"...it's the Paradigm Of The Cosmos!" Stewart Copeland on Youtube
668: The Number Of The Guy Next Door To The Beast.
"A random act of kindness; it keeps my heart in shape!" - Late8
Someday I will be able to post in this thread. For today I just dream of my first. Can't wait...
Randy
Oh wow - that's kind of an interesting perspective because I've been gigging in some form or fashion since my first paid gig (a wedding) when I was 17, and I've done all kinds of things - everything from doing a simple "Taps" at a funeral (actually played "Taps" at almost 400 funerals) to doing a big show in a stadium for about 15,000 people, and a lot of everything else in-between. Church gigs, wedding dances, concerts, parades, ceremonies... I can't imagine not ever having done a gig.
Do you think you are ready to take the plunge, and do you live in an area that has a lot of opportunity? While I don't particularly care for where I live - the Baltimore/Washington DC area, as a gigging musician, there is a metric crap-ton of playing opportunities for the musicians who look for them and really want to gig.
Oh man, am I ever blessed in terms of where I live for the music scene! There is a plethora of opportunity here. I've only been at this for four months though. Now if someone was looking for a 'vanilla' drummer, I think I could do it with plenty of notice on set lists/etc. Meaning basic beats, basic fills, etc. Intricacy...not so much.
-Randy
Oh, man, I'm having fun reading these stories!
Now for my first real gig! I have previously told of my first appearance at a drum clinic (with Louie Bellson watching!) shortly after starting drum lessons. Shortly after that, the son of my drum teacher asked me to sit in with his big band as guest soloist...
I was nervous, but for a totally different reason. My boss at the time (and founder of the radio station for which I worked for years) and a friend (of both the boss and the drum teacher) were watching me. We had dinner at the friend's house, and no sooner had I gotten to his house than I turned my ankle in a hole in his front yard!
It hurt like @#$%, of course...but I was still stoked up enough to play along with the jazz and Latin selections they had ("Mambo Jambo" for one)...and it wasn't until three weeks later that I finally went to the doctor and had in fact fractured my left ankle!
Needless to say the audience never knew a thing, and I rocked the hand drums (although some wondered why I was bowing so awkwardly)...
BTW, PB, my voice ranges from scratchy bass in winter to borderline tenor in spring and summer...I have problems with allergies, too, but you haven't lived until you've fought through a cough and still manage to pick up the lyrics without missing a beat!
Eddie, never gone that far, man, but there have been times I wonder...
keep the beat goin' ... Don't keep it to yourself!
Charlie
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." --Henry David Thoreau, "Walden," 1854
"There's a lot to be said for Time Honored tradition and value." --In memory of Frank "fiacovaz" Iacovazzi
"Maybe your drums can be beat, but you can't."--Jack Keck
Hey Drumble same here man. Before my rocks dropped I could get right up the octives like a pre-teen Michael Jackson. Then I went thru that inbetween stage where I couldn't work out what I was supposed to sound like.
And PB...I haven't really thought about the pollen situation, but I worked out pretty quick that if I record vocals just after I woke up, I would have the gravel and deepness that I like. Much more than my "during the day" voice.
Great responses guys. Keep 'em coming - I know everyone has a story to tell. Funny how we all experienced the same kind of first gig. Aren't we all glad we got better?
Tama Rockstar & Paiste User and Abuser......
First gig Prberby at one of my Dads muso mats partys
150 people there i was rocking out to classic 70 rock i was 8 and a half
than there was plenty or school gigs i highschool starting from 12 years old than i got in the south coast regional preforming ensumbal and played lots of gigs around NSW, QLD and Vic
than when i was 15 me and a few mates put toghter a covers band called desufnoc and played 2 shows a week around the local towns in pubs and clubs for cash
Biggest gig i have ever played was main stage gympie muster on a saterday night 37000 people was the coolest thing ever
MY KITLUDWIG CLASSIC MAPLE SALESMAN13, hanging toms,16 ,18 floor toms,24 Kick, 14x5.5 snare,CYMBALSPaiste 2002 ,22 big beat , 18 med , 18 crash , 16 crash , 18 china , 14 sound edge hats
I say to try and find a group and jump in with both feet! If you can do the basics well enough you can gig, and you won't have to worry about the tricks and intracacies until later. That's kind of how I got started with drums. When I was in HS I fiddled around on them a lot and got to where I could do basic beats and fills, but never actually played for a band. Then, when I was 33 years old, I stumbled into a situation where a praise band needed a drummer and couldn't find one. My wife volunteered me, provided I could find some drums to play, so I borrowed a kit from a friend (DWs with Paiste Signature cymbals! I had no clue at the time what I was playing) and two weeks later, I played the church service. 3 weeks later I bought my own gear. I was raw and could really only do the basics at the time, but I kept pushing myself and kept learning more. Now, 8 years later, there is still a ton to learn, but I'm doing ok with it.
Go for it dude!
Last edited by trickg; 05-13-2011 at 11:23 AM.
Come on guys, keep 'em coming......surely there's more great stories out there??
How did you lose your live show virginity??
Tama Rockstar & Paiste User and Abuser......
Junior high school battle of the bands. Three songs. Chaotic. Fun. Got me hooked. Yeah, we won.
Yeah, I remember it well. I was 13, she was...........whoops wrong thread.
It was a 1957 Ford I bought .........................not the right thread again..................damn.
1961, a church dance. Tried to get tricky with some crossovers, hit the sticks together and 1 went flying on to the dance floor. 1st and last time I ever dropped a stick on stage during a gig.
Spread over 2 bands, we were 4-2 in Battle's of the Bands. 3-0 in Battle's of the Drummers.
I go to Asbury Park,NJ every summer which has a great music scene. One great venue is the Wonderbar. Every summer, I beg the owner to let me in (I'm under 21) and every summer I'm stuck sitting on a cold, metal fence outside trying to get a glimpse of the drummer. One night, I watching the Smithereens and I told the bouncer that before the summer was over, I'd be in there.
This is where it starts to get crazy
That same night, my dad was seeing Willie Nelson, who I had tickets to see another time, at another near by venue. The next day, we were walking down the street and saw the harmonica player from the warm up band, who was doing a mural of Johnny Ramones face. I happened to be wearing a Ramones shirt and he asked me who my favorite member was. After I told him it was Tommy, he asked if I played drums. When I said I did, he invited me to play with him at the Wonderbar the next weekend.
Since he played in a blues band, I decided to learn Mustang Sally. The next weekend he called me up and I killed it, if I do say so myself.
I later found out that the guy who asked me to sit in with him was Danny Clinch, a famous rock photographer, and his band, the Tangiers Blues Band, is pretty famous locally.
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