having a much easier time with the whole "band members sticking around" thing nowadays.  In fact, I've never enjoyed playing with a bunch of guys as much as I do John, John, Dan (miss ya, bro!), Tom, and Jett (not to mention all the fine violinists who have gigged with us over the past year).

Meanwhile, we've started playing live again, which is something we enjoy - a lot - because we get to hang out with you guys while playing music that moves our souls and expresses our hearts.  To that end, I bought a set of DW drums in late 2010 (not cheap, folks ...  but GOOD).  Set 'em up, mic'd 'em up, and laid down drum tracks for the upcoming "Touch the Sky, Vol. II" in

late November/early December of that year.  Now we're closing in on finishing that album for (hopefully) an early 2012 release (cue applause).  Meanwhile, we're still playing live (and we're even performing some of the material from the upcoming album!), so come and see us when you can.  We do a lot of gigs in the North Texas region, but perhaps we'll get to your part of the world someday.  I'd like to meet you in person - that would be cool.

... stay tuned ... more to come ... to be continued ... unless my ADD kicks in ...