"Your New Drummer is Great!"

I have been the only drummer that has played with Dan Hubbard and the Humadors for the past six years. Yet, the title of this post is a compliment someone gave Dan after a recent show. The fact that people are noticing my playing now as opposed to past years is no fluke and I have recent Percussion Project Studio clinician Rich Redmond to thank..

My playing style since college has gone from technical rock drummers like Chris Pennie and Thomas Lang to more singer songwriter type drummers like Jason McGerr and Aaron Sterling. I did it to fit the gig. When I started performing with Dan Hubbard our gigs were not always in a big venue that would allow me to play the drums at my normal volume(read: LOUD). I watched and copied drummers like McGerr, Sterling and J.J. Johnson and just kept the energy in my parts but not visible through my motions. 

Looking back at videos I looked pretty bored playing but I wasn't, I was just concentrating on performing the parts correctly and cleanly. 

Rich Redmond's clinic this past February made me rethink my approach. If you were at the clinic or have seen Rich perform you probably know how much passion and energy he puts behind his playing. When you see him play, you can't help but know instinctively that he is having fun. It reminded me of when I was in high school and I would rock out to all of my Live(the band) albums and pretend I was Chad Gracey.

As drummers we are at disadvantage on stage. We can not just jump around on stage like our bandmates can, we have to show it in our arms and face. It's our job not only to keep time and serve the song, but also give the audience a performance. Another positive of it all is that your bandmates will feed off your energy, it's contagious. I have seen it happen enough times to know that it's true. 

After February 22, I made a conscience decision that I would visually bring the energy every night I perform on stage, even when there is only 3 people in the audience or I'm not feeling good or after a long weekend of back to back shows and long drives between them. I'm bringing the energy just like Rich. I'm okay with people thinking I'm the "new" guy.