Welcome into Episode #35 of The Up & Coming Drummer Podcast. Joining me this week is Drummer for the band "Breaking Anchors", Locke Nishihara.

I've been following Locke Nishihara for quite some time on Instagram. You may know her from her handle, @ShutupLocke. Her content is immediately recognizable with her bright pink drum room/bedroom, and beautiful DW Drumkit. I was excited to finally get the chance to ask her about her drumming, her artwork, and what it's like living on a tropical island!

It was 3 pm in Hawaii when I hopped on the call with Locke. For me, it was the end of the day. 9:30 pm. She was halfway through her day, and I was about done with mine. I always wanted to go to Hawaii, so we start off the interview by talking about growing up and living there her whole life. Believe it not, Locke isn't really much of a fan of the ocean, nice weather, and nature. I immediately offered to trade places with her if she would rather live here in crappy Pa. It literally rained all summer and our winters are like 8 months long. Depressing to say the least.

After chatting about her life as a child, I asked her about first getting into music. We talked about the bands she liked, and the drummers that grabbed her attention. Locke originally took ukulele lessons but wasn't a fan of the instrument. She decided to take up the drums for no other reason than wanting to do anything but play the uke. Locke explained that she took some brief lessons, but didn't like the idea of having to be somewhere each week. It was then when she started teaching herself how to play.

As locke progressed on the drums, she decided to join her local Church's worship team. She played mostly in Church besides some random jams with friends up until last year when she joined her first band. She responded to an add looking for a drummer and got the gig. Their band is called  "Breaking Anchors" and can be seen playing throughout their local scene. They recently recorded a few songs. One of which you can hear at the end of this episode! You can also check them out by heading to the links below.

Next up, I wanted to ask Locke about some her feature in Drum Magazine. She was featured in the New Blood section of the magazine and explained how she thought the person who contacted her was just pulling her tail. She was surprised to see a few months later that they actually put her in the mag! I actually remember reading that specific magazine and seeing her in there in October of 2017. I recognized the pink room immediately when I started talking to Locke about being on the show!

Earlier I mentioned that Locke is also an amazing artist. Although she will tell you she just "doodles", Evans Drumheads even reposted the work she does on drumheads. If you check out her Instagram, you'll see some of the incredibly detailed patterns she draws and paints on drumheads. I asked her how long it usually takes her and she said depending on the size of the head, and detail of the painting, it could take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours generally. Locke has even done work on her guitarists Fender body. She doesn't really sell her pieces but has received money for some of them. If you are interested in a custom head, I'm sure you could work out a deal with her!

Since we were sort of on the topic of gear, I figured it would be a good time for her to give us the rundown on her setup. Locke plays a slick looking DW kit. Her cymbal setup is also pretty awesome. It combines the best of both worlds in my opinion. She uses both Meinl Byznace, and Zildjian K Custom Hybrid. Two of my favorite lines in the cymbal world! Locke doesn't currently endorse any companies but with her talent as a drummer, her artwork, and over 15K followers, I'm sure it's just a matter of time!

Speaking of followers, we round out the interview talking a bit about social media.