I was born in Olympia, Washington on February 13th, 1990 to Steve and Kerry Kirsch. My interest in music came from both my mother and father. My mother is a very gifted piano player who loved to play Beatles and Scott Joplin tunes on the piano when I was growing up. My father loved music as well. He grew up on the hard rock music of the 70’s and 80’s and introduced that to me at a young age. He also played the guitar and showed me my first chords.

When I was in the 5th grade, I joined the school band as a percussionist. After convincing my mom to buy me a drum-set, I practiced constantly. I stayed in the school band, performing in many ensembles such as the percussion ensemble, the jazz band, and the marching band, until I graduated high school.

Not long after I picked up the drums, I began playing the guitar. The guitar was just a hobby for me at first. Drumming was such at academic endeavor that I liked playing the guitar just for fun. That is how my guitar playing continued until I was 16.

In 2006, I was invited to attend a church service by a friend. The pastor said that the church was looking for musicians. The next week, I brought my guitar to my first rehearsal with the church band and continued to play with them until 2010.

I graduated high school in 2008 and applied to Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. I was hoping to study jazz guitar. I auditioned and was not accepted, so I decided to attend South Puget Sound Community College and work on an AA degree until I figured out what to do next.

Berklee had always been a dream of mine but I did not think I was good enough to get in. I decided to apply and audition anyway. I figured that I wouldn’t get in, but at least I could say that I tried. Much to my surprise, I was accepted and began studying at Berklee College of Music in the summer of 2010.

Since starting at Berklee, I have led a very active musical life. I currently perform in a country/rock group backing a very talented singer named Shannon Selig. Since I joined the band in late 2011, we have played gigs in Boston, MA, Nashville, TN, and have begun working on a full-length album due out in early June 2012.