It just dawned on me a few days ago that I’ve been playing drums for 25 years. 25 years, that’s a quarter of a century! Now before you start thinking I’m an old man think again, because I’m not. I’m only 34. Now if you’re 20 that may sound old but in the bigger picture of my musical career I’m just starting to hit my stride. I think this can be said of a lot of musicians who are in their early 30’s. It’s really a great place to be in. By that I mean that I’ve gone through my crazy 20’s that were great and I was fortunate to do a lot of things. But my 30’s have so far be much more gratifying. Why? I’ll attempt to explain without overlooking how much I learned and how much fun I had during my 20’s.

I knew what I wanted to do when I was 9. Yes, 9 little years old. It all started on a family vacation in St. Louis, MO when I talked my parents into buying “Shout At the Devil” by Motley Crue. All I had to hear was the opening drum fill on the song “Shout At the Devil” and I was hooked. A drummer I would be. Although I started on piano a year earlier being a drummer was in my cards. Plus it was a lot more fun than playing the piano.

That started my love affair with drumming and ultimately led me to the career I have now. I spent my years in middle school and high school collecting records, playing drums and learning as much as I could by myself along with lessons from local teachers in my home town of Ottawa, KS. I played a lot of sports too but playing music was really where my head was at. That’s all I wanted to do. So I spent my early years completely unaware that I was preparing myself for a career in music.

I remember all of that like it was yesterday. Playing in the basement, jamming with friends and starting cover bands in high school. We weren’t very good but it sure was fun. But all of that changed when I was 19. That’s when I decided to move to Minneapolis, MN and attend Music Tech of Minneapolis. This is where I really began to shape my musical path. And it was one of the best decisions of my life.

Up until then I really didn’t know a whole lot about music. By that I mean that my musical influences and the styles of music I listened to were very narrow. At the time I was only a rocker. Motley Crue (Tommy still rules), Ozzy, Dream Theater, Rush, etc.. I think you get the point. I’m still a rocker, I love it. But attending Music Tech opened me up to an entire new world of music that I didn’t even know existed. I even started to appreciate, and in some cases listen to, music I had always looked down on. I had bought my ticket to take a journey to a new destination. But what I didn’t know is how many different destinations my journey would have. And how quickly I would arrive at a new destination and just how quickly I would set off for the next one. I was very, very green in the beginning and there were so many new experiences that, in some cases, I just didn’t know what to think or do. The only thing that hasn’t changed over the years is that I still love making and playing music and I always go full steam ahead with whatever I’m doing. That’s just me and that hasn’t changed. Don’t get me wrong I’ve had plenty of ups and downs, that’s just part of the journey. You can’t enjoy the ups if you don’t have the downs. The most important thing is that I still love what I do and I do it more than ever.

In my next post I’ll cover some of the ups and down of my journey through my 20’s. There were many and I learned a lot.

So until then keep making noize!

The Basher