The Best & Worst Things Of Being An Older Drummer

[Jim Richman]

My thoughts are realistic, which is worse. But don't worry I don't need help.
Next year is the defining point for my drumming expectations in life, if I fail again I will just leave it and that's it.

What are your expectations anyway? All I know is that you are setting up yourself for failure thru your negative views. But if you mean like making a living playing, you are justified. Music is for the most part, a lifelong experience. I don't know how old you are or how long you've been playing. But I have been playing over 30 years and I am just beginning to scratch what I want to do.

[Rhythmatist]

I just turned 58 a couple weeks ago and I realized I've been at this for 54 years (played my first gig for cash at the age of 4).

Best...everything! I'm more in demand now than ever, playing regularly with 5 different bands and a couple of "off-shoots." My playing is so much more focused, relaxed and, most importantly, consistent than ever. I am reaping the benefits of having analyzed drumming ergonomics in my early 30's...nothing hurts when I play or the morning after. I have also learned to let sound reinforcement do its thing. I pick up new things so much quicker and do not get frustrated or discouraged by things that I find I can't do...there's so much more I can do that it balances out. I love playing so much more now than ever mainly because I have been fortunate enough to find guys who are simply a pleasure to be around that just happen to be motherf*(&ers on their instruments. I guess it was reflecting on what happened shortly after 9/11...I came to the realization that life really is short and it was time I went back to playing for the very reason I started in the first place...it was fun. Music was starting to become a chore; playing with people who were name droppers and just never happy with anything anyone else did...lot's of back stabbing and nit picking of endless (and mindless) silly details. I started thinking, we're not surgeons, we don't deal with life and death...we entertain. It's only music and in the grand scheme of things it's not something to get all that anal over. If I'm not entertaining myself, how the hell am I supposed to entertain an audience? People are flying planes into buildings and the keyboard player is pissed because I reacted to a figure the sax player did...give me a fuckin' break...so I quit that gig. I only do gigs that I know I will enjoy and I stopped playing strictly for money...that's what the day job is for. I don't do any high profile stuff these days but I don't need to. I've already played before crowds of 60,000 and been on TV and all...I still play at some pretty cool venues and I do my share of fests and the like. The main thing is when I sit down behind the kit I'm 4 again and having the time of my life. I don't think about what I'm doing, I just play. I guess that was the goal all along.

Worst...I don't have a Phoenix kit.

[Manu]

My thoughts are realistic, which is worse. But don't worry I don't need help.
Next year is the defining point for my drumming expectations in life, if I fail again I will just leave it and that's it.

What are your expectations anyway? All I know is that you are setting up yourself for failure thru your negative views. But if you mean like making a living playing, you are justified. Music is for the most part, a lifelong experience. I don't know how old you are or how long you've been playing. But I have been playing over 30 years and I am just beginning to scratch what I want to do.

I've been playing for almost 15 years. My current band has been together for 4 + years and we've struggled so much to barely be able to produce mediocre sounding material. Right now we've been going through so much stress trying to write the music for our debut album, which is an ambitious progressive metal concept piece. I've been having no life almost for these last two years trying to make it all happen (piecing together the concept, structuring the album, writing songs, keeping all the band members on the same page, getting a graphic designer for the illustrations and devising the concepts and transmitting them to him, and much more). We're gonna go record to a famous producer's studio in Denmark which altogether is gonna cost 10.000 + euros, most which I am gonna pay myself, and which I will have acquired by basically living a shitty life and saving like crazy for I don't even remember how long.

This has all been so stressing and still we don't even know if we're gonna have to postpone recording dates because there's just so much stuff to do, and everyone is always going through so much shit. My guitarrist is not even making ends meet to pay rent, my singer is basically in a desperate situation and if his GF ditch him he'd be on the streets, my keyboard player is doing magic to be able to do all the things he 's doing (composing, recording and mixing pre production demos, sending tracks to everyone, doing lyrics, producing the vocals and so much more) while also working like crazy and now he bought a used car which was a piece of shit and basically he lost all his money so he's depressed as f*ck and probably won't be able to help to pay recording (more burden for me).

And beyond all this, we're not certain what the result will be, we all have technical limitations and we're hoping we're gonna go there and be inspired to materialize a decent product, but if any little thing happened or we fucked up somehow it'd be worthy of commiting suicide (and no, i wont kill myself don't worry, I am just speaking figuratively). Even then, if we did do a great job and everything went as expected, we're not certain that it will give us any rewards except a very personal satisfaction of having done a good artistic job. Certainly we WONT recover the investment, that much I know.

