He is a former member of Irish-American rock band Flogging Molly.

[1] [2] Schmidt was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the oldest of seven siblings.

Over the course of his career, Schmidt has appeared on stage, or recorded with Goldfinger, Chuck Ragan, The Slackers, Gregory Alan Isakov, The Drowning Men, Dropkick Murphys, Frank Turner, Beans on Toast, and The Rev.

Schmidt previously played bass in the pop/rock band Nickel, best known for their cameo in the season 2 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer "School Hard", in which their songs "Stupid Thing" and "1000 Nights" are played in the Bronze.

[4] Their music has been heard on the soundtracks of multiple video games.