Acoustic & Electronic Drums, Percussion and Our Beating Heart that Keeps Us Grooving.
Evan's love of music began sometime in the 70's ... at first, he listened to pop radio. There were so many artists and one hit wonders that stood out (too many to list). However, he heard Billy Joel, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, The Bee Gees, Blondie, et al. For some reason, Blondie's Heart Of Glass was mesmerizing. Evan wasn't even playing drums yet. During middle school, he discovered AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and The Police. According to Evan, "When I heard The Police, my life changed ... during the summer of 82, one of my counselors was an excellent drummer and showed me a picture of Stewart Copeland in Modern Drummer Magazine. That was a sign to learn drums. I didn't have a teacher yet, but started to understand basic beats, rhythms and fills. When I entered high school, I realized that I wasn't improving, despite the fact I was surrounded by amazing progressive rock musicians. I wanted to play RUSH songs, but didn't have the chops. Enter my first teacher: Joe Bedford. By the time senior year happened, I made tremendous strides on the drum set."
When Evan graduated from high school, he became a jazz DJ for WSIA 88.9 FM in New York. He also played in several rock bands, but they seemed to fizzle out. Then, he attended SUNY Oswego from 1988-1990. During that time, he played a combination of jazz fusion, classic rock, alternative, blues, funk and much more. Evan returned to Staten Island in 1990 and joined several different bands while working at a recording studio. That also began to fizzle out, so he attended Radford University to study music at the Master's level. He also wrote and published a Master's Thesis in 1995: "The 21st Century Drummer: Combining New Technologies With Traditional Instruments." He spent time using piezoelectric triggers, MIDI and keyboard sounds to increase a drummer's musical expression. Interestingly, Evan is using that technological approach with Chemistry to reproduce the 80s sound.
Evan has performed many different genres: jazz quartets, community bands, theatre, rock groups, and GT swing from 1998-2000. He was a certified, licensed secondary educator from 2003-2022. During that time, he formed, participated and produced several original rock and alternative projects. Evan moved with his wife to Florida in late 2022 and attended multiple jam sessions. After performing with several groups in Indian River County, he landed the gig with Chemistry in 2025. According to Evan, "... I was subbing in a few groups and learned a total of 900 songs since moving to Florida. I saw Chemistry LIVE a few times and was blown away by the musical repertoire. Who plays Missing Persons? Wow! When I saw Chemistry's ad for a new drummer on Facebook, I responded right away. Mike, the bass player, called me 10 minutes later and we hit it off. Then, Jeff called me, and things started moving very quickly. I met Ronnie at the audition in PSL and she gave the warmest bear hug. I was nervous, but well-prepared. The audition went well from 5-9, and they offered me the gig; I accepted! Chemistry is exactly where I want to be - great music and great people!"
