Skip to main content

To play (in a band) or not to play (in a band)

Two years ago, when I wasn't reporting traffic or writing, I was playing drums in a couple of bands. There were many trips up and down stairs with my sensibly-sized four-piece drum set with two crashes and one ride cymbal. I rehearsed a couple of times during the week and played shows on the weekend. I liked the people I played with, and I enjoyed and weathered the (sometimes frustrating) usual things that come with playing. Well, for almost two years now, my life has not had any of the joys or pains of playing with a band.

All the activity disappeared rather quickly off my radar. I was fired from one band for reasons that I'm still not sure why. (I think it's due to the fact that I play aggressively during rock-out parts, but if that's really the reason why, then it's a pretty lame excuse to fire somebody from a rock band.) With my other band, something (or maybe a lot of things) just slowly took the drive out of us. We went from practicing every week to just practicing for an upcoming show.

So, for the past year or so, my activity behind a drum set has been reduced to very little. I still play a lot, but the times of being in the room with other people are scant. Sure, there are times I jam with friends, but that's not every week. I love playing and I just keep playing because I want to. In many cases, I can't help but tap along.

What's strange about this situation is how rare it is for a drummer with a drum set to be without a band. I only half-joke that every town and every college has a lot of guitar players, but every bass player and drummer are already in at least one band. So, what gives?

As tempting as it would be to play in another band again, I'm really hesitant to join a business masquerading as a band. Without fail, it's happened to me three times before where the band has already formed, has a way of working together, and just needs somebody to rock out and keep the beat. Well, any sort of input from me as a musician (yes, there are drummers that know a few things about arrangements, chords, and song structures) seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Once again, I'm using the excuse of "bad situation happened before, don't want a similar situation again." But that's the way I tend to think, hence why I get frustrated and overthink these sorts of situations.

Still, I can't forget the excitement I felt while I was at a party a few weeks ago when a friend of mine mentioned half-jokingly that he, along with his friend and me, should start a band. Though he was mainly joking (he's already busy doing his own band, doing solo shows, and working a full-time job), the thought was definitely positive.

So who knows, maybe I'll saying something completely different in two years.

Comments

Richard of DM said…
My band needs a drummer. We insist that you play aggressively during all the parts of all the songs.

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J