Mix of Capricorn and a Snake, I was born January 15 1977 in Lausanne, Switzerland. First labelled as a future clown by the doctors, I quickly turned to more serious stuff: at age 6 I decided to become a professional guitar player! My musical education began then with solfegio, recorder, classical guitar at age 9, and electrical guitar at 12. Around that age, rock music entered my life, a bit tough for my parents' ears, but I immediately liked the style. Starting softly, some of my earliest influences include Kee Marcello and Jon Norum of the band Europe and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi. I then turned to some heavy and trash-metal bands - Judas Priest, WASP, Megadeth and Marty Friedman and Testament with Alex Skolnick. Around the age of 15, I met someone who became a friend: Guillaume Desboeufs (now with the band Core22). He was a lot better than me, and this gave me the kick in the ass I needed, as well as the desire and courage to put in the necessary hours. I began to be interested by the work of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Nuno Bettencourt, Jeff Waters, Ritchie Kotzen and John Petrucci. Two years later I felt ready to enter the ETM (School of Musical Technologies) in Geneva. I studied there full time for two years and I met my instrument teacher, Christophe Godin (Mörglbl Trio and Gnô), whose talent was of great influence on my later work. I graduated in 1996. For almost four years now I have been working part-time in a music shop and I give guitar lessons in Lausanne, Geneva and Vevey.