It's A Deal

Earlier this week I was in the company of drummers. I'm seldom happier than when I'm in the company of drummers, the feeling of fraternal shared experience is very strong and really quite unique.

A couple of conversations particularly stuck with me. Several glasses were enjoyed in the company of one of the UK's justifiably most in demand freelance drummers. I commented that it must be a pleasant departure to talk to another drummer without the inevitable 'hustle' coming into the equation. My friend said that he is besieged by approaches from drummers looking for deps, gig recommendations etc multiple times every day. Personally I rarely dep gigs out unless I can absolutely avoid it. I choose the work I want to do where assignments tick a minimum number of specific boxes, and having made the commitment I stick by it. More than once in my years as a bandleader I have had been on the receiving end of feeble excuses because someone got offered a gig that paid a tenner more.

The grand prize goes to the musician who told me he had to stay at home because he was having a new kitchen fitted.

On a Sunday.

Also it's worth bearing this in mind; when someone books a specific musician to do a specific gig it's because they want 'that guy', and if 'that guy' is not available they will call 'that other guy' who is next on their list. Rarely if ever will they ask 'that guy' for a recommendation so remember this and don't be a nuisance.

If you play well enough people cannot possibly ignore you.
Things have rarely if ever happened over night and in the modern, congested industry things take longer than ever to move forward.

Take care of things musically and personally, handle your public profile appropriately and before you know it you will be getting the calls because you are 'that guy', after all the years of being 'some guy', which is how it starts for everybody.

OK, now it's time to own up.
How many young (and not so young) players reading this have a drum endorsement and a feature in a magazine at or near the top of their wish list?

A little recognition can go a long way and very often compensates for the years of effort and sacrifice, especially if as a wide eyed youngster you were drawn to a genre of music which is notoriously poorly paid, (yes, me!)

However, another word to the wise if I may.
Also this week it was a pleasure to spend time in the company of a British drum industry legend. An artist relations guy who is the best in the business and justifiably universally admired and respected.
He spends half his working life having to read emails that begin thus;

"My band is about to get signed".
"I am a 15 year old session drummer".

Similar advice holds good yet again. Instrument manufacturers and distributors have to make tiny budgets go a very long way and your introductory email is little more than a nuisance. If you are going to be of interest to the companies then you are already on their radar whether you realise it or not, and if they haven't noticed you yet keep doing the right thing until they do, because if you do it well enough for long enough they surely will. And when they notice you and you get to where you want to be, don't forget to keep taking care of business. It's a small industry and news travels fast, but bad news is at its destination before good news has got its shoes on.

Just like with getting gigs, go out there and network, get your videos uploaded, buy a ticket to the key drum events, get yourself down there and above all...........

Be nice.

Do that for long enough and to paraphrase the old saying, you'll be important too.

For more information about clinics, masterclasses, personal tuition, guest appearances or any of my bands click here

Wood. You Believe It.

Sometimes it's the really simple things that make the difference, and this little piece of simplicity provokes a disproportionately high level of curiosity so I shall attempt to explain.
As I tend to play largely acoustically resonance and projection are key, and I tune my drums for a bright, wide open sound without the extremes of over tuning favoured by some jazz drummers. To my mind a bass drum is a bass drum and should be in an appropriate register not sounding like a 16 inch floor tom.

So, bright, open sounding drums is the thing for me. One thing that is far more difficult to control though is the physical response of the drums in different acoustic settings, and as a drummer for whom technical facility is an absolute requirement of the musical context in which I regularly play, tuning for stick response is as important as tuning for sound. That means bottom heads a little tighter than top heads because if they are vibrating at a higher frequency the air moving inside the drum will maximise the response from the playing side.

However, you can spend all day fine tuning the instruments but if you get to work to find you are setting up on thick carpet that will suck all the life and brightness out of the drums. Sometimes in a challenging acoustic or in the studio that can be just what is needed, but for me a responsive snare is an absolute.

Anytime you get to play acoustic music in a beautiful concert hall on a wooden stage the drums sound and respond at their best. I remember vividly an afternoon concert at Muse Ark Hall in Japan, a more beautifully crafted and precision engineered performance space I have rarely if ever seen, and it brought out the very best in me as a player.

