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| It was given to me by my then future uncle. He was one of the dozens of drummers in my father's band. So for as long as I can remember, I've wanted nothing more than to be behind a drumset. My father's band used to rehearse at my house in the basement, and the drummer always left his drums there. Needless to say, I spent every possible moment on the drums. I would attend most rehearsals and very rarely took my eyes off of the drummer. I guess the first time I ever played in front of anyone was about 10 years old. My dad was rehearsing in the basement and the drummer at the time got up to go to the bathroom. Of course, as soon as he got up, I sat down. Apparently, no one noticed him go to the bathroom, so they resumed practice. I took the opportunity to try out what I’d been doing on my own, which was only what I saw my father's drummers do. Well, they started the song and I played. About half way through the song, the drummer came back down the stairs to the entire band's surprise. Everyone turned to see who was playing the drums. No one could believe it was me. From that time on, my father would call me up to the stage for a song. Most of the time, it was the Del Shannon song "Runaway". My dad's band broke up when I was about 18. When I was about 19, I started a punk-ish band with some high school friends. We were called Epidemic first, then to my dismay, the name was changed to the Jizzwalers... I know, I fought that tooth and nail. We did a few live shows and a big graduation party, but after about a year, we broke up. I didn't touch drums again until I moved to Pennsylvania. About 3 years after I moved here, a co-worker said she was going to an open jam in Easton. I decided to go and had butterflies in my stomach all night. Finally, I got up and those old feelings came back. That was about 7 years ago and I've never looked back. Since then, I've been in 2 original bands. The first was called Bajo Zero, then later Equilatero. It was a Spanish Rock band. Then, I was with a band called Jupiterhead, an adult contemporary band. Both were enjoyable but, unfortunately, they ran their courses. In April, 2009, I dislocated my left foot which put me out of commission for 6 months. During that time, I was watching the musicians wanted ads. I hooked up with a classic soul, r&b, and blues band called the Christopher Dean Band. In September '09, I went on a month-long tour with them from Pennsylvania to Key West, Florida. Since then, I've done some fill-in work here and there. Until I started cruising the ads again and hooked up with the Secret System. I have high hopes.......... In case you were wondering, I'm musically influenced by anything I hear. I took a lot away from my father's drummers. All those old doo-wop and, later, Motown songs and Funk - Parliament, James Brown, The Temptations etc.. When I was 14, I was introduced to Bob Marley. His music has been a guiding force in my life since then. As I got older, I learned to not only listen and emulate what I heard, but to APPRECIATE what I was hearing. When I started to go to the open jams, I got into blues and classic rock - Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Bros... All of those drummers have had a profound influence on my playing style. My latest influences can be found in Carter Beauford, the drummer for Dave Matthews. So many drummers have influenced my style that I couldn't possibly name them. Here are few...... Chad Smith-Red Hot Chili Peppers Carter Beauford-Dave Matthews Band John Bonham-LZ Carlton Barrett-Bob Marley Ginger Baker-Cream Jabo Starks & Clyde Stubblefield-James Brown David Garibaldi-Tower of Power Danny Seraphine-Chicago Phil Collins And the two guys locally that have helped me the most are Dave Hollingsworth and Jim Flynn - the two best drummers in the area who took me under their wing and taught me about live playing and dynamics. The advice these two guys provided me with has been invaluable...... |