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Jim began his music career at a rather late stage. He purchased his first (and only) drum set in 1989 at the age of 18. Barely able to hold the sticks properly, he sat down and taught himself how to play by listening to old Kiss & Queen records. Long days and nights were spent in his garage practicing how to simply keep a beat.

Less then a year later, Jim went on to form the Brendels with musicians that were ten years older then him. Having a big generation gap between Jim and the rest of the band, the Brendel set list consisted of nothing more then seventies-burn-out-cover-tunes. The Brendels only managed to pull together three shows in their short existance. The band was less then entertaining and was going nowhere at light speed. So shortly after their third gig, they folded.

In early ‘91, Jim formed Mystery Wagon with local musicians Eric Falstrom & Chris Apking. Mystery Wagon had more of a punk edge. Mixing original material with covers from such bands as Wire, the Jam, Ramones, The Damned, Buzzcocks, ect. The band was full of raw energy and had tons of potential. But after only a couple gigs, Mystery Wagon simply fizzled out in late ‘91.

In early ‘92, Jim joined local "alt-rock" band, the Mourning. The Mourning was pretty much a Cure wanna be band. They did a bunch of Cure covers with a few new wave tunes, mixed with original material. While the Mourning didn’t draw well Jim recalls "It was the most fun I ever had playing in a band. I had only been playing drums at that point for 2 1/2 years, those guys really let me do anything as long as it complimented the music." The Mourning released a full length cd & cassette release called Fortunes For the Dead in early 1993. But through out the year, the band continued to fail at gaining an audience. So with much reluctance, the band broke up at the end of 1993.

Jim & (the Mourning) guitar player Drew Mayer went on to form the pop band Johari Window in the summer of 1994. The bands first gig was was at Top Cats opening up for local staples Middle Earth. Johari Window made quit a noise with the college crowd and was drawing well almost from the word go. Johari Window managed to get a handful of opening gigs with national acts such as Better Then Ezra, Dishwalla, Wanderlust & Emmit Swimming. During this time the band was recording songs for an up-and-coming cassette release.

In the mean time, Jim formed Deary Me Records but by mid-95, Johari Window was beginning to lose steam. So Jim began focusing more energy on running Deary Me. By early 1996, Jim had decided to quit Johari Window and rejoin his old band Mystery Wagon (which had been resurrected a couple years earlier). Jim’s second stint with Mystery Wagon was not the most memorable experience he had. Mystery Wagon was less then stable and folded for good at the end of 1996. Despite the major malfunctions of the band, Jim met his lovely future wife while playing in Mystery Wagon live on WAIF radio.

After the collapse of Mystery Wagon, Jim focuses all energy on Deary Me Records. The label did releases with many popular local bands ranging from the Fairmount Girls, to the Greenhornes, to the Wolverton Brothers and so on. The label made quite a stir locally but was unable to make much noise on a national level. So after eight years of trying to get the label off of the ground, Jim decided to pull back and shelve the label indefinatly.

Taking a breather from the label, Jim decided to try and join a new band. After bouncing around between 2003 & 04, Jim found his place with the Screaming Mimes.