“You can never forget that a technique book is someone else’s ideas that they actually put on paper. Those aren’t your ideas.”

JT Bates is a drummer from the Twin Cities area, Saint Paul to be specific. He was recently informed that three tracks that Aaron Dessner from The National asked JT to perform on earlier in the year were actually for the new Taylor Swift record titled Folklore. That seems like an opportunity that could potentially heighten JT’s career. So, naturally, I had to feature him on the podcast to discuss this massive opportunity.

But this is just a small part of what JT is about. It is really JT’s skills and fortunate networking situations that made this opportunity possible. JT has the incredible ability to add the human touch of drum set playing to music featuring programmed drums. He is a very conscientious drummer who knows exactly how to fill that space. I also encourage people to check out the drum duets that he has performed with his long-time friend Dave King on YouTube.

You Will Hear About….

• JT’s game-changing moment where he learned that his drumming was featured on Taylor Swift’s new record “Folklore”.
• If he knew the gig was Taylor Swift, would he have performed differently?
• JT’s passion projects and how these have been a great study to learn what he has applied on several projects for other artists.
• Our mutual love for ambient music.
• Rates and whether a big recording gig like Taylor Swift changes anything?
• Embracing our true selves and experimenting regardless if it is right or wrong.
• The relationship between sound and emotional response.
• How day to day events affect our creative output.

Why Should You Listen?

The big takeaway in this episode, in my opinion, is the idea of creating full/complete music or drum parts with very few ingredients. This is one form of mastery that is often overlooked. We often look at adding rather than subtracting to create something that we believe feels finished. While this is a small portion of the episode, I think it is the most interesting concept for drummers to examine and apply in certain situations of playing. 

Music used in this podcast comes from JT Bates “Open Relationships”

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Opening drum clip performed by Dan Mayo

Ambient music for the episode by JT Bates

Today's episode was a bit different. This past week has been triggering a lot of thoughts and feelings about the world we live in. I wasn't sure what I was going to say and this is completely improvised but I ended up talking about....

- My lack of trust within the system

- Will masks be a new way of life?

- Are we being consumed by fear?

- Is social media taking over our lives?

Those are just a few topics in this messy, off the cuff episode. I was listening to JT Bates' ambient tune "Round" over and over while I recorded this. I ended up asking JT if I could use this music in the episode because my thoughts were being driven by the music and I felt that it conveyed the right feeling if the music was included in the podcast. So, huge thanks for JT's creativity fueling my own. I hope that everyone is living well during this uncertain and difficult time.

“Four on the floor. This is the most important groove in the history of drumming.”

Yoni Madar is an Israeli multi-instrumentalist. He is known well by the drumming community online as “not human”, “alien” and many other other-wordly descriptions. Truth is, Yoni has been practicing a lot over the last thirty years or so. He has mastered four instruments (Guitar, Bass, Keys, and Drums). As a side note: if keys could be played both on the left and right side he would have mastered that too because he can with the other three.

Yoni has chosen a path that does not involve himself with celebrities. Instead, he writes, performs and records his own music, performs locally, and teaches his methods to students. He recently released his video course and book where he presents his methods of teaching that he claims are unique. 

Yoni has taken the art of drumming to an incredibly high level. If drumming was featured as an Olympic sport, I would imagine that Yoni would be Israel's shining star to win the Gold medal. There are very few drummers that I have witnessed who possess his level of independence and technical facility. Go look him up if you don’t know Yoni Madar yet and have your mind blown.

You Will Hear About….

• Yoni’s take on people’s common reaction to his abilities.
• Why technique is so important.
• Thoughts about practice.
• Yoni’s new record and how it was recorded in one take.
• Approaching a drum solo with complete improvisation.
• Why does every drummer need to be able to play Pink Floyd well?
• Yoni’s video on the open/close technique and his new book.
• Phil Collins and Genesis.

Why Should You Listen?

