I grew up surrounded by musical and artistic influences.
My mom played piano and sang in various choirs and still does. My Dad played trumpet in a handful of different swing and dixieland jazz bands, jamming in the rec room while I watched as a kid. One such band, The Georgian Sound Big Band, has now been around for over a quarter of a century. He continues to play.
At the age of five I was enrolled in the Royal Conservatory Of Music , pursuing classical piano in practice and theory for the next decade. At the same time, I developed my artistic talents producing 2D visual art in various mediums including oil/arcrylic painting, charcoal and pencil drawing. The subject matter was often of a surreal nature, exploring themes ranging from fantastical landscapes to death and dismemberment.
In my early teens, the confines and structure of my classical training inspired a need to explore more contemplative, intuitive musical expression. It was then that I began sitting down at the piano with no music in front of me, pressing record and just playing intuitively, sometimes for half an hour straight or longer. I found it very contemplative, a necessary deprogramming of sorts and it allowed me to "come back" to music with the solid foundation of classical training, but with an open, experimental approach. A 15 piece Tama Swingstar drum kit soon followed and my family endured the next few years while I became a proficient drummer.
Moving to Toronto to attend the Ontario College Of Art (now OCAD) I studied 2D and 3D art while honing my practical skills on guitar, bass, drums and any other instrument I could borrow for a week and return years later (or not...) A home studio has always been a part of my life.
Over the next 20 years, I have amassed well over 50 hours of original compositions under the name illiaster, a sampling of which you can find on this site. I have scored music for a handful of independent projects including Drew Solodzuk's short film Twilight's Error ; arranged music for various artists, including Troy Jackson's Icons ; co-founded the artist collective Bureau Of Power And Light and a musical/theatrical performance group called MAGT with fellow artists/ performers Mikela Jay, Andrea Battersby and Troy Jackson; performed as Goth Santa in Douglas Coupland's Museum Of The Rapture for Nuit Blanche 2012 in Toronto
Over the course of my life in Toronto I've worked in various capacities behind the scenes in TV, Film, Theatre and Performance Art. As Set Construction Supervisor for shows such as Canadian Idol, CBCs Battle Of The Blades, Much Music Video Awards, Crew Leader, Carpenter, Scenic Painter, Welder, Production Assistant, Bartender and numerous other forgotten roles.
Above all music and art have evolved into a driving force and an essential catharsis, ultimately, the real vehicles through which I explore and respond to the world. A long and studied relationship with Tibetan Buddhism and it's underlying principles of impermanence and one's immanent death have implanted in me a sense of urgency and the need to economize and channel my energies into fulfilling artistic pursuits full time and to do whatever I can to make the world a better place for all living beings.