These days honestly I wish an angel would come down from heaven (read as: financial support ) and help us to ease our burdens, sometimes I am just overwhelmed.

What is clear is that my keyboardist already is saying he will quit music at least for a few years after all this insane odyssey and I might just quit for good. I took a lesson with Gergo Borlai recently and asked him to be honest with me, he basically told me I am just a very limited player, and he's totally right. It's useless for me to go on, I've always wanted to do something with music but after all I see myself right now just as another of those musicians with mental delusions about themselves. I've always just imagined I was somewhere where I wasn't, now it's time to face reality.

[Manu]

I just turned 58 a couple weeks ago and I realized I've been at this for 54 years (played my first gig for cash at the age of 4).

Best...everything! I'm more in demand now than ever, playing regularly with 5 different bands and a couple of "off-shoots." My playing is so much more focused, relaxed and, most importantly, consistent than ever. I am reaping the benefits of having analyzed drumming ergonomics in my early 30's...nothing hurts when I play or the morning after. I have also learned to let sound reinforcement do its thing. I pick up new things so much quicker and do not get frustrated or discouraged by things that I find I can't do...there's so much more I can do that it balances out. I love playing so much more now than ever mainly because I have been fortunate enough to find guys who are simply a pleasure to be around that just happen to be motherf*(&ers on their instruments. I guess it was reflecting on what happened shortly after 9/11...I came to the realization that life really is short and it was time I went back to playing for the very reason I started in the first place...it was fun. Music was starting to become a chore; playing with people who were name droppers and just never happy with anything anyone else did...lot's of back stabbing and nit picking of endless (and mindless) silly details. I started thinking, we're not surgeons, we don't deal with life and death...we entertain. It's only music and in the grand scheme of things it's not something to get all that anal over. If I'm not entertaining myself, how the hell am I supposed to entertain an audience? People are flying planes into buildings and the keyboard player is pissed because I reacted to a figure the sax player did...give me a fuckin' break...so I quit that gig. I only do gigs that I know I will enjoy and I stopped playing strictly for money...that's what the day job is for. I don't do any high profile stuff these days but I don't need to. I've already played before crowds of 60,000 and been on TV and all...I still play at some pretty cool venues and I do my share of fests and the like. The main thing is when I sit down behind the kit I'm 4 again and having the time of my life. I don't think about what I'm doing, I just play. I guess that was the goal all along.

Worst...I don't have a Phoenix kit.

This was great, thanks for sharing.

[Jim Richman]

Hey Manu,

Sounds like you are not happy with the band. Sounds like you are not happy with the mediocre music. And Instead of making money, you will be in the hole for 10K. And you are having no fun. None of this adds up. Money, Hang, Music---gotta have at least two, and you have none.

If you really want to spend the money, buy your own gear and record it yourself. then when the band falls apart, which it will, you will have something to sell and get some money back. Cause none of the band guys are gonna pay you back.

Or, if you want to be free and feel good, quit the band and have fun with some other musicians.

[Manu]

Hey Manu,

Sounds like you are not happy with the band. Sounds like you are not happy with the mediocre music. And Instead of making money, you will be in the hole for 10K. And you are having no fun. None of this adds up. Money, Hang, Music---gotta have at least two, and you have none.

If you really want to spend the money, buy your own gear and record it yourself. then when the band falls apart, which it will, you will have something to sell and get some money back. Cause none of the band guys are gonna pay you back.

Or, if you want to be free and feel good, quit the band and have fun with some other musicians.

The music is not mediocre, or I'd like to think at least, the means we have to record it is (hence the mediocre SOUNDING material part, maybe I expressed myself wrong). I love the concept, songs and illustrations we're doing, but because of REALITY and the situations most people are into nowadays it's so damn difficult to achieve anything that it truly becomes almost impossible to enjoy the process.

I don't need to find other musicans, I know everyone is in a similar situation. Most people are just playing in a rehearsal room expecting to be able to go play live to a handful of folks in some shitty bar. IS it truly possible to be able to enjoy music and be motivated if there's no prospects of at least some sort of success? That's my whole point Jim, I have come to the point where I doubt I will have success.

