Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
How did you get your start playing drums?
I've been playing drums pretty much since about 7th grade. Started out playing marching
band in 8th grade. A friend of mine took me to the band room and put some sticks in my
hand and said "follow me" and that is how it all started.
What was the song that challenged you in your formative years?
Dave Weckl "Tower of Inspiration". I heard Dave Weckl from a very good friend of mine,
Jason Colment. Phenominal drummer. He introduced me to Dave Weckl and people like "Yellow Jackets".
I was hooked. It expanded my brain. I hadn't heard music like that before then. I was more
of a hip hop, gospel, and r&b kind of guy. So when I heard this type of music, this fusion,
this broad mind bending music, it was like "what the heck is going on?!". I have to figure
out how to get in here and make my own way.
What is the best thing about being a drummer?
It saved my life. I wasn't necessarily a good adolescent. I was kinda wild. I had some streaks.
And drums gave me an outlet. It took me out of the streets. It took me away from trouble.
It gave me a way to release my agression. As much as I love listening to music, it was
that much more fulfilling to say "wow I did that, I created that". These people are nodding
their heads because I am playing this rhythm. That introduced a whole new avenue for life
for me because I didn't have much before music.
What do you think about what the internet has done for drum education?
It's scary actually because when I came up, I didn't have a broad community of drummers
to reach out to and share with. The internet basically introduced me to millions of drummers
in the world and it taught me that "I'm not the only guy out here that's ok, there's some
people out here that's super phenominal on the drums". And so the learning curve is greater
in my opinion because you have so much more information and you have more people to reach
out to and learn from and share with.
What drives you as a drummer?
I lived alot of my life not believing in myself because of maybe some of the hardships that
I had. So when I found something that I was pretty good at and I saw that it actually
took me somewhere beyond my environment, beyond what I was used to. It showed me a new avenue
of life. It's taken me in and out of the country, I've experienced different cultures. It opened
my thinking you know I was pretty much a tunnel vision type of person. Music gave me an opportunity
to experience life and to live and eventually you believe in yourself when you accomplish
things. You start to see things come in to fruition and you say "wow, if I didn't apply
myself, this would have never happened" and that is the fufilling reward is when you realize
at the beginning of this I thought this was a challenge I thought this was something that
maybe I'll flop at. And then you follow through with it and you come out and "I was succesful
at that". It's inspriring. It drives me as a producer. As a writer. As a human being.
I want a better quality of life. And Music helped me get there.
Do you have any advice for aspiring drummers?
So much. As a professional there is a lot of advice I could give. I think the best advice
I can give is that if you want to be a professional musician, it starts before you get hired.
You have to show up with an air of professionalism. You have to be professional in your approach.
Alot of times it is hard to communicate with people in this industry. But being professional
and having good communication skills and believing in yourself are probably in the top three
for me. Be on time for anything that they say to be on time for. I mean it's a simple
job. If you make it as a professional musician? Do a great show and show up to the lobby call
on time. If you can't do that then it's kind of like you are just wasting the opportunity.