Kingfisher: A Small Account of the Struggle (10)

Nick & Son…Mercenary Drummers

Craig’s oscillating enthusiasm for the band allowed for strange things to be made possible. For instance, in the beginning, at the height of Craig’s involvement, he purchased from his church more than $1000 worth of musical equipment he had no real use for. Without this equipment there was no way the band would have formed.

Another strange thing happened when Craig introduced us to Nick. Somehow through his levels of networking involved in his wedding video business, Craig was given the information for Nick, a Mercenary Drummer. Craig called Nick and learned that he was a working drummer playing in several bands gigging several nights a week.

Nick was a working drummer, but we learned early on that he was not interested in joining a band. He wanted to play paying gigs anytime he could. He was not interested in the journey. He wanted the quickest dollar he could find. I attribute much of this attitude to his age. Nick was much older that the rest of this and he was no stranger to the game. He’d been in bands before, and most likely devoted much of his time to projects that failed or produced no income. He’d seen the struggle and wanted nothing to do with it. He preferred an easy $100 and a night spent playing blues and country music in a dirty bar somewhere…any bar that would let him play. For this, I respected Nick.

Craig contacted Nick, and in an effort to set up an audition, discussed the possibility of meet Nick at A Step Up Lounge, the dive Nick drummed for the house band on Saturday nights. Nick claimed to know the owner very well; well enough to arrange a small set for the band. Nick asked for a list of songs we played, which Craig produced verbally. Nick said the songs would pose no problem for him. Thus our first gig was formed. The only problem was that this gig was in fact more of an audition.

A couple of things happened after Craig informed us of our first gig. We scheduled an extra practice to go over our first set which included: Midnight Special, Desperado (Jazz Version), Roadhouse Blues, Ain’t No Sunshine, Mr. Brightside. However, the week of the gig Craig received a call from another drummer wishing to audition. His name was Derek. We held a meeting to decide what strategic approach would be taken toward Derek and Nick. We worried that by keeping our distance from one or the other, we might lose out on the best possible fit for our band. This made for an exciting week for the band. We had a drummer audition on Tuesday, an extra practice to finalize our set list, and the band’s first ever gig (even though it was really only an audition.