DRUMMER CAFE

My own personal thoughts. If I had a buck for every time I was approached about drugs, I'd be retired and watching the the girls walk by. Over the years I have tried to give the people what they wanted and paid to see/hear. In doing so I have been followed to the mens room dozens of times to be questioned by under cover police of one source or another. Just routine they say. Will you empty your pockets, roll up your sleeves, look this way, and so on. Do to the way you were acting on the stage we thought it best if we check you out. First your a musician, second you act differently then the others, and the old stand by your eyes are watery. These are all good reasons to shake a guy down in the mens room. If you sit like a stick your not giving your all, the room is smoke filled to make any bodys eyes water, and a musician is like any other job except you can't do it so there has to be something wrong.Musicians, drummers for sure are a target for anything and everybody. One had a bad name so we are have to have the same bad name. We all must be alike no matter what. You hear the mistakes of a few and those mistakes hang on all of us. Next time the subjest comes up, ask them for a list of the drummers they know that have these problems. I'll bet you never heard of a one they name, if they name any at all. Once again I'm sorry for venting. I've just heard so much garbage over the years it makes you want to blow your top.

As a drummer in CT who is trying to get his name out there I often hear " where are you hiding? "Now I am unsure as to how many drummer / players are in CT But this I believe I know.The players are in circulation because the bands they are with usually break up,and also if they are not great players,or even they are they are too far into drugs and other activites aside from the all important " time keeper " for the band.But the good ones who are the " drummers " of the mix are hard to find because we are always busy.Right not I personally am in two bands but just from knowing other musiciansa looking for you guessed it drummers I could be in atleast eight right now if there was enough days in the week.

Yeah man its all in the name CONNECTICUT...lol.

Well.....I live in L.A. and the  "Good drummers are SO hard to find" thing just doesn't exist amongst working players here. I'm trying to think of any drummers I know who even dabble in drugs - but can't come up with anyone. That doesn't mean there aren't severely addicted people as well as poor players in Los Angeles. They are here but I'll bet great players who are heavily involved with drugs and/or are 'psycho' fall into a very small minority in this city.

That said, the circle of musicians you frequent can have a different "demographic" (might be the wrong term) when it comes to level of playing and sobriety/mental health issues.
The people I know are serious, hard working players and are keenly aware of how many good to fantastic players are available for hire should anyone decide to flake or be affected by their recreational consumption habits. Heck, I know enough players who are uptight about their own consumption of carbs/dairy/red meat/sugar/[insert detrimental food here] coupled with a growing hatred of being delayed to gigs because of L.A. freeways. Not the typical profile of freaked out drug abusers/totally mental cases.
*[No offense to Ed Grimley fans here.  ]

I do think people, when sizing you up, will also take into consideration what your appearance says to them. Imagine you are a police detective. Somebody told you that there were two drummers in another room, one of them possessing some cocaine. You have to make a quick assessment of who it is. You walk in and one of them is Morgan Rose of Sevendust and the other is session great Paul Leim. In the real world and not knowing anything about either player, which one has the greater potential of using drugs? The answer is both. Which one looks like they use drugs? Hmm.
However distasteful and repulsed you are by the overt stereotyping I'm laying out here, this type of stuff happens and we are all guilty of it - as well as some of us being innocent victims of it.

It's not always going to be the same experience for every drummer. Environment and other circumstances will come into play.

IMHO, YMMV, etc.

Jim

Yeah its a good state for what it is.But I suppose every state has its good and bad qualities.We are just cursed with a state that has no " real " beaches.We have plenty of woods for camping though...

I've heard a lot of people say that 'good drummers are hard to find' here in Portland, OR...although the statement has never been justified by any particular 'defect' in most drummers (lack of time keeping, drug issues, etc.). It has always just been a general statement and seemed to have more to do with the fact that there are 'less' drummers that, say, guitarists in town.

Anyway, my best guess as to why this phenomenon seems to exist (I've never had to 'look' for a drummer  is simply that there are a lot of logistical issues that come along with being a drummer (aside from playing ability). You have to be able to practice (noise factor), get your gear around (bulk factor), afford your gear (cost factor, drums seem to be one of the more expensive instruments in most run-of-the-mill bands), and be able to tear down and put all those metal parts together in a hurry

As someone from Arizona, I'm baffled by this statement. What's a beach?

Having worked with a few people who said 'good drummers are hard to find', I delved deeper and enquired what they thought a 'good drummer' was.
Good timekeeper, consistent player, solid and tasteful, plays for the song was the reply.
That's why I keep banging on about those values on this forum and others.