This is essential listening for drummers. It is basically an hour and a half long masterclass on why we need to practice our technique, play simple parts well, why we shouldn’t overthink our playing and that is just the beginning. Yoni has so much ability and the proof is everywhere online what this man can do. It is staggering to say the least. To hear him speak about why simple playing is not simple is a game changing message for drummers to recognize. I don’t say this much but this should not be passed over. You must listen to this.

Music used in this podcast comes from Yoni Madar’s new album Consultation

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Today we are talking about making a statement with music.

Opening drumming/tune is performed by Ash Soan

Check out "Voodoo Or Die" on Spotify

Comment reads this week are from

@chris_hornbrook

@genestix.drumming

@claus.hessler

@milowicdrums

@laurenzodrums

@robert__brennan

@phoenixkatewale

@bigpopapump__

@__jaydenhall__

@mrkatiegraham

“I feel like this industry is always in upheaval and so you always have to be light on your feet.”

Dylan Wissing has a very unique situation brewing in his studio in the small city of Hoboken, NJ. He runs a multimedia based service called “Getting The Sound” which is based off of his immense knowledge and experience in recording drums but also re-creating drum breaks for current artists, mainly in the rap/pop genre. While this embodies a small amount of hired work in his entire career, it is still incredibly noteworthy. 

There are laws in music that prevent artists from sampling pre-recorded music or drum parts and Dylan is capable of recreating these drum parts the way they originally sounded making them virtually identical to the original. From what I understand, this is an absolutely painstaking affair to create and costs the artists a lot of money and therefore, it doesn’t happen much. However, this expertise has given Dylan quite an edge for providing the right sound for the song.

Of course, Dylan is primarily a session musician who works out of his studio fulfilling artists with drum tracks every single week. He is no stranger to the industry and has experienced the ups and downs of being a professional musician. In this episode we are all reminded of what being a musician is really about.

You Will Hear About….

• Balancing family life with music and how Covid changed things overnight.
• How Dylan has adapted over the years within the industry.
• Dylan’s thoughts on people who consider drummers as “unskilled laborers”.
• Should drummers be generalists or specialized?
• Our conversation regarding what drummers should focus on.
• Dylan’s preference for analog vs digital sample production.
• How Dylan managed to work with artists like Kanye, Jay Z, etc.
• Some basic drum recording ideas.

Why Should You Listen?

I think that this episode showcases a very real situation. Dylan is an incredible drummer. He owns an immense collection of drums. He has a dedicated studio. He has a very nice resume. Yet, you can hear the struggles of being a working drummer in this conversation. The ups and downs. The situation with Covid. The constant uncertainty of whether work will continue to come in. How he balances his life with music. It is all here and nothing is sugar coated. All in all, this episode takes the glamour out of what being a musician is about and simply focuses on the reality. It takes a lot of guts, determination, passion and sacrifice and this episode nails that message.

Dylan’s Socials

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Today we are talking about perfection.

Here is the link for Drums for Parkinson's

Opening drum clip performed by Brody Simpson

Email reads this week are from

Andrew Gaudet

Guilherme Maranhao

Comment reads this week are from

@tommyigoe

@sugarpercussion

@stevelymandrums

@ojaugustine

@claus.hessler

@greghersey

@groovru

@lynetteokoroike

@madmaxv1.1

@aaronlevydrums

@loncaricdenis

@mitch_thedrummer

@a.d.reger

“To me when you blackout, you zone out. That’s when you come into your own and then people can feel that.”

Daru Jones is a genre-bending drummer based out of Nashville who has worked with a large variety of artists over the course of his career. Whether it is rock music with Jack White or hip hop with Black Milk, Nas, or Pete Rock, Daru has proven over and over again how effective he is. Besides the drumming, he is also the owner of the boutique label RUSIC Records and a producer as well.

Daru has deliberately branded himself as a drummer who brings a certain specialty to the table. His touch and style are instantly recognizable to the ear and his drum setup is unmistakeable to the eyes. His approach to the industry has worked out well if you look up his credentials. 

