Short version: My parents encouraged my to find my own music. And I did.

Long version: Music is important in my family, but my parents are older than most of my friends’ folks: Dad started high school in the late 50′s, and mom graduated from Moncton High in 1971, so by the time I started listening to stuff more grown-up than Fred Penner and Raffi, dad’s golden oldies were too “uncool” for a kid my age. The majority of my early musical exposure came from my mother. John Denver, James Taylor, Chris de Burgh, Huey Lewis, Elton John, Michael Jackson, CSN(Y), and Mary Chapin Carpenter were all staples in my house. Supertramp, Genesis, and the Doobie Brothers were probably the “heaviest” stuff I was exposed to. There was a lot of celtic music like the Barra Macneils and the Rankin Family, too. Aside from the myriad of oldies I was forced (at least that’s how it seemed at the time) to listen to in the car, the only things I can specifically remember dad exposing me to were Bobby Day’s Rockin’ Robin, a Harry Hibbs 8-track, and his favorite song: Axel F.

I might not have gotten into their music right away, but the biggest influence they had was encouraging me to explore the musical soundscape and share my findings with them. They loved it when I shared new discoveries with them, and let me form my own opinions, and I thank them both for that.

The majority of my discovery was probably thanks to Weird Al. I loved that guy. Still do. His albums threw stuff from every genre at me, and I soaked it all in. I’d hear his parody, go find the original, then the rest of the album, then related bands… This has the added effect of making his words stick in my head better than the original’s, and I’ll still catch myself laughing at songs that aren’t funny every now and then.

Sometime in middle school I went on a country kick. Came out of nowhere… Mom hated country, and dad never listened to it around me, but when I was 12, I’d stay up every night to hear the Top 10 At 10 on CFQM. I can still remember most of the words to Alabama’s Give Me One More Shot. It’s not my favorite genre anymore, but I still love twang.

I can still remember the night that changed my musical life changed forever, though… It was late summer of 1995, and a couple of friends and I had pitched a tent in the back yard for a camp-out. One of them brought over The Offspring’s “Smash”. I bought it the next day, and haven’t looked back since. From them, I found Green Day and Bad Religion, and eventually dove head-first into west coast punk. NOFX, Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion, Pennywise, Rancid… The list goes on. That night is the focal point of my musical creativity, and pretty much every piece of music I’ve ever written is influenced in some way by the 90′s west coast scene.

High school was a musical whirlwind for me. New friends meant new music. From classic rock like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and the Stones, to newer stuff like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. Rammstein pointed me towards Metallica, which pointed me to Iron Maiden, Slayer, and Megadeth. Eminem led me into rap and hip hop, the Night at the Roxbury soundtrack started me down the road towards trance and house (and eventually DJ’ing). George Thoroughgood got me into old delta blues stuff. I started enjoying my mom’s folk music and my dad’s oldies. A trip through Cape Breton and across Newfoundland reignited my traditional celtic flame.

Probably the most surprising thing is that I didn’t know Black Sabbath existed until I was 19. I knew Ozzy through his solo career, but it wasn’t until my friend Matt went on a huge Sabbath kick around the same time we started the Ammon Republican Army that I found them. After west coast punk, the unique blend of blues and rock in their early stuff is the second biggest influence in my music.

So here I am… At this point there’s not a lot of music I don’t like, and I owe it to my parents for encouraging me to keep an open mind, and to everyone that’s left a musical impression on me.