Al McSwain   My first exposure to playing music was in an elementary school band playing the alto saxophone. In high school I played sax in the concert band and jazz band. During my junior year in high school, I competed and won the #1 spot for the best high school concert band alto sax player in North Carolina. I dropped out of the high school band my senior year and started playing guitar as rock'n roll was more my style. Shortly thereafter we formed a rock band called the Betunski Bros. A few months later we realized the name did not fit & changed the name to MATRIX. I played lead guitar and we played at a few private parties and had a blast. This band lasted about a year because I had to leave the Zebulon area to attend East Carolina University.   While I was at ECU, I pretty much stopped playing guitar except occasionally strumming my acoustic. Basically, I quit playing for some 30 odd years. Then on July 4th 2006, I went to see some old friends of mine playing in a band called Twist of Fate at a club in Raleigh & thought how much fun it would be to get back into playing. They sounded great and now I sometimes play a couple of songs with them when they play out. So here I am now after a 30 year guitar vacation doing what I really love to do - playing music.  I guess you can say my major music influences are Eric Clapton, The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Crosby-Still-Nash & Young, Led Zepplin and many others. I hope to see you at a club near you soon !!! email Al: McSwain_A@msn.com