Our story begins in 1996. I was invited to attend the University of Iowa to play basketball for coach Tom Davis as a walk-on. However, the invitation hit a snag when the NCAA declared me ineligible. I had sat out two seasons after my junior college playing days were over and that counted against my athletic time-clock. Like a combat video game… I had ran out of lives. So I closed the book on the hoop dreams and opened a new chapter. Audio recording always intrigued me as child; I collected 45’s at garage sales before “record digging” became trendy. I was well aware of the recording equipment available to the average consumer to lay down beats. Hip-Hop was really gaining momentum; it was the perfect music medium to express my eclectic tastes. The time was ripe learn the.....

I pawned off a bunch of valuables, closed my savings account, and purchased some good starter equipment...a used 4-track and a sampler to loop beats. When I returned to my apartment, the metamorphosis began. I began to figure out music arrangement and the science of sound, the cornerstone of being a quality producer in the field. I experimented with snippets of beats, breakdowns, and isolated instruments from a variety of musical sources, then dubbed the works on demonstration tapes for feedback. Networking and seeking knowledge from area experts was required to achieve superior music quality. I made it a priority to connect with artists, musicians and studio engineers…and they helped me nail down a signature sound.

Positive feedback from the various demos locally and on-line gave me the confidence to bring the production skillz to general public.
Hello independently funded record project! Tack-Fu Productions (Tack: Last name - Fu: The Practice of/The Way of) was launched in 1998
with the release of “Yen & Slang”.

Tack-Fu Productions Logo	Yen & Slang CD Cover

All funds for the project were tied into recording & manufacturing…so in order to make up for the bonehead miscalculation,
I had to aggressively take it to the streets with a shameless barrage of promotion, marketing, and hard sell tactics
that would have made any used car salesman proud. Live shows helped spread the word around and push CDs out of the trunk.

I acquired a portable 8-track recording machine with petty cash left over from sales and live show revenue.
Productivity skyrocketed with the new toy (100 tracks laid out in a year). The demo tapes combined with
my collaborative vibe soon landed me with the Bad Fathers crew. Everything was starting to gel.
We were opening for touring acts, local entertainment 'zines and web sites started to take notice,
and the best marketing tool to date was in full effect...word of mouth.

All of us were improving our craft. Studio time was booked once a week, live performances locked down twice a month, and I was behind the boards working on music every afternoon while haunting the nightclubs in the evening. A second CD "Chained Reaction" was manufactured in October of 2000. The downtown Sheraton Hotel was the place to be for the cd release party. A jam packed audience, local media attention, and the cds were flying off the merchandise table. Various media outlets followed up with music reviews soon after the event.

The art of recording was changing quickly. Before my very eyes, local studios were making the transition to computer software.
Digital was cost effective and flexible. I needed to jump on the bandwagon.

I was given Acid Pro & Sound Forge.

A new world of possibilities developed when I could freely exchange audio files with several area producers and musicians
in various formats. Thus, a production team was assembled & dubbed the "85 decibel Monks" and another project started to take shape.
“Tack-Fu Presents: The 85 decibel Monks”

Some members of the collective had never met each other face to face during the process! It took 3 years to piece everything together,
but the results sounded flawless. When the project was finished in 2005, we printed up a bunch of copies, hired a publicist,
did the cd release party at local pizza parlor for a change of pace, and the local & national buzz was back again after a 3 year hiatus.

From the years 2006 to 2010 I turned my attentions to video production, which landed me a job at a local television station. Music production took a secondary role during those years, but then a net label called Dusted Wax Kingdom, based out of Bulgaria, reached out to me.

The offer was simple and too good to resist. Release new material on their web site and a built in worldwide fan base numbering in the tens of thousands will be chomping at the bit to download and listen. So I dropped “Reel-to-Real” a collection of instrumental tracks that I never released & “Mr. Moods meets Tack-Fu“ a collaboration with the well-respected Canadian downtempo producer Mr. Moods. Those releases can be downloaded for free at my audio page.

My internal desire to find other ways to get my music out in the public domain turned my attention to publishing & licensing tracks for television shows. Success came quickly because the Viacom Corp. (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon) have been quite consistent in placing my tracks on their specialty shows. I have to admit, hearing my instrumental style of music on various cable networks is something I really dig. That's the main focus at this point. So there it is folks... Now you know too damn much about me! Satisfied now !?