Stereotyping, stupid drummers, and other fun stuff.

[Tim Read]

Here's something I was thinking about (since I can get a lot of this)..
Are you ever stereotyped because of age/sex/etc? (This is, of course,
in reference to what people THINK you're playing based on those
factors.)
Due to the fact that I'm 16, people take on that "Aww, how cute, another
alternative rock drummer." Then, my kit. Double bass. "Oh, he's a metal
drummer, is he?". That is about as annoying as hell to me... I would think
that I'm not the only person who has to deal with stuff like this.
Then of course, there's the "less popular drummer" thing. Let's see. I'm not
as popular as another kid in our school band, sooo.. I'm not as good as him?
Uh, yeah, and Peter Erskine plays speed metal, and is really the drummer on
every Metallica album. (No, I'm not saying Metallica is speed metal.) That, of
course, is just a lack of information.
Then, there is, of course, the "Stupid drummer" syndrome. That's why I
remeber something Timm (I'm spelling it with 2 M's, I'm assuming it's right, as
that's what TD said) Biery said in Talking Drums- "I told the engineer on a
session the other day that I reserve the right to be stupid because I'm a
drummer. The stigma of being a drummer is still there with a lot of guys."
Pretty funny, but it's true.
Well, another lame attempt at killer thread-making without trying to start
a flamefest.

-Tim Read
-St. Louis
-NP:Romeo & Juliet/Prokofiev

[MuffinHead]

Ya know, I've never experienced any stereotyping that I was aware of.
Although I'm sure people called me a Peart wanna-be back in high school
when my set and style had a marked resemblance to Peart's.
Now that I have no real bass drums or toms in my set, people come up to
me after a set or so and say things like "man, I thought this thing was
gonna sound like a drum machine, but it sounds incredible." It's not a
"drummer" stereotype, but more of an "equipment" stereotype.
But what's it matter? Sure, it might be hard to get a gig or something
because people think you're one type of drummer. But surely your playing
will speak volumes more than your image projected by your set.

Muff Armpit Studios VII
Drummer, Mac geek Iowa City, IA
http://www.netins.net/showcase/muff/
_____________________________________________________________________
Boy, giraffes are selfish.
--Deputy Bernard [P.|Milton|Oliver] Fife

[Tim Read]

> But what's it matter? Sure, it might be hard to get a gig or something
> because people think you're one type of drummer. But surely your playing
> will speak volumes more than your image projected by your set.

Of course. My point is when I'm talking to people who haven't heard me play,
or when they FIRST see what I've got on my kit, that's when people stereotype.
I'm not saying this is incredibly common, but it has happened a few times.
You know, that first impression thing.

-Tim Read
-St. Louis
-NP:I'm Broken/Pantera/Far Beyond Driven

[Rich Child]

> Of course. My point is when I'm talking to people who haven't heard me play,
> or when they FIRST see what I've got on my kit, that's when people stereotype.
> I'm not saying this is incredibly common, but it has happened a few times.
> You know, that first impression thing.
> -Tim Read
> -St. Louis
> -NP:I'm Broken/Pantera/Far Beyond Driven

you would notbelieve the problems i have had with this 'stereotyping'. i
have a nine piece kit but i have my 18" floor tom on my left next to my
hi-hat. i went to audition for this band, i primarily play progressive
metal, at least when i am playing drums, but i went with my kit but i
didn't take two kicks i just took one with a double pedal. they looked at
the 18" tom and said "why you need it over there?" and "wuts up with the
single bass drum?" they were not gonna give me the gig because i didn't
look like a "metal drummer" then i stared playing some Colaiuta (from
zappa) and then went into a solo. they offered me the gig after all but i
decided they were too stupid to know the difference between me and the guy
who can play nothing BUT 16th's on double bass.

______________________________________________________________________________
/~~~\___/~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
( /-------
| ]---#----#-----------------------/#~#~#~/
| ]---#----#-----------------------> / 6-string bass and drums--
| ]---#----#-----------------------\#~#~#\ Rich Child
( * * \ (mua...@tamos.gmu.edu)
\ * *_/-----\__\ (http://tamos.gmu.edu/~muaddib/muaddib.html)

"Give me six strings and two sticks and I'll show you what groove is."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------x

[jonsc...@delphi.com]

I have short hair, dress fairly straight, and carry myself somewhat
intelligently. I have a house, a wife, a pool, 2 dogs, and a steady job for
over 12 years...and nobody would ever, EVER guess I was drummer - I'm too
stable...too normal.

But I like it that way. When the truth comes out, it makes a real impact
because they don't see the stereotypical musician.

And there are definitely stereotypical musicians - I know a bunch. And there
are also a lot of "normal" guys and girls out there who happen to be players.

Variety is the spice...etc.

Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz
with Weird Al Yankovic (for 15 years).
See...stable as hell.

[Jeff Huffman]

In article <3qa6qg$k...@data.interserv.net>,
Tim Read <Tr...@interserv.com> wrote:

[snip]

>Then, there is, of course, the "Stupid drummer" syndrome. That's why I
>remeber something Timm (I'm spelling it with 2 M's, I'm assuming it's right, as
>that's what TD said) Biery said in Talking Drums- "I told the engineer on a
>session the other day that I reserve the right to be stupid because I'm a
>drummer. The stigma of being a drummer is still there with a lot of guys."
>Pretty funny, but it's true.

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I've run into a
sort of "stupid drummer" syndrome numerous times. When someone comes
up to me during a gig and we start talking, it sometimes comes up that
I'm getting my PhD in physics. By their obvious shock, I think they
must have some "dumb drummer" stereotype in mind beforehand. Almost
always after they find this out, however, they go in the extreme
opposite direction and assume that I'm tremendously smarter than I
am. I can live with that, though :)

Later,
Jeff

[RCollinsMD]

I just turned 18 and I in a small town in upstate NY, and I've
experienced sort of the same thing (though quite a while ago).. For
instance I'll be playing a gig with a jazz combo or something.. I have
done that for quite a while now, so the people who have seen me play look
at me and think "He's clean cut, skinny, small drum set (because I don't
bring all of my 7 peices on a jazz gig)" and they think all I can do is
play jazz... In reality, I didn't start playing jazz until about 2 years
ago... before that I was a "Neil Peart is GOD" type of drummer and I
didn't listen to a lot of types of music.. I think I've come full circle
-- I listened to RUSH RUSH RUSH, then slowly got into jazz, now I have at
least 40 jazz CDs, but I'm still listening to Rush, and the knowledge of
jazz that I gained had given me a new perspective on Rush...
I have sort of experienced the "dumb drummer" stigma that a lot of
us get stuck with, but I also play classical and jazz (a little) piano and
a little bass (no, NOT with a pick:), and recently I conducted our
school's pit orchestra for West Side Story... So I haven't experienced the
stigma since :)... Anyway, let's get to the fun stuff... Are you in a
band?? If so what kind of music do you play and do you have any tapes?
Later,

Tim Collins

[Hoppy]

Drummers have more skins; thats why they are so sensitive!