Where are the drummers?

[NancyJohnson]

I know several drummers, one is in about five bands, others are just sticking with one band, sadly the best of the bunch gave up and sold all his stuff, just disillusioned with the music biz.

 

As an aside, when I did the Lutz project (it's all on Spotify, kids), we used Beta Monkey live loops during the recording (no MIDI for us old farts); we actually toyed with going out live as a three piece - just bass, guitar and a vocalist (everybody sang/shouted), plus another guitarist - and just playing along with the a stereo mix of drum tracks and the voice/noise samples from the recordings.  The whole thing of being on-stage with just laptops/pads/IEMs appealed to me immensely, but sadly the singer moved to the west country, the idea lost pace and then C-19 put a hold on things.

[Skybone]

Decent drummers are like rocking horse droppings at the best of times, no matter where you live.

[Supernaut]

Whenever we used to audition drummers, I did a good impression of my neighbour who's always standing outside his front door, monitoring the traffic...

 

"SLOW DOWN!" 

[gt4ever]

Get the guitarist to play drums and find another guitar, they’re 2 a penny guitarists 😜 

[MacDaddy]

12 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

That's the thing about the drum machine, provided you ask it nicely it'll do what it's told ( in theory)

 

they won't get a round in though...

[Nicko]

Just now, MacDaddy said:

 

they won't get a round in though...

IME neither will a real drummer.

[SteveXFR]

40 minutes ago, gt4ever said:

Get the guitarist to play drums and find another guitar, they’re 2 a penny guitarists 😜 

 

It's an idea, he's a really good drummer but unfortunately after several years as a session drummer, his knee's aren't up to the job any more. He'd struggle to play a full set

[Marvin]

Encountering the same problem. I've said I'd play bass for an outfit that is currently a trio - vocal, acoustic guitar and electric. It needs a drummer or cajon. However, I only know of two drummers, both of which I'd rather not want to work with for various reasons, which is no great loss as neither would want to get involved anyway.

 

I've looked at the pre-recorded mp3 drum tracks before but never went any further than thinking about it, partly because no one at the time knew how it worked techinically.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Marvin

[meterman]

Percussion and drums are my main instruments but it’s been a while since I’ve wanted to get involved in a live project again. Partially tinnitus related, but also because band politics generally give me a total soft on. 

Haven’t played a gig for 20 months now, and even though it’s been my bread and butter since I was 15, I’m kind of ambivalent about getting back into it. Maybe I’m just old and I’m having a midlife crisis 😂

 

There are loads of drummers around, I always found, but many of them are picky about what kind of music they want to play, or what types of gig they will or won’t do, etc. Finding the right drummer for the band seems to be the hard thing.

[Len_derby]

For my covers band we recruited our drummer through contacts with the local FE college. They do a music performance diploma. She’s 18, hit the ground running and is as keen as mustard. Not least because the money she gets from a pub gig is a big thing for her. 

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

It's an idea, he's a really good drummer but unfortunately after several years as a session drummer, his knee's aren't up to the job any more. He'd struggle to play a full set

 

In the many decades I've been playing drums, I've never 'used' my knees. What have I been doing wrong..?  Ankles, wrists, yes, but knees..? If you mean 'carrying the kit in and out of venues', I'd suggest a trolley; other than that, I'm stumped. 

[lemmywinks]

38 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

In the many decades I've been playing drums, I've never 'used' my knees. What have I been doing wrong..?  Ankles, wrists, yes, but knees..? If you mean 'carrying the kit in and out of venues', I'd suggest a trolley; other than that, I'm stumped. 

 

Maybe he wasn't a very good aim when going for the snare?

[yorks5stringer]

Strange this subject should pop up as we have just taken on a new drummer in Somerset, although he is from Dorset.

 

We played an outdoor gig in Dorset around 5 weeks ago at a pub and in the break one of the band got chatting to this guy who was a drummer. Turns out he'd done a gig that night and it hadn't gone well, he'd driven past the pub, heard our music and thought he'd stop and have a pint. In the second set we offered him our cahon and he accompanied us on a few numbers. At the end he thanked us and left his contact details saying how much he'd enjoyed our set. (We do Americana type stuff). Then a couple of weeks ago myself and our banjo player could not do a gig at short notice so this drummer was contacted and asked if he'd like to come along, which he did and played the whole set ( which was changed to avoid banjo and bass-heavy songs). At our next rehearsal the band leader was gushing about this drummer and how he really dug our material: last week she announced he was joining us!

Whilst slightly put out as I was not consulted ( me being head of the rythmn section......) I thought let's not get too arsey until I hear him play. Given with the last 2 drummers  I had to suggest what they played as they appeared to have no natural musical intuition or ability (!), this guy was a breath of fresh air. He did not over play, he picked up on the starts and endings and any stops within the songs. He played for the songs and not himself  and could keep steady time too.....!

