I was born in Fall River, Massachusetts October 20, 1977.  My earliest memories of wanting to be a drummer come from watching the Muppet Show and my parents first getting me an Animal drum set.  When I heard Eric Carr's thunderous drums on I Love It Loud and Alex Van Halen's double bass on Hot For Teacher I was hooked. I knew I wanted to become a rock n roll  drummer. Countless pots and pans at my parents and grandparents houses were dented and more than one seat cushion was torn open with wooden spoons as I pretended to be my idols.  I was too young to experience the original KISS lineup the first time around but grew up on 80's hard rock and heavy metal, all influenced of course by KISS and Eric Carr at that time.  My biggest influences overall would have to be KISS, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Extreme, Led Zeppelin, The Who, AC/DC, Queen, and Rush, the Big 3 of Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, as well as drummers like Kenny Aronoff and Gregg Bissonette.  I love all music from country to classical to house/techno.  I am also a huge Alter Bridge/Creed fan.

 

Growing up in Somerset, Massachusetts I played drums on and off throughout my teenage years, but also picked up keyboards and was an All-State jazz saxophone player in high school.  My first concerts were Van Halen in 1992 and Rush in 1993.  I rediscovered the original KISS catalog after seeing them at the Providence Civic Center during the Reunion tour in 1997.  After graduating high school in 1995 I bought my first professional drum kit and began playing in bands during college at UMass-Dartmouth where I was a history and political science major before leaving to pursue other musical endeavors.  In 2000 I joined Brockton based hard rock original band "No Warning/The Prize" and after playing the Boston/New England club scene and recording 2 demo albums, we moved to Los Angeles in 2002. Although nothing came of it at the time I am now able to say I spent time in Hollywood and played most of the major rock clubs on Sunset Strip.

 

I served as a military musician in the Army National Guard as a saxophonist and drummer from 1995-2001 and again from 2004-13. I married my wife Suzanne in 2005 and since then we have had 2 children and built a new house.  After getting out of the Army I realized something was missing in my life, I missed playing drums and connecting with fellow musicians and audiences on stage.  I auditioned for a couple of bands but nothing really felt right and I gave up on finding a group of like minded individuals to play with figuring some day many years in the future I might start playing again.  Focusing on family and work, I unexpectedly received an email and phone call inquiring about an audition for KISS Forever.  After speaking with and meeting with the guys and then finally playing about 25 KISS songs with them at my audition, I knew it was meant to be.  We connected on a personal level and musically everything sounded as though we had played together before.  After they asked me to join the band, we discussed what character I wanted to be and agreed the group needed a fresh start and something different from other KISS tributes. I asked how they would feel if I were to portray Eric Carr as The Fox.  Although like all die hard KISS fans I love and respect Peter Criss, my playing style more closely resembles Eric Carr and Singer and we decided it was time for the band to move into a different era for them as well.

 

 

FAST FACTS ABOUT MIKE:
I have seen KISS 6 times - on the 1997 Reunion tour, the 1998 Psycho Circus tour, the 2000 Farewell tour, in 2003 with Aerosmith, on the 2010 Sonic Boom tour, and the 2012 Monster tour with Motley Crue.

I have also met one current member of KISS, Eric Singer, back in 1997 at a drum clinic at Rick's Music World in Swansea.

Like Eric Carr I am Italian-American, my middle name is Paul (Eric's real name), and although I am a lefty, I play drums right handed.