What kind of music do you play?
I've been a drummer a long time, I also play hand percussion and bass.
I was thinking about the different bands that I've played in over the years and the different genres.
I started out on rock in the 1970s. (Today it is "classic".)
I also ended up with an old school country gig around the same time.
I recorded a demo for a "New Wave" act in the late seventies.
I moved to Florida in 1979 for family reasons. My first gig was in a lounge act in hotels and bars playing pop hits for tourists. Honestly, I hated it, but I learned a lot about professionalism and played a LOT of gigs and made money doing it.
I hooked up with a country rock act about the same time, originally as a sub. Between those two gigs I was playing almost every night of the week at one point.
The lounge gig lasted several years, in the mid eighties it had run it's course. I subbed for two months with a big band in a large hotel on the beach. It paid really well for the time and I really had to up my game to pull it off.
My next gig was playing a mix of pop hits and Latin music, I was probably at my best as a musician by the end of the eighties. I felt like I could pull off anything.
By 1990 I was a bit worn out after fifteen years straight of gigging, I ended up playing rock again and hauling around a large kit. Hair band music, and I still had hair!
In the spring of 1991 I had a major motorcycle accident, my entire left side was crushed. I moved back to Pittsburgh and went through thirteen surgeries on my left foot and leg alone. This was followed by eighteen months of physical therapy. I figured that my music days were behind me, I was far from done. I incorporated rudiments and other exercises into my physical therapy from the beginning. The surgeries, hospital stays and physical therapy cost almost $650,000 total. (I joke that I am the .6 million dollar man.) Although insurance covered the bulk of it, I still sold off my assets including my music gear to cover the bills.
In late 1991, early 1992 I bought another set of drums and started up again. Around the end of 1993 I was ready to try playing in a band again. The first band after the accident was band playing a mix of current country and pop, backing a female vocalist. We gigged for maybe two years before that band fell apart.
Around the same time I started playing in an oldies band covering music from the 1950s through the early 1970s. That band really took off, I was busy with at least two gigs per week with that band until 2004.
In January of 2004 I got a major promotion with my day job, I had to move to Maryland. The oldies band had to get a new drummer, I would travel to Pittsburgh on occasion to sub when they needed it.
In my new day job I could not play all of the time, the job was very demanding. I did sub on occasion, but from 2004 until the beginning of 2008 it was only a few gigs per year. Most of those gigs were playing with a blues act. I wish that I could have played with them all of the time.
The oldies band in Pittsburgh went through some changes and morphed into a country rock cover band. In January of 2008 I came up to Pittsburgh to sub for their drummer. At the end of the night I suffered a stroke. The whole story of that is for another time, but it was very scary. Again I used drumming as part of my rehab, I also started taking hand percussion lessons.
I retired due to health issues in September of 2009. We spent some time in Richmond Virginia and eventually moved back to Pittsburgh.
In 2010 I finally started gigging again, this time as a hand percussionist. We were doing rock covers as a duo and occasionally as a trio. It was along the lines of what you would hear on the show "Unplugged". This is when I started getting serious about my bass playing as well.
I was bored and wanted to gig more. I ended up with another acoustic project, this time doing Americana music. I REALLY enjoyed this.
I gigged for about six months with a blues band as a bassist in 2012 on top of the two acoustic projects. We had a couple of family tragedies and I wanted to keep as busy as possible.
In December of 2013 I got a call to sub on drums with a Classic rock band. I ended up joining them full time. It has morphed into a rock and soul show band, it is a blast.
So lets see...
Rock
Old school country
New Wave
Lounge pop music
Country rock
Big band
Latin pop
Hair band rock
Country pop
Oldies
Americana
Rock and soul
That is a varied path over the past forty years, I wouldn't trade a minute of it.
This came to mind as today the singer of the rock and soul band called me to say that he wants to play "Bring it on home". I was trying to remember all of the different bands that I've played it with.
I also jokingly tell people that I've likely played some of these songs more times than the original artist.
Share your varied music history with us.
-Mike
"We don't stop playing because we grow old.
We grow old because we stop playing."
"I wish that my playing reminded people of Steve Gadd. But they seem to confuse me with his little known cousin... E."
"Snare drums happen."
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