Jose Pasillas

I began playing drums in 1990, pretty much when the band started to form. Before that I had been playing air drums for about two years and got pretty good. It was an impressive sight, and actually made me look like I knew how to play. I have never had any formal training in my 9 years of playing, which has its positives and negatives, but I think for the most part it's been okay. Unfortunately discipline is not really a word I would associate with my drum playing. I learned how to play my instrument by studying my favorite musicians (Stewart Copeland, Tim Alexander, Chad Sexton, etc.) and by listening to many styles of music, which I believe is key to expanding your playing and technique. I basically would listen to my favorite bands and steal as much as I could from the drummer and incorporate it in my playing. So yes, I am a thief!

I have seen and listened to many bands and feel that I have taken something from all of them to help my playing, whether it is a way of setting up my drums, playing a beat, learning a roll, or whatever. There will always be an infinite amount of musicians for everyone to learn from.

I met my band mates through school. I met Brandon in the 4th grade, where we spent a lot of time playing commando in the bushes with water guns. Two years later we met Mike in jr. high where mike and I spent a lot of time skateboarding. Dirk came around in high school, I met him through Mike when we started to jam together (me, Mike and Dirk). We had all just began playing our instruments and were not very good, but did have a great time.

We would cover bands like Metallica and Megadeth. I personally never was into those metal bands, but Mike and Dirk were, so I would just learned them for fun. We actually played a couple of parties as a trio then a couple of months later, Brandon joined us, and at that time, we began writing our own music. We played all through high school and continued after we graduated.

We hooked up with Kilmore in the beginning of 98 and our band was complete. Now it is almost 2000 and we are still writing and playing together...