The immediate future belongs to the older guys. I don't mind the kids who think they'll get gigs doing blast beats and speed metal... they keep me working! Sure there are niche genres that are fun, and where a relative handful of artists/bands enjoy some exposure. But the majority of real world paid gigs involves playing pretty straight ahead. We know that, but the kids refuse to believe it, and there drummers of all ages who just refuse to do it.

Bless all of them. I take their places in 5 bands plus additional subbing! If the kids ever wise up, I'm sunk!

Bermuda

It's just a phase. Ringo Starr and John Bonham aren't the "drumming idols" for 15 year olds anymore. It is Mike Portnoy, Joey Jordinson and Travis Barker nowadays. Don't worry though, 80's Hair Metal WILL MAKE A GRAND RESURGENCE and we will be back to the best era of music, and all of those lovely grooves that went along with it! I haven't given up on it yet!!

toodles

drumhack flowerJumping2flowers2HmmmmMister T

i might get hired yet theres still hope for a geezer

I'm 59 (an old geezer) and I'm playing in a hard rock band, not speed metal, but heavy heavy rock. we played a gig a while ago, and the opending band was a young punk band, the drummer was not a day over 17, (all ages show)he played fast, when I say fast I mean unreal fast, and with consistancy. I would guess he was at 200 BPM on double bass, and it didn't phase him at all, and the next song, again and again. He did;t get tired, he didnt slow down, I was blown away, after his set I talked to him a while, he practces 1-2 hours a day, and already is endorsed by a drum company, which is pretty cool for that age. I started with a DBP last year, and do 1 minute segments of 100 BPM at a time, and get cramps. LOL!! I have to give these guys credit for what they do, I sure as hell can't.

Really 80's Hair Metal? The best thing about the 80's music is that the 90's started.

You know, I'm impressed with all the super fast, flashy, speed drumming the same way I'm impressed by the jugglers at Ringling Brothers. Completely blown away.....yet, when I put on music it's stuff played by Keltner, Porcaro and Jim Gordon, etc. Speedy acrobatic drumming is fine, but in MY OPINION....not very musical!

An interesting and potentially volatile thread ... glad we've managed to stay in our adult clothes so far.

I saw Portnoy at a clinic years ago. He bored the heck out of me. He explained his method for constructing drum parts. (bear with me, there's a point)

He would take the song and break it up into small sections. He would then do the fractional equations to find as many different configurations as he could ... within reason. Those are the number of beats he would play for each small section.

What a load of crap.

The man had zero ideas on groove or feel or depth.

The point ...

The newer and newest batch of pseudo-drummers are lacking in those very very important areas. They have the muscular performance down ... and little else.

With all things, there are exceptions. But ... only a few.

Technical proficiency and 'feel' are not mutually exclusive. Joe Morello and Papa Jo Jones are just two off the top of my head examples of technically proficient drummers with incredible 'feel.' The problem seems to be that a lot of up and coming players are spending way too much time on developing technical proficiency and not so much time on developing real musicality. ie; a real 'feel' for the music.

When I was learning, I was competing against a 'live' drummer on vinyl. The kids coming up today are competing against a metronome. With playing patterns at 200+ bpm being the Holy Grail. The environment reinforces that approach with everything being digitized and sterilized these days. I was trying to sound like; Papa Jo, or Morello, Jones, Williams, Purdie, Gadd, not trying to race a metronome.

My point, if there is one, is simply that we're living in a different world than the one we grew up in. With it's own set of values. The first time my recording engineer 'digitized' one of my drum tracks, I freaked out. He took the very Life out of the live pass/track. It sounded dead and sterile after he "improved" it digitally. The other musicians agreed with me and the live track was used in the final mix.

But this is what they do these days, they sterilize and h0m0genize the crap out of musicians and the music they produce. That's a big part of the reason why many serious young drummers are focused on accuracy/technical proficiency, as opposed to 'Feel/musicality.' No matter what they play, some A-hole engineer is going to sit at his Mac workstation and scrub the life out of it with his digital mops and brooms.

I'm old school... have everybody in there facing each other, playing at the same time and then mic the whole damn room! Phil Spector made a career out of his Wall Of Sound. Nothing like 'Live music.' But I digress...

John

Great drummers are still out there, the problem is over-saturation of bad to mediocre players that have "the look"...the old saying "if it smells it sells" is still true. In my opinion Gavin Harrison is the cream of the crop from the present generation. He's tasteful, musical, plays with incredible dynamics, can read his a$$ off, and best of all, the guy is very humble.

I too am a groove/pocket drummer, but prefer not to diminish this skill in the category of "just a..."! Our primary job as drummers is to make all of the collective nitwits around us sound like a band & groove drummers do this the best...it is being selfishly unselfish. By listening & making everyone else sound better, we make the band sound better & thus make ourselves sound better. I call it "the meat behind the beat"...just my 2 cents.