Ahoy mateys! Earlier this year I met Isabel Smith, a journalist from the People magazine. I made contact with her through Dimeshift as I was trying to get us featured in the magazine. After listening to our album, she immediately became a fan and over the course of the year we’ve become pretty good friends

Isabel recently decided to enter the world of blogging and sent me some questions for a blog post… you can see the results here: http://izzy-musicnstuff.blogspot.com/2010/09/drumsmith.html

Follow her blog… I can guarantee that there are going to be many interesting posts to read!

A few weeks ago I performed with Dimeshift at a venue called Muso’s International. Before us there was another band, Eden Michelle, a two piece consisting of bassist Luis Getulio and Singer/Guitarist Eden Michelle. After their set, I started talking to Luis and asked him about their ‘drummer’ situation. He told me they’re looking for a drummer so I suggested that I could play for them…

This past Saturday we had our first jam session/band practise. I had been able to learn a few of her songs beforehand and on Saturday we put it all together. It was great. Luis is an awesome bassist from Mozambique and he has a great groove and feel. Eden is a natural performer… she has energy and a powerful voice. Check out her website www.edenmichelle.com.

We’ve got a second practise coming up this week. I’m looking forward to gigging and seeing how that goes. I think she has a lot of potential!

It’s about time I update this blog! I’ve been pretty busy preparing for the exam, so that’s my excuse.

Yesterday, 2 August 2010, I took the Trinity Rock School Grade 8 exam for drums. After a couple months of preparing, I felt pretty confident about it. I was nervous because I haven’t done any of the previous grades apart from Grade 1 (which was years ago), but once I sat behind the kit and started to play, I felt right at home.

My overall experience was both challenging and fun. Before the exam I was given a “quick study piece” (an unseen piece that I had to perform) and 20 minutes to prepare it. It was a funk piece so I was really happy about that. After the 20 minutes were up, I went to the exam room to adjust the drum kit and prepared to start the exam.

The examiner was a really friendly man from the UK (I think). Firstly I performed the QSP for him and then went on to perform the three songs that I had prepared for the exam. Everything went pretty smoothly apart from a few small mistakes. I was aiming for a distinction and I think those mistakes may have cost me that. After performing the songs, we continued to the technical exercises which were some snare pieces and a technical solo. I had a shaky start to the solo but managed to settle in after the first bar. Finally there were two ear tests, a short snare pattern (that I think I messed up completely) and a groove that I had to replay.

Now it’s just a three week wait for the results . All in all, I’m really glad I took the exam. It was a fun experience and if anything, I wish that I had continued to study drums when I was younger rather than waiting all this time. I hope to update this blog more regularly now that the exam is over. There is likely to be some big news in the near future… but not yet ready to be made public knowledge lol. I have no idea who might be reading this thing!

Woah… I’ve really been slacking with this blog thing!

I wanted my next post to be about my new snare drum but unfortunately Wesley hasn’t been available to take some cool pics yet, so it will have to wait. In the meantime, I’ve set up a youtube channel for Dimeshift and have uploaded the first video from Splashy Fen… check it out!

Dimeshift -- Let You Down (live)

This song is the first single off our album and is currently play listed on student and community radio stations around South Africa

This past weekend was the Splashy Fen 2010 music festival! Dimeshift was on the lineup and we were given a great slot too… 10PM, Friday night What an awesome show… let me tell you how it went down…

So Friday morning I was up at 4AM to get ready and then drive through to Mo’s house. We wanted to leave for KwaZulu-Natal at 5.30AM since it’s quite a far distance to Underberg, where the festival took place. That night I hadn’t been able to get much sleep due to the excitement.

We ended up leaving Mo’s place just after 6AM for the long trek to Underberg. It was 9 hours later when we finally arrived. Kevin had arrived the day before, so he organised us a good camping spot and had already set up our tents for us. We just spent the rest of the day chilling by our tents and chatting about random things. As the sun began to set and the weather cooled, we prepared ourselves for one of our best performances yet.

At about 8PM I fetched my bongo from the car and Mark grabbed an acoustic guitar. We started jamming together and singing with the other guys. It was a good warm-up before the show… we then headed backstage at 9PM to meet the stage manager. I also met up with Vangie who was in charge of the film crew. They filmed four of our songs which we will have up on YouTube as soon as possible

Catlike Thieves performed before us and they set the stage alight! I couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by their act and the way they got the crowd going. It really was brilliant. At 10PM it was time for us to take the stage. I rushed to get my cymbals mounted and tweak the positions of the drums. Before I was ready, the stage manager asked Mo if we could start. Speaking into the mic, Mo responded, “We’re just waiting for Geoff.”, at which point the crowd started shouting, “Geoff! Geoff! Geoff!”. What a great way to start the show!

