Oct 15, 2012

Challenges...

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to buy a drum set.  I knew that I wanted to be able to play music with friends of mine, but I didn't know what kind of music we'd play, if I would be able to play competently or not, or whether I'd buy a Ferrari or a Lamborghini  with my first royalty check.  Almost thirty years have passed, and I still don't know what I'll do whenever I get my first royalty check, but my sixteen year old Ford Ranger works just fine!  I feel truly blessed to have been able to travel with great friends, playing the music that we loved to play and to have put something out there that some people find inspiring.  People tell me that I have a unique style, and friends of mine who don't even dissect music the way I do know when they hear me on a recording right away.  I know that my style of drumming may not be for everyone, but I take the fact that I stand out to people as a great compliment.  No one may ever have noticed me as a drummer if I didn't do one thing when I was starting to play drums... challenge myself constantly.

I joined Confessor after I had been playing drums for a little over two years.  I had not even come close to developing a style yet, but I did try to play around with beats as often as possible.  I had a good ear and I could count to four, but that was all I had going for me.  I wasn't able to play drums when I lived with my parents if anyone else was in the house, and once I joined Confessor my drums were in a practice space that I almost never went to unless we were practicing.  I knew that in order to progress as a drummer, to avoid becoming stagnant, I would have to keep pushing myself.  Since I didn't have a chance to work things out on my own, I decided to write something into every song that I was not yet able to play. It was a self imposed trial by fire.  I intentionally set the bar higher than what would have been realistic for someone at my skill level, but it forced me to play beyond my abilities.  It meant that I was always struggling and that I was always nervous about some new part at every live show, but I know I would be a very different drummer had I not put myself in that permanent "crunch mode".  Bass drum patterns and flourishes, polyrhythms and cymbal grabs were all written into Confessor songs well before I was capable of playing them.

In order to write ahead of my own skill level, I used to map out patterns by creating a long horizontal line with a series of perpendicular hash marks underneath it to represent a guitar part.  Think of it like the lines on a ruler.  The longer the line, the higher the note.  It was a crude way to visualize riffs but it worked.  Above the line I would use a series of similar hash marks and symbols to represent different drums, cymbals and things that I wanted to do.  By writing things out in this way, I could practice the patterns anywhere.  If there was a place to sit, and I remembered to bring my hands and feet, I was good to go.  Using that system was how I worked out every polyrhythm I ever came up with and it also made it possible for me to write beats and patterns that I never would have conceived of if I only ever wrote from behind a drum kit.  I most recently used that same approach to come up with the ending of 'Shark Dancer' on "Iron Balls of Steel".  The idea to write guitar and drums out that way came to me out of frustration one day as I was trying to figure out a fast staccato pattern in a song I liked. I knew the first small bit of the pattern, and once I put it on paper and could "see" it, the rest of the pattern became clear in a flash.  

Every band I have ever played in posed a new challenge, and I tackled those challenges head on, eager to see where they might take me as a musician.  I have always felt that the more I was willing to try as a drummer, the more often I would surprise myself.  Learning is at least seventy five percent of the fun of playing music.  Everything you learn expands your vocabulary, and has the potential to lead you to the next thing that might set you apart from other musicians.  I certainly could not have played drums in Loincloth without the foundation I was able to develop in Confessor and the other bands I had played in after that.  Confessor has recently begun work on a third album, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to take what I've learned with me into this new challenge!  I have kept a few patterns in my mental lock box for years, waiting for a chance to implement them... and now that time has come! It's time to pull out the pencil and paper once again.








  

8 comments:

  1. Steve: Great inspirational entry. I used to go see Confessor back in high school in Raleigh. 89 or 90 time frame. Was always amazing to listen to you play. I never got a chance to meet you but I've been a long time fan. Thanks for bringing something different to the table.

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  2. I've been a fan for a long time and we've actually crossed paths a time or two. When I was learning to play I wrote Dyer Maker (Zeppelin) down on a piece of paper. It in no way resembled sheet music but it got the job done.

    And one of my favorite early experiences is when I attempted to play Collapse into Despair. After the intro I just caught random cymbals and threw out lots of triple bass hits, and managed to keep the high hat somewhat steady. It was nowhere close to a tribute but my friends were floored.

    Can't wait to hear the new stuff Steve!

    (sorry if I double posted)

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    1. Hmm, "... I just caught random cymbals and threw out lots of triple bass hits", "... high hat 'somewhat steady'"? Sounds like you got it to me! I'm the king of keeping things "somewhat steady"! It keeps things interesting!

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  3. Thanks Rob, I'm flattered! Those shows were a lot of fun, whether they were at The Brewery or one of those strange shows I mentioned in the "Metal Moments" post. I'm glad you were around to see those!

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    1. I've seen you play at the Brewery so many times I really can't even begin to put a figure on it. If I remember correctly you guys used to do Sunday all ages shows too. Very cool for those of us under 18 at the time.

      I also saw you guys play a tiny small place in Savannah, GA in 91 or 92. I was a freshman at the art school. My roommate was from Richmond so he was familiar with you guys as well. We dragged 4 or 5 friends with us and I think we were the only folks there. :-)

      The "Metal Moments" post was a great read. I wish I had gone to see you open for Queensryche at a small club. I saw them open for Metallica in Fayetteville and was blown away. Were those "hair metal" shows at The Switch? I got drug there involuntarily (what we do for women) a few times. Hated that place.

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    2. I barely remember that Savannah show. Seems like it was some kind of record store, or a restaurant... no pa either. Actually, Queensryche WAS at The Switch, but Vinnie Vincent was at The Rialto and Helix was at The Pier after it moved to Mission Valley. The Switch definitely had its share of "hair metal" shows! Any band with "Wolf" in their name played there!

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  4. While the drums stand out on confessor, and as a drummer, you had a huge influence on my playing (along with Dave Weckl, Thomas Haake, Neal P and some others). Aside from the way you mess with beats, where the snare is placed, the way a beat will play with or against a rif and totally reframe the melodic movement of it, I think your drumming is a huge study in the use of cymbals in a creative way that is/was unprecedented in any genre. Also, the way they sound tonewise in the mix is unusual. They cut through and are a huge part of confessor's sound. The whole band though and the whole album from 'Alone' to 'Suffer' is such a unique event in the history of rock. Lyrically as well. Such an honest expression of human struggle, challenge and the unusual artistic/spiritual beauty that resulted from that encounter for this band. Very few albums have held up to so many repeated listens over the years the way this one did. It remained original and didn't get diluted by ripoffs from other bands because the sound was so complex and too authentic and pure to ever approach the mainstream.
    Thanks for putting in all that work and getting it out to the world.

    -Zev

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  5. Wow! That's quite a compliment... thanks! I do use chinas that are really harsh sounding because I prefer that they stand out from my crashes. Really nice ones are too smooth, and I like contrasting cymbal tones as much as I like to play with contrasting beats/notes. I'm flattered that you appreciate the album so much, and I hope that either Confessor or Loincloth are able to produce more music that hits you in such a unique way. I've never heard anyone do anything that really sounded like Confessor. At least not for more than a split second. I've heard drummers tap into similar spaces using the same basics I use, but never a band as a whole. It's always a delight to hear from someone who thinks of us as special. Really, thank you!

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