Johnny Rabb

[Eustacio Gadit]

Accordingto Ed Sargent, johnny raBB Drumsticks has agreements with six of the largest distributors in the United States, giving them access to virtually every domestic music store. RaBB products are also available in 50 countries across the globe. After starting with a single innovative stick design a few years ago, the company now offers 100 different models including a standard drumstick line, brushes, mallets, and marching drum lines.

At the time (circa 1990), cassettes made up a larger part of the duplicating business than CDs, so Solomon bought a bunch of tape decks and a few computers for graphic-design work and went in a new direction. By 1992 he had closed the studio to focus on CD duplication exclusively. Back then, he only had two other employees, both of whom were also musicians. Now his company employs 32. This spring, he will move out of the two buildings which the company presently occupies in Flint Hill and move into a 13,500-square-foot facility in nearby Sperryville, Virginia.

Keyboardist Tom Love has worked for seven years as the electronics marketing manager for the Kawai America Corporation. He majored in jazz composition and arranging at Berklee and returned to his native Georgia shortly after completing his studies.

Love worked as a sales rep for Roland Corporation before joining the Kawai staff in 1995. During his tenure with Kawai, the company has seen its brand gain currency and several products that Love has worked on have won awards.

I got into drumming at an early age. My parents got me a toy drum set for Christmas when I was three years old. They also took me to local high school concerts and parades. I totally became addicted after attending these events. At first there was no formal training and I played by ear. The early days were frustrating, but fun! I finally began formal drum lessons with Michael Lawson at the age of 10.

I am motivated everyday to continue to improve and learn as much as possible on the drums. Each drummer I see has a different personality and style. This is what keeps me excited and headed down the path of never ending drum knowledge. There are so many great drummers in the world and I respect all of them. It is because of them that I am able to stay inspired and motivated.

As a clinician/educator you perform in front of thousands of other musicians/drummers each year. How exactly do you prepare your nerves for such a task? And what advice would you give to up and coming drummers in regards to preparing for such huge events, for example Musikmesse or NAMM?

As a clinician and an educator I try to realize that I am one of many that have something to share. When I was younger, I would get a little nervous in front of audiences. I never really had stage fright, but did worry about what the crowd might think of my performance. Then, I realized something after speaking to my friend and amazing drummer Nathaniel Townsley. Nathaniel always seems to play effortlessly and with such control. I love his playing and musicianship. I asked him if he ever got insecure or felt frozen about what he had just played. He responded by telling me that there was no reason why he should be worried. He then told me that he loved playing and always played what his heart told him during that moment. This made me realize that when I perform I have a choice to make. I can either worry and self-destruct my own performance, or not worry and play the drums to the best of my ability. When I start to worry or get a bit of stage fright, I remind myself not to worry, have fun and to play in the moment Thanks Nathaniel!

When preparing for NAMM or Musikmesse, I usually just make sure I have quite a repertoire of music ready. I use the Roland SPD-S to perform DJ like shows. So, I have a bunch of patches that I have made over the years that work for most any event. This combined with improvisation makes up 99% of my clinics, shows or other performances. For young and upcoming drummers I suggest that they learn as many different styles of music as possible. Also, try to get involved in other instruments so you can use this as a writing tool. It is a great feeling to play along with music that you compose. The last thing is to just keep going for what you believe in. I feel like we can do most anything that we put our minds to.

The process of writing an instructional drum book can be very tedious. However, the end result is the rewarding part of the time spent working it all out. I started with many transcriptions and original exercises that I wrote out. I kept everything in a notebook and just kept expanding my library of information. The more that I compiled, the easier it was to develop a flow for the book. Then I eventually was able to make a Table of Contents. From there it takes months of working with the publisher to layout the book format, add photos, edit, proof read and finally print! There was also an audio CD included which was a lot of fun, but a big learning process. Just remember to do your audio after you have the final Blue line copy of the book in front of you. This way all your track numbers will line up correct with the contents of the book.

Hands down you are regarded as one of the most inspirational and technically profound drummers of the last decade. Who were your favorite drummers growing up and who would you list as your influences (drum wise) now?

Neil Peart, Steve Smith, Steve Jordan, Gregg Bissonette, Vinnie C., Dennis Chambers, Tony Williams, Phil Gould, Simon Phillips, Jonathon Mover, Charlie Drayton, Abe Laboriel Jr., Peter Erskine, Omar Hakim, Robbie Ameen, Dave Weckl, Terry Bozzio, Gerry Brown, Ignacio Berroa, GO TO DRUMMERWORLD TO FIND MORE!

Can you tell our readers about some of the different groups that you have performed with, both, the past and the present? Also, how difficult is it to stay involved with a band when you have such a busy clinic/touring schedule?

BioDiesel is gearing up for some spring touring and festival dates. Clay and I are heading to Russia for some shows. We are scheduled to perform in Moscow and then I head home for a Canadian V-Drums tour.

We play a lot in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, New York and other states on the east coast. We have a bunch of festivals coming up including StarScape, Camp Bisco, Rochester Jazz Festival and The Projekt. This band is really fun and allows me to delve into the DJ side of drumming. I perform on a very small custom drum set and control Ableton LIVE with my Roland SPD-S sample pad via firewire. www.biodieselband.com

You seem extremely passionate about drum education and mention on your website that one of your goals is to try and share your approach to playing the drums, with other people. Drum education is a subject that I often find myself debating about among various groups of drummers. Could you please elaborate on why you feel drum education is so important?

He offers great information on every topic you can imagine at an amazing price. All you need is a high-speed net connection and a subscription. This is where I will end up teaching lessons in the near future. For now I have some videos up and will continue to develop content for his site. I still study from books, DVDs and online. Remember, you never stop learning and can always improve your skills as a drummer and musician.

In the next five years I hope continue performing and recording as much music as possible. I am very happy to have participated in all the past tours and events over the years. I look forward to more touring as a sideman and with my band projects. I also hope to release more drum products and educational materials. The industry grows every moment and will continue to develop as we move into the future. I believe that the internet will be our main source of information and will slowly replace our other sources of media. I also think that drummers will be better and better since the amount of educational material available for study increases on a daily basis.

I wish I could say that I had a set practice routine. Since I am on the road quite a bit, I never have a steady schedule of time to work with. So, I usually will practice on my pad in a hotel room when possible. I do plan on starting a new routine when the year slows down from touring.

I use a few different drum setups depending on what I am playing for. I will say that if I was given only one choice, I would use a standard 4 piece drum set. However, each gig is different and the music styles call for different sounds. So, below is a list of my setups. Check out www.johnnyrabb.com for photos and tours of my gear!

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