Tom's Rockin' Guitar

I began my musical journey in 2002 when my dad suggested that I take up piano lessons for fun. I was eight years old, and had never considered playing an instrument. At the time, the only thing I wanted to do was play Little League baseball and pretend I was playing for the New York Yankees. After giving my dad a couple of "you're forcing me" rejections to why I shouldn't play the piano, I reluctantly agreed to take piano lessons—I think he told me that if I didn't like the piano I wouldn't have to take lessons again. Sure enough, after my first lesson, I was hooked on music, practicing piano every day of the week.

In the four years of playing piano, my dad played lead guitar in a local band that had a few gigs every month. One night, while at a show, I was watching him play a guitar solo, full of energy and winning the crowd’s attention. I glanced over at the band’s piano player, looking relaxed and positioned somewhat behind the scenes next to the drummer in the back, and I thought to myself, “Tom, you need to find another instrument. Just look at the piano player, behind the guitar players, unappreciated.”—ah, the thoughts of a twelve year old. The following week, I told my dad I wanted to switch instruments and take guitar lessons. I guess you could say my guitar career was launched out of jealousy or intense desire for rock and roll fame. Whatever it was, the switch to guitar changed my life in a tremendous way.

I have been playing guitar since 2006 and spent a majority of it playing professionally. In high school I played in the jazz and steel bands as a lead guitarist—at the time we were also the only touring steel band in the nation to have a lead guitar. My band teacher, was one of the most supportive people in my musical career, going so far as to purchasing a guitar and amp for me to use during class time. I had the opportunity to play many gigs touring with both bands, even going to Philadelphia to perform in front of 10,000 people. 

As far as original material goes, I have been very active in songwriting. I released my first single, Snakes in the Grass, in 2010 while in a band called the Sick Twisted Freaks. STF, for short, was probably the best band on Earth to never practice. We were a collection of five musicians with no direction, just sheer God-given talent. In that span, we played only one live show and recorded the rest of the time—we never even practiced for recordings. It was quite a setup! In 2012, we released our first album, Sick Twisted Freaks: Underground. It was dubbed “Underground” because I did the recording and mixing in a basement and, you guessed it, it was under-the-ground. Currently, I still write and perform on a frequent basis, now most notably as a lead guitarist and co-writer in the Shawn Bilton Band. There is a lot of awesome music brewing for our new album coming out this year - just in time for the Carolina Country Music Fest.