(What every real drummer has sworn in blood and sweat, alone, when nobody’s watching) 3:17 a.m. The house is dead quiet except for the low hum of the fridge and the click of the pad under my sticks. No crowd. No pay. No Instagram story. Just me, a Practice Pad the color of dried blood,…
In a world of fleeting scrolls and echo chambers, what if we made a pact? Not the kind signed in blood or legalese, but one etched in intention: Pactum 1: Listen First. Before replying, pause. Hear the unspoken. Pactum 2: Build, Don’t Break. Share what uplifts—stories, not shade. Pactum 3: Echo Forward. Tag one person…
Greatness hits like a .44 to the sternum. You’re in the room. Buddy Rich Channel One Suite, 1982 footage, or Vinnie live in ’98, or that little bastard Tony Royster Jr. at fifteen melting the Modern Drummer Festival with a gospel chop solo that made grown men weep into their stick bags. Doesn’t matter who.…
Drum throne. Confessional booth. Same difference. I wrote for Modern Drummer for over a decade. Backstage passes to the church of groove. I knelt at the altars of the real deal: Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Terry Bozzio, Steve Smith, Jake Hanna (I mention Jake cause he was and is my favorite!) … the list goes…
The kit is sold. The vans no longer pull up. The phone is silent. Most walk away. Some pretend they never played. A few keep the time in the dark. No crowd. No paycheque. Only the oath remains—spoken once, in smoke and sweat, behind a curtain that will never rise again. Pactum Batteria is not…
“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything. ~ Mark Twain” That tangle of half-truths and hedges—the gig where you shave the flubbed fill’s edge in the retell, the rehearsal fib that “yeah, I nailed that ghost note” when it ghosted right through? They knot up quick, a mental maraca shake you…
“Gear. Drums are round they sit on the floor and you hit them. (attributed to a number of drummers) Be careful of being gear focussed or thinking a better piece of gear will make you play better. It won’t. Just make sure your gear is serviceable, well cared for, of sufficient quality, and serves you…
“Booze and drugs. For the record I’m not against either. However if you think booze or drugs make you play better it’s probably that these assortment of lovely mind altering substances just make you think you’re playing better. Play straight. Embibe after. ” Booze and the haze-makers? Hell, I’m no puritan preacher—I’ve raised a glass…
“Playing a song you have three or four minutes to make the audience laugh or cry or just feel something. On those moments play for the song. Play with emotion. ” Three minutes, four if the bass player’s feeling generous—that’s your window, your wild-card wager, the kit’s confessional booth where the room hangs on your…
The bug
When I was a kid I caught a bug. Good bug. Clean bug. The kind that crawls inside your ribs and never leaves. I was alone a lot. House empty, clock ticking loud. I learned practice the way some kids learn prayer. Golf in the backyard, hacking at dandelions until the light died. Skating on…
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