What is your drummer afflicted with?

santacruzom · #1 07-19-2007, 02:43 PM

I guess I just want an opportunity to share this story:

Last Saturday night, our band played what had promised to be our biggest show yet -- very nice venue, opening for two acts with huge draws, great sound system, new merchandise to sell, etc. We were stoked and saw it as a big step forward.

Our drummer decided to rent another kit because the kit he owns looks absolutely hideous and sounds only slightly better. We thought it was a sound plan, as the drums really are a visually dominant aspect of a live band. So he rents a really nice Gretsch kit, with the established and respectable Gretsch logo emblazoned on the bass drum.

So we run through our set on Friday night with him using the new kit, and everyone in the band is complimenting his decision to rent it. He's happy with the way it sounds and looks, but says, "I like it, but I think I might cover up the Gretsch logo with black tape."

The rest of the band is a bit dumbfounded, so I say, "Really? I think you should keep it... it'll look better than a dull strip of black tape added to a glossy bass drum head will. And the Gretsch name has some mojo and credibility."

And incredibly, he goes, "Yeah, but you never know when sponsors from another manufacturer might be at the show. I'd hate to lose out on a sponsorship because I'm playing a competitor's kit."

Now, this is nuts, for the following reasons:

1) unless I'm mistaken, sponsors just don't routinely attend shows with local bands seeking musicians to endorse their gear

2) if one *did* attend our show, they wouldn't be likely to think to themselves, "You know, this drummer's really great, and even though this band's hardly drum-centric, I think people in the audience might be moved to buy whatever drum set he's playing so they can sound like him. I think I'm gonna offer him a... wait a minute, he's got a Gretsch kit! Pshaw! Deal's off."

3) of all the things to think about prior our show, this is what he comes up with?

Anyway, we did manage to talk him out of it. Still, it was fun to joke around with the rest of my bandmates about this: "Hey, you're not really going to play your Telecaster are you? But what if a Gibson sponsor is there? I'd play under a blanket if I were you."

Guinness · #2 07-19-2007, 03:00 PM

I'm actually a drummer of 18 years and a beginning bass player of 3 years and it sounds like your drummer is just flat out weird. Maybe a bit of megalomania mixed in with delusions of granduer...I don't know, but it's still pretty damn funny. On a side note, my bass player in my band is about 54 years old and can play like a champion, although I swear to God the man wakes up every morning and has to ask his wife what his name is. Too funny.

bradjonesbass · #3 07-19-2007, 03:00 PM

That actually seems more like a guitard's typical thought patterns than a drummer - they rarely have thought patterns...

santacruzom · #4 07-19-2007, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guinness

I'm actually a drummer of 18 years and a beginning bass player of 3 years and it sounds like your drummer is just flat out weird.

Whoa. You know him?

I mean, flat-out weird doesn't even begin to cover it. As a drummer, do you or any other drummers you know agree with the statement: "Cymbals are basically effects... they have the same purpose as guitar effects?"

And do you use the ride bell to accent the offbeats on almost every freaking song?

santacruzom · #5 07-19-2007, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradjonesbass

That actually seems more like a guitard's typical thought patterns than a drummer - they rarely have thought patterns...

See, I think I'm in the minority on this, but I just don't have this anti-guitarist animosity. In fact, I disagree far more frequently with drummers who focus on absurd details at the expense of doing their damn job.

Guinness · #6 07-19-2007, 03:08 PM

After many years of playing I have found that the guy who said, "K.I.S.S. the drums" wasn't just some drummer hating prick, but rather a VERY wise man. A song just sounds so much better without all that clutter.

santacruzom · #7 07-19-2007, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guinness

After many years of playing I have found that the guy who said, "K.I.S.S. the drums" wasn't just some drummer hating prick, but rather a VERY wise man. A song just sounds so much better without all that clutter.

Hmmm, I'm unfamiliar with that phrase and don't know enough about KISS to know its meaning, but I can guess that it means less is more? If that's the case I wholeheartedly agree, but our drummer is also on record as having admitted that he'd rather err on the side of creativity than the side of maintaining a groove. Yes, he's said that.

Guinness · #8 07-19-2007, 03:14 PM

Keep- It- Simple- Stupid Ha!

Nope. Groove is the most important job of a drummer in my opinion. If you can't lock up with your bass player and dig a deep groove then as a drummer you ain't doin' the job right.

spudmaster34 · #9 07-19-2007, 03:16 PM

Wow, my drummer is actually fairly normal, which I guess is strange. Therefore, he is strange due to his normality.

Sneckumhaw · #10 07-19-2007, 03:32 PM

Where's alcoholism in your poll options?

Melvin7822 · #11 07-19-2007, 03:42 PM

The one drummer I work with is a really amazing drummer. But he'll try to make suggestions about the music that are really weird. I guess he's just trying to feel like he contributes.

