Moderators

Getting To Know The Moderators

Andrew Cockburn

Tony Miro

Musical background Tony was born April 2nd 1963 - narrowly missing April Fools Day - in a military hospital in the Middle East and has come to reside in Spain via a number of countries but spent much of his youth in Liverpool. His earliest attempts at a musical career lead only to a trip to the Headmaster's Office and a ban from music class for asking a question about poly-rhythms.

He originally wanted to play the sax but his mother couldn't afford one and so he turned to guitar. He got his first - an Ibanez Silver Series Stratocaster - when he was 15 and attempted to learn the solo to The Only One's 'Another Girl Another Planet' but was foiled because he hadn't learnt how to tune the thing first. So began a hectic few years that reached its zenith in both a recording contract and too much time spent in recording studios. (Not that great as every scouse musician that could hold a pen was then being signed to a record label!)

All of this came to little as Tony listened to his mother's advice and abandoned music for University and a 'proper job'. That is until he hit his mid life crisis. Which is why we now find him still trying to tune his guitar and still failing to play a decent version of 'Another Girl...' He also spends an inordinate amount of time recording but rarely finishing his musical compositions.

Musically Tony has diverse taste that ranges from free jazz through to hardcore. His favorite guitar player is probably Allan Holdsworth.

Personal interests Tony's interests range from modern 20th Century Philosophy (Bataille, Derrida, Blanchot, Levinas) through to music recording and production. He has a wife, daughter, three cats and a rabbit and 'lives in a house (a very big house) in the country'. He earns a living as a part time University lecturer, researcher and publisher and undertakes recording and mixing contracts and trains people in recording and production for radio.

Micke M.

The Uncreator

Musical Background: Born on January 31, 1990. The Uncreator (Real name Brett Windnagle) was first introduced into the world of guitar at the age of 13. He got his first guitar from a girlfriends closet (no joke) and since then he has continued his epic quest of guitar dominance. He started playing guitar in hopes of being able to create music like Iron Maiden. As most know, Iron Maiden is The Uncreator's favorite band, and when he heard the album "Brave New World", he suddenly wished to create music as good as this. As his musical interest progressed so to did his guitar interests, taking a big interests in instrumental artists such as Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Damir Simic-SHime, he began to learn differnt styles of music from Blues, To Classical. Late in 2006 The Uncreator would discover a new source of inspiration and a new teacher, Kristofer Dahl.

The Uncreator joined GMC in hopes of overcoming his troubles with some guitar techniques such as sweeping, and within a few months, he had progressed like never before. He spent countless hours on Pavel's sweeping lessons, and as more and more instructors joined, he began spending more and more time on the GMC Community. His main styles of guitar playing are Metal and Blues, and he practices Classical and Jazz as well. Although many take the mysterious "Uncreator" as nothing but a common Metal Head, There is much more to him. He thoroughly enjoys the blues, jazz, opera, rock n' roll, classical, instrumental, cultural and many more genres of music.

Personal Interests/ Background: Well of course you can guess by now Guitar and Music are the main interests, but besides these, The Uncreator also enjoys reading books, from such authors as Richard Matheson, Edgar Allan Poe, John Marco, and R.A. Salvatore. He is also a film buff, from Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy, Comedy, and even Romance. He was also born an avid Gamer, and a big fan of many games such as Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Half-Life, F.E.A.R., Call Of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Assassins Creed, and most of all....Final Fantasy (He really spent way too much time on this as a child.) Lastly and most certainly not least, The Uncreator loves art. Since birth he has been amazed at how people create worlds and people with paints and pencils, His most loved artists are Luis Royo, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Frank Fraztta, H.R. Giger, and Dorian Cleavenger.

Smells

Musical Background: Born June 30th 1970. Smells (Real name Chris Evans) started his musical journey at the age of 9 being introduced to the Trombone by his father, after a year of the Trombone he became bored and desperatly wanted to learn how to play the drums. From the age of 10 till 15 years of age he recieved private drum tuition from a retired drummer of the BBC Orchestra, from the age of 13 to 14 he was a local youth Orchestra`s main drummer.

Smells parents moved to a quiet Kent village (UK) in 1985 where drum practice in the garage caused non stop complaints from the neighbours, Smells now "put off" seeked a less annoying hobby (something he could "turn down"), he`d been given a guitar a few years earlier by an older cousin, he bought an amp and began trying to learn songs "by ear" as he had no idea where to start, he eventually picked up some books and videos and began the actual process of learning to play properly. He then used his influences (Vivian Campbell,Gary Moore,Adrian Vandenberg to name just a few) to develop his soloing and his own style.

He joined his first rock band at 16 and got his first taste of gigging, he then joined/formed a semi proffesional Heavy metal Band, playing around the rock circuit in London (UK) after many failures with record companies and management the band split, Smells carried on playing in a duo with his brother on Bass Guitar around local Pubs playing light rock cover songs. Through the years to date Smells has played in various bands, mainly heavy rock influenced (with one exception, a working mens club band!) and finally September 2007 he discovered GMC.

His playing had been put on "hold" for a while due to the birth of his daughter, but since discovering GMC has played every night almost without fail.

He doesnt class himself as particularily good, but a reasonable intermediate guitarist with a good ear, in the short space of time he has been with GMC he feels that confidence in his playing has grown and is ready and willing to tackle as many challenges as he can.

Personal Interests/ Background: Smells doesnt have a huge list of interests outside of playing his guitar, Smells enjoys most forms of motorsport, especially formula 1, he isnt a huge fan of online games but does have a weakness for World of Warcraft, which he has now played on and off for several years.