My family hasn't heard as much of my music as they should. This is mainly because until recently, I've been very secretive about it due to a lack of self-confidence that was partially caused by my family.
My mother told me that I couldn't sing when I was in second grade. It was meant to be a joke, but when you're that young you don't have the highest threshold for irony or sarcasm, especially if your classmates already put their fingers in your ears whenever you sing around them. That was something that took a while for me to get over, even after my mother had become one of my biggest supporters. I tried to record my music as quietly as possible (except for the drums, of course) and in private, with the doors of my bedroom closed and locked, so that no one could eavesdrop on what I was working on.

When I was in high school, my mother and adopted brother walked into my room while I was recording and made fun of me while I was recording my vocals. They were trying to get me to laugh because they knew how tense and frustrated I became when working on my music, but it only backfired and made me even MORE reclusive. It took me a while to get used to the role that irony and sarcasm played in my family's communication with each other, but I eventually developed thicker skin and realized that they truly do love and support my music.

My mother bragged about me and sold copies of my early Cocker Spaniels tapes to her coworkers back when I was getting booed off stage at high school talent shows. My mother listens to "Withstand the Whatnot" in her private time on a regular basis, and keeps a copy of my previous self-released album "Little White Truths" right next to her alarm clock. Let's not also forget that it was my mother who saved up money for years to buy the equipment that I still use today to record my music.

Even my adopted brother, who is devoted to hip-hop almost to the point of being closed-minded, tells me that the Cocker Spaniels is the only rock "band" he will listen to of his own free will. Both my mother and my adopted brother have made guest appearances on the early Cocker Spaniels tapes. For the record, my adopted brother is not the same person I refer to in songs like "Baby Brother" from "Little White Truths", or "Little League" on "Withstand the Whatnot". My adopted brother is exactly nine days older than I am, whereas the half-brother I write songs about is only nine years old. He loves my music, imitates me whenever he sees me play, and already makes up silly songs of his own. He also does a pretty good impersonation of the Fall's Mark E. Smith.

On the other hand, I dont think that my stepfather has heard more than five Cocker Spaniels songs. He used to call the music I listened to "crazy white people's suicide music" when I was younger. One time he walked past me when I was recording and jokingly asked me if he could help out on background vocals. I laughed and said, "No, thanks". His expression changed and he replied, "Well, I couldnt do any worse than what you're doing right now". That's really all I have to say about him at the moment.

My father hasnt heard ANY of the music I've made, but thats only because I don't interact with him very often because he lives in an entirely different part of the country than I do. He really didnt start seeing me as a "real musician" until I started getting paid on a weekly basis to play bass guitar at a nearby church. He was also a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist when he was younger, and he even started a band with some of my uncles when he was in high school. Unfortunately, I didn't find out about any of this until I was already a couple of years into the Cocker Spaniels. There was a guitar and a piano in the apartment I grew up in, but my father didn't make as much use of either as he did with his turntables. During the '80s he moonlighted as a club disc jockey when he wasn't at his day job. I plan on sending him a copy of "Withstand the Whatnot", though, once I get the finished copies from the manufacturing plant. Aside from my father and my little half-brother (who can already sing pretty well), I don't have proof of anyone else in my family possessing musical talent.

What was your first musical instrument and what inspired you to play it? Are you self-taught? Do you have a "main instrument" or regard yourself as adept on all?

My first instrument was the piano, and I played it simply because my father's guitar didnt have all of its strings. Once I finally picked up a guitar, though, my keyboards started gathering dust. I've just now started to practice piano on a regular basis so that I can get back to the level of skill I played at when I was younger. I'm completely self-taught, aside from having to learn how to play the recorder in fourth grade and briefly participating as a drummer in band class during sixth grade. I believe that my main instruments are guitar and bass, though I feel I'm pretty capable with piano and drums as well. However, my drumming ability would increase if I actually had a soundproofed place to consistently practice at. I live in an apartment, and landlords and neighbors dont take too kindly to me doing Keith Moon impersonations in the middle of the afternoon.

