Faculty/Staff | School of Rock Austin


Colleen Bell	General Manager Colleen founded one of the first modern roller derby leagues in 2004 in her hometown of Madison, WI, and spent the next seven years building the roller derby empire as General Manager of the Mad Rollin’ Dolls and as President of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. She has found many similarities between young rockers and...	Read More
Rick Carney	Music Director Rick Carney is a musician, songwriter, producer, engineer and educator. A veteran of the American underground music scene, Carney moved to Austin in 1986 as a bassist with the infamous hardcore band EMG. In 1991, he switched to guitar and founded Jesus Christ Superfly, a mainstay of the Austin Punk scene. JCS was a critical and...	Read More
Yvonne Lu	Assistant General Manager While growing up in a modest suburb of Dallas, TX, Yvonne Lu began her love and appreciation of music at age 9 with piano lessons. Then her musical instruction continued for 6 years, from elementary school through high school, via classical training on the violin. After high school, Yvonne moved to Austin in the...	Read More
Mark Turk	Little Wing Director Mark Turk Born and raised in Alice TX, Mark Turk spent his early years studying and performing music. Mark left Alice in 1995 to study Business at Texas State University in San Marcos. He could not escape the allure of music, however, and began performing with local bands. Upon graduating, Mark moved to Austin, Texas to be in...	Read More
Ahmed Garcia	Guitar & Bass Instructor Born in NYC in the summer of love, Ahmed Garcia was up-rooted and taken to Austin Texas where he was expertly raised by a pack of Austin Belly Dancers with his mother the great Belly Dancer “Lucila“ leading the way, of course. His exposure to music and the arts was early and took effective shape during the 1980’s when Ahmed would be given his...	Read More
Aaron Mason	Guitar & Bass Instructor Aaron Mason got his first electric guitar at the ripe old age of 10 and never looked back. Initially inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen, he decided to learn as much as he could about the instrument. Classical guitar lessons throughout his teenage years taught him how to read music and develop a thorough understanding of...	Read More
Jason McMaster	Vocal Instructor Jason McMaster is a vocalist, bassist and songwriter of the highest order. Starting with Progressive Thrash pioneers Watchtower, Jason has carved out an impressive body of work. Perhaps best known for his work with Dangerous Toys, Jason continues his legacy with the high energy riff masters Broken Teeth. Along the way Jason has...	Read More
Matt Moulis	Drum Instructor Instructor Matt Moulis has been playing drums for more than 17 years. He grew up in the Baltimore/D.C. area playing in hardcore and punk rock bands. At age 17, he financed, released, and distributed his first 7” record, which landed the band a feature in Maximumrocknroll magazine. From there, he began to regularly book his own shows...	Read More
Jamey Simms	Guitar & Bass Instructor Jamey Simms's first instrument was the trumpet at the age of 8 years old where he began a formal education in music. He started to play guitar four years later in 1984 after being inspired by The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, and an underground heavy metal band at the time called Metallica. Finding an early love of the blues through the...	Read More
Leslie Sisson	Vocal, Bass, Guitar & Keys Instructor Born and raised in Dallas, followed by stints in Denton, Austin, and Brooklyn, Leslie Sisson has been playing music for as long as she can remember, inspired by her musically inclined best friends... her folks. She began learning piano (like her mom) in grade school, then...	Read More
Simon Flory	Bass, Guitar, Keys, & Vocal Instructor Learning to sing from his mom while sitting on the piano bench as a child, Simon wanted to play along. Piano soon gave way to his first guitar, a Sears and Roebuck, complete with Mel Bay technique book. This got him nowhere until he found a copy of the Woodstock movie at the local video store, and discovered Hendrix, The Band...	Read More
Geena Spigarelli	Bass and Guitar Instructor Geena Spigarelli was born in Austin, TX in 1989. She began playing bass at the age of 13 and joined the Austin School of Rock, where she advanced to the School of Rock All Stars Program. After School of Rock, Geena enrolled in Texas State University where she studied music and sound recording. Through an internship at Tweak Freq studios in...	Read More
Sam McCandless	Drum Instructor Sam McCandless is the founding member and drummer for the band Cold, as well as psychedelic blues band Carny, featuring the legendary guitarist/producer Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers and lead singer Formica Iglesia. Sam has sold over 2 Million records worldwide with Cold and...	Read More
Case Federal	Vocals, Keys, Guitar, Bass Instructor Case Federal is a multi-instrumentalist from Charlotte, North Carolina. Born into a musical family, Case began learning to sing shortly after learning to talk. At age 14 he began to learn guitar under the guidance of local Charlotte legend Rusty Barkley, who instilled a love for music which stretched beyond genres and music labels. This,...	Read More
Rob Hooper	Drum Instructor Rob Hooper is a longtime percussionist/percussion instructor in Austin, TX. He has recorded and toured extensively, with such notable musicians as Carolyn Wonderland, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Guy Forsyth, Monte Montgomery, Seth Walker, The Resentments, Sister 7, The South Austin Jug Band, Wendy Colonna, ATASH, The Band of Heathens, Jon Dee...	Read More
Evan Smoker	Drum Instructor Evan Smoker is a professional rock drummer and instructor from Philadelphia, PA. He has spent the last seven years performing, touring and recording with several rock groups, such as The Extraordinaires, and Buffalo Stance (featuring members of Man Man). He has recently relocated to Austin and looks forward to jumping into the scene and sharing...	Read More

Colleen Bell

General Manager

Colleen founded one of the first modern roller derby leagues in 2004 in her hometown of Madison, WI, and spent the next seven years building the roller derby empire as General Manager of the Mad Rollin’ Dolls and as President of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. She has found many similarities between young rockers and...

