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Mike Paradine: Drums The first album Mike ever listened to was the Beatles  A Hard Days Night at the age of 3. It was present given to him by an uncle. The first album that he bought with his own money was Alice Coopers Billion Dollar Babies. Ive been hooked ever since, recalls the Relik (a term given to him by a former band member). At age 11 he started to get interested in playing the drums. Baseball was taking up most of his time at this point but after a battle with cancer at age 13 and losing his left leg to the disease, he quickly submerged himself into the world of rock n roll. "It was the only place I knew where the misfits were accepted." KISS became a big influence in the beginning. "I grew up on horror movies, comic books and rock n roll. It was just a natural gravitation to get interested in KISS. Everyone in my family was always listening to some kind of rock. The Kinks, Stones, all the English invasion stuff, so music was always around me." The first band he formed was a three-piece band aptly named Cerberus, the mythical three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades. They performed cover songs from Hendrix to Priest to Van Halen to Rush. In 1988 he became involved with a band that would be a part of his life for 13 years. BALISTIK KICK released 3 CD's, opened for W.A.S.P., Savatage, Quiet Riot, Overkill, Manowar and others. He left the band due to negativity and inactivity. Mike then immediately went out to form a new band. Noting that it wasn't just musicians with strong writing skills or abilities, he also needed people that would be on the same page. "It's equally important for all members to be headed in the same direction", states Mike, " this band is well balanced in the fact that everyone wants the same thing. It makes things fun and a hell of a lot easier." MP listens to a "ton" of Motorhead, Thin Lizzy, Primal Fear, Priest, Maiden, KISS, Gary Moore, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, The Kinks, The Godz, W.A.S.P. and too many others to list. His influences are: Phil Lynott, Ray Davies and Alice Cooper in lyric writing, Peter Criss, Brian Downey and Mikey Dee in the drum department and in music writing, ''everyone I've ever listened to, then throw in Spiderman, Frankenstein and some motorcycles just to make it interesting."   Words to live by, "Have other people live up to your standards, never lower yourself down to theirs" and Facto no verba (Deeds not words). Mike's drums were custom made by Jackson drums. Visit www.Jacksondrums.com .