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| HISTORY |
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| Drums and percussion have been a major part of my life ever since I picked up my first set of sticks. I was 12 years old and pretended to be the Eagle's drummer in my elementry school Talent show. After losing, I decided to really learn how to play drums. So I took advantage of the school's volunteer music teacher and bought a wooden practice block and a set of sticks. I immediately bought KISS's album, Destroyer, and vowed to be a rock drummer like Peter Criss. Ya got to remember, this was 1977. However, my new musical goals did not quite match the catholic school aim. So I went to join the ranks of the public school music programs. This proved to be a positive experience. I was able to learn many styles of drumming as well as play other percussion instruments. I also was fortunate enough to be at Abraham Lincoln Highschool, SJ, in the early 80's. The band instructor, Romero Barrera, took our marching and jazz bands all over the country. I mean, we played the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Fullerton Jazz Festival, and even the halftime show at a 49er game. This experience just made my desire to create and perform original music stronger. Music friends and I formed and joined a variety of projects and gigged throughout the Bay Area. This is when I knew that I was addicted to performing in front of others. So when I moved to SLO town to go to Cuesta College I immediately began searching for musicians to play with. I joined the Cuesta College Jazz band to start. The Jazz band was directed by John Balfour,composer of The Flinstones Theme. He allowed me to play a variety of Jazz shows in small towns, parks and the Corbett Canyon Winery. I even got to jam with Ernie Ball'mother! Soon I hooked up with The Guy Budd band that played a wild style of blues. We traveled to Madam Wongs in Santa Monica during the heyday of Glam Metal and we still rocked the hairspray off their spandex with our original blues. I also played with a hippy band called Shakedown. Here I experienced the colorful Lord Buckeley Gathering in the Los Plumas national forest. ...tye-dyes, vw vans, social consciousness, lsd, and many funny looking cigarettes. It soon came time to leave the Central Coast and head south. I ended up in Orange county attending UC Irvine. Again I started to search for musicians that shared the same passions. I soon met Greg Marx and we formed Gangwasi. We played clubs, college parties,Beach parties and drank lots of Whiskey. Unfortunately, our reality came to an end during a sell out show at Anaheim's famous club, The Doll Hut. The drunken fuge made us realize that we need to go our separate ways for awhile.But we did release a stunning demo tape in 1990, that recieved critical acclaim. The bassist and I found a guitar player and formed Salamander. We played Orange County parties until John and I graduated. In 1991 we decided to make the move to the hoppin' Bay Area. After settling in Oaktown and making many club appearances we began to create a buzz. Thanks to Martha Hughes of No Ties production, we were gigging every weekend in SF. This lead to local reviews and winning The Bay Guardians Battle of the Bay in 1994. We also were fortunate to play a Halloween Bash in Santa Barbara. We returned to Santa Barbara soon after to open up for No Doubt at The Anaconda. We also started to get on larger bills in the City. We played the Filmore several times, opening on different ocassions for the Flaming Lips, Santana, and The Funky Meters. We also opened for No Doubt at The Great American Music Hall in 1995. After being the house band for The Paradise lounge and Larry Blakes (East Bay) for about a year we started moving in different directions. I started playing in two other bands, Baby Snufkin andPuzzlefish. Salamander's last big show was playing the SFNYE New Years Eve Bash in '96 which included Santana, and The Gin Blossoms. Salamander continued to exist as the members moved into other projects. In Puzzlefish, I began to play shows and promote the 4:20 family. We released a 14 track CD, Bouncenplod. With this cd we received radio play on Live 105, KALX (Berkeley), KROQ (LA)and KUSF. The bands personal interest and scene involvement led to performances in the SF Hempfest '97, and '98 with Long Beach Dub AllStars and Slightly Stoopid. Another Cannibis driven event we played was a Fundraiser for the Medicinal Marijuana Initiative in California opening for Jello Biafra. I also performed with one of 4:20's siblings, BudderBall, a Frank Zappaish freak show. We played many shows in the California area,but because of personal differences we went our seperate ways,I still love these guys... one of my favorite bands and a favorite of Mike Watts(Minutemen). At the same time I was touring and recording with the hardest working band in the World,Baby Snufkin. We traveled to Europe in the spring of 1997 and 1998. The first time supporting No Doubt's European Tragic Kingdom Tour. The next time we included the East Coast before and after Europe. We wondered throughtout Europe playing a variety of clubs including punk squats and one of Monaco's high class clubs on the French Rivera. We came back and finished off with a west coast tour from Seattle to San Diego. After returning to a diminishing San Francisco music scene I made the decision to head north with Salamander's guitar player Dave. We moved to Seattle, found a house on 2 acres of land, and set up shop. Soon we formed Boogiesquid with former front man of Gangwasi, Greg Marx. I also met up with a Seattle songwriter, Sean Bigler, that had a sleuth of material and the need for a drummer and bassist. In result Epigene evolved. Boogiesquid started playing the clubs and recording their debut CD, Get Out Of The Water, in JB Productions studio under the talented Jim Bachman. With Epigene, we finished our debut 8 track CD June of '99 and began playing the Seattle Clubs. We are going back into the studio with Gary from Village Green to record 7 more tracks which will complete the album. We also continue to promote Epigene over the Internet. You can listen to full length tracks on epigenemusic.com. I hope to continue recording with other musicians, playing live, and touring. Thanks for visiting my site! Darrell Grey
Teachers
Organized music
Individual Bands and Projects.
Awards and Recognition
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