How old where you when you first started recording music? When did it become important for you? Do you regard yourself as a Hometaper?

I was thirteen years old when I first started recording music, but I considered it important even before I first got my hands on my eight-track. I used to read as many books as I could about studios and recording techniques, particularly if they had anything to do with the Beatles. The book "Beatlesongs" was like a bible to me during my middle school years. It listed everything from which Beatle played which instruments to which strange techniques they used to generate their unique sounds (such as, for instance, the tape cut-ups on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite").

I think that I regard myself as a home taper because many of the things that I consider special about my music come from the environments in which it is written and recorded. The Cocker Spaniels is supposed to be an aural diary of my life. I write songs while I'm at class, on the job, enjoying quality time with others (or even by myself), and just generally living my life. I think that the occasional accidents, the conversations or incidental sounds that end up leaking through the microphones, or even the random guest appearances from my friends and relatives add character and intimacy to the music. I couldn't write or record the same kinds of songs that I do if I were sitting in a professional studio sixteen hours a day with a bunch of hired musicians that I dont even know.

I'd love to work with better equipment, though. My ideal recording setup would be a 16-track 2-inch reel-to-reel run through ProTools, with a bunch of really good microphones. If I could have that in my home, and be able to make Cocker Spaniels recordings that sounded professional, yet retained the same intimacy, I'd be very happy.

How do you play live? I've seen photos where you seem to have both guitars and drums, how does that work? Do you ever get any assistance from friends when you play? Would you like to have a full band?

All of my shows are solo affairs, but the instrumental setup varies according to how much time and energy I am able to put into rehearsal and preparation beforehand. If I haven't had time to rehearse, I just walk on stage with my guitar and myself. Otherwise, Cocker Spaniels shows tend to be multimedia affairs.

I make CDRs with backing tracks of the songs I want to perform, occasionally with one instrument punched out of the mix so that I can play it while I sing. Sometimes I'll just have the whole backing track on the CDR so that I can concentrate on singing and harassing the audience. I'm very dramatic and goofy on stage due to the nervous energy that often builds up when I perform. I can't stand or sit still for too long or I start shaking, so I have to run around eventually. Sometimes, I'll mike my drum kit and plug the mikes into a sampler. I'll play a beat, trigger the sampler to repeat it, and then hop on guitar or piano to sing and play along with the loop. Sometimes, I even have slide shows that correspond with whatever song I'm performing at the time. Because of the demands that school, work, and ministry place on me, I don't often do shows with the full multimedia onslaught. Once I graduate, though, that should change.

Often, when my friends are at shows they'll hop on stage to sing along with me really badly. I wholeheartedly encourage this, though, because the more the audience gets involved, the better the show ends up being. Otherwise, I do it all on my own. I would like to have a full band, but I'm very careful with the musicians I choose to work with. The musicians that I work with have to know that the Cocker Spaniels is NOT a democracy, and that I must have final say on everything related to the music. Of course, I always solicit input from the people that I work with, and I'm pretty eager to take the advice of others whom I trust. However, I cannot allow my authority over the music to be usurped. I remember when the Cocker Spaniels were originally a three-piece, and the lead guitarist tried to convince me that a certain part in A SONG THAT I WROTE was wrong, and that I should listen to him because he knows more about music theory. I knew then that he wouldn't last long with me, not because he had a different take on things, but because he approached me the wrong way about it.

Fortunately, though, I have finally found a group of musicians who are both talented enough and obedient enough to play my music. They're a jazz band from Austin called the Blue Noise Band, and all of them have agreed to play shows with me as soon as I give them the go-ahead to do so. They're all amazing musicians. They can all read and write sheet music, both tasks that I have a bit of trouble with. They're also good friends of mine, so I already have a rapport with them. I'll most likely let them do whatever they want with my songs because I trust their judgment. I hope to start rehearsing and playing with them regularly after I graduate from college.

Why did you choose the name The Cocker Spaniels?