The guitarist is usually on the receiving end. So the drummer will make a suggestion and we'll play through the section again. However, the guitarist doesn't change anything but makes eye contact on the part in question. Afterwards, the drummer is like, "Yeah, that was definitely better."

blikeng · #12 07-19-2007, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Ours is actually relatively normal and cool

But sometimes his style is too little metal for the music we're playing :/ I think he's more into funk/rock

the_fonz · #13 07-19-2007, 04:29 PM

my drummer is the saving grace of the band
only he can find the middle ground between my guitarist's folk chording and my inane bass-ular ramblings

cutthroatmolloy · #14 07-19-2007, 06:44 PM

Ours is actually relatively normal and cool

i cant think of any complaints about our drummer. hes really good and keeps getting better and is an awesome guy

Lazylion · #15 07-19-2007, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spudmaster34

Wow, my drummer is actually fairly normal, which I guess is strange. Therefore, he is strange due to his normality.

+1 mine as well. One quirk: he eschews deodorant. So he stinks a bit on occasion. Other than that, excellent drummer and a good dude. On balance, I consider us lucky to have him. Now if I can just get that fan aimed the right way...
I have worked with many a drummer in the past who fit one, some, or all of the descriptions on the poll.

rosanne · #16 07-19-2007, 07:07 PM

Our band once had a drummer who actually said "I'm all about fills." If they were appropriate fills it might not have been so bad, but he liked to throw latin sounding fills into a punkish song etc. He also wanted us to do an entire album of just his songs - his "wild west" song cycle which featured flying saucers.

J.D.B. · #17 07-19-2007, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by santacruzom

Hmmm, I'm unfamiliar with that phrase and don't know enough about KISS to know its meaning, but I can guess that it means less is more? If that's the case I wholeheartedly agree, but our drummer is also on record as having admitted that he'd rather err on the side of creativity than the side of maintaining a groove. Yes, he's said that.

Sounds like Bill Ward.

Keeping time is KEY.
Josh

Alan Vorse · #18 07-20-2007, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.D.B.

Sounds like Bill Ward.

Keeping time is KEY.
Josh

I don't know, Bill Ward could groove like a mother****er when he wanted to. I think his crazy jazz fills made the songs better.

My current drummer is really cool and obscenely talented for someone who's 22. The 2 drummers of my previous band were real cases. The first one was totally whipped by his wife and couldn't go out to help us promote shows. Also he played drums in a very "European" style. We replaced him with guy who could actually groove, but chose not to. Oh yeah and he was a drunk and closet racist.

louieeadg · #19 07-20-2007, 10:06 AM

I have 2 situations...

One band, the drummer and I grew up together. Love playing with him as he's insanely great and makes my job easy. No matter what him and I do, we're always tight and nuzzled in the pocket. Hell of a guy...

In the other band. Its weird. Drummer's highly intelligent, loves music, and me and him get along great. Always good times. He is a bit of an alcoholic, but he's still in college, fair enough. Only thing is, prior to me, he's never actually played in a band with a bass before!

I can count on my one hand how many times at practice we've actually grooved. I know, it gets better. His personality is a bit anxious, uptight and he has absolutely no concept of creating music. He can play guitar very well but only what he knows. He doesn't know what a scale is though. If we get to practice and start jamming to warm up, he'll sit there for 20-30 minutes with a perturbed look on his face and say, "So are we gonna play something today or just soundcheck for the rest of our lives?!" Passive aggressive bastard...
And we're kinda in a "work in progress" stage because of this. He doesn't want to play covers but looks at me and guitarist weird when we don't have 10 new songs written everytime we see him.

People...

santacruzom · #20 07-20-2007, 11:43 AM

Man, I can go on and on about our drummer, and eventually everyone's just gonna say, "Dude, just fire the guy."

For instance, he is incredibly prone to being "bored" by a beat. And if the rest of the band suggests a beat that's good for the overall feel of the song but doesn't allow the opportunity for him to employ wanky, esoteric, afro-Russian or whatever techniques, he's likely to chide it as being a boring beat. And once -- get this -- he even pulled out a novel and put it on his tom drum in an obvious display of petulance, as if to say, "This beat is so beneath me that I can read a book while playing it." And the thing is, he can't... he'll make sloppy mistakes all over the place.

The whole experience has actually really made me re-evaluate what traits I admire most in not only drummers, but music in general. Has anyone here seen The Secret Machines live? Their drummer plays an incredibly consistent beat through most of their songs and really doesn't even deviate for many fills throughout, but he'll play them with such passion and utter conviction that you'd get the sense that he'd rather die than stop. All night long he'll do this. And as a result, he's kind of the emotional focal point of the band despite his beats' relative simplicity.

Man, I would kill to have a drummer with that spirit instead of a pseudo-intellectual wanker.