About Ivan........

Obsessive compulsive guitar player

Hey All,

 I have been in the music scene for quite a long time now! It all started with the Monkee's TV show and the Beatles 65 album. All I wanted was to be a drummer! So in 4th grade we got to pick an instrument. My dad firmly said NO to drums. I thought a bit and decided that the Tuba would be most annoying and so that's what I chose. I even used to wait for him to get home to practice! But as luck would have it I had excellent music programs in both my Junior high and senior high schools. I credit this early training in how to play ensemble with others. The art of listening and playing with 100 other musicians proved to be a wonderful training ground.

Well, by age 13 I had sweet talked my parents into getting me a drum set. Ahh, Ludwig 4 piece with Zildjan cymbals. Within a few months I was getting sneaked into bars to play Proud Mary, Johnny Winter, Traffic and Doors covers..... My early influences were Yes, King Crimson, the Doors, Alice Cooper, ELP etc...There was even a prog jazz influence culminating in the group Yog Sothoth!

 Age 13, while battling an epic case of mono I also started playing acoustic guitar. Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Jackson Browne etc. My pawn shop special served me well for many years. Still all through High School I was much more a drummer than guitar player!

Fast forward to College (well first time that is :-)...... I was playing drums in bar bands for money but really starting to switch over to guitar as my main axe! I finally bought my first Electric Guitar in 1978 (a two year old Stratocaster for $210!). At this time I was playing with the Vegetable Magnets who later turned into the Larry Talbot band. This group had a small but loyal following. In retrospect I think we had enormous potential and wrote quite a body of original tunes (check out the "bands" page).

At this time I finally left my East Coast home of 25 years. After half a year of touring all the worst bars in the mid west I settled in the Seattle area where I still live to this day. I spent a few years playing in several casual and club bands (please no more takes of "Start me Up!"). Then came "The Escape" where once again original material was at the forefront. After years of playing the local scene we never released a formal CD. Hopefully the BANDS page will give a hint of what we were like.

Next I got bit by the recording bug! I was actually working at Mackie designing mixers and got this great deal on ProTools...... Well, I then got tagged to do the recording for Woody Russell's first CD "As Simple as That". A wonderful musician who has gone on to make quite a reputation for himself in Austin. After that came a long association with Creeping Time. I worked and/or played on most of their CD's, did some work on Larry Murante's "Waters Edge" and also played on and Engineered Michelle Molner's "All I Need".

Finally, after years of producing others I put out my first solo CD "Acoustic Massage". Coincidently I connected with the "Seattle Guitar Circle" (before they became "Tuning the Air). After a 3 year stint with them I met the current players I am working with, Steve Ball and Paul O'rear. This group has had several incarnations over the last couple of years but is generally known as the "Steve Ball Roadshow" or SBRS. Although we are all big YES fans and have performed acoustic versions of Close to the Edge, To Be Over and even the first section of The Remembering, our main bill of fare is  intricate interlocking guitars and harmonies rooted in Steve's unique style of acoustic guitar playing and an approach to improvisation coming from his long history with Guitar Craft.........

 

Critical facts :-).....

Older than I look

Love Cats

Only wear wool sox

Better now.......