My new band Sedona is still searching for a drummer.
Not that we aren’t trying (I know; double negative shame on me).
The first audition we conducted was almost an hour north, so I went up thinking this guy better be the shit because it’s a long way to go if he’s not.
He’s not.
It wasn’t because of the setup; the guy was stacked with a huge motherboard and masterboard with PA’s all over the place. There was plenty of room for everything and we could play as LOUD as we wanted (a big PLUS in his favor).
His drumming was substandard, to put it politely.
One of the reasons I still have the chops to front a rock and roll blues band at age 68 is emotion. Our music will move you and I WILL get your ass up and dancing.
Still.
So, this guy played with no emotion in his drums, and actually start-stopped on us a couple times mid-song. Paul, John, and I just looked at each other. But as hard as it has been for us to find ANY drummer, we thought of the possibility of him being a temporary metronome to keep basic beats while we rocked out.
But no, like I said to John, our absolute badass guitarist, “if he’s not good enough for us today, he won’t be good enough for us tomorrow.”
But as bad as things looked, he remained a candidate.
Until…
I swore off joining another band in the last ten years because, even though I have enjoyed playing with several badass bands, they always came with drama and the drama was just part of being young and excited to be playing out.
Now, I HATE drama.
As we did our sound check and warmed up with Cream’s Crossroads, two guys started to enter our practice.
Evidently, they were his ex-band that had not only kicked him out of the band, but they were bringing their stuff to do a practice without the drummer! I needed no further cajoling or convincing.
Out.
Now, we had to divide and conquer to do the drum auditions and Paul and I trusted John’s judgement, and he went to check this guy out in Dayton. My interest was fueled by the fact he was an hour closer to us.
There was just one small thing with this second candidate for drummer for Sedona:
He didn’t know how to play the drums.
Seriously. Johnny’s description of this kid’s abilities were the red-headed doll drum-playing Animal on Sesame Street.
That’s not a good reference.
However, we just may be in luck as we are a little closer to our next (and hopefully last) audition. I talked with the guy and he says he has baritone vocals and a limited number of songs he can sing lead on, but at least he wants to try lead vocals on I’m Tore Down by Eric Clapton, so if he’s good, we’ll find a few blues songs for him (and help preserve Maddogg’s voice) when we start gigging.
Keep your fingers crossed for us next Saturday, and hopefully I’ll be announcing our band lineup soon thereafter.
Stay well.
