Born in Salt Lake City Utah, Patrick was taught from a very early age the importance of music. His parents eagerly supported both his singing and his desire to perform, even if he was prone to getting out of hand. Even after the divorce of his parents and his relocation to Charlottesville, Virginia, both parents continued to feed his growing addiction to music: his mother with Classic Rock, Oldies, and Blues staples such as The Beatles, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Eric Clapton as well as passing on her personal fascination with Peter Gabriel, while his father handled the obscurities from David Bowie and Pink Floyd to Das Ich, Einstuerzende Neubauten, and the Sisters of Mercy. As he continued to progress through his exploration of music, he discovered, much on his own, a few New Wave and Electronic groups, while his brother instilled in him a fascination with Depeche Mode and Gary Numan.

At the same time as his musical cravings began to flourish, Patrick Also found himself craving answers to questions he couldn't even begin to ask. Not one to have very good control over his emotions, Patrick chose, instead of fighting them, to better understand them, both in himself and those around him. He became fascinated with picking apart humans, from why they felt things to what they did about it. As the challenges of life grew more intense, so did his need to both understand and express the tidal wave he felt inside himself. Most perplexing to him was the basic probablility of life, how there were billions of people, and yet mere handfuls of those who actually got the chance to achieve at least the majority of their full potential. Understanding that he was not alone in the standing of having talent, observation, and insight, Patrick accepted the fact that he was just human, as capable and incapable of greatness as everyone else, depending on opportunity. This continues to be, in his own mind, one of his greatest strengths and weaknesses. . .

Trying to weave the two hobbies of Music and Amateur Philosophy/Psychology together, Patrick began writing song lyrics early on. Several stints with a variety of instruments from guitar to panpipe all ended in frustration or lazy failure, yet Patrick found himself continually enjoying singing, whether by himself alone or with choirs and theater groups in school. Lacking the ability to write music on any instrument, he found himself instead writing new words to songs that already existed, which he never sung for others but rather just turned in as poetry assignments. Eventually he learned enough about the piano for his mother to feel like buying him a Casio CTK-601, which he still uses as his writing tool to this day. Though he became familiar enough with the notes and chord structures, Patrick found himself unable to play at any particularly fast speed, and would often become too frustrated with his own lack of motor coordination to do more than doodle.

Though he did have a brief stint in the equivalent of a High School Garage Band, Patrick's main performances were limited to school. However, by Junior year he had begun to slowly immerse himself in the Goth Scene of Charlottesville, where Bella Morte and later bands like DawnRazor, In Tenebris, and The Violet Dawning began to open him up to the idea of creating electronically programmed music. Still lacking any realy tools, Patrick simply continued to doodle away on his Casio for a while, using the very limited programming capabilities to save tidbits of song ideas. At this point he thought of the name Silent Muse, frustrated by his inability to write anything when he actually had time and motivation to do so instead of the ideas assaulting him when he had many other things to accomplsh.

By Graduation, Patrick found himself a regular attendent at The Dawning, a local Goth/Industrial/EBM venue, and after getting a copy of Soundforge he began remixing popular tunes with hopes of getting them played. Using Soundforge and a General Midi program, Patrick began to learn more about musical structure and actually implementing some of the musical devices he had always admired. Still, actual creation of music was still little more than a hobby for him, though he did find uses for singing from time to time.

In December of 2001, Patrick acquired a copy of Fruity Loops, a music synthesizing/sequencing program, and a couple of brief lessons. Slowly he began plugging away, making instrumental tunes that are probably better forgotten, but that still served as a learning experience. Patrick, inspired by groups such as ThouShaltNot, soon realized that his main goal, if he was to make music electronically, was to do it with variety. Many electronic bands he'd heard fell prey to too much repition, whether with one line in a song or a style altogether. Though he agreed there is beauty in simplicity, Patrick wanted to be able to create varying moods and feelings with each song, sometimes within the same song, and give the occasional "improvised" feel to program music, even if it was a pain sometimes to pull off. At this point he was making burned, instrumental CDs to listen and give to friends, nothing more. Music had become an outlet for release, but seemed like it would remain just a hobby.

By early February, 2003, he'd assembled a small collection of songs that cried out for lyrics, which he wrote but did not record. Beginning to get antsy and feeling the urge to push forward a bit, Patrick was eventually spurned on to perform at the Dawning by Chris Knight, the promoter for said event. Circumstances arose that suddenly propelled him into his first gig opening for The Last Dance, a band with enough popularity to make Patrick's first show to a crowd of over a hundred people. But, though nervous, unsure, and feeling incredibly mediocre at that point, Patrick also remembered being young, and just liking the ability to be out there performing. . . being himself, mundane or not, and being able to just be that for people and having that be enough. And whether people thought him rough, decent, terrible, or brilliant, he was there, they were there watching him, and at that moment Patrick new this was what he loved.

Music has become less of a hobby and more of a way of life at this point. He admits that he had no idea this is where a little puttering around on a program was going to lead him, but he's not complaining. As the band has grown in number of members and in scope, Patrick has found out more about the music business than he ever thought he would, and sometimes it's still enough to make a guy feel small. But now even those feelings are fuel, because Silent Muse has become his main line of expression. Whether stories or personal experiences, each song is meant to convey a true feeling, one he's no doubt felt before. And any time someone relates to that, Patrick knows exactly why, what, and who he is. . .