.INFO

quick links:
Why I Am A Musician
111 Facts About Me
Dream Movie Women (a non-shallow editorial)

I'm Chris.

I was born on April 23rd, 1976, which makes me a thirty-something. Despite this numerical burden, I still have the passion of a 15-year old who just discovered music, movies, and how cool life can be. Because of this, I feel very isolated in a world of shallow, boring uncultured people. I am a forward-thinking individual, and a hater of the traditional "real world" ethos many people seem driven to follow.

I'm an artist. and before I get chastised for being a "bum" or "slacker" (the connotations that are always attached to the word "artist"), let me explain why. To me, music, films, books, paintings, drawings, poems, musicals...... they are the meaning of life.

There's nothing I like more than a great song, a film which fucks me up, or a book that takes me to a place I've never been. Nothing I love more than staring at a Dali painting, quoting Charles Bukowski, or studying every detail of an M.C. Escher drawing. There's nothing more important to me in life than art: making it, observing it, listening to it, buying and selling it. Art is the most beautiful gift humans can give. I've been an artist/art enthusiast since the age of 11. I got into music and films around the same time. Something just clicked with me, when i heard Blondie's "Heart of Glass" and when my older sister took me to see the "The Breakfast Club."

I make art because I hate convention. I make art because it feels right. I make art to affect people: to give them what they've given me all my life. I know this all sounds like hippie bullshit, but there's no other way to explain it. I love art. I love creating. It's who I am, it's what I do, it's why I am who I am. A lot of people don't understand that. It saddens me that they don't. How could they not understand? It saddens me that millions of people can't be affected by art in some way. They are the people who go through life without any dreams or the need to share something important with others. They buy Lindsay Lohan CDs and khaki shorts. They watch terrible reality TV shows. now THAT, I can't understand.

Art is the one thing in my life that has always remained constant. It has never hurt me, it has never betrayed me or lied to me. Art is beautiful and always perfect, and it's fucking important. I'm an idealist. I believe people can become more intelligent, more cultured, and generally more interesting when they're heavily into art or if they make it themselves. People need to watch more independent movies, educational television, read more important books, and listen to better music. Sure, that sounds really elitist. But fuck it. It's true.

A little background:

I grew up in suburban New Jersey... the Jersey Shore (Beachwood) to be exact. My parents reluctantly moved me to Florida when I was 12 years old and soon after, I realized I was never going to be normal. I had a fucked up childhood full of yelling, my parents fighting and screaming at each other basically every weekend, and kids beating me up once a month from 1st to 6th grade because of my nickname - word of advice to any new parents or those who are expecting-- don't, under any circumstance, name your kid Skip, Skipper, or Skippy. Even as a nickname, it's a bad idea.

I moved to Florida before starting 7th grade, and hated it from the first week I lived there... I starting writing music because it was my only salvation, and my only friend. To this day, it's the only reliable thing in my life.

From 1994-2000, I cut my musical teeth playing drums and writing for a rap/metal/funk band in the vein of Rage Against The Machine and 311, called Down Inside (formerly Downside / Panacea / Triage). We developed quite a buzz for ourselves in the late 90's. We shared the stage with bands like Zebrahead, Kottonmouth Kings, Overkill, Shuvel, Stuck Mojo, among many others. During my time with Down Inside, I ran an informative website dedicated to "crossover" music (rock mixed with rap) called The Crossover Index. It was a well-respected website. In summer of 2000, after moving to California with the band, and after six long years playing with them, I quit to pursue projects which I felt were much more meaningful and important.

Soon after moving back to Florida, I started a website called BACKSEAT.NET, which was an indie culture/music site that had a loyal following. Eventually, the site became too much work for me and I laid it to rest to focus on my new band and other projects. During the site's existence, though, I noticed one major thing that inspired me to keep going with art: people loved reading what I wrote, and loved checking out the music I made. On the site, I would always randomly write something, or post a song idea (finished or unfinished). I would get emails all the time about how all of it affected people in a positive way. I have always been interested in art, but those emails solidified my endless passion for music and writing, and filmmaking... and reassured me that I was on the right path in life.

Because of BACKSEAT.NET, I started a poetry publishing company called Planet Isolation Publications (which puts out small poetry books, mostly by me), and I also started an independent record label called Ousted Records (formerly Monochrome Vision Records). Mainly focused on my own music and the music of close friends (and still is), I wanted to create an outlet for my music, which spans every possible style you can think of (punk, dreampop, hip-hop, indie rock, instrumental, new wave/80s, post punk/noise rock, trance, etc). I love writing music and have been actively involved in writing it since 1992. I figured since all the record labels out there basically follow trends and are not interested in anything unique (especially these days, when disposable pop and emo/punk dominate), why not put good music out there, self-produced and manufactured, and sell all of it for relatively cheap. Same goes for the poetry books. There are a bunch of shitty, pretentious poetry books in every bookstore worldwide, which are all usually $15-25. Why not put out honest, good stuff by unknown young poets and writers for less than $7 per book? I'm not in it for the money, I'm in it for the effect art can have on people. I can't stand corporations and capitalist organizations which don't give a shit about good art, only the mighty dollar.

It is my dream to one day be completely self-employed without having to answer to anyone except the people I serve with my art. This is the most important dream I have. Even if I have to live on ramen noodles and bread for 5 years, I believe that someday, I will be able to get to the point of not working a meaningless job 5 days a week. Every single day I work toward my dream.

A friend of mine named Michael W. Dean said something to me a while ago: "I work for the Universe." I never forgot that sentence, and I never will, because the meaning behind it is so simple, yet so profound. Working for the Universe means making art for the love of it, knowing that along the way, you will affect people in ways that can't even be understood. You will meet others who share your passion, others who will support and buy it, and you will live on forever through the art you make. It's a beautiful philosophy. It's what I live by.

I hope you enjoy this website. Feel free to write me, about whatever (the contact link at the top). I'm always looking for new friends, new music/art/poetry/films.... we don't have a lot of time on this earth and we were not meant to spend it working 40 hours a week without dreams, passions, or a purpose above keeping the big machine functioning.