Fast forward a few years and I was in the Battersea branch of Homebase and they had offcuts of oak flooring for 50p each. On a whim I bought three of them and the difference in the snare drum response was incredible.  Brighter, clearer and much faster, so no matter where I'm playing, be it on a squelchy carpet, in a marquee, outdoors set up on grass (the worst! ) my snare drum sound and hand technique go everywhere with me.  On those occasions when I'm playing a house kit and the wood floor stays at home the difference is extraordinary, but for the most part I have my own go anywhere, portable concert hall stage. £1.50 well spent.

For more information about clinics, masterclasses, personal tuition, guest appearances or any of my bands click here

Reputation, Reputation, Reputation

As a few of you may know in November last year I had the great good fortune to be asked to stand in for Harvey Mason at the 2015 London Drum Show. Harvey had an accident at home and sadly was unfit to fly. The brief was to be first artist on the main stage on the Saturday morning. I had heard a rumour on the Wednesday that something might be happening, but I didn't get confirmation until Thursday afternoon of what was already a very busy week. Too busy in fact to have time to be nervous about the drum show. I did it and it was pleasingly well received. I remembered that all important strategy for this kind of performance. 

There are several hundred drummers out front and all their eyes are on you.
Remember though, that it is highly likely that the vast majority of them have only heard you play on possibly one or two occasions if at all. If they are hearing you for the tenth time the chances are that in their estimation you can do no wrong so that's fine as well.
Bearing that in mind stick to things you know are comfortable, familiar and that you play really well. Don't go too far out on a limb. Because we all know our own playing very well it has a familiarity. Don't let that sense of familiarity fool you into thinking that you might run the risk of being 'boring' to the audience. Don't worry. That won't happen.

In fact, this piece of advice (as my good friend Mike Scott pointed out to me earlier today) is pretty much bomb proof in 90% of musical environments. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times when I have been chastised for 'not being busy enough'. The great Harry 'Sweets' Edison once said I was too quiet (believe it or not) and a bandleader I worked for in a quartet on the QE2 once upbraided me for 'swinging too much'. 

Having said that I did once see a legendary drummer do a clinic which was practically a word for word repetition of his tuition video from a couple of years previously, so if you are working in this sphere of the industry at all regularly it is important to keep things fresh.

Anyway, back to the London Drum Show. In the end the performance went very well and was pleasingly  well received. I was satisfied  to have met the challenge offered and to have delivered something at an appropriate standard . Quite an honour I'm sure you'll agree, but how do these things come about? Why me? With so many great players to choose from why was I the lucky so-and-so whose name got drawn out of the hat?

One word answer: reputation.

What the show organisers were looking for was a London based drummer with a profile, whose gear wasn't in an air cargo depot somewhere, who had plenty of drum show experience without suffering from the old enemy over-exposure, could be depended upon to show up at Olympia at stupid o'clock to get set up and isn't afraid of playing to a room full of drummers, including many international industry heavyweights.

So how do we go about creating a reputation? Some musicians seem to be skilled, proactive and switched on in this regard. It's a quality to incorporate early on and in today's congested and competitive industry it's more important than ever. 

First you need to create the right kind of reputation and having done so you then need to manage it carefully. There follows a selection of dos and don'ts plus a few anecdotes which will hopefully serve to illustrate how the waters can get a bit choppy from time to time. 

Sometimes it's a distinct advantage to just be a safe pair of hands. Do a solid, competent and reliable job. Play the music, it's not a drum clinic. Don't make waves. Don't draw attention to yourself. 
This simple advice will take you a long way until the vagaries of human nature get in the way. I admire the special cameraderie that exists amongst my many brass and woodwind playing colleagues, especially when a great new talent appears on the scene.  When there are four or five players in a section they will make room for new talent whereas a drummer might find himself out of a job if the dep if just a bit too good. Believe me, it happens, so a solid, unfussy job will help you get established without frightening the living daylights out of your peers. 

