Born just west of the great Lake Michigan, I was raised in a smallish industrial community. Piano lessons began at age six, guitar at age 11, and a drum set was acquired by age 15. Somewhere in there a bass guitar also appeared. This may seem irrelevant, considering the nature of the music you hear here (o ho!), but worry not.

In the basement of my parents' home, a computer and a pirated copy of Cool Edit '96 introduced me to the exciting possibilities inside of home-recording and layering audio. It's a terrific thing at the age of 15 to be able to create an entire song without the use of friends (a few appeared later). I played in a band for some time named Withoutatrace (this was before that awful television drama appeared). After months of incredible experimentation, we reached our pinnacle, played one show, recorded a demo with professional studio time (won in a battle of the bands contest), and promptly disbanded. In 2001 I allied with a friend from West Bend, WI and we created Red Tide (download a six-song demo here). Red Tide played 4-6 shows in the basements of West Bend and one at a VFW or something in Green Bay. Disbanding was a must.

By 2002 I began focusing primarily on computers and (again) the possibilites that lie inside of home-recording and self-reliance (praise for HDT). University happened somewhere in the mix. All the time, I've been recording. Met a woman. Recording. Marriage. Recording. Moving to Milwaukee. Recording. Working. Recording. Collaborating with friends. Recording. Writing. Recording.

It seems that today I've recorded a fair amount of music, the end to which is this site and the beginning of publishing this music for listeners, friends and family.

If this site doesn't meet your needs, you can possibly find out more about me and my music at the following:

mjantz on Virb
mjantz on MySpace