Before I knew it, I was tapping the guys into our first song, “Lost And Found”… I didn’t even get a chance to hook my metronome up. We blasted away from the start to end… the entire set was action packed and full of energy. As I banged the drums, it was great to see the crowd’s response – people were jumping, clapping, shouting… Awesomeness. Mo really had everyone captivated… there must have been about 400 people. In what felt like 5 minutes, we had reached the end of our set.

As I got up to throw my sticks into the crowd, we began to receive an encore. Mo decided to end off with a cover of The Lemonheads’ punk version of Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel. It was an excellent way to end the night. I have to say this was probably the best gig I’ve ever played. Things are really looking up for us

Woah… it’s been a long time since I last posted an update on this journey of mine…

I don’t really have much to tell though So let me just write a short post to let you know that I’m still alive hehe. Practicing and things with Dimeshift are going very well. Preparations for the Rock School Grade 8 exam have been a little slow, but I keep working at it. I’ve also kept up with the YouTube videos, so there are quite a few to watch now.

Some big things in the pipeline at the moment are the arrival of my long awaited custom snare drum from Shine Drums, and two fairly big music events that Dimeshift will be performing at… Joburg Burning 3 and Splashy Fen. I’ll definitely be posting more about these, when they happen

Over the past three weeks I’ve been away on a holiday to Israel, Jordan and Egypt. When I was in Egypt, I was having such bad withdrawal symptoms from drumming, that I bought a doumbek drum . Hahaha, ok it wasn’t THAT bad… but I thought the drum had such an awesome sound that I had to get it. It’s an aluminum shell with a beautiful mother of pearl mosaic finish and also has a replaceable head.

The next day we were on a Felucca sail boat on the Nile and that night we stopped at the shore where we built a bonfire. Our tour group and some locals spent the night drumming away and singing around the fire… it was a pretty fun experience… playing drums on the banks of the river Nile!

Well, that’s all for now Thanks for reading!!!

On 15 November last year, I uploaded my first YouTube video. It was of me playing my interpretation of the drums to a song called “You’re Not Alone” by Saosin. I recorded the video with my cellphone, hooked my electric kit up to the computer to record the drums, and then edited it all together. It was a lot of fun, and since then I’ve uploaded three more songs.

It’s been just over two months since that first video and I have to say that it’s been a really great experience so far. YouTube is definitely an excellent way to get yourself out there and to show people what you can do. On top of that, you get to find out what people think of you (good and bad). I’ve also found it extremely useful in terms of being able to watch myself play and see what I can improve in terms of my posture, technique and playing style… as well as my expression, or rather lack of expression, while playing.

Over this short time, I’ve managed to connect with quite a few other YouTubers and make a some new friends. I’m currently working on an instrumental piece with a person from Germany – It’s been really interesting since I haven’t done anything like this before. I’m also working on a cover of another song with a guitarist from Belgium. And about 5 minutes ago, someone from Canada sent me a message saying that he would like to jam together. I’ve had two cover requests as well. All of this has been really encouraging and has helped a lot with building my confidence as a drummer.

If you haven’t seen any of the videos yet, you can check them out here. I’m working on quite a few at the moment, so I’ll have some new ones up soon

It’s a new year and it’s been almost 6 months since I started on this journey. As cliche as it sounds, the time really has flown by and I think now is a good opportunity for me to reflect on the past 6 months and what I’ve achieved in terms of getting closer to my goal.

• Started drum lessons with Georg Voros. This is one of the best decisions I’ve made… I only wish I had started years ago. Georg is a great mentor and has really helped to refine my technique and overall playing.
• Pearl Demon Drive double bass pedal. A great investment which adds a whole new dimension to the world of drumming. However this year I definitely need to spend more time with double bass exercises.
• Rocking the Daisies music festival in Cape Town with Sean Hayz Band. What an experience! It was great performing on the main stage… something I’d like to do way more often.
• Joined Dimeshift as their permanent drummer. It was a really big step leaving Sean Hayz Band since I had been playing drums with him for almost 5 years. Things with Dimeshift are going really well and I’m really happy with the guys We’re hoping this year will be a big one for us. Already booked for Splashy Fen and possibly Joburg Burning as well. The new album is also finished and ready to be launched.
• Shine Drums. Although I haven’t received it yet, last month I put the deposit down for a new custom snare drum from Shine. I’m excited to support this fine drum company. Hopefully I will be able to get a new kit from them sometime in the near future.
• Trinity Rock School grade 8 preparation. Initially I didn’t think I would do the exam but George suggested it and I started preparing last year. I’ll be sitting the exam in June/July this year.
• Uploaded my first few drumming videos on YouTube. I’ve been getting a lot of good responses which is really encouraging. If you haven’t seen them yet… here’s my channel. There will definitely be a lot more to come this year.

