Driving

Last night I was reminded of something that has occurred to me many times over the last 5 or so months. With Peroxide I am "driving the bus." I think it is the first band in which I've felt that. People defer to me for starts and stops and the lead singer in particular is constantly checking in with me for cues. I actually have had to start being careful what my facial expresssions or head nods or word mouthing is because if I'm not careful I will give an inadvertant cue (reminds me of one of my bass players telling me how sometimes he'll just glance in the direction of a drummer and totally freak the person out because they think he's given them a signal).

It's a lot of responsibility, but in this case at least I was ready for it.

I think that it is just the group dynamics of this particular group that has led to me being the band leader. I think it is something that more groups I play in should be doing more of (and certainly more groups that I USED to be in...man there were some groups in the past who didn't even seem to notice I was playing drums at all, never mind following my cues). Because really, if people aren't with the drummer they are no where.