So, it’s only been 2 days I have been on “lock down” here, and it seems selfish and absurd to be thinking about how much it sucks that I’m not out playing music and that shows are being cancelled. After all, there are far more pressing issues now: health concerns, plummeting stock markets, folks unable to work. Who wants to talk about music? Well, I do. I’ll have plenty of time to worry about those other things. Life without music …
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I love being a musician. I love being able to do what I do. My musical schedule keeps me busy and working hard, but I’m truly thankful to have such opportunities. When the opportunities dry up or become sparse, it depresses me. And, conversely, there is nothing else I do with any regularity that I identify so strongly with. Doing something vs. doing something and bleeding for it are totally different. As an extreme example on the other end, I …
While I can wax nostalgically about my formative years as a young musician, one thing that I find regrettable was that “the culture of the day” was very competitive and critical. It was the second half of the 1980s and hard rock was en vogue, and so was posturing and going about your business with a sense of arrogance. The prevailing thought among a lot of groups when talking about their peers was, “This band sucks! We blow them away!” …
So, there is this website called Drooble. Their mission statement, in part, says, “We dedicated ourselves to creating a culture of mutual support between artists… imagine a community where you can connect with others to collaborate, exchange ideas, and share knowledge.” That’s pretty cool. Unfortunately, though, I haven’t really found how I can use it, myself, and no one really goes there except for other people on the platform looking to get their own stuff out there. But I logged …
There are some advantages to being a drummer. Mostly that we don’t have to memorize chords. But when it comes to gear, it often falls towards the disadvantage side of things, because we always have a ton to bring. In fact, I think the only person who has it as bad as the drummer is possibly the one who brings the PA. I generally handle it without complaint. “It’s the path I chose,” I’ll say. “I could have been a …
A Story About Sales It was 1994. I was relatively recently out of college and looking to land that first so-called “real” job… you know, the kind that provided benefits like health insurance. The kind that supposedly were the reason why we spent all those years in school. The kind of job that was maybe a little different than the type of jobs we did after school and on weekends when we were in high school. I had degrees in …
So, since we have discussed how it might be possible to be a musician who plays in lots of projects in part 1, let’s talk about the “why” factor. Why play with lots of people? Why would one want to do this, anyway? We can break this down to a few sub categories: Opportunity: I Can Put simply, I get the opportunity to do this in large part because I’m a drummer. Drummers are seemingly more in need. I think …
Some people think that a band whore is a groupie, and I suppose that’s one definition. But when local musicians call their fellow compadres by this name, it’s got a different meaning altogether. It refers to the player who “gets around” in another way—by being affiliated with a ton of different groups. If we’re to pick on another player for being a band whore, it’s usually done somewhat playfully, and at the same time, there’s truth in jest. It can …
Don Henley is one of my favorite drummers. That’s right, I said it. Some people think he sucks as a drummer, but those people probably also think Ringo sucks and are truly missing the point, so I don’t care. Of course, as one of the major contributors to the Eagles, I am tremendously inspired by his non-drumming contributions like his writing and his voice, but he’s an underrated drummer, too. His stuff is not difficult to play, but it’s very …
I gravitated towards drums when I was young because I had more of a natural proficiency towards them than I had for the other rock instruments. It was the quickest way for me to get involved in the music and start playing in a band. And it was also the most fun and what I liked best; probably specifically because it was the one that came most naturally to me. When I first started, I spent no time learning rudiments …