Born: Cupertino, CA

Main Instrument: Drums

Bands: Primus (1996-2000), M.I.R.V, Caca, Praxis, MCM, The Limbomaniacs, Godflesh

Member Of GN'R Since: 2000

Recorded with (among others): Tom Waits

The 37-year-old drummer grew up in the South Bay city of Cupertino, CA. At an early age, his pop music interests were James Brown and Sly Stone. He was also heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. He says he was into all styles of music that had a "funky groove to it." When he was 16, he began to play the drums, and he really put himself into it. He worked his way up to studies with Scott Morris in San Francisco, then to the Percussion Institute of Technology in Hollywood, then classical snare studies. He wanted to read and know everything there was to know about playing drums.

Brain got his nickname while in a high school concert band. After learning that Terry Bozzio had transcribed Anthony Cirone's infamous snare etude collection "Portraits in Rhythm" to play on the drum kit, he became obsessed with learning it. People asked him, "What are you, some kind of brain?" and it stuck.

Tony Williams, Ornette Coleman, and Buddy Rich were the first drummers who had a major impact on Brain. Brain was very unique; he wasn't in it to copy his idols' every move and technique. He admired their attitude. But, technically, he wanted to recreate a sound of the likes of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and Stewart Copeland (The Police).

Brain lived to play drums. He would go so far as changing clothes in the car between gigs, "I'd play a wedding in a tuxedo," he recalls, "Then put on my earrings and punk rock clothes, go to the Nightbreak, and play a punk rock gig with MCM and the Monster. That's what I had to do to get my hundred bucks that night. Then, the next day I'd play a Taco Bell commercial. I just figured, 'This is what I do. I enjoy all these styles of music, so I might as well do it.'"

Brain's recording career includes dates with artists as diverse as Tom Waits, Jon Hassell, Godflesh, Giant Robot, and the aforementioned MCM and the Monster. In the mid 80s, he became a member of the Limbomaniacs, a band made up of friends from San Jose, Cupertino, and Mountain View, California. The bands mighty rhythm section, with bassist House, guitarist M.I.R.V, and Synclavier wizard Pete Scaturro, was quite capable of thrashing rhythmic assaults like "Maniac" and the insistent "Shake It" with Troublefunk's T-Bone. Many of the bands that Brain was in The Bay Area, in the late 80's were defined by the press as "Funk Thrash" because of the common influences of funk and hard rock. The popular clubs they used to play were the IBeam, Nightbreak, The Omni, and The Berkeley Square.

While Brain was still in the Limbomaniacs, he also joined a world beat band called Big City in 1985, who later broke up in 1987. The Limbomaniacs also broke up soon after they formed but in 1987, they reformed with Pete Scaturro replacing Kelly Smith on vocals. Before the Limbomaniacs reformed, Brain was in a band called Mongrels x 10 which was a punk salsa band that combined Latin and African rhythms fused with punk. In 1989, Brain became Primus' fourth drummer, but he was only in for two weeks. He broke his foot skateboarding and Primus had a big show with Faith No More coming up, so they were forced to find another drummer. Also in 1989, Brain joined a cover band, Curveball, started by Tim "Curveball" Wright. They covered 70's funk songs. A year later Brain left to tour with the Limbomaniacs and was replaced but in 1995 they needed a drummer so Brain came back to fill in.

In 1990, the Limbomaniacs released Stinky Grooves, earning a following of P-Funkers and Beastie Boy lovers. In 1992, Brain rejoined MCM and the Monster, a band that opposed the sounds of most of the Bay Area bands. In 1993, he was featured on their album, Collective Emotional Problems. Also in 1992, Brain joined one of his most notable bands, Praxis. They needed a guitarist so Brain told Bassist/Producer Bill Laswell and P-Funk legend Bootsy Collins about Buckethead. The band now consisted of Bill Laswell as the producer, Buckethead, Bootsy, Bernie Worrell, Brain, and AF Next Man Flip. Later that year, they released their debut album, Transmutation. Brain then went on the record many different projects and also five more Praxis albums: Sacrifist, Metatron, Transmutation Live, Collection, and Warzsawa.

Sometime during the early 90s, Brain joined a band, with his manager as the frontman, called Smiley and the Gay Boys. They played southern funk rock. In the latter part of 1992, the Limbomaniacs broke up again and spawned M.I.R.V. and Giant Robot. In 1993, Brain joined M.I.R.V. In 1995, Brain joined another cover band called CaCa. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, Brain was also in many other cover bands including Ted Zeppelin, which played only Ted Nugent and Led Zeppelin songs. Then there was Borgnine, which played Miles Davis covers. Another was Johnny Moon and the Lunatics, a jump swing 1940's style band.

Throughout the mid 90s, Brain worked with Godflesh and played on two of their albums. He then toured with them in the summer of 1996. In August of 1996, Brain replaced his former replacement, Tim "Herb" Alexander, in Primus. Brain already knew the members of Primus, Les and Ler, very well because he toured with Les on the Holy Mackerel Tour. He spent the last half of '96 working into the set and writing new material. Brain performed for the first time with them at the Primus Freak Out on December 31, 1996.

On July 8, 1997, Primus released the Brown Album, which showed a new, funkier sounding Primus. After a short European tour, Primus signed on to HORDEfest '97 along with Morphine, Ben Folds Five, and Neil Young. Soon after, it was right back to the road for the Brown Album tour. They toured with many acts including Powerman 5000 and Limp Bizkit. Primus finished off 1997 with another New Year's Freak Out, debuting two new songs. During his stay with Primus, Brain was very excited about the inclusion of a turntable in his drumkit. He began learning the scratching technique while working with the world-champion DJs the Invisibl Skratch Piklz with Praxis. He soon incorporated scratching into some songs.

In 1998, Primus started recording a new EP of covers, with some live tracks, titled RhinoplastyThey went on to tour the world throughout the rest of the year. For New Year's of 1998, they played another Freak Out show. In 1999, Brain and Les worked with Buckethead on his solo album, Monsters and Robots. Brain took the rest of 1999 off. Primus then began work on another album. One of Brain's main influences, Stewart Copeland, came in to produce the album. Brain recalls, "To have Stewart agree to produce on our record was an honor for me. We walked into the studio and there were the drums that he had played with The Police, with heads that looked like they'd been on there for ten or fifteen years. He wanted to jam with me first, so we had two drumsets set up. We just went off." In October, Primus released Anti-Pop.

When Guns N' Roses drummer Josh Freese left GN'R to join A Perfect Circle after his contract expired in March 2000, the drummer slot was left open. Buckethead, already working on the new album, Chinese Democracy, had Axl bring in one his friends and former bandmate, Brain. Tim Alexander had agreed to come back to Primus to replace Brain. Throughout 2000, Brain recorded drum tracks for the new GN'R album. He also performed at this year's two shows in Las Vegas and at Rock In Rio 3and he has confirmed that he will support the upcoming tour. On March 3, he appeared at a Les Claypool benefit gig with Buckethead.