Adam Silverman : Nashville Session and Touring Drummer

Well it’s been about a month or so now since I received the news that Emmett Stallings, one of my best friends, has esophageal cancer. Emmett is a 30 year old husband, father, friend, and an awesome drummer / percussionist.

The story of the beginning of his battle with cancer is absolutely amazing. Please take a few moments to support him by checking out the Team Emmett Blog. When I read his blogs I pray, cry, and smile because of the hope that I can see in both Emmett and his wife Wendy. In the past few months I’ve found myself learning lesson after lesson reading their posts, and being there as a friend for them during this crazy time in their lives. It’s so humbling to be around people with such love and faith, and it’s definitely caused me to approach the way I live my life differently.

Please take the time to check out the blog. We’ll be selling wristbands, tee-shirts, cds, and who knows what else on that site in the very near future. As a musician, music lover, husband, wife, father, mother, friend, human… whatever you are in your life I promise this will change the way that you look at things, and I for one believe that we can all use some more perspective in our small little worlds. God is bigger than all of us, bigger than this world, He’s already conquered all of this, and so Emmett is a shining example of how to keep your faith through even the most troubled times.

Bless you all.
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This is one of those questions that’s really been haunting me for the last few days. Someone asked me from a marketing perspective, “What’s your thing as a drummer?” Immediately I said, well I am working to be the best drummer that I can be. Seemed like a great answer, but it wasn’t quite what they were looking for. They were really asking, what specialty is it that I have as a drummer that puts me into the competition in Nashville? The answer is that I really have no clue.

I mean let’s be honest here for a second. You look at drumming magazines and many of the drummers in Modern Drummer are there because they are in a popular rock band, or maybe they are crazy cool with the Double Kick pedal. Sometimes they are known for being a session musician. There are very few guys in there that are just amazing at everything and I think there may be something to that concept. So what’s my thing as a drummer, am I Pop, R&B, Gospel, Country, Rock, do I only do solo ostinado patterns, do I live in the studio… what am I, what’s my angle?

To be completely honest, this is an open ended blog entry because I have no answer to that question. I change faces so much depending on what gig I am doing. With 33Miles, I am a jam band drummer that’s conformed into a Pop Country universe. Is that my thing… not really but I do really enjoy it. In college I spent the better part of my time studying Jazz and Latin music at school, while diving deep into Indian Drumming, as well as loving bands like Tool and Dream Theatre that push the boundaries of what we call “rock” music in 2009. For the last year I’ve been working like crazy on double and single foot chops, developing a lot around just doing the excellent grooves. I’ve been into major POP music and Rap music, learning to duplicate drum machines on POP records and shooting towards doing sessions. So I would say I am far from specialized at any one thing… is that a bad thing?

To say my musical tastes are diverse would definitely hit the nail on the head. I change phases and faces so quickly I truly feel like the chameleon drummer. Whatever the gig is, I can adapt my playing to fit that mould. There are few drummers I’ve seen that really can jump around, and those are the guys that I really look up to. Vinnie, Dennis Chambers, Jeff Porcaro, Bernard Purdie, etc. So what is it about these guys to me that makes them so special? They can literally do anything. Now obviously I am no where near as good as these guys on the drums, though I hope to be one day… but the point that maybe my thing is that I really don’t have a thing. I don’t have a speciality, my speciality is being able to specialize in whatever I need to for whatever time is allowed for that job.My special might just be diversity right now Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe I am taking on the impossible by trying to become something that isn’t attainable? Who knows.

Maybe the reason I am not “known” for anything is that I just haven’t been around long enough yet to be known. Maybe it’s not possible, or not easy to be able to do everything so not everyone does. Maybe it’s because some people only love rock music and don’t like to listen to other things. In any case, it’s a question and thought that has no answer for the time being. I guess I’ll just keep doing everything as much as I can and see where it takes me.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll keep practicing.

So far it’s been a completely crazy start to 2009, so let me do a really quick recap for you of what’s happened in my world.

I spent Christmas in Italy this year with my wife and her mom, dad and Aunt Cathy, and it was ana amazing time had by all. We absolutely had a blast. I came back and hit the ground running with a gig in WV and it’s been crazy ever since. I got my Risen kit in the mail and have been working to get that setup and going out on the road. Nicki and my cat Preston are missing me and I am missing them, but everyone at home is happy and healty.

