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Evan Kepner was born and raised in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He started on the piano at age 8, and at the age of 14 began playing the electric bass in a punk-rock band (spikes and bright colored hair included). Three years later after dabbling with a multitude of high-school bands and styles he began playing consistently in the Jim McRedmond Trio, a Lemoyne PA based jazz group. He continued to play with the trio after moving to Pittsburgh to study neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, and started playing in “Once by the Pacific,” a slow-groove indie band working the local Pittsburgh scene. After graduation he served for two years in South Africa as a member of the Peace Corps, which “… is where I put in the time and fell in love with the bass… I spent a full year playing an old fretless bass guitar with no amplifier in a village, dedicated to learning jazz theory, harmonic structure and function, as well as playing techniques.” When he came back, he rekindled playing jazz at a whole new level with guitarist Tony Grigonis playing restaurant gigs and open jams.

Currently Evan lives in Lakewood OH where he works as a computer technician, writes for NoTreble.com and studies classical upright bass under Dr. Kathleen Horvath of Case Western Reserve University. He has traded in the bright hair color for bright tattoos, is an all-around computer geek, seeker of eclectic and unusual music, and is working on original compositions using both the upright bass and bass guitar. While he pulls inspiration from almost any source, he considers himself to be heavily influenced by Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Andrew Burashko, Stanley Clarke and Justin Chancellor. His car currently has “Fungi and Foe” “Eat me Drink me” “Moon Germs” “Bulls on Parade” “Extraction” and “A Healthy Distrust” in the CD-changer.

You can check out more about Evan at his homepage http://evankepner.com.