Jim's Christian rock career began in Pittsburgh, PA, at the end of the disco era, with the Apocalyptic Rock band ARIEL. Every Ariel song (or so it seemed) was about the end of the world or being thrown (head first) into a Lake of Fire. It was a fine time for Jim, who was loving life and learning to play bass in the progressive rock environment, despite becoming more and more wary of the imminent end-of-time.

He and Tom Bajoras, the keyboardist from Ariel roomed together while attending Penn State and spent much time writing music, playing in bands and earning their degrees. It was a creative time with only one rule: to be good, a song must be about the end of the world, longer than an album side and contain the word "universe." [ More ]