Though DRTBOT (short for "Darkness Reveals the Beauty of Truth) is the first album I am releasing commercially, it's definitely not the first music output.

I graduated from St. Olaf College in 1996 with major in music. Upon moving to Austin, Texas the following year, I promptly joined a band, which went nowhere. Then I started performing as a solo singer/songwriter, and built enough momentum to front a 3-piece band. But then that, too, fizzled out. In the mean time, I've tried my hands at all kinds of music-related activities: transcribing, setting up computers to write/record music, private guitar lesson, playing guitar as a hired gun, and so on.

Starting around 2000, I got into film scoring. I scored a few short films and documentaries, which built up to a point in 2005, I had a brief stint of doing music full-time while I was working on a full-length feature film. It was a psycho thriller called "For Sale by Owner" and it eventually was distributed in a number of countries, including UK, Netherlands, Thailand, Brazil.

On the other hand, I always thought that I'd make a terrific producer. Not sure about how to become one, I started carrying my laptop into people's homes and started recording demos. This, too, culminated in me producing a full-length album for Celtic Folk artist Marc Gunn. His parody record, Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers, is on the all-time top seller list in the comedy (strangely filed under "spoken word" though it's definitely not that) section of CDbaby.com. In 2005, I was working on a thriller film score (orchestral music) and comedy album of Celtic folk tunes. It was quite an experience.

But in both those ventures, I hit a wall after that. I had to go back to work full-time to support my family, but that's really not the only reason. I just couldn't go from those projects to bigger ones -- I had a hard time finding other artists and projects that really interested me, let alone pay me enough to justify my efforts. I've always been awkward socially among indie music circles, particularly among rock musicians. I don't smoke and I don't have any tattoos on my body and I don't cuss every three words. I love the music but not the social scene, and I think that hurt my prospect of finding more clients. I got along better with filmmakers, but there again, I'm not big enough film fanatic to really be among their circles.

So after trying all those ventures, I came back full cycle, to do music that I wanted to do to begin with. To play my music, the songs I created that I believed in. And when I considered a "band" name for my project, I had my heart set on using the number 9 --as this is the "last" music I would do. If this venture fails, then I have really nothing else to do with music, as this is the thing I wanted to do the most.

So that is why my project is called "Aries9." Having told you this, I must confess that all the fatalist thinking above put quite a bit of pressure on me as I was recording my album -- but that's a tale for another time.

I'd like to conclude by saying that I haven't given up on film scoring or producing at all. I am simply taking a long hiatus to focus on my original music for now. I am sure that I will be taking on projects in both areas in the future.