About twenty years ago I booked a noted UK drummer to cover three big band gigs for me. The gigs came and went, the job got done.
My dep called me to say thanks (nice touch, good manners) and proceeded to tell me that he thought he hadn't played all that well on the first gig but by the third he had come to feel very comfortable in the environment.
The next time I saw the bandleader he told quite a different story. His version was that my dep had done a great job on the first gig but by the third was putting in way too much and constantly overplaying.
You don't need me to explain that one to you do you?

I always advise students to aim to become versatile all-round players. Try not to become too closely associated with a very specific musical genre or playing style. As an aspiring professional drummer you need to take a look at what the industry is going to require from you and do your level best to meet those criteria . It's important to appeal to the maximum number of potential employers. Be prepared to play quite a lot of music you might not like all that much in order to establish a sure foothold in the scene. As Bob Moses said in his very valuable book Drum Wisdom, 'If you know music, you know the drums'. This is exactly what I did over 30 years ago when it became time to break out of the local scene in the Midlands.

In order to go out there, compete and make a living I had to broaden my perspective from being a big band/straight ahead jazz drummer. This involved absorbing other styles and making sure that my drums sounded right for what was the industry expectation of the mid 80's through to the mid 90's. Nailing down working with a click was an absolute necessity at that time, which fortunately I was able to get together very quickly, having been really quite bad at it on my first couple of attempts. Later I got the opportunity to specialise in the music and playing styles closest to my heart but in order to get to that point I served a lengthy apprenticeship which covered a whole range of music. A possible downside of being a specialist comes the risk of typecasting. As your profile increases people will often tend to associate you with the playing style and musical genre that has put you in the public eye. How flattering is it to be mentioned in the same breath as B***y R**h and others of that ilk and to have a profile in the industry for anything is a great compliment, but I think many readers might be surprised to know the wide range of things I have done in years gone by and sometimes still do today. If it pays properly and you're reasonably sure you can handle it always say yes. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 


We all know the timeless anecdotes about some of the great 'character' drummers of times past; Keith Moon, Phil Seamen and all the rest. The stories are legendary and have passed into drummer folklore. Sadly though the lives of these big personalities often come off the rails and end in tragedy.

Once upon a time it was only the 'name' players whose indiscretions came to the attention of a wider public. Also the laws of supply and demand have made the shelf life of the hooligan muso a great deal shorter. 

Social media has changed everything. 

More than once I have seen good drummers (and other musicians) having very public disputes on Facebook and elsewhere  (it used to be internet forum pages before that).
Social media is an extension of your performance and has added a whole new dimension to the concept of word of mouth. Starting wars, doing dirty laundry or having a meltdown in a public place  (because it is) will always reflect badly on you, not your intended victim. You wouldn't strip naked on stage (I hope you wouldn't unless expressly contracted to do so) so think before you rant. A well thought out post can be compelling and effective, but that doesn't include calling someone a **** because they got a gig you felt should have been yours or you covet their drum endorsement.

People see posts and share posts. Don't push the self distruct button on your career with a hasty, drunken status update.

 Be outstanding, but don't stand out for the wrong reasons

Inevitably at some time or another  the green eyed monster will raise its ugly head. Keep a careful eye out for it.

"Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies". One of many classic Gore Vidal quotes but  frequently all too true.

My late manager Derek Boulton said, as we sat in our office (a cafe in Dolphin Square) putting together the UK wide tribute to Buddy Rich tour which ran from January 2010 to September 2011, that I would be on the receiving end of some jealousy from one or two people out there in the industry, and how right he was. A fellow drummer besieged Derek with (very poor quality) publicity about his own (rather poor quality) big band project. He also called every theatre we were due to appear at saying
"Don't book Pete Cater, book me instead". Probably his finest hour though was when he posted a comment on a (very balanced and favourable) review of a concert we did at Cadogan Hall. His splenetic outpouring was a) bordering on libellous, b) written under the same false name he uses to post Youtube videos and c) beseeching the reader to be one of the lucky 8 or 9 people to be in the audience at his upcoming gig at the Spice of Life. The best thing about this guy is that although I've never made any mention of this to him he absolutely knows that I am aware of his escapades and have no hesitation in telling people at every opportunity. Read this and squirm. Another 'foot shooter' was a writer I brought in to collaborate on some arrangements I had in mind, copies of which he sold  to a band in the USA thinking me too stupid ever to uncover his misdeeds. Those were the last charts he ever wrote for me, and he lost probably a hundred gigs too.


