AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I started my artistic journey in my parents' basement. I was a toddler hellbent on slapping the piano keys, trying to stretch my arms as far apart as they could.

A typical middle child (three brothers), I found ways over the years to seek attention. I sang and made dance routines in the living-room for company, composed wordless pieces for the piano, signed up for Air-Band competitions in my school, made LEGO creations for days, and wrote stories on a blue screen on what would be now considered an ancient device. But what might have started as attention-seeking led to the fortunate discovery of my need to create.

The piano was my first instrument to process emotions with, and eventually around the age of ten I was enrolled in piano lessons. When I rebelled against learning how to read music, my parents and piano teacher conspired to help me develop my natural ear and composition abilities instead. This became the foundation for much of my musical growth. I performed and won talent shows with my original wordless compositions as a teenager, once even performing to an audience of eight thousand for the Alberta Winter Games in 2006.

My introduction to rap music came a little later. When I was 12 years old, my rebellious older brother started blasting Eminem in the house when our parents were at work. At the time, rap was considered inappropriate in our household, so my love affair with it had to stay underground. I should stress that back then, Eminem had an alarming effect on middle-class families in rural Alberta. I guarded my hidden CDs and eventually started writing secret rap lyrics in Grade 8—something only my first girlfriend ever had the displeasure of being exposed to.

Besides being a wannabe rapper at the time, I was also an aspiring author and actor. I started writing poetry and fell in love with it too, but that passion didn’t really blossom until I was 17, when I taught myself how to play guitar. Poetry became lyricism. I started writing songs the same day I learned my first chords, and with every new song, I found myself quickening the lyrics and tightening the internal rhyme schemes. Gaining confidence was a slow burn. It took me about five years of keeping rap as my relatively secret love before I started sharing it more publicly.

In 2015, with my firstborn daughter nearing the age of 1, I put forth a Kickstarter to help me purchase the professional music software, Ableton Live. I wanted to make rap. I knew I could compose music but I didn’t know how to "produce" at first or what that even meant. Eventually the Kickstarter was funded and after another 3 years of toil and education, dabbling in performance and filming music videos, I finally released his debut project as ‘Srvent’.

With Identity being self-produced, mixed and mastered, it was personal proof that I could accomplish what I set out to do, messy as it was. I was suddenly in the realm of performing, and while I had some stage experience in his past, now I was performing poetic essays in front of audiences, working up a sweat and feeling the hit of connection that only a performer can know. I was getting booked for festivals and learning how to grow into my role as a full-contact independent artist, all the while I worked through various full-time jobs that I usually didn't like.

Shortly after releasing my 3rd major project, ‘Srvent: Battle Angel’, I was able to start making a living through filmmaking under my company, Red Reach Productions.

My music is a blend of hyper-lyrical Hip-Hop, engaging song structures, and wildly varying production, with influences ranging from pop to aggressive electronic and classical orchestration. I’m squarely in my own lane of Alternative Hip-Hop, constantly growing and developing into whatever I'm meant to become.

My lyrics are deep and sometimes painfully honest—though not without some humour—and my live performances are always marked by intense passion and energy. My music is rich in emotion and full of complex imagery. I approach rap as a storyteller, often weaving in a cohesive narrative. My sincere goal is for my art to be of service to others.

Beyond the music, in 2020 I also started an occasional podcast called Creative InSanity, which brought me into conversation with other hyper-creative people. I have featured artists of various disciplines from all over the world, from collaborators like A-F-R-O, who have appeared on Jimmy Fallon, to J.H. Moncrieff, Tammy Peterson, and more.

I think it's also fair to say that I have also developed into a fully-fledged filmmaker, as I have made made several short films and am on my way to making my first feature length production. I conceive, direct, and edit my own music videos, write my own films, and does all the things.

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