I started playing guitar in 1988 after I received an electric guitar for my 17th birthday. I took guitar lessons at R & J Music in South Williamsport, PA for about 6 months or so. From then on, I spent most of my time in my bedroom learning songs and just simply having fun playing along with the radio or tape player.

In June of 1989 I was asked to play "The Star-Spangled Banner" on my guitar for a Student Council assembly at my high school (Hughesville High School). I specifically played for the "SHWIT" party. (SHWIT stands for Some Have What It Takes! "The future looks like SHWIT" was the motto!) The SHWIT party had a patriotic theme for their part in the assembly. As I started playing my stirring rendition (not quite Jimi Hendrix, but it still rocked!) of "The Star-Spangled Banner" the American flag was slowly lowered behind me. It was my first time being on stage in front of a crowd of people and it will be something I will always remember in addition to graduating from high school that same month.

In April 1992, MTV aired "A Concert For Life," a tribute concert for Freddy Mercury. Many famous bands and artists performed at this concert, but one band in particular inspired me to play the bass guitar. That band was Extreme and their "Medley of Queen Songs" performance. Patrick Badger, Extreme's bass player, just looked so cool and sounded so unbelievable. The bass sound meshed so well with Nuno Bettencourt's guitar sound/tone. I never thought playing bass could be so musically necessary and important. A bass player helps support the chords in a song as well as the rhythm and groove. It's basically the thing, along with the drums that makes people get up and dance. So soon after watching the Extreme performance, I went out and bought a bass guitar and got some bass guitar lessons.

I have played with or at least jammed with a few area bands since then. I have been looking for the "right" band situation to get into. A situation where the people in the band get along well, have no egos and play music that doesn't suck. I like to play hard rock, metal, modern rock, alternative, or classic rock. Here is my personal repertoire so you can see what kind of songs that I'm into and here are some sounds that you can download to hear what I sound like. So if you live in the Williamsport, Muncy, Hughesville, or Montoursville, PA area and you perhaps need a bassplayer or you just want to "jam", please send me an email or Instant Message me (AOL IM Screen Name: Viabass) and we can hook up!

NAME: Michael John Swartz LOCATION: Montoursville, PA DATE OF BIRTH: July 13, 1971 PLACE OF BIRTH: Williamsport, PA SEX: Male MARITAL STATUS: Single HEIGHT: 5'10 WEIGHT: 150 EYE COLOR: Bluish Green HAIR COLOR: Dirty Blond HIGH SCHOOL: Hughesville High School, Class of 1989 COLLEGE: Pennsylvania College of Technology (1989-1991) DEGREES: Associates in Business Management and Accounting INDUSTRY: Graphic Arts/Electronic Prepress THINGS I LIKE TO DO: Play guitar and bass guitar, watch reruns of Miami Vice, ride roller coasters, watch thunderstorms, eat hot wings and watch movies! THINGS I HATE TO DO: Clean house, dishes, laundry, mow the lawn, get a tooth drilled, listen to rap music (except for Will Smith, he's cool!) and eat vegetables. DREAM JOB: Play bass on the weekends and take the rest of the week off! SEXUAL PREFERENCE: Straight (100% NOT GAY!!!) POLITICAL STANCE: Conservative RELIGION: Christian (Non-Denominational)