Is the drummer population aging?

Man..all my influences are mostly still playing but they look rather nursing homeish. Sometimes I'll look in the mirror and think dear Lord..im an aging ol geezer. I identify as a teenager so I think I'm ok. 😨.
 
I never dreamed I'd be playing drums in two rock bands at my age...but I am. I'm doing well, playing well, and have no plans to stop until I can no longer play at a professional level.

There are plenty of young drummers out there. My fear is that too many of them have grown up watching "drumming gymnasts" on You Tube instead of really learning how to play.
 
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I don't think the music scene today is even remotely close to what it was in the 70s-80s. That's in regard to amount of musicians. I think one reason there are so many older musicians still playing is simply demand. There's a club on the beach near my home and I'll be going up to see Southside Johnny next month. He's in his mid seventies. I saw Don Felder there last year. Also mid seventies. I just saw James Taylor he's 76. The club I mentioned is great because it's nice and close to home but 90% of the acts are tribute bands. Most of them are excellent BTW. Back in the day that place would be loaded with young bands every night. And even bands I would think of as newer are made up of people in their late forties early fifties. There just aren't that many younger musicians (20s/30s) comparatively speaking as there were back then. In part because of the sedentary lifestyle the internet has wrought upon society I'm sorry to say.
 
joedrum said:
I don't think the music scene today is even remotely close to what it was in the 70s-80s. That's in regard to amount of musicians. I think one reason there are so many older musicians still playing is simply demand. There's a club on the beach near my home and I'll be going up to see Southside Johnny next month. He's in his mid seventies. I saw Don Felder there last year. Also mid seventies. I just saw James Taylor he's 76. The club I mentioned is great because it's nice and close to home but 90% of the acts are tribute bands. Most of them are excellent BTW. Back in the day that place would be loaded with young bands every night. And even bands I would think of as newer are made up of people in their late forties early fifties. There just aren't that many younger musicians (20s/30s) comparatively speaking as there were back then. In part because of the sedentary lifestyle the internet has wrought upon society I'm sorry to say.
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There are tons of young people trying their brand of music. I look at CL musicians ads and 90% are youngsters forming death metal or some sort of genre band I never heard of. Or else some odd take on singer-songwriter acoustic. If they're getting gigs it's at some underground place I've never heard of. Same with the ads pinned up on board at Music Go Round.
 
Rattlin' Bones said:
There are tons of young people trying their brand of music. I look at CL musicians ads and 90% are youngsters forming death metal or some sort of genre band I never heard of. Or else some odd take on singer-songwriter acoustic. If they're getting gigs it's at some underground place I've never heard of. Same with the ads pinned up on board at Music Go Round.
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Yeah I don't deny that there are still a number of young bands out there but comparatively speaking I'm just not seeing the volume that there once was. in my area there aren't even close to the number of small live music venues that there used to be. Just my take though.
 
joedrum said:
Yeah I don't deny that there are still a number of young bands out there but comparatively speaking I'm just not seeing the volume that there once was. in my area there aren't even close to the number of small live music venues that there used to be. Just my take though.
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Venues are one thing. Number of musicians are another. The supply of musicians greatly exceeds the number of venues. Hence such low pay. Venues ain't scrambling to find bands.

I stream Smalls and Mezzrow frequently, and on their open jams there are lines of reeds & brass players off stage ready to come on and play 32 bars then step off. And they're all young.

Like I said it really depends on venue where you see young players. I ain't hangin' out in mosh pits banging my head. Which is where a lotta youngster play, too.
 
Certainly is.. Buddy Rich is 107 in a few months..
 
joedrum said:
Yeah I don't deny that there are still a number of young bands out there but comparatively speaking I'm just not seeing the volume that there once was. in my area there aren't even close to the number of small live music venues that there used to be. Just my take though.
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Right but the cause and effect aren’t lining up there. Club owners can pay a DJ $100, or on weeknights just stream Pandora on a commercial license (not expensive), and the music will *always* be what the club owner wants to hear, at exactly the volume they want. They are dis-incentivized to pay bands; they also don’t need a sound person, or even a mixing desk; they don’t have to deal with bands being late or disruptive. In fact they have realized that even having bands play *for tips only* costs the club in terms of labor and hassle.

Venues have been closing down, and changing formats, in a steady downward arc for the last two decades. It’s also nearly impossible to find a rehearsal space anymore.

The few places left open, that have 70 year old classic rockers on Saturdays… that is their bag, for just a little while longer.

