drum audition

I just had my first audition for a drummer position. The band name is stattica (http://www.stattica.com). It was a great experience! I was really nervous especially because I didn't really know the songs. They gave me 4 songs to get familiar with for a week. No music sheet nor lyrics sheet. Just mp3s. I usually worked better with lyric sheets. That way, I knew where we were and usually i could take notes on the sheet if I'm supposed to do anything special on certain parts of the song.

The audition was in a warehouse. I came in early so I have time so setup my drums. Their marketer/promoter Kelley was the first person to be there. When she let me into the warehouse, there were blood trails. She told me that the place is a food warehouse and they just carried some meat/beef. I asked "are you sure is not your previous drummer??" LOL.

The band members arrived shortly after. After setting up all the instruments and the P.A. system, we started. After the first song, I asked whether I was too loud. When I play at the church, most of the comment I get is that I play too loud. So I was afraid that I was playing too loud and overcoming the band. But, the band response was, "we want you to play louder... much louder.. as loud as you can!!" I was hitting the drum so hard, especially on the fast song, one of the lug (that's the screw to hold plastic thingy on the drum thingy) on the toms came off!! At one point, my stick flew out of my hand, had to catch it, then keep on playing! LOL!

However, they were very nice though. They would give me cues before special stuff coming up. It's a little hard for me still. And on the slow songs, because I didn't have a feeling on the song, I tend to play gradually faster. They told me several times to slow down..

I had 4 songs to learn. I expected to be there only for 1/2 hour. But we repeated the songs several times and then we play some more songs that I didn't know. It ended up being a 1 1/2 hour session.

When we were packing up, they asked me where/when do I practice and how long I have been playing. I said I don't have a place to practice and I've played for 6 years. They seem surprised. They seem even more surprised when they found out that for their songs, I've been practicing air drum. I guess it's not normal. Now I feel bad for my beginning drum students that I taught at church. I've been telling them it's easy to transfer playing air drum to drum set. Maybe it's a skill that takes time to acquire... who knows....

Anyway, I'm excited to had my first audition ever. Not sure if I'll take the job IF they offer it to me. They're great band, good chemistry but I have a different philosophy on the role of drummer in a band. They wanted me to play "grand" the whole time. Play all the breaks, phrases, and as loud as I can the whole time. On the other hand, I consider the drummer as the driving force behind the music. I'll come out sometimes to put flavor on the song, then I'll come back behind to drive the music again. This way, I can sometimes play "cool" stuff and it will be cool since it won't be overshadowed by being "grand" all the time. Also, when I do play grand, it will sound better because the audience will feel that difference even more. And when I have to play hard all the time, I won't be able to do tricks. Cause the tricks won't be loud enough. That's why I prefer to use microphones for the drums. Instead of playing hard, I want to play smart. Even on heavy punk songs.

Playing "grand" all the time will distract the audience from the music. I noticed this "grand drumming" approach when I first heard the mp3s they sent me. I thought it was the drummer's bad decision. But now I know it's what the band wanted. Hopefully they don't want me so I don't have to say no to them...