What qualities do you want in a drummer?

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Elektron Digitakt 8-Track Drum Computer ...
 
All that talk about loud is fun and all, until you actually play in a 70's/80's hard rock/metal band, where the drummer is consistently TOO loud and when you ask him to use more dynamics, he starts playing wimpy and all the feel and groove is lost.
And it doesn't help almost all his cymbals are Paiste Rude series.

His volume was one of the main reasons we started saying NO to smaller clubs (next to the shitty pay).
I've done hundreds of gigs, and only on the biggest stages, there was enough physical distance where his volume didn't drown the overall stage-volume.

Otherwise, it was always a battle. I knew how loud I needed to set my guitar amps, when the monitoring is sub-par in a small club (we don't use In-ear systems) and next thing you know during soundchecks, like effin' clockwork, Mr. Soundguy wants me to keep it down. I say "I can't, because wait until you hear Mr. Drummer do his FULL thing." And lo and behold, once our drummer started blasting when we play a total-mix, most sound guys would give me this look that said 'ah fuck, this guy is loud, you were right... but I can't work with so much stage volume'.

A few times we had to use substitute drummers in our Maiden-tribute and the difference was night and day. I could drop the Master volumes of my amps from 4.5 to 3.5-4 (out of 10).

So my requirement list is:
-Keep time
-Have dynamics
-Come prepared (both music-wise and gear-wise)
-Be a decent enough human being to be around (a good, dark sense of humor helps)

Yes, you can't have a spaghetti/noodle guy play metal, but it would be nice if the 'Sequoia lumberjacks' also had some 'Bonsai-cutting' abilities.
 
I thought my standards were high, Jesus.

My basics:

No drugs
Be on time
Don’t be an ass at paid shows
Don’t bring your nagging S.O. that wants to leave band practices as soon as they get there
Don’t ask every member of the band for cigarettes or cigarette money every time
Have mode of transportation and a valid license
Know how to tune and maintain your own drum heads/kit

Playing hard and having fun are a luxury request.
 
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glpg80 said:
I thought my standards were high, Jesus.

My basics:

No drugs
Be on time
Don’t be an ass at paid shows
Don’t bring your nagging S.O. that wants to leave band practices as soon as they get there
Don’t ask every member of the band for cigarettes or cigarette money every time
Have mode of transportation and a valid license
Know how to tune and maintain your own drum heads/kit

Playing hard and having fun are a luxury request.
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Do you even know what a drummer is?
 
Speeddemon said:
All that talk about loud is fun and all, until you actually play in a 70's/80's hard rock/metal band, where the drummer is consistently TOO loud and when you ask him to use more dynamics, he starts playing wimpy and all the feel and groove is lost.
And it doesn't help almost all his cymbals are Paiste Rude series.
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The dude I'm scared of volume wise is the guy who shows up with Zildjian Z's and American Rock Crusher sticks. That's the point where I start thinking about shoving a bit of cotton in my ear/s for protection. Those Z's could just about be un-mic'ed at a stadium gig. White noise.....
 
glpg80 said:
Someone you tell a thousand times to clean the shit from around their kit?

Seriously I’d loved to have played with the quality players some of yall are describing.
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Most of the guys who are serious don't need to be told any of the stuff that you posted as requirements. But if you are doing pick up gigs in Austin you sometimes get in a bind. Assemble a band in a few hours and see what happens. The guys who are good players are almost never available. The guys who are shit players are always available. So unless one of the good players has a shit gig he wants to bounce on because he likes yours more, or it pays more, you're up shit creek on a long, dues paying night of music for some pretty drunk downtown people.

Let me tell you I have suffered some rage inducing nights of complete jokers whether it was drums or bass. I was working on a knee replacement stomping my foot so the dipshit on the kit could keep time. Guess what? It still didn't work because he was a guy who owns a drumkit, not a drummer. The rest of the mediocre players can either play a shuffle but fall flat on their face on a funky tune or they can funk like no ones business but sound like a lame dick during a shuffle. I know a whole lot of them types too. And there are some good players who just ain't got their heads on straight. Been there too. Makes me sick.

Then there are the bandleaders who want a year of rehearsals before you book a paying gig, lol. That never works out either......
 
glpg80 said:
Someone you tell a thousand times to clean the shit from around their kit?

Seriously I’d loved to have played with the quality players some of yall are describing.
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When it comes to all musicians, it's best to just ride the wave of destruction. That's where the magic comes from.

Do you give Bonham an ultimatum to stop drinking or leave?
 
Geo said:
Do you give Bonham an ultimatum to stop drinking or leave?
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I don't believe in ultimatums. I would tell him to keep his drinking in check for his job and if he couldn't do that his name is totally irrelevant to me. If I think you might be taking food outta my kid's mouth with your F ups I am now heartless. I have cut some really good players over drama and drinking drugs. I had a drummer once that would have a half dozen tallboys scattered around his kit at the end of the 3 hour set, not counting whiskeys and smoking crack on break, but dude could play and was a showman to boot and was always on time. He was actually even better on crack, no joke. But the drinking caused him to shoot his mouth to me and others all the time, so he wasn't liked by most of the people I was working with so I cut him loose. He played a couple more months with another guy and then got sober which I am glad for because he was a pretty humble chill nice dude when he wasn't all amped up on the booze.
 
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VonBonfire said:
I don't believe in ultimatums. I would tell him to keep his drinking in check for his job and if he couldn't do that his name is totally irrelevant to me. If I think you might be taking food outta my kid's mouth with your F ups I am now heartless. I have cut some really good players over drama and drinking drugs. I had a drummer once that would have a half dozen tallboys scattered around his kit at the end of the 3 hour set, not counting whiskeys and smoking crack on break, but dude could play and was a showman to boot and was always on time. He was actually even better on crack, no joke. But the drinking caused him to shoot his mouth to me and others all the time, so he wasn't liked by most of the people I was working with so I cut him loose. He played a couple more months with another guy and then got sober which I am glad for because he was a pretty humble chill nice dude when he wasn't all amped up on the booze.
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We have to come up with a better way to maintain troublesome musicians.

Maybe keep them in a cage and poke them with a pointy stick.

We can call it the John McCain method of behavioral learning.
 
glpg80 said:
Someone you tell a thousand times to clean the shit from around their kit?

Seriously I’d loved to have played with the quality players some of yall are describing.
Click to expand...
Our bassplayer was kind of a tidy guy keeping the rehearsal-room clean. After a while, he refused to clean the drum corner.
 
I was fortunate early on to play with good drummers that knew how to tune their kits, had good technique and time. A well tuned kit will sound great without having to kill them. If you are playing arenas, that’s one thing. But even then alot of them are using triggers and samples, so no reason to kill them.
We played with one guy years ago that had two of each cymbal and always hit both at the same time. Nice guy, but that didn’t work for us…
 
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the best of the best, vinnie c, dave w, steve g, stewart c, are not by default loud drummers, but can play loud when needed.

vinnie played with sting, megadeth, faith hill, zappa, jeff beck, chick correa, herbie hancock, robben ford, allan holdsworth….that is a great drummer.

i saw him at the baked potato playing with the mike landau trio and my seat was close enough to his kit to be able to touch his ride. it’s a small club and they were loud. i am totally anti bash when it comes to drums, but vinnie plays with authority and control. his dynamics are perfection. he played with intensity and had to change frayed sticks twice during the set but not once did i feel oppressed by his volume.

i can live without caveman guys who use big sticks swinging from the rafters with high tuned gunshot snares and fill every space with blacksmith anvil rides and white noise cymbals. played and mixed sound for those and it is not fun.
 
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