Tick came of age in the 80's.  His first concert was the Go-Go's.  He quickly learned that despite Belinda Carlisle's claim that she had the beat, it in fact belonged to Run DMC.
 
Tick first started playing bass at college in Boston with a strange political band called the Dirty Vicars.  This seven piece included a viola player and was fronted by an anarchist named Max who wore priest suits and was encouraged by the band not to talk between songs.  The Dirty Vicars struggled to build a following and young Tick learned the importance of connecting with the audience.

Tick then formed a band back in Nor Cal with high school friends called Big Sir and the Buddhas.  The band came to the conclusion early that they were not skilled enough to cover songs.  They agreed that real bands write their own music anyway, so they banged away on tunes in the Lippman garage between bagel breaks.  Parts of these songs would morph into some Benchmarx tunes years later.

It was at this point that Maceo Parker entered Tick's life and showed him the way funk music can transform a club into Planet Groove, and that Planet Groove is a great place to be.  Tick was determined to someday take others there.

The first big break for Tick came when he started teaching high school and realized that several of his students could really play.  He started lunch time jams in his classroom and picked up things from expert 16 year olds.  Tick played his History songs at the occasional school talent show, sometimes backed by a student band, and they were well received but something was definitely missing:  alcohol.

After landing in Beijing to teach at ISB, Tick joined the Ryno School of Rock.  Ryno, who is the happiest man wherever he is, put together a country rock band called the Red Bean Ramblers.  The Ramblers had stiff competition in Beijing, a city of 13 million, because there was one other country rock band.  However with so many venues, the Ramblers could play out every weekend and once they  accomplished the trifecta with three gigs on consecutive nights.  The Ramblers were almost done in by their own code of "No bottle left unless it is empty", but they manage to generate some great nights for expats and Chinese locals.  The Ramblers were definitely carried by Ryno, and Tick realized the potential of a future band with diverse strengths.

When Tick came to KL he knew right away that such a band would be made.  He first met Steve "Buzz" Northcott and the two began planning for a band that would be larger than itself.  They debuted their musical chemistry at "Stalls Night" where they noticed one person really groovin' as they gave their original spin on Creep:  Monster Madden.  Tick also began to play with Eddie Vedder, or at least he sounded a lot like Eddie Vedder, but his name is The Real JD Peavy and he lived downstairs from Tick so that made things easy.  Tick also spoke with a potential drummer who admitted that his parents didn't let him play drums as a child, but he always wanted to.  Tick challenged him on his skill level and Director Richardson looked him in the eye and said, "I can play."

Tick put out an email to all to meet at a practice studio, and they all showed up.  They all showed up again a week later and The Real JD had a name for the band:  The Benchmarx.

Tick left the Benchmarx after two years, 28 gigs, and the recording of Greatest Hits Volume II.  He went to Maine to hone his skills before going abroad again.  He heads for Madrid in August of '08 to hopefully start the another band:  Los Standardidos.