Piece Description

From OCHO's webpage biography: 

"I grew up in Pierre, SD, USA, a small government island on an ocean of dry grass that Lewis and Clark called the Great American Desert. 

At age 16, I started writing and performing music with a political grindcore band called Diseased. For a while we were the only band in town. In 1995, we and some other groovy kids started a successful underground music scene in that town. The band and the scene still thrive. 15 years and three cities later, I love that place and those people more than ever.

It was back there that music gave me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. 

Here's a secret: Music changes people--one by one and in large groups. I grew up out in the sticks with no record stores and no internet (It wasn't even invented yet...). My exposure to music was really limited; I had heard little more than hymns and bubble gum jingles.

When I was a teenager, I looked for the most obscure and/or rebellious music I could find. My friends and I had to drive to a town three hours away to find anything that resembled underground music. Someone would get a cassette and pass it around. The message in that music taught me that I don't have to accept the world as it is. I can make up my own mind. I can DO something about it. This message was so powerful to the kids out there that we looked for it even when it could scarcely be found.

In 1998, I moved to Minneapolis for college. I started trading mix tapes with my friend Josh Garrett-Davis (myspace.com/joshallages), who fronted the OTHER band in Pierre. One day he sent me a tape of some acoustic songs he'd written. It blew me away. He also introduced me to more folk musicians like Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Plus I found some on my own, like Cat Stevens, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. It's a different medium than the punk and metal I was used to, of course, but the messages are similar: I am an independent person capable of making social change. I can ALSO change mySELF, my own life, my relationships, and my inner being for the better. I have the power. And what else am I doing with my time, really?

So I started writing songs on the acoustic guitar and moved to Mankato, MN in 2001. I hosted open mics for a couple of years, met some more beautiful people and started my own variety show with other folks in the area. I released 2 CDs, "How to Make Everything Perfect" (2004) and "Chicken Soup for the Chicken" (2003), and toured the midwest a few times. I studied Psychology at Minnesota State, and got my bachelor's in psych in 2004.

Then I moved to Ashland, OR. I lived there for two years. I hosted an open mic and a poetry slam, toured the west coast, met a whole bunch more beautiful people, and got my master's degree in mental health counseling. I also recorded my third CD, "Gorillabuddha!" In August of 2006, I left to go on my first extended U.S. tour. I toured for a year, and settled back in Mankato. I'm here for a while. I make a living playing music, providing mental health coaching services, and counseling families.

There is no reason for any of this. No rules. No right or wrong. We make all that up."