Christopher Ruiz

Location: San Ramon, CA

Challenge: Missing left hand

Website: facebook.com/TheNewPosition

Born missing his left hand and about 2/3 of his forearm, Christopher Ruiz (aka “CRISPy” CRUIZeR) has been fortunate enough to find music early on. At the age of 2 years old he was banging on pots and pans with chopsticks (much with the support of his mother); by 3 he was being taught the fundamentals of Latin Jazz percussion by his father.

Primarily he was learning by ear up until he was 10 years old when he joined the marching band, symphonic orchestra, and the Jazz ensemble in middle school where Christopher discovered reading music, the rush of live performance, and more importantly the drum kit and the ability to use his feet through pedals as well as both drumsticks (one tucked into his left elbow without the aid of a prosthetic) to create rhythms, and thus the legacy truly began to take off!

Dedicating every waking moment to learn how to build dexterity, he did most of his practicing and building chops in his head, and was not until he sat behind a drum kit during class rehearsals that he was able to test his theories.

With the “visualize and attack” method of learning drums he was able to build his chops and hone his craft more and more – A method he still uses today. When he was 15 he received his first drum kit as a birthday gift from his family.

Once the electronic drum kit was set up in his bedroom leaving very little space for the bed, dressers or any real movement, he locked himself away for hours on end to rehearse and improve. With no social life to speak of, the days flew by locked away until he emerged having the chops needed to operate all four limbs to now include double kick pedal technique, playing complex rhythms and odd time signatures in the various styles of Rock, and Heavy Metal.

By the age of 16 Christopher took on several bands and worked his way into the limelight of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene; later facing a record contract at the age of 17 that tragically did not come to fruition. After the devastating news it was within that same year he purchased another instrument to “test the waters” of his ability and locked himself away in his room yet again to now learn bass guitar and within months joined a Hawaiian band to get used to performing with others, and while there further learned technique and many ideas of music theory as he went along. At 19 with an urge to perform on drums again, and longing to delve deeper into Jazz he joined the local junior college to perform with their Big Band Jazz ensemble and splinters of smaller combo bands where he gained the nickname “CRISPy”.

Since childhood growing up with family members with eclectic interests in music, Christopher has never wanted to feel stuck in any one genre or style of music so by 20 he became a session musician for local artists putting together demos to sell songs to major labels. Already understanding the varieties of music, within two years his performance resume of genres and styles increased to include: 80’s Big Hair Rock, 90’s Rock Alternative, Alternative, Ambient, Big Band, Blues, Broadway Musical, Classic Rock, Country, Dixieland, Dub, Electronica, Funk, Fusion, Garage, Gospel, Goth, Grunge, Hard Rock, Hip Hop, Industrial, Jam, Jazz (In Many Numerous Styles), Latin Jazz, Marching, Heavy Metal (In Many Numerous Styles), Orchestral, Pop, Progressive, Psychobilly, Punk, Reggae, Rock (50’s, 60’s and 70’s), Rockabilly, Singer/Songwriter, Ska, Symphonic, Techno, Western, & Many More!

With his passions for manipulating sounds (as an engineer), at 24 years old and by now playing guitar and learning keyboards, Christopher released his 4 year long vision of a first solo album: Isolation Dissolution, under his old high school penname CRUIZeR. At 25 he decided he wanted to get out of the darkness of the studio and into the light of the stage once again. Under the name “CRISPy” CRUIZeR, he auditioned for bands and landed several right away that took him back to the stage where it all began for him, there he kept hammering away at his passion for the adrenaline rush that is live music. Ever the showman he can now be found doing stick tricks (and now singing backup vocals as a latest development) while working with anywhere from 4-10 bands as a drummer and/or bassist. He is also back in the studio as a composer and session musician. “CRISPy” CRUIZeR has performed as far south as Los Angeles, California, as far North as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as Dublin, Ireland. When asked what his biggest goal in life is the answer ambitiously remains the same as it did when asked when he was a determined 15 year old kid, “THE WORLD TOUR – A LIFE ON THE ROAD!”

Christopher Ruiz with The New Position - "Cheating Death"