5 Year Check In

So I bought my first drum kit on my way to Indiana for New Year's in December 2005. Stopped by Drums N Moore on my way out of town, saw a full kit with cymbals and hardware for about $400...and bought it on the spot. Had to haul it back home before continuing on to Indiana.

It was KIND of an impulse buy and kind of not. I've long had a habit of collecting cheap instruments...sometimes following up by learning to play them and sometimes not. I wasn't the kind of person who was into drums from a really young age. I just wasn't. I didn't constantly drum my fingers on tables and such. I'm not sure when I started to think about playing drums, but I remember wanting a drum kit when I lived in the attic on Willy Street around 1998 or so. I remember thinking it would fit just fine in the storage space next to my room.

A few years later the sweetie, after much arm twisting, bought me a cheapie electronic kit from Sam's club. A table top model, but it had foot pedals. As she expected, I never really learned to play the thing.

When I started playing with The Motor Primitives I started getting interested in drums, though I don't really know why. When the band morphed into Pants del Fwego I briefly considered moving to drums...then decided it better to stick with bass and learn how to "really" play...which, ahem...I have yet to actually do.

It must have been in fall 2004 that we went to the Experience Music Project in Seattle and I sat behind a real drum kit and learned the basic rock beat and a reggae beat. I was kind of a goner after that. I bought my house in fall 2005 and before I knew it I was buying that kit at Drums N Moore "on a whim." I certainly hadn't planned it or researched it. But there I was...led by a current of pent up want.

Given my history, there were good odds that the kit would sit in the basement never to be played. I think I was buoyed by the three free drum lessons that came with the kit. I liked my instructor and that single day at EMP (and year's of playing and listening to music, I suspect) had actually given me the skills to not feel like a total beginner. It didn't work out for me to continue with lessons, but I DID keep playing. Mostly I put on the Motor Primitives cds or Wingspan and played along. That's how I learned to play.

In summer 2006 I had a reality check that it was time I stopped waiting for other people to make my musical dreams happen and start taking responsibility. I started checking Craig's List for bands. I don't know why I thought playing in a band was the next step, since I barely could play a basic rock beat...but there it was. I hooked up with three stoner guys I would go on to call "The Sea Turtles" because they talked like the Turtle in Finding Nemo. They were a jam band...space rock...kind of outfit...and we didn't last long. Maybe four rehearsals. And then they just stopped showing up and never contacted me again.

Back to Craig's List and I hooked up with Jon in August. We added Michael in September and were gigging out as The Lollards by December. We practiced twice a week for 3 or 4 hours at a stretch, and by the time we disbanded in July 2007, we had a 22 song set, 16 of which were original tunes. We recorded a 5 song ep (supposed to be 6, but one got eaten by the recorder). I can't say we were that great musically (though I liked the songs). But it was a fantastic learning experience for me as a drummer AND as a gigging/recording musician. And we had a really good time.

Before The Lollards went down I had already gone back to the Craig's List well and hooked up with what would become Shanghai Party Boss. We started practicing in late summer and gigging in September 2007. We recorded a full length record in May 2008 and I was out of the band by August.

After that I had a real coming to Jesus moment. I didn't feel good about my skills and was tired of feeling that way. In December I signed up to start taking lessons, which I stuck with for a year and a half. I tried to practice every day for most of that time for 1-3 hours a day (outside rehearsals). In February 2009 Seven Stone Weaklings came together on a whim and helped me build back up my confidence.

In fall 2010 I joined The Drain.

Along the way there's been a dozen or so non-starter bands. Things that lasted one or two or ten rehearsals and then fell apart. Most of which I never got an explanation about or any kind of closure. Maybe half a dozen "almost" auditions too. Perhaps 20 or more things that never went past one email. People are hard to deal with and people make up bands. I almost always take it personally and it almost always probably has very little to do with me. I feel blessed to have settled into the three bands I currently occupy (the third on bass, which is another story all together).

This past summer I bought a second kit and upgraded my hardware, cymbals, and snare. It's all still pretty low grade...but many grades above where I was.

So here I stand 5 years into playing the drums. In many ways I feel like things didn't get serious until after I left SPB...but the whole period has been part of the process. I still don't have much confidence in my abilities, often fed by petty people and their thoughtless comments. But I really have come a pretty far way in 5 years. I feel like I'm on the edge of another period of intense study...but you can never tell about those things until you can look back on it.

A couple of Saturdays ago I sat down with the first Motor Primitives album, something I hadn't tried in a very, very long time. I was surprised that playing along to it kind of bored me. And that, as much as anything is a sign of growth...as a drummer and in many other ways.

Ironically, I'm feeling lately like the only way to really advance is to kind of stop worrying about what other people think or say. Most of it doesn't amount to much. The only standard I need to meet is my own...and if I meet that or work hard towards meeting it...other people will be impressed by default. And if they aren't...well...they weren't to begin with...so I'm no worse for the wear.