A slightly more perplexing scenario is when people brief against you in order to harm your reputation or diminish your standing. This is a little more difficult to control. Musicians love to gossip and put their rivals down behind their backs. Someone out there is saying something negative about you at some time. Live with it and stay strong.

A particular favourite of mine happened about four years ago at time of writing when I was asked by a fellow drummer to dep with a great band playing great music. The downside was that the gig necessitated a round trip of 630 miles which was in no way reflected in the remuneration on offer. Having given the matter due consideration I politely declined. The gig was about eight weeks away so my fellow drummer had plenty of time to find a substitute.
Imagine my surprise when two days before the gig I had declined was due  to take place, I received an email from the bandleader with the address and call time. I politely replied explaining that I was not doing the gig and had never accepted it. The only interpretation that can be put on this is that my fellow drummer had lied to the bandleader and told him I was booked and made me out to be the villain. Very, very bad form. Don't play games, you'll get caught sooner or later.

Even trusted friends will disappoint you sometimes. People who are friendly to your face but will put the knife in the minute your back is turned. Thankfully this is very much a rarity and I am fortunate to have a wide  network of contacts who are great people as well as great players. 

It's really important that you don't leave this post feeling that the music industry is a terrible place full of amoral low life! There are some sharks in the water and one or two snakes in the grass. They are quite adept at camouflage so hopefully having read this you'll be better able to recognise one should it cross your path.

For more information about clinics, masterclasses, personal tuition, guest appearances or any of my bands click here

Out Of The Comfort Zone

I have a student who is an orchestral percussionist. Not just any old orchestral percussionist but the principal percussionist in one of the world's most highly renowned orchestras. A big deal in other words.

Over the last year and a bit he has been coming in whenever his ludicrously busy schedule allows as he loves to play drums and has made huge strides at developing the facility, co-ordination and improvisational skills to do what's required in the jazz rhythm section.

For a while now I have been encouraging him to take a leap into unfamilar territory and find himself a jazz ensemble to play with from time to time. Being a busy pro player life gets in the way of course, but I hope he finds an outlet to take him beyond the backing tracks. Backing tracks are a great learning aid of course and have become ever more popular and sophisticated. The trouble is as a drummer you have no influence on the time and feel of a backing track, and a backing track can't buy you a beer in the pub afterwards. Needs must though, but they're not an end in themselves.

In a forthcoming post I am going to discuss practice in great detail (not for the first time) and the all important aspect of practice which is the maintenance of a well-rounded skill set. As profesional players we need to stay on top of our game insofar as is possible. Keep abreast of what's coming up in your diary, make sure you are prepared, ready to go, and give of your absolute best in every playing situation. In addition it's important to look at areas where perhaps you are inactive, styles and genres that you have not been called upon to play in the longest time. Bear in mind that you might just get that out of the blue phone call to do something left field, unfamilar or forgotten. The better prepared you are the more chance you have of getting the gig time and again.

It was thoughts such as these that prompted me to accept an offer to play a concert of popular orchestral music with the Birmingham based ensemble, The People's Orchestra. Have a look at the great work they are doing at www.thepeoplesorchestra.com

It was my good friend the distinguished film composer John Altman who introduced me to TPO via a jazz concert we did together in Birmingham roughly a year before the time of this writing, and through the modern phenomenon of social media the orchestra's CEO Sarah Marshall (give that woman an OBE this instant) made contact.



I have long been of the opinion that community based music performance at any skill level from absolute beginner to professional makes us a kinder, more inclusive society. When you are sitting next to somebody in a music ensemble the collective creative effort makes differences of religion, ethnicity and voting intention melt into the background.