The name came partially because I wanted a band name that sounded like an old 60's group (Beatles, Animals, Zombies, et cetera). The origin comes from a conversation that I overheard some of my female cousins having when I was younger. They were voicing grievances about current and former boyfriends, and generally going on an "all men are dogs" tangent. Eventually, they started playing a game in which they picked a guy they knew, and pondered what kind of dog he would be and why. They went through all of their boyfriends, many of their male platonic friends, and even the males in our family. When they finally got to me, they settled on the cocker spaniel because, apparently, I was "cute, shaggy, and loyal". I was one of the few males that they had anything good to say about, probably because I was too young to break anybody's heart yet!

You have an individual recording style, especially with panning. Is that just the result of experimenting, or a deliberate policy? Have you ever done any more experimental material or do you prefer to stick with songs?

My recording style is a combination of tribute and necessity. As I've said before, I'm hugely influenced by the classic rock of the 1960s and 1970s. Records from that time period made a much more radical use of stereo than the recordings of today. I loved playing with the balance on my stereo while listening to the Beatles because it made me feel as if I was listening to two different songs depending on which direction I flicked the switch. Flip it to the left and you may hear just vocals and bass. Flip it to the right and youll hear drums and lead guitar. I love records that are mixed in that manner, especially when I'm listening to them on headphones. If everything's placed in the center of the mix and on full blast, it tends to make me feel overwhelmed.

The necessity part comes from the fact that I record on cassette eight-track, which doesn't give you much tonal or dynamic range to work with. Because of the limited space on the tape for each track, I can't have as much high end, low end, or midrange as I want on certain instruments without either getting digital distortion or tracks bleeding onto each other. Thus, many instruments occupy the same frequency range when they're not supposed to, so if I place the wrong instruments at the center of the mix, they'll end up sounding like mush together. Panning is practically the only way I can get most of the instruments in my songs to sound clear and distinct.

Is music something you want to do as a living or is it something you'll always do anyway? What sort of career could you see yourself doing musically speaking?

Music is definitely something I want to do for a living. If I can't pay the bills with it, though, I can always get a job in the broadcast industry (through the help of the bachelors degree I'm getting) and do music when I have the time, ability, and energy to do so. Music is something I will do until the day that I die. I don't want to be a starving musician who pretends to suffer for the sake of his/her art, when its really because he/she lacks the skills or the initiative to get what would be considered a real job. I also don't want to be a musician who thinks of the potential monetary gain first when deciding what he/she is going to do with his/her gift. I think that if I make good music first, and have enough business sense to promote it effectively afterwards, I should be able to live a comfortable (if not necessarily luxurious) lifestyle. If not, then I've got a contingency plan. Regardless of which path I take, I believe that God wouldn't bless me with the talent I have if He wasn't able to direct my path and enable me to live prosperously through it.

You also sing in two choirs. What is your involvement with that? What sort of music do these choirs perform? How important is this work in your life?

I've been a member of Baylor University's Heavenly Voices gospel choir for four years. The first two years, I was just the bass player. The third year, I continued playing bass, but was also one of two chaplains (meaning that I was responsible for giving the Bible studies during our weekly rehearsals). This year, I was elected as head musician of the choir, and switched from bass to electric guitar. I am now responsible for picking the songs that we sing and teaching everybody their parts, from the choir members to the soloists to the other musicians. We mainly perform songs by contemporary black gospel artists, from John P. Kee to Richard Smallwood to Gary Mayes, with a little bit more of a rock flavor thrown in (courtesy of yours truly)

I feel that Heavenly Voices is almost single-handedly responsible for the rapid acceleration that my Christian walk has undergone during my college years. I have always wanted to play music for the Lord, but I had never encountered a ministry that would allow me to do so. I didn't grow up listening to gospel music. I admit that I still don't know very much about the genre, and it shows in my guitar playing. Many gospel songs are indebted to the blues and jazz music that sprouted up alongside it, and my playing leans more toward the noisier, more droning aspects of rock music. I got turned away from various youth groups while I was in Beaumont for reasons ranging from my race to my eccentric behavior to my lack of true musicianship, as one person was bold enough to tell me. Of course, most people aren't used to hearing someone do a rendition of Amazing Grace complete with Hendrix-style whammy-bar histrionics and screeching feedback. Heavenly Voices was the first ministry to accept me for who I was, instead of merely dismissing me as some crazy heathen who couldn't play his instruments. I think it helps that the majority of people in the choir also tended to be the radical black sheep of their churches. They're the ones who got tired of being bound by the shackles of tradition, denominations, and general hypocrisy, and want to find newer and purer ways to praise the Lord.

