Bio
Freddy Bennett
I was born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks, Home was a small town known as the "Hub of The Ozarks" Ellington Mo. It was here where I fell in love with music and fun. We worked hard and played hard. I spent time working in the hay fields, sawmills, and skidding logs with a mule.. When the work was done I spent most of my time on the river. Life was simple.
I worked in radio early on and then transitioned to a new industry in the late 90s.. Technology.. I continued writing but enjoyed the turn of the century traveling the world as a sales guy specializing in network and security monitoring.
In 2005 I met Brad Nye, An amazing talent and a great guy. I spent years hanging out with Brad and he spent years telling me I needed to get in the studio and record some of the songs I had written.
In 2016, Brad brought me to The Jam Lab in Brookfield IL and Introduced me to an unbelievably talented musician and recording engineer, Colin Peterik. He then brought in one of the best guitar players on the planet, Mike Aquino..I then brought in an awesome drummer that I have know since I was a teenager..Jeff Brouk. We then added Greg Hirte with some sweet violin, and super talented Patrick Jean-Baptiste on the bass.
After convincing my super terrific talented daughter Alex to design the Band logo, The PirateFish Band was born.
Brad Nye
I was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs.
After High school I attended PIT in LA.. When I graduated, I was hired and worked as an Assistant Tour Manager, first for Van Halen and then for Hall and Oats. After Hall and Oats, I Returned to Chicago and Co-Founded the Band "Dick Holiday and the Bamboo Gang" . We quickly secured an endorsement with Miller Genuine Draft, and signed a development record deal with A&M Records. It was a crazy time and we were playing over 200 shows a year!
We released 4 albums and traveled coast to coast including Club Med in Cancun and the US Virgin Islands.
The band has headlined clubs across the country and played w legendary artists as Alice Cooper, Loretta Lynn and Mel Torme'.
Today I continue to write for and produce 2 young excellent artists in Nashville in Ross Clayton and Lauren Duski who was on The Voice!
In January 2016, I finally convinced Freddy to bring his stuff to the studio..We are having a ton of fun.. Hope you enjoy!
Mike Aquino
Born an army brat in Newport News Virginia and raised in the west suburbs Chicago.
After High School I attended College of DuPage and then Roosevelt University/Chicago Music College receiving a degree in Music Education and Jazz Guitar Performance.
Since then I've gone on to be a first call guitarist and vocalist for the stage and studio in and around Chicago while touring the country and Europe with such artists as Grammy Award winner Jim Peterik and countless other high profile acts.
I've released my own CD, co-produced other artists and enjoy keeping busy actively co-writing with many others in the business.
I met Freddy through Brad Nye and the rest is history. Good music, good people and good times ahead for sure!!!
Colin Peterik
I grew up in Chicago's Southwest suburbs surrounded by music. You might say it was my destiny. Although I did believe at one point I would be a professional skateboarder, I started playing piano and writing songs in middle school, leading several bands all throughout high school.
I became the de facto recording engineer for all the bands I was in, using a hand-me-down 4 track tape recorder. Soon I upgraded to a small Protools system and by the end of high school I was starting to get paid recording friends' bands. I think my starting rate was $20/hour.
After high school, I went on a National tour with my progressive rock band Lobster Newberg, playing 35 shows in 2 months. When I returned home, my interests shifted more towards recording, and as the band fizzled out, I attended Columbia College Chicago with a major in Audio Production. At this time I was taking a lot of clients in my parents' basement studio, Lennon's Den Studio.
In 2014, I moved my studio into a renovated auto-body garage and started working full time as CRE of The Jam Lab.
Meeting Freddy B was the culmination of the relationships I made back in my basement days at Lennon's Den. Working with Brad and Mike for many years already, it was kismet that we would all end up in a band together!
Jeff Brouk
I came up in south St. Louis County Missouri. I had two passions, baseball and playing drums. Both took up a majority of my time as a kid.
After graduating, baseball took a back seat to drumming. I played in many local "cover bands" trying to make something happen. It was a lot of fun, and even strengthened my desire and need to play, but none of those early projects ever had steady success.
As the years passed, it became obvious to me making a career in music was difficult. I was never able to find the right group of guys with the same drive, desire, and commitment I had. Something was always in the way.
But, I had to work and I always had an interest in law enforcement. To make ends meet, I attended the police academy and graduated the top of my class. I was quickly hired by a local police department, and have been a police officer for nearly 20 years.
During those years, I quenched my desire to play drums playing every other Sunday in my church band. I had never played contemporary Christian music, but quickly fell in love with it. I would like to thank the Praise Band musicians at FBCW. They are some of the finest people I know. For me, it has been a true pleasure celebrating our faith playing music with those guys and gals! A special thanks to Grant and Pastor Ralph.
Then, a little while back, I get a text from Freddy "give me a call, you ain't gonna believe this". As he explained to me what he had been doing, and who he was working with, I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Freddy then asked me the craziest question ever, "would you be interested?" That was my first day as a member of The PirateFish Band. To be continued!