A hopeful Facebook post

Bo Eder

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
I opened up my Facebook this morning and saw this post:

".....The arena is going crazy waiting for Demi Lovato and drummer Mike Reid in Nashville."

Of course, it's from a drum company fan-page and Mike Reid is playing these drums. I just had to reply with:

".....No disrespect, but I seriously doubt they even know who Mike Reid is"

Or am I wrong? Even very well-known drummers, are just part of the band, right? I thought it was somewhat amusing in a hopeful kinda' way ;)
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

Wally Groveholmer overcame this same drummers identity crisis by wearing recognizable hats.

Now he's the star of the show.
 
Bo Eder said:
I Or am I wrong? Even very well-known drummers, are just part of the band, right? I thought it was somewhat amusing in a hopeful kinda' way ;)
Click to expand...

To the general public, I think you are you are right. There are famous drummers who are known stickily for their talent and those known for the band they are playing with. It would be hard pressed to find any one person on the planet that has never heard of Buddy Rich, Ringo,or Gene Krupa. But they are the exception I think because of their unique talents and/or affiliations. I have found that even guys like Steve Smith are not really well known outside the drumming community. So much for drummers. ;-)
 
Well, they probably don't know who he is specifically, but they're still waiting for him because he's a part of the show they're there to see.
 
ncc said:
There are famous drummers who are known stickily for their talent...
Click to expand...

Interesting word choice there. Haha! I like it!

Travis Barker is well known, but he did have his own TV show for awhile, didn't he? I wonder what made him so famous?
 
With bands (such as The Monkees, Blink 182, U2, etc...) their fans know the names of the members. If the band is Beatles-big, the general public probably also knows their names. But for artists (such as Garth Brooks, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, etc.,) the players' identities are generally a mystery to most of their fans. This is partly due to changing their line-up regularly, and in the case of Nashville artists in particular, having one group of players in the studio, and another group on the road.

But an artist's backing band may be better known to fans, depending on the longevity and consistency of the players. Neil Diamond's band has included some of the same players for over 40 years, and some of them interact with the fans online (the Diamondville fan site is run by perennial keyboardist Tom Hensley.) And closer to home, Al's band has been the same for over 30 years, and we're well-known to the fans. The fact that I started chatting with fans online in 1993 and created Al's web site in 1995, certainly has helped with them being able to connect better with us.

As for the music community's awareness of who does what, that's very different scenario, and obviously we are more in tune (so to speak) to what our musician bretheren are up. Drummers tend to know what other drummers are doing, and so on for each instrument. But even within the profession, not everyone knows everything. For example, as drummers, who here knows who the Vinnie of bass guitar is? Who's the Gadd of guitar? Likewise, I know a well-respected, first-call guitar player in Nashville who hadn't heard of Vinnie!

Of course, there are always the hardcores who know most of the players out there, but they're in the minority.

Bermuda
 
bermuda said:
With bands (such as The Monkees, Blink 182, U2, etc...) their fans know the names of the members. If the band is Beatles-big, the general public probably also knows their names. But for artists (such as Garth Brooks, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, etc.,) the players' identities are generally a mystery to most of their fans. This is partly due to changing their line-up regularly, and in the case of Nashville artists in particular, having one group of players in the studio, and another group on the road.

But an artist's backing band may be better known to fans, depending on the longevity and consistency of the players. Neil Diamond's band has included some of the same players for over 40 years, and some of them interact with the fans online (the Diamondville fan site is run by perennial keyboardist Tom Hensley.) And closer to home, Al's band has been the same for over 30 years, and we're well-known to the fans. The fact that I started chatting with fans online in 1993 and created Al's web site in 1995, certainly has helped with them being able to connect better with us.

As for the music community's awareness of who does what, that's very different scenario, and obviously we are more in tune (so to speak) to what our musician bretheren are up. Drummers tend to know what other drummers are doing, and so on for each instrument. But even within the profession, not everyone knows everything. For example, as drummers, who here knows who the Vinnie of bass guitar is? Who's the Gadd of guitar? Likewise, I know a well-respected, first-call guitar player in Nashville who hadn't heard of Vinnie!

Of course, there are always the hardcores who know most of the players out there, but they're in the minority.

Bermuda
Click to expand...

That's why you're in the minority Bermuda! I play with and have become friends with the guitarist from Ambrosia and I swear that guy rattles off names I've never heard - but he's rather well-connected at this point I suspect ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top