Also very much in my mind in accepting this invitation was the educator's perspective. A great many of my students play in community big bands. for some of them this is the continuation of a lifetime of activity in this sphere of music. For others however this is uncharted water. With my 40 plus years of practical experience in this style it could be easy to forget exactly how it feels to be in at the deep end and not knowing exactly what the musical circumstances require. Whilst having done orchestral playing of one sort or another over the years (school orchestra-imagine a suicide bomber playing the accordion in a busy abbatoir: youth concert band-excellent and great sight reading grounding: some 'West End' type concert tours etc) the larger part of my performing career has been as a specialist in the big band and jazz worlds.

This was a key motivator in accepting the assignment. To spend a day out of the comfort zone, taking a new challenge (or in this instance a very old challenge which probably hasn't come up in about 20 years if I'm honest) in order that I might be better able to empathise with my students when they find themselves stepping up to the plate to do something unfamiliar.

There are key differences of course, probably the most significant one being how you deal with that piece of paper on the music stand.

The orchestral part is often written for several different instruments. The image above written over three staves is from a lengthy selection from David Arnold's score for 'Independence Day'. You can see this section has a busy snare part running through it which is by no means the most challenging aspect of this kind of a part. Looking at where the page turns come can make all the difference between getting all the way through smoothly and effortlessly or trying to turn the page, keep playing and keep your eye on the conductor at the same time. Suffice to say that by the time the bandcall was done this chart was covered in pencil notes to self along the lines of 'open first 3 pages', 'turn now' and so on.

Also different is the fact that in a 'rhythm section' type of drum chart the drummer is playing for most of the time. This establishes a close relationship between keeping time, reading the page and awareness of form. On a big band chart for example you won't get that many instances where you have lengthy tacets, and if you do they usually adhere to simple structures of 12, 16, 32 bars etc. The orchestral chart differs in that it is entirely possible that you might have to count your way through perhaps 86 bars of tacet before the next entry. Come in a bar early, especially if it's something big and dramatic, and everybody is going to know who blew it.

For me perhaps the biggest difference in the context of reading is the degree of interpretation. On a big band chart the instruction might be 'swing for 32 bars'. This leaves me free to embellish or strip down my time playing, whether it be the ride cymbal, left hand comping, use of the bass drum as a timekeeper or punctuator and so on. Alternatively a chart with a latin feel may have a suggested drum groove (almost always written by a non-drummer, some of them are truly awful!) but it's really up to us to use our ears and experience to come up with something that best enhances the music.

On an orchestral part you play exactly what's written. Nothing more, nothing less. You don't get the comfort of a 32 bar multi-measure where you can just groove, interact with the other musicians and then coolly glance back at the chart to see what the next chorus holds. 

The relationship between the player and the written part is entirely different. This for me was probably the biggest cross-genre culture shock. Not having had sight of the music beforehand can be a bit of a disadvantage as well, but more than ever this emphasises the importance of keeping the skill set sharp which is where I started. To that end I shall be limbering up with Anthony Cirone's 'Portraits in Rhythm' on all similar future occasions.

In the rhythm section the drummer is the boss. Even on a slow ballad with brushes it's our job to lay down the laws of time and rhythm. In the orchestra there is a lot more give and take all based upon how you interact with the conductor. I tend to play a fraction behind the conductor's beat as this just seems to give the other instruments time to play. Conductor Dan Watson was a pleasure to work with. His direction is clear, concise and inspiring, without any of the self regarding bombast and histrionics of which many are guilty. Added to which he was beyond tolerant and forgiving of the jazz interloper at the back of the band. 

I learned stuff too. 5/2 time has got a hell of a lot of beats and jazz ears won't help you find the downbeat in Wagner. 

So a day well spent outside the comfort zone. Try it for yourself. Go and play an unfamiliar style of music in an unfamiliar setting. It will give you enhanced perspective and enable you to experience music from a different standpoint. Incidentally if percussion is your thing and you live anywhere near Birmingham The People's Orchestra would be delighted to hear from you. 

PS: if anyone has a play along backing track of the Planet Suite with the percussion muted I'd be happy to hear from you.

For more information about clinics, masterclasses, personal tuition, guest appearances or any of my bands click here