I learned more about the things of God during my time in this choir than I did from all of the churches I attended before joining the choir. I think this is because when I'm in Heavenly Voices, God speaks through people in my age group, people who go through the exact same things that I do. This enables them to minister effectively to me without being condescending or judgmental (most of the time). Also, most of the people in the choir aren't ordained ministers or pastors (yet), so the only authority that they have comes from the Word of God. Therefore, they put much more effort into making sure that the messages they give during Bible study conform to the Word. People are quick to let a pastor say whatever he wants without looking inside of their Bibles to see if he's making any sense. Let a college student give the same message, though, and the message will be questioned quickly because the messenger happens to be young.

This goes back to what I wrote before about the black sheep stigma. Many of us, after spending so much time in Heavenly Voices, have had to go back to our home churches only to find that they pale in comparison to what we receive from being in the choir. There are too many churches at which sermons are given that not only fail to adhere to what the Bible says, but also fail to address what is actually going on in the lives of the congregation. There are too many churches at which the choir sings songs that they really dont mean. There are too many churches that have congregations in which no one holds each other accountable for the things that they do or say. I feel that at its best, Heavenly Voices has been an antidote to all of these things. Being in this choir kept me from completely losing my mind, especially while I was going through the things that I wrote about in "Withstand the Whatnot". It serves as a training ground for me to continue ministering to people through my music, even after I graduate from college and can no longer be an active member.

I also play bass for the choir at the church I attend, but I've only been a member of that choir for two years (I think). Neither my participation nor my commitment is as high in that choir as it is with Heavenly Voices. This is mainly because the choir consists mainly of middle-aged people who, although (most of) their hearts are in the right place, dont practice regularly enough and are too bound by the shackles of tradition to try new things.

Apart from "Hold Me Accountable" you seem to touch lightly on spiritual beliefs in The Cocker Spaniels. Will you be bringing such issue up more prominently in The Cocker Spaniels, or do you feel that's not the best forum for such issues? Have any of your Christian peers regarded rock as "The Devil's Music"?

I wrote "Hold Me Accountable" after reaching an epiphany regarding my music. As I've said many times before, the music of the Cocker Spaniels is supposed to be an aural diary of my life. God has played an increasingly large role in my life over the last couple of years, and my music should reflect this increase accordingly. Otherwise, not only would I be contradicting my own musical goals, but Id also be short-changing God. Plus, I didnt want to be like the hypocritical R&B and hip-hop singers, who thank God in their liner notes, but glorify things that God most certainly disapproves of in their music. I remember an Ellen DeGeneres comedy routine in which she made fun of rappers who said things like, "I'd like to thank God for inspiring me to write my hit song 'Slap the Bitch Up the Ass', at awards shows. Of course, I don't think that any song on "Withstand the Whatnot" glorifies evil in any sense. People can definitely listen to the album and tell that a man with strong moral beliefs made it, whether I'm singing about racism, domestic violence, sexual promiscuity, or greedy consumerism.

The only thing that I regret about making "Withstand the Whatnot" is that I didn't spend MORE time talking about the things of God. However, I also have to consider that the songs on that album are inspired by events that mostly occurred during 2001 and 2002. During that time, I was a born-again Christian and I was involved in music ministry through Heavenly Voices, but there was still a higher level that I had to get to. I hadn't received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit yet, and I wasn't as devoted to praying, reading, and studying the Word of God as I am now. Thus, the songs on "Withstand the Whatnot" reflect that. Many songs on the record make mention of God, church, heaven, hell, forgiveness, and other spiritual concepts. However, I was in the process of rebuilding myself from the ground up. I was too busy trying to deal with daily hassles (a broken heart, family issues, academic and financial woes) to think about the plans that God had for my life. In other words, there was a bunch of "whatnot" that I had to "withstand" in order to get to a point in which I could truly surrender to Him.