Danny Carey from Tool said once that when a band/musicians are truly good, it doesn't take much for them to find the opportunities to succeed. Unfortunately, while I don't suck, I don't have that special something which will make me get somewhere in life with music and Im just not going to keep frustrating myself forever, it's too much self torture. I am tired of working a mediocre job and telling people I am a musician but without any achievements to back that up.

This album we'll record is my last shot at it, it's ambitious, lot's of work went into creating it, it will be produced in a top notch studio, if this doesn't give me some sort of reward, I will just sell my kit, buy me a v-drum set and play along songs I like in my apartment as a hobby, but no more musical endeavors for me after this one (unless something GOOD happens, whatever it may be).

I guess some people can just go through life and be happy just to exist, unfortunately it seems I came up wired in a way that I wish to have some sort of demonstrable success to feel realized in life. Maybe that silly desire is what set's me for defeat to begin with. The truth is that I am not just a talented guy. I spent half of my life drawing and left it because I realized I didn't have the talent. Picked up drumming and though this time I had the gift, but after many years I am approaching the point when I just need some good stuff to come my way or my frustration will overshadow the desire to continue.

[Yussuf]

Manu, I always go back to this scene when in self doubt.

[Manu]

Manu, I always go back to this scene when in self doubt.

Yeah, no one will be able to say I didn't try. I'll post the album here when I have it

[circh bustom]

Manu, from what you have described, it seems as if no one in your band is enjoying the journey. If you don't enjoy what is going on then the end result will not matter.
That is actually my contribution to this thread, enjoy the process. After playing music in some form or another for about 27 years I have found that the playing is the easy part, so to speak. I need to enjoy the worst part about a situation or the rest wont really matter. Whenever I start to bitch about packing my drums up, or an extra rehearsal instead of a night with my family, I realize that I could be sitting home watching a rerun of Storage Wars twiddling my thumbs. If I don't enjoy practicing a lick or a figure over and over again to get it right, I should move on to something else. I also feel as I'm older, I actually take more chances than I did say 10 years ago. I understand that the risk of going for something and possibly pulling it off is worth screwing up a bit. Most in the audience won't notice anyway, and even if they did, I'm human not a machine.

[Manu]

Manu, from what you have described, it seems as if no one in your band is enjoying the journey. If you don't enjoy what is going on then the end result will not matter.
That is actually my contribution to this thread, enjoy the process. After playing music in some form or another for about 27 years I have found that the playing is the easy part, so to speak. I need to enjoy the worst part about a situation or the rest wont really matter. Whenever I start to bitch about packing my drums up, or an extra rehearsal instead of a night with my family, I realize that I could be sitting home watching a rerun of Storage Wars twiddling my thumbs. If I don't enjoy practicing a lick or a figure over and over again to get it right, I should move on to something else. I also feel as I'm older, I actually take more chances than I did say 10 years ago. I understand that the risk of going for something and possibly pulling it off is worth screwing up a bit. Most in the audience won't notice anyway, and even if they did, I'm human not a machine.

I don't know man, it seems like everything is so complicated lately, like circumstances don't help at all. Everything seems to be such a struggle, not only music but life in general. I guess some people have it better than others, for me life has always been a lot of sacrifice, it's what I am used to. I don't really enjoy much of anything anymore, I have goals and I want to achieve them, if I do then and only then I achieve satisfaction. So far unfortunately I haven't achieved many things in my life. Some people could argue that given how precarious my life situation has been, that the mere fact that I am self reliant and can support myself is enough of an achievement. Maybe they're right, but for me that means nothing.

Some people might think there's something wrong with me, but this is the way I see life, it doesn't mean I have depression or I am gonna kill myself, it's just the way I see and feel life, given my own life circumstances and "destiny" if one may call it such.

If you think about it objectively, life is indeed a very harsh experience for most beings, and people cope with it in different ways. Some people adopt beliefs, I don't do that, I just cruise through it looking at reality in the eye the most I can. And reality is that right now we're living in difficult times of economic turmoil everywhere and our near future is unknown. Over here where I live at least you can sense a dreadful feeling of anticipation in people, things are not ok anymore, everything is more precarious and that affects everyone. Thus doing anything just costs more effort, and sometimes it get's overwhelming. It correct to say that most people in my band are stressed and struggling, we're making a titanic effort to take our music to places that seem beyond our reach, and we're taking the toll of having such ambition. Hopefully we will just overcome all the challenges and achieve our goal, but right now I am uncertain of everything.