All in all, I’m really happy with the progress that I’ve made so far and I’ve got a feeling that 2010 is going to be a great year! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and follow me on this journey. My hope is that you will receive God’s richest blessings in your life this year. Don’t stop chasing your dreams!

Early in November I met a drummer from the US, Jason, on twitter. He’s the drummer for Gwen McCrae. We started chatting about drums and our setups and then he told me about his dream kit, made by a company called Shine Drums.

Jason's Dream Kit

I had never heard of Shine Drums before, so decided to visit their website and find out more about them. They are a custom drum company based in the US and they make drum kits customized to each client’s exact specifications. I was immediately interested and emailed them to find out more.

At around the same time I had also started looking at getting a new snare drum, a bell brass snare to be specific. I had my eye on a Tama snare from their Warlord Collection: The Praetorian. After receiving a reply from Shine Drums’ President, Sean Staples, we started talking about what Shine Drums had to offer. I asked him if they were able to provide me with a bell brass snare and was pleasantly suprised when he confirmed that this would be possible. The Praetorian immediately slipped out of my mind as I started imagining all the possibilities that a custom drum had to offer. Sean and I spoke about the various options and yesterday I paid the deposit for my new snare I’m now officially part of the Shine Drums family!

I’m not gonna tell you what it’s going to look like … but I will definitely post some pics as soon as it arrives!

I promised you an update on how the gigs went … here it is.

On Monday the excitement and nervousness had already started. We had an intense practise that night and I felt really confident that the shows were going to be good. Tuesday came and just seemed to drag on forever… I was really looking forward to the gigs, feeling like a kid on Christmas eve. On Tuesday night I couldn’t even fall asleep as my mind replayed each song and I pictured each groove, making sure I remembered all the breaks and fills. Wednesday finally arrived and it was even slower than Tuesday. While I sat at work, I listened to the songs from our set and my heart started racing each time I thought about playing them. I’ve played a lot of gigs before but I had never felt so excited or nervous as I did for these.

I arrived at the venue early to set up my kit. We played at the new Cool Runnings in Victory Park which had only opened on the previous Friday. Everything looked new… the tables, chairs, bar, and their sound system as well. After setting up and sound checking we relaxed and chatted with our friends. I was feeling more nervous than ever. Our first set was scheduled to start 21h30.

While waiting to get started I also met Sergio, a friend who I’ve gotten to know through Twitter over the past month. He wrote an awesome feature about the gig, which you can check out here.

At 21h30 we started our set. The venue was relatively empty with about 50 people. Nevertheless, as we got into it  I started to relax and really began to enjoy the music. The set went well and 14 songs later we got off stage for a short break before our next set. The second set consisted of another 13 songs and we ended at about midnight. My hands took quite a beating that night and I had sweat dripping from my brow. It was the first time I’d played this many songs in one go… It was a great warm-up though because I had no idea what I was going to be in for at the following night’s gig. All I knew was that this was the most fun I’d ever had performing and I couldn’t wait for the next one.

I managed to get to bed at 02h00 Thursday morning… 4 hours of sleep and then up for work. Another long day as my excitement and nervousness started building up yet again for the gig that night. After work I headed home to get changed and then it was off to Cool Runnings in Benoni to get set up.

This time was totally different to the previous night. I’d have to say about a billion times better. The venue was packed to the brim… I’m sure there were about 250 people. There was a great vibe and we had the crowd captivated from the very first song. Our first set was full of energy and I already broke a sweat after the second song. Time flew by and before I knew it we had already played 14 songs. It was really great seeing people enjoy the music and dance while we performed, especially when we played our originals.

The second set was action packed… we put everything we had into it. When it came to Green Day’s ‘Minority’, I got to perform a short drum solo as well and managed to pull it off. At the end of our last song the crowd was left screaming for more, so Mo gave them a solo rendition of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Under the Bridge’ and then we ended the night with The Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’. All in all it was a fantastic evening

I really can’t wait for the next one – New Year’s Eve