In the fall of 1987, I was introduced to Kirk for the first time. He was a lanky kinda fellow with an odd affection for firearms. Looking back, we had more common ground then than we do now. When Dark Cloud and I conceived this band, our friend Kirk was our first choice to fill up the guitar slot. Although it really had nothing to do with his musicianship as it did that the three of us were becoming strangely great friends. Little did we know that it was exactly what decimated our working together. Although he had the ability and the potential, Kirk lacked the ambition and enthusiasm to become a top grade guitarist. He never truly saw what benefits were achieved in a dog eat dog world of the music business, where you have to be willing to eat dirt and promote yourself to rise ahead.

He truly despised the work, and lost whatever passion he had for music. As sad as it may seem, it is for the best of both the band and for Kirk. Kirk is much more happy with his life now. The music business truly never was for him, and we both saw this in August of 1999, when I encouraged him on his decision to leave the band. I did not want him pulling down the band any more than I wanted to see the band pull him down. Perhaps I would have let him go years ago if he wasn't one of my best friends.