larcollins|music - Heads Will Roll, Part 2 - Up Sh*t Creek Without A Drummer

Back to December 2012.  My birthday that day had already been special after receiving the gift of studio time at a major recording studio.  But my day was far from over.  I had been invited by my friend and former bandmate Victor to meet up for birthday drinks at the Culver Hotel.  Victor and I share birthdays and have celebrated ours together in the past.  It had been a while since we'd seen each other.

I got there as most people were leaving but to my pleasant surprise another former bandmate of ours was also there  - Jon!  I hadn't seen Jon in years either since he moved back east.  I had been in a few bands with both of these guys.  The last one together being The Lula Stream, which to this day is the band that deeply broke my heart when we broke up.

I don't believe in coincidences, but it took me a few days for it to dawn on me.  How interesting was it that I'd unexpectedly run into two former bandmates right after I offered studio time?  Not just any two bandmates, but musicians I admired and absolutely trusted.

My session was set for January 4, 2013 in Studio A at Hensons.  I was nervous, anxious and excited as hell.  We wouldn't be starting until that afternoon, but of course something like this could never go smoothly, right?  That morning I hear from Victor.   He can't do the session.  

F***!!!  I have no drummer.

For the next few hours it was a mad scramble trying to find someone to replace him.  I mean someone who would work for free!  The one thing I was counting on with Vic was I knew I could trust his timing.  It's my biggest musical pet peeve - you can do all the fancy crap in the world on your instrument - flames could shoot from your fingers - but if you can't play to a click?  As far as I'm concerned you're completely useless. (Kids, always practice to a metronome.  You'll thank me later.)

 

I had friends who had friends willing to fill in for Victor.  Even Jon, who was still on for the session, knew someone.  But I was flying blind.  I was up sh*t creek without a drummer.  I needed to know whoever was coming in, had good timing.  I decided to go with Jon's guy.  I trusted Jon so I figured anyone he brought in had to be pretty good.  Right?  Right?