JIM - drums Jim began playing the drums around the age of ten. Before he even had a drum set, he remembers, "making drum sets out of anything that might work. I remember using tupperware containers for toms and attaching a discarded twelve-pack with duct tape on it to give me a snare sound. I would bang on that setup with sticks of wood until the box would break and then I would get another one and start over." It was not long before he was playing on real drums. "I was really lucky to have a stepdad who was a professional drummer. He set his kit up for me one day, showed me a couple of things and turned me loose." He formed his first band, Morning Missile, with some friends while he was a sophomore in high school. During the fall of 2001, Jim was camping in Mexico with Jake. He told Jake that he had access to an old drum kit that his uncle gave him. It was during this waveless trip to Mexico that the idea of the Big Sound was born. Jim remembers, "drum and bass rehersals began shortly after that trip." MUSICAL INFLUENCES Jim is influenced by such artists as the Beatles, the Clash, Bad Religion, Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Operation Ivy, Rancid, Common Rider, the Specials, Desmond Dekker, Ken Boothe, Social Distortion, the Melodians, Clifton Chenier, Hepcat, Clito Piermarini, the Ethiopians, Israel Vibration, the Skatalites, Johnny Cash, Robert Johnson, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, Gregory Isaacs, Delroy Wilson, John Lennon, Harry Chapin... FUNNIEST BIG SOUND EXPERIENCE: "Has to be when we played the KUSI morning news around Christmas of 2004." (The clip can be viewed here.) WHAT JIM LIKES TO DO BESIDES MAKING BIG SOUND: "I enjoy collecting guitar pics, listening to good music and gutiars that are out of tune." He also enjoys surfing from time to time and bubblegum flavored shaved ice. He is the only member of the band who will admit this. © The Big Sound 2002-2007