About CFN
Luke
Luke’s singing career began in his elementary school talent shows, singing ‘The Middle’ by Jimmy Eat World in third grade, and Guster’s ‘Careful’ in the fourth grade. By sixth grade, he was on to originals and accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, performing “Girl with No Place in My Heart”, a favorite among the female middle school set.
The creative juices truly began to flow upon meeting his CFN mates. Penning the songs for their debut EP, “There Was a Time”, Luke is thoroughly enjoying the self-discovery that comes with finding one’s lyrical chops. He’s thankful that the CFN collaboration has brought out new inspiration and a whole lot of good times with the guys.
The band isn’t Luke’s only interest, however. He’s a three-sport athlete (football, basketball, baseball), Geography Bee Champ, Honor Student, sax player in school’s jazz band, and an aspiring actor. Luke’s had leads in several school dramatic productions (Larramore Mandrake in Three Murders and it’s Only Monday; Maxwell Smart in Get Smart; Curly in Oklahoma; Conrad Birdie in Bye, Bye, Birdie; Billy Crocker in Anything Goes), and he’s even noticeable as an extra in the feature film, The Alphabet Killer (Just don’t blink, or you might miss him!).
Luke is fifteen and a freshman at Minerva Deland School in Fairport, NY.
Alex
Alex is the drummer for Clearly from Negligence. He has been taking drum lessons at Northfield Music for 5 years. Alex goes to McQuaid Jesuit High School, and is 14 years old. Some of the sports Alex has participated in are soccer, boxing, football, and hockey. Now his focus is on gymnastics and track. Some of Alex’s favorite hobbies include airsoft, art, exercising, and of course, playing drums in Clearly from Negligence! Alex is also a novice guitarist and enjoys playing just for fun. His real passion is for the drums and he looks forward to playing with Clearly from Negligence for a long time to come!
Marc
Marc made his guitar debut at the age of eleven, playing Van Halen’s Panama to his elementary school peers and receiving a rousing standing ovation. That experience gave him the bug, and he began serious lessons in rock and jazz at Northfield Music with Greg Wachala. They certainly paid off a year later as Marc won the Gibson Shred Fest at Rochester’s (NY) House of Guitars. He was the youngest participant at the ripe old age of twelve, and he walked away with a brand-spanking new Epiphone Les Paul for his efforts.
Marc now plays in his Jazz Ensemble at Burger Middle School and has played for the All County Jazz ensemble with professor Todd Hastings. At the Oswego (NY) College Guitar festival, Marc assisted Greg Wachala in teaching a beginners’ jazz class. There he took the opportunity to learn from featured guitar greats Mike Stern, Rodney Jones and Peter Burnstein.
When he’s not shredding and jazzing it up on the guitar, Marc plays first-chair violin in his school orchestra. He takes lessons at the Eastman Community School of Music, an affiliation of the world renowned Eastman School of Music.
If he needs a break from the music, Marc’s other passion is skateboarding, were he enjoys the extreme side of the sport by skating vert. At the age of eight, he won his first skateboard contest, and he dropped in on the 15 foot vert ramp for the fist time at age ten. Every summer he goes to Pennsylvania’s Camp Woodward, the world’s largest action sports camp, which plays host to many of the pros training for The X Games. There Marc has rubbed shoulders and trained with the likes of Ryan Sheckler, Anthony Furlong, and Mike Frazier. Most weekends you can find Marc riding the ramps at X Dreams skate Park in Rochester, NY.
Marc is really enjoying his time with the band and his fellow band mates. The whole process of making their first EP has inspired him to work harder on perfecting his craft. He’s thrilled to be a member of this band, especially performing in front of live audiences.
Marc is an 8th grader at Burger Middle School in Rush Henrietta, NY.
Ryan
Ryan Yarmel has been involved with music for the majority of his life. He is a classically trained double bass player and is currently studying with James VanDemark, professor of double bass at the Eastman School of Music. Ryan plays bass in the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and Fairport High School’s Afternoon Jazz ensemble.
Although Ryan has a real passion for classical music, he also is an accomplished singer songwriter in his own right. He can be heard regularly around the coffee shop circuit, performing alone, and sometimes with his band.
Ryan is very excited to be playing bass for Clearly From Negligence, and is looking forward to the collaboration with the other three talented musicians that make up the band.