Rick Carney

Music Director

Rick Carney is a musician, songwriter, producer, engineer and educator. A veteran of the American underground music scene, Carney moved to Austin in 1986 as a bassist with the infamous hardcore band EMG. In 1991, he switched to guitar and founded Jesus Christ Superfly, a mainstay of the Austin Punk scene. JCS was a critical and...

Yvonne Lu

Assistant General Manager

While growing up in a modest suburb of Dallas, TX, Yvonne Lu began her love and appreciation of music at age 9 with piano lessons. Then her musical instruction continued for 6 years, from elementary school through high school, via classical training on the violin. After high school, Yvonne moved to Austin in the...

Mark Turk

Little Wing Director

Mark Turk Born and raised in Alice TX, Mark Turk spent his early years studying and performing music. Mark left Alice in 1995 to study Business at Texas State University in San Marcos. He could not escape the allure of music, however, and began performing with local bands. Upon graduating, Mark moved to Austin, Texas to be in...

Ahmed Garcia

Guitar & Bass Instructor

Born in NYC in the summer of love, Ahmed Garcia was up-rooted and taken to Austin Texas where he was expertly raised by a pack of Austin Belly Dancers with his mother the great Belly Dancer “Lucila“ leading the way, of course. His exposure to music and the arts was early and took effective shape during the 1980’s when Ahmed would be given his...

Aaron Mason

Guitar & Bass Instructor

Aaron Mason got his first electric guitar at the ripe old age of 10 and never looked back. Initially inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen, he decided to learn as much as he could about the instrument. Classical guitar lessons throughout his teenage years taught him how to read music and develop a thorough understanding of...

Jason McMaster

Vocal Instructor

Jason McMaster is a vocalist, bassist and songwriter of the highest order. Starting with Progressive Thrash pioneers Watchtower, Jason has carved out an impressive body of work. Perhaps best known for his work with Dangerous Toys, Jason continues his legacy with the high energy riff masters Broken Teeth. Along the way Jason has...

Matt Moulis

Drum Instructor

Instructor Matt Moulis has been playing drums for more than 17 years. He grew up in the Baltimore/D.C. area playing in hardcore and punk rock bands. At age 17, he financed, released, and distributed his first 7” record, which landed the band a feature in Maximumrocknroll magazine. From there, he began to regularly book his own shows...

Jamey Simms

Guitar & Bass Instructor

Jamey Simms's first instrument was the trumpet at the age of 8 years old where he began a formal education in music. He started to play guitar four years later in 1984 after being inspired by The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, and an underground heavy metal band at the time called Metallica. Finding an early love of the blues through the...

Leslie Sisson

Vocal, Bass, Guitar & Keys Instructor

Born and raised in Dallas, followed by stints in Denton, Austin, and Brooklyn, Leslie Sisson has been playing music for as long as she can remember, inspired by her musically inclined best friends... her folks. She began learning piano (like her mom) in grade school, then...

Simon Flory

Bass, Guitar, Keys, & Vocal Instructor

Learning to sing from his mom while sitting on the piano bench as a child, Simon wanted to play along. Piano soon gave way to his first guitar, a Sears and Roebuck, complete with Mel Bay technique book. This got him nowhere until he found a copy of the Woodstock movie at the local video store, and discovered Hendrix, The Band...

Geena Spigarelli

Bass and Guitar Instructor

Geena Spigarelli was born in Austin, TX in 1989. She began playing bass at the age of 13 and joined the Austin School of Rock, where she advanced to the School of Rock All Stars Program. After School of Rock, Geena enrolled in Texas State University where she studied music and sound recording. Through an internship at Tweak Freq studios in...

Sam McCandless

Drum Instructor

Sam McCandless is the founding member and drummer for the band Cold, as well as psychedelic blues band Carny, featuring the legendary guitarist/producer Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers and lead singer Formica Iglesia. Sam has sold over 2 Million records worldwide with Cold and...

Case Federal

Vocals, Keys, Guitar, Bass Instructor

Case Federal is a multi-instrumentalist from Charlotte, North Carolina. Born into a musical family, Case began learning to sing shortly after learning to talk. At age 14 he began to learn guitar under the guidance of local Charlotte legend Rusty Barkley, who instilled a love for music which stretched beyond genres and music labels. This,...

Rob Hooper

Drum Instructor

Rob Hooper is a longtime percussionist/percussion instructor in Austin, TX. He has recorded and toured extensively, with such notable musicians as Carolyn Wonderland, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Guy Forsyth, Monte Montgomery, Seth Walker, The Resentments, Sister 7, The South Austin Jug Band, Wendy Colonna, ATASH, The Band of Heathens, Jon Dee...

Evan Smoker

Drum Instructor

Evan Smoker is a professional rock drummer and instructor from Philadelphia, PA. He has spent the last seven years performing, touring and recording with several rock groups, such as The Extraordinaires, and Buffalo Stance (featuring members of Man Man). He has recently relocated to Austin and looks forward to jumping into the scene and sharing...