"Hold Me Accountable" is supposed to serve as a gateway to what will be the next Cocker Spaniels album. It has a working title of "White Socks in the Garden of Eden", and all of the songs will be focused on my relationship with God. There will be praise and worship songs, as well as songs based on stories from the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. The music will fall in line with previous Cocker Spaniels records, except that I want it to be much more experimental --- a bit more dabbling in other genres, a bit more experimenting with electronics, et cetera. I plan on writing the lyrics for these songs in the same manner that I do for my secular songs, because I believe that God has a sense of humor, and that I can write humorous songs about spiritual matters without being blasphemous. I want "White Socks in the Garden of Eden to be a creative record that sounds nothing like the gospel music people have heard before, but can still remain a pure and humble offering to the Lord. I want the album to serve as a gateway for people who share my beliefs to explore other kinds of music, as well as a gateway for non-Christians who share my musical taste to explore the faith. I plan to solicit the help of various Heavenly Voices members while writing and recording this album.

However, this newfound focus doesn't mean that Im going to stop writing about girls, my family, politics, squirrels, UFOs, or any other topic that comes into my head. Christians live in the same world that everyone else does, and they pay bills, enter and exit relationships, and occasionally get irritated with the way things are just like everyone else does. Each of my Christian peers has their own opinion about the divide between secular and religious music and where they should stand along this divide. A couple of them have voiced their concerns about the songs that I write. One of them has even gone so far as to suggest that I was "prostituting the ministry" by continuing to make music under the Cocker Spaniels banner. However, I disagree with such a notion. As I've said before, none of my songs glorify evil to begin with. I think that by building a repertoire of songs about both spiritual and secular themes, I can present myself to people who aren't Christian as a multi-dimensional human being. I hope that they'll have more of an open mind when listening to the songs I write about God because they know through my secular songs that I go through the same things that they do. I think that after "White Socks in the Garden of Eden", future Cocker Spaniels albums will be a mixture of both kinds of songs. Who knows? Fortunately, most of the Christians that I interact with see what I'm trying to do with my music and support it. Besides, I don't think that Heavenly Voices would have chosen me as their head musician if they didn't WANT to rock out a little bit.

On your song "Eighteen" you sing "I think that I'm maturing way too fast". Is this how you feel? Your lyrics show a high level of maturity; do you feel you've had to "grow up fast" or that your comfortable with your age and peer groups?

Well, when I wrote that line, I was trying to be sarcastic (and it might have backfired). "Eighteen" is supposed to be about how people become jaded as they get older, and confuse their jaded mentality with actual maturity. Teenagers are especially guilty of this, and I certainly was no exception. I notice, though, that regardless of the age group, people don't get as excited about celebrating their birthdays the more they age, and I never quite understood why. Yes, some birthdays do have a bit more significance than others but every birthday is, at the very least, an opportunity to thank God for allowing me to live another year. I do feel that some American youths get too excited about turning 18 because they can legally smoke at that age, or turning 21 because they can legally drink. One line of "Eighteen" asks, "Whats the use of voting when all politicians suck?" That line should be a dead giveaway as far as illustrating the difference between cynicism and maturity. The fiasco that was the 2000 American presidential election aside, I definitely believe in the power of the vote, and I don't take the sacrifices that my ancestors made to secure my right to vote lightly at all. I think I'd have to go through every line of the song to delineate which sentiments I was being sincere about and which ones I wasn't.

