Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Alex began playing the guitar at age nine, inspired by Kiss and The Beatles. Though he’d originally dreamed of becoming a singer/guitarist, Alex immediately shifted his focus to lead guitar upon hearing guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen, as well as the Ozzy Osbourne band’s late guitarist, Randy Rhoads,. whose plans to one day attain a university music degree would inspire Alex’s own ambitions.. Reading interviews with his guitar heroes of the 80s led Alex to research their own influences; soon he was absorbing the work of rock and blues greats from the 60s and 70s, such as Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Leslie West and others. Later, his influences would include jazz improvisers such as Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery and John Scofield as well as world music artists such as Paco DeLucia, Al Di Meola and Strunz & Farah.
