Ep 234 - Listen To Their Influences

On this week's episode of #TheMusicMentorPodcast I share with you something that has allowed me to connect deeper, not only with the music I must learn, but also with the artists on a personal level. Listening to what THEY listen to, understand it and respect it. 

Transcript

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This is the Music Mentor Podcast. What is going on, my friends? This is Demi and your host of the Music Mentor Podcast. And welcome to episode number two hundred and thirty-four. On this week's episode, I will be chatting to you all about something that I have found to be incredibly advantageous on many fronts, and that is to work on, to listen to, to learn, to focus on your bosses or your influences. Influences. So if you have somebody that is going to hire you for a job, somebody that's going to be the band leader, or somebody that's just a music director, you want to know where they're coming from, not only personally and culturally, but musically as well. Deeply musically. But as usual, before I get started, I want to give a shout out to the wonderful companies that I endorse. Zildjian symbols, Vader drumsticks, LP Percussion, Gibraltar, hardware, remote drum heads, simpat accessories, UKTape, Ubasis by Calla Brand, Nirvana handpants, specifically their acolyte model, which I love and it's very affordable. And last but not least, Ultimate Ears in Ear Monitors. And if you want to purchase something from Ultimate Years, I can give you 20% off. All you have to do is once you know what you're getting, you can email my friend Joe Lester, who works for Ultimate Audio, uh, or for Ultimate Years, excuse me. You can email him at Ultimate Audio Joe at at what is it? Yeah, ultimate audiojoe at gmail.com. And you give him the code DA20. You tell them I sent you, you tell them what you want to purchase, and you'll get a 20% discount across the board. So check them out. So in case you don't know, I have been doing these Twitch stream shows that are basically a live version of the Music Mentor Podcast. And today's special episode was dedicated to my time with Richie Kotson, a very well-known guitar player, somebody that was a massive influence on me growing up, uh, and then getting to play drums for him for a few years was something that I will cherish forever, and it was without a doubt one of the highlights of my career. But one of the things that I had spoken about today that I learned in my time with him is something that I've applied to many other instances in my life, and it has paid dividends tenfold for many reasons. And and um the best way that I can and break it down is that I spent a lot of time not only learning, in this case, Richie's music, but I also spent a s a lot of time listening to his influences and what makes him him musically. In his case, as being somebody that loved Jimi Hendrix, Don Hanley from the Eagles, and of course the Eagles, and also Holland Oates, for example, I didn't just uh have that as uh a reference for a couple of songs, for example. If I knew that he listened to a lot of Motown music and the OJs and uh you know the four seasons or whatnot, I also didn't just leave it as a this background music, so to speak, as horrible a pun as that is, but it was in the forefront of my mind. I understood that I wanted to, and it was important too, and also it's the least that he deserved. I I I wanted to connect as deeply as I could, not only personally, of course, on a gig like that, when it's a small operation, but also musically. And in this case, aside from learning his catalog, aside from obviously performing the songs with him, I thought it was very important to try to get to the root of what makes him who he was, like I said, and when he wanted something to sound more like Holland Oats or something like more like Hendrix, that I didn't just like encapsule this vibe based on what I assume is what he wanted, but I actually knew exactly what he meant and what he wanted to convey musically and lyrically and all these things. So to me it was very important, and I try to make that as a constant in my life as a quote-unquote backing musician. So with Richie, for example, like I said, a lot of Hendrix, a lot of the Eagles, and a lot of Holland Notes, three of which are artists that I didn't really listen to at all. And I liked a couple of songs here and there by Holland Oates, and of course, the typical Eagle stuff. But for example, I wasn't really a big Hendrix fan. And I I'm still not a big Hendrix fan, to be completely honest with you. But when it came time to approach Richie's music that was so basically a power trio, a la Jimi Hendrix, I had to get into the nitty-gritty of what that was and those vibes and that particular sound and how my drumsets was drum set would sound, and how to play the snare drum when he wanted something a little more on the Motown side of things, and the tightness and and the dynamics and things like that on a song like Sarah Smile, for example. You go listen to the the the cover that you're playing or whatnot, or when when when we did uh Shapes of Things, for example, and listen to a bunch of uh Rod Stewart records and the faces and all these other things. So that has been important to me. And then that also shows, aside from what I get out of it and I what I can add value to, as far as a a uh a colleague, right, and a co-band person, but also shows from a personal standpoint that you care about these people and that you care about their interest, the interests. It's like when you are first dating somebody and you discover what music they they listen to and how you start listening to stuff that maybe you wouldn't never listen to, but they listen to it, and you find some sort of way to hack your brain into liking something because they like it, and you start justifying it and you start enjoying it. That happens, and you have to trick your brain, or you can trick your brain into doing that from a professional standpoint, from a you know, empathetic standpoint, and also from a personal standpoint that that you wanna you wanna show that what is important to them is important to you, or you can find beauty in finding something important that you might not, but because it's impregnated with their importance or the importance that they give them, then it's sort of like an easy equation to make. And when it came to other areas of my sort of musical career when I played with other artists, for example, when I work with uh Nick Jonas as his drummer, is very particular because as a percussionist with the Jonas Brothers is slightly different because they don't necessarily listen to a lot of music in which percussion is a driving force. However, as a drummer on Nick's project, he's so groove and beat driven that it's an absolute must. So I try to listen to whatever he's listening to and some of the things that I know for a fact that he really likes, or I would go, obviously, I would ask him, but I would also listen to interviews and he would be talking about you know, a band like or an artist like Elvis Costello, for example, is the example I gave today on the Twitch stream. So for a period of time, I listened to a lot of Elvis Costello, and I tried to get that under my belt. So when he wanted to do something or play, you know, a song and wanted to quote something or make a reference to that, I would be ready and I would be able to convey that musically and again show that that I care. And I've applied that with with several other people that I work with, even Joe when we did the solo stuff, and and um I knew what he was listening to at the time, and I try to make it even as a percussion is try to mimic or try to channel a certain vibe of the stuff that he listens to. So, you know, I think this is not necessarily like a magic um potion that you're gonna take and it's gonna make you keep a gig or last longer than the gig, but I just think that from a personal standpoint, something that has to do with trying to channel uh love and good vibes and respect and and make the uh artist notice that you care more than average, for example. Instead of living on this island where you listen to what you listen to and just the artist is just another thing, try to immerse yourself in the artist, not only with their you know, hers or his discography, but also what makes them what what makes them get out of bed in the morning in the the music bed, so to speak. Okay. Thank you so much for listening. This was the Music Mentor Podcast.