Nonetheless, I do think that in some ways, Ive been a bit ahead of my peers as far as maturity is concerned. I had my issues, like most teenagers, but they've been comparatively minor. I definitely had problems with anger, profanity, and lust. However, I've never been one to chase after popularity or engage in self-destructive forms of hedonism, as many of my peers were wont to do. I never had much of a rebellious streak, mainly because my mother was such an incredibly permissive and understanding woman to begin with. My mother and grandmother refer to me as an old soul, and they often come to me for advice before making crucial decisions in their own lives. It still shocks me that the people who raised me, who are anywhere from twenty to fifty years older than me, confide in me about the things that they do. I don't have nearly as much life experience as they do, but for some reason, the words I speak tend to bear good fruit in their lives. I can only thank God for giving me the kind of discernment that can lead to such wisdom. I think that I'll always be a bit out of step with the people in my age group, but I've only recently come to the conclusion that it'll be a good thing in the long run.

You've also sung about racial issues in. Is it true you've been spat on when trying to distribute tapes of your stuff? How significant is the division between black and white in terms of culture, as you touch on in "The Only Black Guy At The Indie Rock Show" and "Little Africa"?

When I was in middle school, I was spat on by some of my white classmates while trying to distribute tapes of my music. At the time, I was living in a Pennsylvanian small town called Pottsville. It had a population of 8,000 people and it was located in a county with a strong concentration of neo-Nazis. (It is worth nothing that Pennsylvania has more neo-Nazi organizations than any other continental American state.) I even knew of people who received copies of Cocker Spaniels material from their friends, and listened to the songs regularly until they found out that the guy who made them was black. However, it didn't bother me as much as it could've because (as much as I hate to admit this) I was prepared to encounter racism from white people.

What I wasn't prepared for, however, was subsequently dealing with the same kind of narrow-mindedness from my BLACK peers when I attended high school in Beaumont. People turned over tables of my tapes when I tried to sell them at school, and crowds of hundreds of students often booed me at talent shows before I even played a note. It amazed me how much vitriol I could inspire just because of the style of music that I played. Of course, now that I'm in college, Ive found a more receptive audience, but I still occasionally have to battle the indifference of black peers who lack the knowledge of musical history that is necessary in order to understand that rock is their music too. It's one thing if you actually give my music a chance and end up not liking it. Its another thing if you don't even bother to listen to it because it doesn't sound like whatever BET is hyping at the moment.

I think the divisions between blacks and whites in American culture are decreasing, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. There are too many whites who are listening to hip-hop, speaking the slang, and wearing the clothes but are still afraid of actually interacting with black people. There are too many white people who allow their impressions of black culture to be dictated by the media, and still see us as nothing but criminals, athletes, or entertainers. On the other side of the divide, there are too many black people who are willing to conform to the stereotypes that the media attaches to us --- too many men pretending to be thugs, too many women pretending to be divas. There are too many black people who refuse to think outside of the box and explore new things, in everything ranging from political ideologies to religious traditions to musical tastes. There are too many black people who are afraid to interact with white people because they're still angry over the injustices that our ancestors have suffered in this country. I could go on and on about this (I pretty much already have), but let it suffice to say its going to be a while before blacks and whites in America will be able to truly see and treat each other as multi-dimensional individuals.

There have been a couple of occasions in which white people have approached me the wrong way at shows. The second verse of "The Only Black Guy at the Indie-Rock Show" is based on a true story, though few people believe me when I say this. Fortunately, though, most of the whites I have interacted with in the independent music scene have accepted me and treated me with respect. I know that racism exists, and I deal with this in ways both big and small on a daily basis, but I believe that in my 22 years of existence, I have actually faced more discrimination from people of my own race. I find that even within the indie-rock scene, the few black people who are involved in it don't take an initiative to interact with each other, and occasionally act cliquish and territorial with each other. Its as if they're subconsciously asserting to each other, "These are MY white friends, NOT yours", and treating their status as the token black person in the clique as a boost to their own self-esteem. Thats an attitude that needs to go away as well.

Will you be releasing any more material from The Shouting Spanielites in the future? Is it true The French Poodles are taking you to court for stealing their ideas?

The Shouting Spanielites will play a role in every Cocker Spaniels record from this point onward. If you're a tone-deaf female who likes to sing along to my music, you can be a Shouting Spanielite too! I have settled with the French Poodles out of court for a small sum, and when they finally get around to recording their long-awaited debut, I will be on call as their executive producer. My lawyers advise me to keep my mouth shut about any other details.