Nothing quite says, "You're not on the road anymore" like getting the opportunity to play with a handful of different artists within a short amount of time. This drummer has had a couple such opportunities recently and would love to use the pulpit of this here blog to tell you about them.
A couple of extremely talented local artists have released new albums this month and I was fortunate enough to get to perform with both of them at their CD debut concerts. Granted, both Katy McAllister and Jeoff Harris were too shortsighted to employ me to play drums on the albums (haha!), but I did indeed join them on stage to celebrate the listening public's first opportunity to purchase their latest musical offerings. And I'm happy to report that both the albums are fantastic: definitely worth your hard earned money and deserving of a slot in your iTunes library.
The CD release shows found me performing not on drum kit, as per usual, but with the eclectic sounds of various percussion instruments. Katy played a stripped-down acoustic show and I accompanied Jeoff's drummer with some extra layers of rhythm & subdivision. These shows featured my debut on the percussion instrument du jour, the cajon - a box-like instrument originally from Peru that a drummer actually sits on while he plays - as well as some shakers, tambourines, a triangle, a djembe, and all sorts of other nick-nacky rhythmic goodies. Although this was not exactly my usual gig, it was still a great deal of fun and, I must admit, a lot less stressful than my normal drum set duties. It was like how I imagine a horn player's world to be - show up, pick up the instrument, and you're ready to go. Not a whole lot of setup or equipment to haul - just sit your butt down and play.
I've also found myself accompanying the indubitable Sean Waldron on a few shows, as well. The new acquisition of percussion instruments for the gigs with Katy and Jeoff turned out to be a rather prescient move, because Sean and I have found ourselves performing a more subdued, acoustic-guitar driven set, as well. Sean's got a new project in the works that I was able to record some drums for last week, as well.
Other than that, I've been trying to fill up my days with a few hours of practice every day and a couple of writing projects that I'm determined to keep up on (this blog included). It's becoming even more apparent to me that the life of the artist is an unsure one, sometimes even on a day-to-day basis. Irregular opportunities means irregular paychecks, and the desire to work hard to create something artistic doesn't always seem like the wisest idea given that particular circumstance. But, for today, I'm still here, still trying to figure it all out as I go. What the rest of the year holds, I have no idea - I don't even know what all is going to happen next month and have only a shady idea of what next week is lookin' like. But we wouldn't want things to get too predictable, right?
Right.
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