Every once in a while it is required that a columnist takes out a personal frustration in print, for everyone to see and comment on. Once a week usually does it. So what has me pulling my hair out this week?
I’ve been looking for a drummer for four years.
I was in a band once, and it was glorious, making music and playing it for groups of people was such a rush. Since coming to Madison, a school I thought would have a great music scene, I have auditioned for two bands and formed countless contacts with other local musicians. Are any of them drummers? A few, but none of them have a set down here, or can bring their set down here.
It’s not for lack of trying though. Almost every conversation I have turns to music at some point or another, and almost every time it comes to “oh, that’s cool, I play guitar too,” before conversation devolves into each of us trying to out-hipster each other.
Why, in all of my drunken music conversations at parties, have I not found a drummer with a set down here? My cousin is a drummer for crying out loud, and he lives only 10 minutes from me, but he’s got no set to play on. I just want someone to jam with.
Sure, I played in a ska band (go ahead and laugh, I’ll wait), but just because that was what I played in high school doesn’t mean it’s all I can play. It seems like that’s been the stumbling block for the auditions I’ve been to. “What styles of music have you played?” “Well, I was in a ska band a few years ago…” Always I get the same sad smile.
It’s not like I don’t know how to play. I can play all kinds of styles, mostly because I’ve been sitting here for four years with iTunes on shuffle, learning random songs.
There’s a bug that you get when you’ve been in a band that makes you want to do it again, even if things didn’t go very well the last time. The breakup of a band isn’t something that leaves you so jaded you quit music altogether, it just leaves you wanting more.
Isn’t there anyone in this town who wants to start a good old-fashioned rock band? Or a punk band? What happened to college being a time of trying to find yourself and fulfilling artistic possibilities?
Where did the dreams of trying to be a rock star go? When people ask me what I want to do with my double majors in creative writing and Spanish I always answer the same way. Plan A is to be a rock star. They smile and nod, but I’m serious.
This is really just a desperate addition to my “rock isn’t dead” series, a hope that someone will read this and drop me a line about needing a space to store their drum set.
If not, this is a desperate plea for all of the drummers in town to walk around with signs that say “Drummer for hire” so that musicians in need can find you.
Have your sights set on being a drummer in a local rock band? Just want to talk about the frustrations of being a struggling musician in Madison? Want to make fun of Jeremy being a band of one? Shoot Jeremy an e-mail at jgartzke@wisc.edu.
