I didn't want to play a lawyer. I didn't want to play a doctor. I didn't want to play a single dad. I wanted to do something I felt I could learn from something that would be a challenge and something that would not dry up.
My mother's incredibly giving almost too giving at times. And my dad is a real logical person. He's got logic for every situation. They've been married for 24 years so there was that stability also. I really learned to think on my own at a very young age.
My dad was very fun and very adventurous and from a formative age I learned to value men who would do things on a whim.
I wanted my dad to be proud of me and I fell into acting because there wasn't anything else I could do and in it I found a discipline that I wanted to keep coming back to that I love and I learn about every day.
Dad went to Canada to learn how to fly with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He took me on my first airplane ride where I could have a hand on the stick.
Well Steve Vai joined my dad's band right around the time when I actually started playing guitar. So he gave me a couple of lessons on fundamentals and gave me some scales and practice things to work on. But I pretty much learned everything by ear.
Playing music has always felt very natural. You know you do try to do other things and you do learn lessons that way but eventually - well... if your dad is a plumber you become a plumber. It's the family business and I felt like I was taking over the family business.
The music I want to hear in my head sounds somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Massive Attack. It's not really like my dad but there will always be similarities because we have the same vocal cords and I learnt the guitar the way he taught me.
I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.
I had to learn how to chop wood actually - I don't think my dad would have let me go chop wood in the backyard growing up.