I got up at 7am this morning (early for a musician!), forced down some breakfast, and got a lift to the airport.
I checked my slightly over-weight suitcase and lugged my carry on bag through security. I had to empty it of my laptop and a full set of drum mics which, to the non-musician, look fairly suspicious.
When boarding I was pulled aside again and my bag was searched for a second time.
When I finally made it onto the plane, a bit tired and grumpy, it was a pleasant surprise to discover that I had 3 seats to myself. I settled in by the window and yawned about 50 times as the plane climbed to cruising altitude (it stops my head from exploding with the pressure)
Once we'd levelled off I plugged in my headphones and picked a movie to watch. I'd got as far as the opening credits when a middle aged woman appeared by my side and asked if she could take the aisle seat. I removed my headphones and nodded my head, then introduced myself - "I'm Joe." The next 7 1/2 hours were spent in conversation with my new friend Cathy. It felt like one of the shortest flights I've taken. I was surprised to learn that Cathy worked as a computer program tester and used to write programs herself. She'd worked for Microsoft and written software to administer drugs to patients. Some really interesting stuff. Why am I telling you this? What on earth has it got to do with drumming?A question I get asked a lot is "How do you get a gig?" I can tell you how "I" got the gigs that I've done, but not how "one" gets a gig. Let me try and summarise how I ended up joining Wishbone Ash... After leaving uni I moved back to my parents' house, worked part time, taught private drum lessons, and gigged in wedding bands at the weekends. I wanted to 'break' into the session world but I had no idea how to go about it.
I started attending a jam night in Manchester and met a few people. One Saturday afternoon, after a good few months of wondering how to get gigs, I got a call from Hughie - the guitarist who ran the jam night. He'd got my number from the book you wrote your details in if you wanted to get up and jam. He asked me if I could do a gig with him the next week. It was only £50 in a small bar somewhere in Manchester, but it was the first time I'd been asked out of the blue to play some original music by someone whose musical talents I respected. I was quite excited and accepted his offer.
I did a few gigs with Hughie and became friends with the bass player, Gavin. A few months later, the function band that Gavin played in needed a new drummer and he put my name forward. I thought the trumpeter (is that what you call them?) on that gig was particularly good, and a similar age to me. I got his details, not knowing if the band would call me back for a second gig. It turned out that they did call me back, but not the trumpeter (I'll call him Jake, for that was his name.) He'd been a bit too good and was hitting the high squeaky notes all the time which they didn't think was fitting. I kept in touch with Jake and a few months later he asked me to join a Latin band which he played in. A couple of years later, when I wanted to make the move to London, I ended up renting a place with the saxophonist from this band who was going to study jazz at Middlesex Uni. Once in London I replied to every drummer wanted ad on the Loot website. Most of the bands were pretty awful and after a while I kind of gave up looking. I'd found a regular function band and was just about paying the rent between that and a part time job.
Then one day I randomly decided to pick up a paper copy of Loot and there was an ad saying "Ex King Crimson violinist seeking drummer." I called the number, auditioned for the band and got the gig. They wanted someone who could play in weird time signatures and jam and I'd spent many bedroom hours working on just that kind of thing... (that's 750 words and it's now 5am UK time so I've been awake for 22 hours. I'll continue tomorrow)
I checked my slightly over-weight suitcase and lugged my carry on bag through security. I had to empty it of my laptop and a full set of drum mics which, to the non-musician, look fairly suspicious.
When boarding I was pulled aside again and my bag was searched for a second time.
