At 6.05 am , at the end of the encore on day 3 of the tour, I watched the front man of the Gin Bowlers topple off and loose balance from my bass drum, I was struck with a sense of disappointment he was falling towards me, not the front of the stage.

More about that later…

 

 In Bristol drum tuition is a lot of fun. There’s always a new challenge from a new student, or a new angle from an old one, and people are always keen to learn something new.

Every drum teacher is different, every drummer is different. So I’m always looking at the things I tell people, and the exercises I use and thinking about whether they really are the right things for that drummer. Am I listening to them?

Am I listening to their playing? Can I empathise with where they want to go, if indeed, they know where that is?

Recently I’ve been interested in people that come along to lessons to learn drumming who are convinced they don’t have ‘what it takes’ to be a gigging drummer but enjoy playing, love learning new grooves beats and fills. They just don’t want to share them with people.

I have had students who aren’t into holding a groove, or showing off with mega fills, but just love the mental challenge of learning the most technical, limb independence based things they can get their hands onto /mind around . They’re not into the idea of gigging.

This is a whole different perspective on where I’ve come from with my playing, so I am fascinated by it.

Knowing, or at least striving to find out what it is that you’re looking for with drumming is a great help when practicing, weather you’re playing on your own, practicing with a band or ensemble, or indeed teaching others to do what you love to do.

Express yourself as best you can, put your fire into your playing; through chops, groove, flare, whatever it is- just play from your heart and your audience ( if you have one) and you lifestyle ( if you will be inspired.

I’ve just been on the road with the Gin Bowlers, a sub 50s swing band I play with doing new arrangements of old swing tunes, with 2 vocalists , double bass, 2 guitars, and horns.

I did all the driving, the drumming ( of course) and the tour managing, and we did

1 recording session,

5 gigs,

2 busking slots,

AND a 4:45am club slot;

IN JUST 5 DAYS! It was totally crazy. It was a test of our ability to live travel and play together and a test for all of us in terms of stamina.

I’m proud to be playing with such fun people and drumming such crazy music.

We’re planning to write our own album soon- you can only do crazy hyped up versions of 70 year old tunes for so long…