The problem isn’t “kids these days with their sedentary lifestyle”. It’s predatory business owners and boomer landlords.
 
bongoman said:
Right but the cause and effect aren’t lining up there. Club owners can pay a DJ $100, or on weeknights just stream Pandora on a commercial license (not expensive), and the music will *always* be what the club owner wants to hear, at exactly the volume they want. They are dis-incentivized to pay bands; they also don’t need a sound person, or even a mixing desk; they don’t have to deal with bands being late or disruptive. In fact they have realized that even having bands play *for tips only* costs the club in terms of labor and hassle.

Venues have been closing down, and changing formats, in a steady downward arc for the last two decades. It’s also nearly impossible to find a rehearsal space anymore.

The few places left open, that have 70 year old classic rockers on Saturdays… that is their bag, for just a little while longer.

The problem isn’t “kids these days with their sedentary lifestyle”. It’s predatory business owners and boomer landlords.
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Well when I was a lot more active musically I rehearsed in a very large five story building with nothing but other bands doing the same thing from top to bottom. The place never closed. 24/7 365. Hard partying was not accepted either. There were probably 500 musicians in that 1 building alone. That's just 1 place of similar places in that 1 city. That was going on in every major city in America and the world in large part also I'd say.
If you look at the major acts back then - Beatles, Stones, Who, Dylan, Zeppelin, The Doors and many many others, those guys were huge and most of em only in their mid twenties. I'm just not seeing it to that level anymore.
 
joedrum said:
Well when I was a lot more active musically I rehearsed in a very large five story building with nothing but other bands doing the same thing from top to bottom. The place never closed. 24/7 365. Hard partying was not accepted either. There were probably 500 musicians in that 1 building alone. That's just 1 place of similar places in that 1 city. That was going on in every major city in America and the world in large part also I'd say.
If you look at the major acts back then - Beatles, Stones, Who, Dylan, Zeppelin, The Doors and many many others, those guys were huge and most of em only in their mid twenties. I'm just not seeing it to that level anymore.
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Exactly. The opportunities you and they had back then are simply not available to the majority of young people.
 
It's generational .

" Getting good " , touring in a converted school bus in search of romance and adventure was the alpha and omega .

I'm fortunate to have had a decent kick at the can with that lifestyle and survived to tell you about it .

If I was an eighteen year old today , the music scene wouldn't attract me a all . It's a different world .

Sorry , there's not much fun left out there , kids. Me and my buddies used it all up and the rest is illegal and/or ideologically incorrect.
 
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When I try to research the sales of musical instruments(the best indicator of the number of drummers I can casually get my hands on) I see disparate reports.

I don't think we can really tell without investing significant resources. Those that have invested to find out will not share the results and the advantage of knowing...but they will gladly lie to influence the market.

Our prejudice on the subject is just that.
 
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ravenson said:
Me and my buddies used it all up
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I don’t know if you know how true that is. Went and pulled the ladder up behind you, too.

People seriously on here saying it’s the young folk who just don’t want any freedom. Never mind it’s their grandparents who made everything expensive and illegal.
 
bongoman said:
I don’t know if you know how true that is. Went and pulled the ladder up behind you, too.

People seriously on here saying it’s the young folk who just don’t want any freedom. Never mind it’s their grandparents who made everything expensive and illegal.
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It is easy to blame the boomers, but there are a lot of cultural shifts and definitely some social engineering going on. The younger generations may not have the same ideas of live music as previous generations. "Nature abhors a vacuum." Something is bound to change.
 
Son of Vistalite Black said:
Son of Vistalite Black interrupts this thread of anecdotal hunches and unsupported theorizing to present actual facts:

www.zippia.com

Percussionist Demographics and Statistics [2024]: Number Of Percussionists In The US

How many Percussionists are in US? More than 315. Learn more about 2024 demographics based on factors such as age, race, sex, salary and location.
www.zippia.com www.zippia.com
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Wow the average age of a female drummer is about 50. A good graph on average age but doesn't speak to overall number of players.
 
TK3005 said:
With my experiences this is definitely true, especially in Sydney where I live. I think this is mainly down to venues only giving gigs to dad bands in their 50's, I'm 20 and have been playing since I was 10 and I barely get any drumming gigs purely because I've been told I'm too young, I find this really discouraging that people refuse to take a chance on younger musicians, combined with older people telling us not to pursue our passions because "you'll never make it", hence why heaps of us don't bother.
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I agree with you your age should have nothing to do with whether or not you're accepted into a band. If you look back at some of the pioneers, Buddy, Krupa ect., many of them were brought into well established orchestras when they were like 17ish. Though I think one has to guard against blaming being young over ability for being passed over. Because with experience comes greater ability.
 
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