You Will Hear About….

• How Daru is maintaining during the pandemic.
• Daru’s experiences playing these virtual concerts lately.
• Knowing your worth and when to assert yourself with confidence.
• Building an identifiable brand for yourself.
• The lasting impact of playing in church.
• The spirit of playing.
• A studio secret from Daru.
• The new record “One Mic and Drum” from Bobby J From Rockaway and Daru Jones.
• Recovering from embarrassing situations.
• Listener questions.

Why Should You Listen?

This chat with Daru is balanced. We have some deep knowledge and advice through actual experience of knowing your worth and the hustle side of the music industry, recovering from embarrassment, building a brand through your specialty, and some studio secrets. But then we also get the more spiritual side of Daru too which is wonderful to hear about.

I feel you will walk away from this one looking deeper inside yourself to better understand your voice and worth and further appreciate creativity and possibly even look at it in a way that you hadn’t before.

Daru’s Free Drumeo Lesson on YouTube!

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Today we are talking about groove and chops.

Opening drum clip performed by Maison Guidry

Voice memos this week are from

Karl Grohmann

Rion Smith

Comment reads this week are from

@chris_paprota

@joelturcotte

@yoni_madar

@stanbicknell

@carbonedrums

@currencyaudio

@instantnoodlez__

@jrosenbeats

@eduardog.a.r.r.i.d.o

@__jadenhall__

@marcustsouniasdrummer_

“I’m not gonna wait. I’m gonna work for it.”

Greyson Nekrutman is an eighteen-year-old drummer from Long Island, NY. Like everyone, this year has been a bit strange for Greyson. Having eleven graduations at your high school with no prom is not something people are used to hearing about. However, with time off from school and completing classes online in the meantime means that he has been practicing drums a lot more these days. He was rejected from one music school he applied to recently and so he took that as a sign to work harder.

Since then, he has been endorsed by Vic Firth drumsticks, Meinl cymbals, and most recently, Pearl drums. 

The quote from Greyson really is what this one is about. He has worked really hard and it isn’t something that is necessarily celebrated among his peers. At the end of the day, he has made a choice to commit himself to music. It will be interesting to watch Greyson evolve and I am very excited to have been the first to host him on a podcast. 

You Will Hear About….

• Graduating high school during a pandemic.
• Greyson’s choice to commit to music and the backlash he has received for it.
• Some thoughts about technology and screen addiction.
• Drama and feeding on negativity.
• An interesting story about how Greyson came to realize drums was his path.
• Greyson’s work ethic and what drives it.
• Listener questions.

Why Should You Listen?

This episode will be particularly beneficial for younger listeners of the show and I hope that younger drummers listen to it and receive something good from it. 

All of us need to feel purposeful and to have little victories along our way in life. But young people need to learn about long-term values that will help them in adulthood. To hear an eighteen-year-old kid talk about how he is going to work hard to get closer to his dreams is really great to hear.

I think that at Greyson’s age it is a great idea to build the thing that you wish to present. For a younger listener to hear about how drums positively affect Greyson is motivating stuff. 

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Today we are talking about comparing ourselves to others.

Opening drum clip performed by Joel Turcotte Taken from Dimitri Fantini's YouTube video "Impossible Hi-Hat Licks"

Drum madness midway through is by Forrest Rice.

The 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc. song by @soytiet

Voice Memos this week are from

Jacob Evans (his YouTube video on comparing process instead of results)

Greg Hersey

Joao Lebre

Email reads this week are from

Scott Amitrano

Curt "KIRKEE B." Bisquera

Comment reads this week are from

@dan_smith_music

@dunnettclassicdrums

@soundslikeadrum

@akhamie.music

@davidstanochschoolofdrumming

@rewellmusic

@ryanthomasmusician

@gregveachmusicalyeets

@jthomp10

@rolandjericlintag

@benedictlimbrey

@migueld.drums

@jon_on_drums