Todd  

Todd’s been playing bass guitar since 1988, when Ryan (a high school classmate), said; “Let’s start a band.  I’ll play guitar, and you’ll play bass.”  So, they each bought an instrument and an amp and learned “Johnny B. Goode”, “Crazy Train”, and “Talk Dirty to Me”.  You’ll notice all of these songs are still on Mr. Ed’s set list, primarily because they can play them with their eyes closed!  They started the band “Orion”, and played a few gigs until 1989 when Todd hooked up with Pete Mesling and Corey Johnson and started a band, “Entropy”, in which they played original material heavy metal.  (Today, Pete is a phenomenal finger-style acoustic guitarist, and Corey is still pounding the skins in the Fargo, ND band “ButterTongue”.)  Ryan went on to play with another local band.

In 1990, Todd moved to Moorhead, MN to attend Moorhead State University and shared a dorm room with Pete.  Experimenting with the effects of alcohol and other extra-curricular activities put Todd’s bass playing on hold.  Occasionally, he’d jam with a couple of buddies, but by 1994 it seemed Todd’s bass playing was done for good.

In 1996, Todd got married and moved back to Dickinson to work with his dad in the family business.  Ryan was also living in Dickinson again, and was in a band with Jim, Forrest, and Corey Johnson.  Their bass player had just moved out of town.  Ryan asked Todd if he’d like to join in and jam with them for a while.  Todd dusted off his bass, and decided to give it a try.  It didn’t take him long to get back into the groove with the bass, and the rest is history!