Last weekend, the 51s played a show and my stage mates Scott and David, along with me, were hanging out pre-gig with some folks who came out to see the show. At one point, one of them asked David if he played bass. David is a sax player by musical trade, but he also sometimes plays bass guitar. The context of the conversation made it clear that she was asking whether he played bass for the group she was going to be seeing shortly. Which he doesn’t. So when asked, “Do you play bass,” he answered as such…
“Not tonight.”
Naturally, the question that followed was one that queried what he would be playing in this group. To which he told them, “Tonight I’m playing saxophone and keyboards.” Naturally, really. That’s what his primary thing is. Playing sax and supplementing it with keys.
“And you?” she asked, turning to Scott.
“Tonight I’m playing guitar,” he said. Again, this would most naturally be what you’d expect. Scott’s primary instrument is guitar. But I know him and I know where he is coming from. He sometimes has referred to both himself and me as “multi-instrumentalists,” because we often do play more than one, depending on the situation, and it’s easier just to explain things by offering a title that covers all bases.
“And you?” she asked, finally turning to me.
Following suit with the other guys, I said, “Tonight I’m playing drums.” When the conversation went down, it just flowed liked that… it was like a cadence, with each of us basically mimicking the guy before us, but just changing the instrument.
Although I had no problem with the other guys saying it, as soon as I said it, I thought to myself, “Oh, man, that is such a douchebag line.” “Tonight I’m going to be playing drums.” Of course. Isn’t that what I mostly do?
If I had been, say, playing guitar that evening, it would have made more sense to say, “Tonight I’m going to be playing guitar.” That would have been OK, because the unspoken implication would correctly be “…as opposed to what I normally do, because I’m not really a guitar player.”
But when I said, “Tonight I am playing drums,” it made me feel like I had to brag that I’m not “just” a drummer and it made it sound like it’s six-of-one/half-dozen-of-the-other as to what instrument I choose to play. And that makes me feel like I disrespected the instrument, and also the pride I take in filling that role as the guy behind the drum kit.
Yes, I can be obsessive about nuances of language and stuff, but you have to understand, I have a long history of being turned off by statements like that. Let me explain…
I would meet musicians who, when asked what they played, would sometimes say, “Oh, I play everything.” I hated that!
When I was young—17, 18, 19, 20-ish—I would meet musicians who, when asked what they played, would sometimes say, “Oh, I play everything.” I hated that! For a few reasons, frankly.
One, it seemed arrogant. It seemed like they were playing one-upmanship on me. “Oh, I play everything. Including the instrument you play.” Fuck you.
Second, it seemed to cheapen the real sort of “spiritual” connection that an instrumentalist has with his chosen tool of the trade. If you’re just saying, “Oh, I do everything,” do you really do “anything?” This is how I thought back then, for sure.
And finally, I would question whether the statement reflected truth, or ones version of the truth clouded by ego. Maybe one person’s “I can play some guitar” (which is what I say) becomes someone else’s “I’m a guitarist.” There’s a subtle difference there—or perhaps not so subtle, depending on your point of view.
So, that’s why I get uncomfortable when I hear myself say things like that. I think, “Wow, the 21-year-old version of yourself would rip you a new one for that if he were here.”
And yet…
It happens that sometimes—maybe not the other night, but sometimes—I have to own at least a little of the “multi-instrumentalist” thing. Not because I consider myself proficient with guitar or bass or keys , but because I do find myself in situations often enough where they are also a part of me and a part of what I do.
With former 51 Kevin, we had (still have, sometimes, when distance is not an issue) a project called Outerbridge Crossing, where it’s nothing but 2 guitars, 2 mics, and 2 stools. Similarly, Scott and I have done the same thing many times at Monkey Grip acoustic jams. I played bass for a band for two years at one point (relying on a very limited vocabulary of licks). And I’m always game for doing whatever I can do to make a gig happen. If the gig doesn’t require drums, or it it requires something else and you think I can fill that roll well enough, sign me up!
I’ve learned, to a certain extent, to think of myself as, if not a multi-instrumentalist, as at least Drummer Plus. Even in my non-drumming projects, I usually sing lead and harmony and try to at least be a musician… someone who can help debunk the popular drummer jokes that says a drummer is a “person who hangs out with musicians.” I’m not a blazing technician and have never put in the work to be a world class chops guy… but I am proud to be a musical drummer. Or, at least that is what I hope I’m seen as.
So how did this all come about? How did I become a drummer/apologist multi-instrumental guy? In a word… songwriting. More on that, in part 2.
