Aside from being the appointed "Keepers of all that is Time"...

How many of us play other roles in your groups?

I always thought being a drummer, I always had the van/SUV to haul the gear. Par for the course for me.

My brother practically owns a full studios worth of gear for people to just show up an jam.

Some are probably more a leader/singer/PR..?

What else do you do aside from your beat mastery?

Seems we drummers are expected? To being the gear transport ha! Also one thing hasn’t changed for me in 35 years, every single bass player I’ve ever jammed regularly with has ALWAYS needed a ride ha!
 
How many of us play other roles in your groups?

I always thought being a drummer, I always had the van/SUV to haul the gear. Par for the course for me.

My brother practically owns a full studios worth of gear for people to just show up an jam.

Some are probably more a leader/singer/PR..?

What else do you do aside from your beat mastery?
Backing Vocals, Co Lead Vocals, Sound Mix, Set List, Tech issues, arranging intros and outros, and on and on....
 
Aside from actually drumming:
- All graphic design; a shared load of social media and promotions
- co-writer, lyricist and arranger
- Reserve the practice space (my church)
- PA/sound
- Assist with booking, venue liaison
- Paymaster and tips splitter
- Setlists (with unique illustrations for every gig)
- photo collector/compiler
- Percussion backing tracks
 
Considering trying vocals with drumming. Did them both in bands separately wondering whether to invest that much time practicing both. Anybody do more than an instrument in live band?
I sing quite a bit, out of a 4 hour gig I'll probably sing lead on up to 15 tunes and backup on almost everything else. Side note, I am blessed with really, good vocalists in my band(s) and we love 3 or 4 part harmonies. If you can sing and drum, I'd encourage working on it... it increases one's value in the band world! ;)
 
Do you use a head mounted cordless mic or a drum stand for vocals? Which mic would you recommend?
Headset mics kind of suck. You can’t work them to keep a consistent volume, every little noise you make thru mouth and nose gets picked up, you can’t turn away to curse out the idiot requesting Freebird over and over, and they often distort terribly if the placement is wrong. I think it’s way better to use a boom and a regular mic.
 
Headset mics kind of suck. You can’t work them to keep a consistent volume, every little noise you make thru mouth and nose gets picked up, you can’t turn away to curse out the idiot requesting Freebird over and over, and they often distort terribly if the placement is wrong. I think it’s way better to use a boom and a regular mic.

Rofl note to self
 
Aside from actually drumming:
- All graphic design; a shared load of social media and promotions
- co-writer, lyricist and arranger
- Reserve the practice space (my church)
- PA/sound
- Assist with booking, venue liaison
- Paymaster and tips splitter
- Setlists (with unique illustrations for every gig)
- photo collector/compiler
- Percussion backing tracks

Nice ! Sounds like you need an assistant,
 
Do you use a head mounted cordless mic or a drum stand for vocals? Which mic would you recommend?
In addition to drumming for my band, I:
--sing lead on a few songs, back-up on every song (see my mic thoughts below)
--host weekly rehearsals in my bonus room
--manage the mixer and PA (items are owned by the band leader, but since everything is in my bonus room I am the one with 24/7 access to it to tinker with it), and also plan and arrange the stage plot and cable paths
--manage the band calendar and Google docs

Regarding mics, I use a Gator Frameworks stand with a 9 inch gooseneck and a Shure SM58. I position the stand immediately behind me and set it up high so the boom goes directly over my head and the gooseneck drops the mic down at my mouth level. I actually don't like the SM58 in this set-up because it orients horizontally and so it juts out in front of my face; I plan to buy a Shure Beta 56A because it is much smaller, high quality, and the input jack orients vertically so less metal jutting out in front of my face. Plus, if it's good enough for Mastadon's singing drummer Brann Dailey, it's good enough for me.

Here is a good segment on microphones for singing drummers from the podcast "Gig Gab":


Go to 21:17, where the host, drummer Dave Hamilton, answers my question about microphones and cables for singing drummers.
 
Every musician better keep time-but I get the drift. It's all about entertaining people and them having a joyous experience-so being able to read an audience what music they might like is helpful. Cajoling people during breaks builds good will. You want them to feel it-and that can be seeing it too. Certain songs evokes certain eras of music and the feelings that went along with it-an audience loves to be transported to feel it for dancing or because memories of past. You can see the audience feel it-keeping time tapping toes or hands going-it's like a reflex LOL.

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Every musician better keep time-but I get the drift. It's all about entertaining people and them having a joyous experience-so being able to read an audience what music they might like is helpful. Cajoling people during breaks builds good will. You want them to feel it-and that can be seeing it too. Certain songs evokes certain eras of music and the feelings that went along with it-an audience loves to be transported to feel it for dancing or because memories of past. You can see the audience feel it-keeping time tapping toes or hands going-it's like a reflex LOL.

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