Spodes drum page

Nothing special

PICTURES                           KIT DIAGRAM                                  VIDEOS

MY MOTIVATION:

.....Back in  the seventies my uncle was in a band called Prankster.. He had a drum kit in his living room all the time.  When I went over there I used to gaze at them. The seed was planted. Then around the age of 10 I started beating  on coffee cans I had taped together. I got my first kit when I was 13. It was a snare, kick, 2 rack toms, and one symbol. I quickly learned to play to bands like The Cars, Eagles, and easy stuff like that. In 1980 I heard RUSH for the first time.

.....I am not a huge secular music fan. But, the music RUSH has produced over the years has kept my attention the entire time. I have studied Neil Peart (pronounced "P-EAR-T") in depth to see what makes a guy who writes most of the lyrics for the band as well as compose the drum segments all on his own, tic..  Because of the technicality of his style, I have taken years to learn it. And I am still learning. Once you think you've got a song down, you hear something else he is doing in there?.. I have seen these guys twice. Sept. 2002, and July 2004. at 50+ they still jam.

.....I listen to a ton of music. Due to my Christian beliefs and faith the secular music realm doesn't apeal to me too much. I like great musicians period. Regardless of thier personal views. However, content to me is important. RUSH constantly reinvents themselves, and to me that's apealing.

MY SANCTUARY:

.....About two years ago I took over the garage and designed a drum room. I waned to be able to play anytime without disturbing the peace. I built it to accept the garage door just above the ceiling by about 2 inches. I decorated it with memorabilia from where else? Ebay.. I also lined it with carpet padding because it's cheap and works great. I have a thermostatically controlled heater for the winter. And I can play any time of the day or night.

.....I spent two years building my kit. I bought a 5 piece DW kit for 2750.00 from Guitar Center. I then had DW build a matching 8" tom, and 15x4.5 snare with the same lavender satin oil finish. I then bought one cymbal at a time until I found the ones I wanted to keep for the kit. I still have a few things I want to add like a right hand hi hat, and some more percussion stuff.. The bass drum head I designed in photoshop and had it printed up. The pics don't do it justice. Yes, it's beautiful.. You know when you sell a kit and kick yourself later? Well, I will never do that with this kit I hope.

MY DRUM BIO:

.....As a kid I played when ever I could. Usually the garage was the place. But there was always the upset neighbor issue. Sometimes I'd canvas the neighborhood and let people know that I'd be practicing at certain times and that they could count on me stopping at a certain time. That worked pretty good. When I was 18 I played in a band called Phase II in Huntington Beach Ca. We played a few gigs here and there. after that I focussed on Christian music and played ina few more bands one of which was called New Tribe. A lot of fun..

.....Eventually I got busy being married and stopped for about 5 years. Every now and then I'd be at some ones house and see they had a kit. I'd be like " You mind if I check it out"?.. Man, how I missed playing during those times.  Eventually I got involved with our Church and ended up playing for over ten years with them. I did the Sunday worship stuff and Wednesday nights. And we even had an upbeat saturday night out reach called "Saturday Night Life".. During those times I was fortunate enough to play with the likes of John Evens, Derral Mansfield, Phil Keaggy, and a host of other pros.

..... I was able to travel a little and meet a ton of really nice people. As of today I am not commited to anything musicaly. I do fill in occasionaly at my church however. So, I practice a lot and just await my next venture.