 

Needless to say, rehearsal volume levels were higher ( we are harmonica/vox. acoustic guitar/vox, electric guitar/vox, Bass, and Banjo) but the addition of drums seemed to help tie things together. So he'll join us for the bigger gigs ( we have a Country Festival gig at the Bath & West Showground in a couple of weeks) and he'll sit out the smaller ones.

 

Our Banjo player got all excited saying 'how wonderful this drummer was and how he'd like to rehearse with him every week' but the drummer lives an hour away and he neither needs to nor wants to do all the travel just for the sake of hearing an out of tune banjo(!) so sanity will prevail.

 

He's a bit like some the deps we used to get when I played in West Yorkshire: we did not have a f/t drummer but used Leeds College of Music students, most of whom knew the material ( female vox covers) and could easliy carry the drums all the way through a vaguely familiar song!

 

So hope I have not jinxed our new drummer.....!

 

 

[chris_b]

IMO it's worth relocating to where the good drummers are.

[yorks5stringer]

Just now, chris_b said:

IMO it's worth relocating to where the good drummers are.

 My area of Somerset is almost as expensive as London, they call Bruton the new Notting Hill.

 

House opposite just gone for £1.2 m( sold in a day), a friend has just put their admittedly bigger house with 6 acres of land up for £1.4m......!

[SteveXFR]

2 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

 My area of Somerset is almost as expensive as London, they call Bruton the new Notting Hill.

 

House opposite just gone for £1.2 m( sold in a day), a friend has just put their admittedly bigger house with 6 acres of land up for £1.4m......!

 

Bruton is the posh bit of Somerset. I nearly run over Michael Gove there last year, unfortunately I missed. 

I'm not far away in Frome which is basically just the place people from Bruton buy their fairtrade cocaine and vintage tat.

[SteveXFR]

3 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

In the many decades I've been playing drums, I've never 'used' my knees. What have I been doing wrong..?  Ankles, wrists, yes, but knees..? If you mean 'carrying the kit in and out of venues', I'd suggest a trolley; other than that, I'm stumped. 

 

Summat to do with years of over enthusiastic double bass death metal apparently. 

[Dad3353]

20 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Summat to do with years of over enthusiastic double bass death metal apparently. 

 

I don't remember that being one of the Joe Morello methods I followed  (but, then again, I don't remember much at all..!  ).

Edited August 13, 2021 by Dad3353

[inthedoghouse]

Last year we were looking for a drummer for an originals band with two albums of good material written and pro recorded.  There was a 'drummer' in situ when I joined but it was soon painfully obvious we would never have gigged with him, so off he went.  We advertised and auditioned the only two people who replied, both of who were equally unsuitable.  It seems the decent players around here only want to play in cover bands and not originals.  We abandoned the project, which was a real shame.

[yorks5stringer]

2 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Bruton is the posh bit of Somerset. I nearly run over Michael Gove there last year, unfortunately I missed. 

I'm not far away in Frome which is basically just the place people from Bruton buy their fairtrade cocaine and vintage tat.

Our guitarist is from Frome and( non related fact) I buy my Bread ( not gear) from The Rye Bakery at the Station every Saturday.. Heritage Grain Sour-Dough obvs!

Sad you missed Govey mind.....! (IBTL)

I think we are playing at the George in Nunney a week tomorrow night.

[SteveXFR]

1 minute ago, yorks5stringer said:

I think we are playing at the George in Nunney a week tomorrow night.

 

Cool. I can walk there from home in 25 minutes. I might come along.

[Len_derby]

5 hours ago, chris_b said:

IMO it's worth relocating to where the good drummers are.

Yes, there’s a basic truth underlying this. If you live in one of the more sparsely populated areas of the UK you’re probably going to find it harder to recruit team-members, whatever your job/hobby. I live in the Derby/Notts M1 corridor area. Not affluent or pretty but the musical opportunities are rich. In forty years of playing the furthest I’ve had to travel for rehearsals is a twenty minute drive. There’s a lot of good things, I’m sure, about living in the bucolic sticks but band opportunities probably isn’t one of them.

[Downunderwonder]

18 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

his knee's aren't up to the job any more

 

16 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

In the many decades I've been playing drums, I've never 'used' my knees

I'd say find a drum tutor who is versed in Alexander Technique. Or an Alexander teacher who is experienced with musicians.

 

Alexander was a struggling opera singer back in the day when they sang over orchestras with no amplification. He developed an acute awareness of 'use' and 'the means whereby' of the body to accomplish tasks without extraneous effort making it harder than it has to be. His cure was so popular he had to train 'teachers' of his methods.