I'm Ziggy Plato, a.k.a. Thomas Howard. One guy. I recorded some of my songs at home on my stereo. No professional recording equipment was used. I play a copy of a Les Paul and an old (late 80's) Ensoniq SQ80 synth/sequencer and occasionally a few other things. I've recently been dabbling a bit with loop software. I put myself in the rock/progressive rock genre, but my music is really in many different genres.
I've played piano since I was 9 or 10. I played bass in a band in the early 80's. I've been writing songs since I was about 12. I've played guitar since I was about 13 or 14. I started recording my own music, and some covers in the mid 90's. All instruments are self taught.
I don't play live anymore. I used to play bass in a band in the early 80's and the few live gigs we had were a blast. I briefly joined another band back in 2004, but it didn't work out... this was a terrible year for me
My influences vary greatly from rock to jazz to blues to classical to electronic and so on. I suppose I'll name some bands/artists (in no particular order):
The Beatles, Steve Vai, Steve Morse, Joe Satriani, Rush, Queen, The Who, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Dream Theatre, ELP, Elton John, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Led Zepplin, many many many more...
Ensoniq SQ80 (very old, but solid keyboard); copy of a Les Paul by Vantage (pretty nice for a copy); JVC, Onkyo, Studio Pro, Yamaha and Wharfdale Stereo components; old Realistic microphones; Holmes guitar amp; unknown brand acoustic guitar; 99 cent plastic egg shaker.
I'd love to work on some more music, but my guitar needs repair and my son won't return the Ensoniq, and I can't afford to buy any new stuff... so I'm trying to improve the old recordings a bit, and make some videos so there is something to look at while listening.