About Colin
Having consumed an omnivorous musical diet of funk and jazz, along with a plethora of other genres, Colin is committed to composing music that both taps your toes and engages the deepest recesses of your mind. Colin spent his late teens and early twenties cutting his teeth in jazz clubs and bars around the city of Vancouver. A budding jazz musician and composer, Colin spent many nights in candle lit clubs underground with a glass of wine in his hand, absorbing his ears in the sounds of jazz, funk, afro-beat, and salsa groups. Countless jam sessions in dimly lit basements with half-eaten pizzas strewn across the floor taught him how to hang with the jazz guys. Sleepless nights in the houses of his friends with textbooks at his feet and a laptop on his chest taught him how music works.
Colin has a strong affinity for the music of other cultures, having played Caribbean beats and Reggae in his church band, and salsa in the Latin Jazz Ensemble at Vancouver Community College.
Tool was the first band that taught Colin that music can touch the soul as well as the mind. Tool’s spiritual imagery combined with their philosophical lyrics brought him in touch with music on a deeper level, invoking an out-of-body experience. Tracks such as “Vicarious” embodied a sense of disconnect with the issues going on in the world that Colin cared deeply about. Each of the instruments in Tool seemed to embody different aspects of this spiritual experience; Colin felt that even Danny Carey’s drums were conveying a message to him, through complex polyrhythms and displaced beats.
After his fascination with Tool, Colin became engrossed in the rhythms of funk and jazz fusion. Marcus Miller’s incredibly funky instrumentals and technical precision inspired Colin to explore the slap technique and Victor Wooten’s lush arrangements inspired him to learn tapping and harmonics. But to say that the inspiration of these virtuosos was merely technical would be grossly inaccurate; in fact, Colin has always felt that both Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten were communicating deeper messages through their evocative instrumentals. Colin always looked at them the same way he saw his martial arts instructors when he was younger - as spiritual guides and mentors.
Now with 13 years of constant musical inspiration and 4 years of music school under his belt, Colin feels he is ready to bring his own music to the fore and hopes to inspire his audience in the same way his musical mentors and heroes inspired him.