Stage Name: Edward Sturm - The name came from his days with Izzie Martinez, when a reviewer called their peculiar mixture of styles a "guitar storm." He then adopted the term for his name, as "Sturm" for the slight mystique of the German.
Age: 35
Birthday: September 27th
Appearance:
He stands about 6 feet even, and weighs 160 pounds. On-stage he likes to wear an olive-green vest over a plain white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled back to his elbows, along with black pants and formal shoes. Off-stage he has a variety of jackets and T-shirts, both plain and with designs on them. Live he occasionally wears a hat, either as a joke or simply because.Role: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Vocals
Musical Style: Usually Ted takes the rhythm, using his jazz experience for unorthodox riffing and strumming patterns, but can take a competent lead, using a melodic, diverse style that takes influence from Kai Hansen, Chris Poland, Steve Howe, and John McLaughlin primarily. He occasionally uses fingerpicking and hybrid picking from his jazz days as well. His singing voice is best described as a low dramatic tenor, usually clean or with shades of a thrashy bark to imitate Cor Leonis' old singer. It's not very strong presently, as he's not used to singing and is rather nervous.
Personality: Ted is overall rather quiet and serious in person, but a fairly good conversationalist. He simply prefers talking less more often. In the studio, however, he can change quickly, becoming a relentless perfectionist, both to himself and to his bandmates, leading to some strain during records...unless things go well. On-stage he is similarly reserved, focusing primarily on his playing and singing. When he gets flustered he tends to repeat himself and blabber. He has a noticeable Baltimore accent, tinged slightly with a Boston accent.
Biography: Ted grew up in Baltimore, MD, in a upper-middle-class family, taking to music like a duck to water. He learned guitar and piano from his early youth, playing in his local church from his teens until he left for Berklee. At Berklee he left piano behind and studied guitar more intensely, primarily in the context of rock and jazz. During that time he became somewhat entrenched in the jazz scene, but also gained an appreciation for European speed metal, in particular the band Gamma Ray. After he graduated from Berklee, he moved to Nashville, working as a session guitarist while attempting to find his own group. He teamed up briefly with the (in)famous Izzie Martinez for a metal fusion project, but that group ended quickly due to intractable conflicts both creative and personal.
Shaken by the experience (which he prefers not to talk about), Ted moved back to Baltimore, where he took up a job in a music school teaching guitar, eventually working his way up to management, all the while playing in small jazz gigs. During this time he met a Ms. Bey Jackson, and offered to form a group with her after hearing her play. They started a band in short order, and it released its first album to mixed reviews, with most praising the songwriting, but faulting the sound of the album as clichéd. The subsequent tour took them from Pennsylvania to North Carolina to Nashville (again). After the tour, Ted began to brainstorm ways to break out of this mold. Among the changes was the firing of their first bassist, who had been disruptive during several gigs, and was not really pulling his weight. The original lead male singer also left, citing "difficulties" with Bey, forcing Ted to take up vocals himself.