When I finally made it onto the plane, a bit tired and grumpy, it was a pleasant surprise to discover that I had 3 seats to myself. I settled in by the window and yawned about 50 times as the plane climbed to cruising altitude (it stops my head from exploding with the pressure)
Once we'd levelled off I plugged in my headphones and picked a movie to watch. I'd got as far as the opening credits when a middle aged woman appeared by my side and asked if she could take the aisle seat. I removed my headphones and nodded my head, then introduced myself - "I'm Joe." The next 7 1/2 hours were spent in conversation with my new friend Cathy. It felt like one of the shortest flights I've taken. I was surprised to learn that Cathy worked as a computer program tester and used to write programs herself. She'd worked for Microsoft and written software to administer drugs to patients. Some really interesting stuff. Why am I telling you this? What on earth has it got to do with drumming?A question I get asked a lot is "How do you get a gig?" I can tell you how "I" got the gigs that I've done, but not how "one" gets a gig. Let me try and summarise how I ended up joining Wishbone Ash... After leaving uni I moved back to my parents' house, worked part time, taught private drum lessons, and gigged in wedding bands at the weekends. I wanted to 'break' into the session world but I had no idea how to go about it.
I started attending a jam night in Manchester and met a few people. One Saturday afternoon, after a good few months of wondering how to get gigs, I got a call from Hughie - the guitarist who ran the jam night. He'd got my number from the book you wrote your details in if you wanted to get up and jam. He asked me if I could do a gig with him the next week. It was only £50 in a small bar somewhere in Manchester, but it was the first time I'd been asked out of the blue to play some original music by someone whose musical talents I respected. I was quite excited and accepted his offer.
I did a few gigs with Hughie and became friends with the bass player, Gavin. A few months later, the function band that Gavin played in needed a new drummer and he put my name forward. I thought the trumpeter (is that what you call them?) on that gig was particularly good, and a similar age to me. I got his details, not knowing if the band would call me back for a second gig. It turned out that they did call me back, but not the trumpeter (I'll call him Jake, for that was his name.) He'd been a bit too good and was hitting the high squeaky notes all the time which they didn't think was fitting. I kept in touch with Jake and a few months later he asked me to join a Latin band which he played in. A couple of years later, when I wanted to make the move to London, I ended up renting a place with the saxophonist from this band who was going to study jazz at Middlesex Uni. Once in London I replied to every drummer wanted ad on the Loot website. Most of the bands were pretty awful and after a while I kind of gave up looking. I'd found a regular function band and was just about paying the rent between that and a part time job.
Then one day I randomly decided to pick up a paper copy of Loot and there was an ad saying "Ex King Crimson violinist seeking drummer." I called the number, auditioned for the band and got the gig. They wanted someone who could play in weird time signatures and jam and I'd spent many bedroom hours working on just that kind of thing... (that's 750 words and it's now 5am UK time so I've been awake for 22 hours. I'll continue tomorrow)
Hey Joe, Going to try and catch the Sellersville Theater gig ( If the wife lets me out :) ) I'm about 40 minutes from it. Nice little theater! Hope to catch the show and see you live. Good Luck! Paul Sikora P.S Your schedule looks grueling ugh.
ReplyDeleteCool. Yeah, Sellersville is nice. It's the first Wishbone venue I heard of as it was a recording from there that I listened to for a lot of live versions of the songs.
ReplyDeleteSchedule does indeed look gruelling. I'm sitting in bed in a hotel at Boston airport. Thankfully I got some proper sleep last night. The work starts in a few hours!
Joe, I cheer your effort at putting out 750 words a day. I should do the same myself although I've been busy at work writing up documentation for the last several weeks and the only thing I want to do when I get home is to avoid typing. It's hard to practice with sore wrists. Today's topic is great. Have you thought of putting out more thoughts of "music as a business". Too many younger hopefuls believe it's all after show parties, loose women and sleeping in to 3pm. I'm hoping that you will get out to California so I'll have the chance to meet you. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteHi Ken,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support :) So far the 750 words thing has been easier than I expected. I think knowing that all I have to do is type - not edit or have a beginning, middle, end, etc. - makes it more enjoyable. Plus, I can write about whatever I want. If it's not drum related then I just don't publish it.
Anyway, thanks for your suggestion. I'm going to write about the business and see what comes out...
Keep an eye on the Wishbone Ash website - maybe sign up for the newsletter at www.wishboneash.com so you'll be notified if we do make it over to the west coast any time soon.
Thanks,
Joe