The Man Who Became the Band

The Dream Changed Instruments

My freshman year of college, I ruptured my eardrum. I was a music student, and the plan was to become a band director. The doctors told me my days playing trumpet were over.

I switched to guitar. Not because it was a brilliant career strategy. I switched because I was not ready to stop being a musician.

Every time the obvious path disappeared, I built another one. The instrument changed. The dream did not.

Where's the Band?

My band Black Roses lost its drummer right before a string of shows. I spent a week recording drums, bass, rhythm guitars and everything else the songs needed, then walked into the venue with a desktop computer, a 24-inch CRT monitor, guitars and an amp.

It worked. An audience member later called me the “One Man Electrical Band” after hearing “Signs” by the Five Man Electrical Band. The crowd named the act. Venue marquees kept mangling the full name, so I shortened it to OMEB.

The T-shirt came later: “Where's the Band?” on the front. “I AM THE BAND” on the back.

The Local Stages Built the Act

I became the house band for the WEBN Dawn Patrol and played featured local support inside Riverbend Music Center as audiences arrived for KISS, Mötley Crüe, Styx, Poison, Journey, Megadeth and others.

During a KISS show, Gene Simmons sent his guitar tech over with a message: “Gene loves your act.” I also opened the OMEB School of Rock, grew it to 55 students, played five or six nights a week, and recorded with Bobby Mackey.

When the Room Emptied

The recession hit, the bar scene changed, rates collapsed, WEBN retired the Dawn Patrol, and Riverbend's preshow work disappeared. I went from 55 students to 20 and from five or six nights a week to two or three.

I made the hardest call of my career: it was time to get a “real job.” Nobody wanted to hire me without a degree. I was not giving up music. I was getting strategic.

BS. MBA. PhD. Still Playing Gigs.

I returned to school as an adult, completed a BS in Business Administration in 18 months, earned an MBA, and in 2019 defended a PhD in Business Administration and Marketing Management.

A campy Pink Floyd parody I created for a Rivertown IGA meat sale went globally viral and the store doubled event sales. I became a marketing executive, taught marketing at the University of Cincinnati and Thomas More University, and moved into communications and digital marketing consulting.

The look people said would keep me out of the room became the reason nobody forgot me after I entered it.

The Band Gets Bigger

I began recording and performing with Vinny Appice, drummer for Black Sabbath and Dio, and later co-founded Sabbath Knights. I also recorded with Todd Sucherman of Styx on productions drawing musicians from around the world.

With Cincinnati Vampires, “Close My Eyes Forever” crossed one million plays on Facebook. Across releases, collaborations and social platforms, Dr. OMEB videos have generated more than 10 million career views.

Change the Room. Not the Dream.

By June 2025, I was done forcing the traditional live circuit. Then my friend Alexa Rae said, “You should play on TikTok.”

She told me I would be surprised. She was right. I was not playing the wrong music. I was not the wrong musician. I was playing in the wrong room.

Rock n' Roll Church Is Born

I went live on TikTok in August 2025. Within months, the same people began returning every week and a livestream became something bigger.

Rock n' Roll Church is now the center of the Dr. OMEB brand: Sunday Service at 9:00 AM Eastern, midweek services, and a worldwide Congregation gathered around real rock, conversation, requests and community.

I wanted to bring happiness to people with music. Now I get to watch it happen in real time every week.