In the world of the road things are changing rapidly with 33Miles. They have announced the departure of their road manager Graig Clinton. Graig is off to work at a church back home in Mississippi. That’s definitely going to be a tough punch to get up from. Graig does everything from schedules, sound, he’s basically the Daddy of the road for all of us. So that’s going to be a tough loss. Thankfully they have a someone on the back burner that could be awesome, but they are all just waiting for God to show them the direction.

Their bass player and my pal Aaron Williamson went on the cruise with 33 down to the Bahamas, which I missed out on because of prior commitments. At one of the port stops Aaron rented a scooter with his wife and crashed it into a concrete embankment. His wife Rachel was not hurt, but Aaron’s kneecap was separated into about 3 pieces and he’s been in a lot of pain. Last night he went into the hospital with some stomach pain that may be related to the injury. So right now we are all praying that he’s going to be alright and that he wouldn’t have that pain. Also, on that same cruise, a 33 year old guy from the sponsoring radio station had a heart attack and died while playing basketball aboard the ship. Truly, none of us know how long we have here. That was another reminder to make the most of what I do with my time, because you just never do know when the clock runs out.

The scope of life for Nicki and I is changing at home with both of us doing different things for our work, and just the business of living life. It’s really never a dull moment. We have plans to update some things in our house this year. My musical equipment goal of the year is to start running Pro Tools so we are working towards that goal together as well. We also just continue to work and love being in he music business. It’s going to be another adventurous year this year, and we are looking forward to it.

The good news here is that no matter how crazy life gets, it’s awesome to have a girl like Nicki to walk that road with hand in hand. It’s also even better to know that though we may plan and make every attempt to be smart with what we do, in the end God’s plan always wins.

Today I found out that one of my favorite drum teachers from High School named Larry Glick was diagnosed with Leukemia. My mom heard on the radio station up in Westminster, MD that he was diagnosed and they were holding a fund raiser for him at my old High School. Hearing this news really brought tears to my eyes. You always think it’s going to be someone you don’t know who gets sick, or even a friend of a friends, but it never seems that it’s going to hit so close to home, until it does.
Larry is a fabulous drummer and also an amazing teacher. When I first started with Larry in high school I had some of the basics down, but 10 years later looking back at High School being a professional drummer now, I can’t help but to credit teachers like Larry that brought me from an arrogant little punk kid into the hopefully much less arrogant drummer that sits on stage each night now, proclaiming the gospel through what he speaks with the drum skins.

I remember walking into the studio inside of his house, walking through the sun room, out into the 3 drum kit studio that he had. He had 1 electric kit, 2 real kits, marimbas, anything you could think of to play. I was completely overwhelmed. Larry completely changed my perspective of drumming at that young age of 16. He changed my grip from Traditional to Matched grip. Showed me a ton of new books and styles of music, including Jazz, Blues, Country. He taught me about 4-way coordination, chops, how to use my feet, and so many other things that I still draw from in my work on the road and in the studios to this day. I remember him being a really cool guy, funny, laughing all the time, especially at me, trying to pull of licks that I was no where near ready to play. It was one of the best experiences I had as a young musician, and I would say, has more than contributed to my musicianship that I have right now.

I just wanted to write this as a way of honoring Larry as the teacher that he was to me back in the day. He is much more than a drum teacher, but that is how I remember him in my life. Though I haven’t seen him in years, I constantly use the things that he and other teachers taught me, and their impact has stayed with me for so many years. I thank God everyday for the people in my life that impacted me to be a drummer, there is nothing else I would rather do with my time, or with my life than play music. It’s what I was made to do, but I wouldn’t be here without the help of people like Larry.

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/01/03/news/local_news/newsstory3.txt

Hey guys, and welcome to Adam Silverman’s Broadcasting System. Please continue to check this part of the site for information regarding new records, tours, gear, or my random musical musings. Basically I’ll be keeping this updated to let you all know what I am doing and when.

I will also be posting any local Nashville shows that I am playing on here, as well as any shows in Maryland since that’s where most of my friends and family live. Thanks for visiting. Keep checking back…

Sincerely,

Adam Silverman