The Future State
Eleven of today’s most forward-looking players ponder how drumming will evolve as we hurtle ever deeper into the twenty-fi rst century.
I
n its hundred-year history, the drumset has been adorned by temple blocks, timpani, and bass drum heads with nature
scenes painted on them. The introduction of the hi-hat, Rototoms, Octobans—and bass drums with no front heads at all—refl ected and nudged forward the musical obsessions of the day, and eventually entire drumsets would spin in the air, be aided by powerful electronics, and explode in size with additional bass drums, toms, and snare drums and enough cymbals to equip a large marching band. Drumming vocabulary has expanded to an even larger
degree. From the New Orleans pulse of Paul Barbarin, Baby Dodds, and Zutty Singleton to the big band majesty of Jo Jones and Gene Krupa, drumming became faster and louder, swung harder, and grooved with greater might. The gods of technique arrived in the hands of Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, and Tony Williams, equaled by magicians of subtlety such as Max Roach, Mel Lewis, Shelly Manne, Roy Haynes, and Jon Christensen. The big band drummers infl uenced classic-rock legends like
JOJO MAYER
“The pace at which technology is developing now is exponential,” says Jojo Mayer, drummer/ co-leader of the live electronica band Nerve, which has recently released its third studio album, Ghosts of Tomorrow. “We’ve never dealt with that before. The future will be less. “The nature of Western drumming as a whole, it’s a huge universe, but in terms of vocabulary
we are limping thousands of years behind the Indians and what they already understand. Western drumming is really young. How people perceive Indian rhythms is more refi ned; it’s a higher resolution. “I also think drumming will return closer to its roots,” Mayer goes on. “I don’t think physical
drumming will disappear completely, because it’s fun. But as far as people who understand this refi nement of drumming vocabulary, their gear will become simple again. We will create more vocabulary on less gear. “When you look at the development of culture in inner cities, there’s less physical space to drum without disturbing people. Kids begin playing drums now on electronic kits, but electronic drums don’t communicate in the same way. We still rely on MIDI, an outdated protocol. There will have to be an open-source platform for electronic drums, which is not being supplied by the usual subjects for obvious reasons—because you cannot exploit that economically.
“We live in a time when people don’t create, they curate. People curate sounds and styles— they like things, but they don’t make things. We recycle and microwave the twentieth century to death. But for drummers, once we have open- source protocol for electronic drums, that will be a game-changer. When we have electronic drums that are intuitive and can be built to our personal specifi cations, they will become tools for creative artists. That will open the door to the future.”
58 Modern Drummer January 2016
John Bonham and Mitch Mitchell, who in turn fi red the manic imagination of metal fi rebrands like Dave Lombardo and Danny Carey, who subsequently pushed modern maestros like Travis Orbin and Matt Halpern yet further. Fusion kings Vinnie Colaiuta and Dennis Chambers inspired legions of hip-hop drummers, while the hip-hop programming of J Dilla infl uenced everyone. So what of drumming’s future? What will happen when
computers become even further integrated into our daily lives and playing routines? How will such buzz phrases as “the Internet of Things” and “Industry 4.0” change the way drummers interact with their environment? A basic under- standing of electronic instruments, which is already a required part of a working drummer’s vocabulary, will surely become more ingrained in our skill sets. Or will some as yet unknown drummer or technology alter the game entirely? We posed these questions and more to eleven drummers
with their fi ngers fi rmly on the pulse of today’s music. Here’s what they had to say.
Robert DeLong
“Drumset has been a defi ning commonality of popular music since before I was born,” says Robert DeLong, a drummer/frontman whose music incorporates elements of electro, alt-rock, and pop, and whose sophomore album, In the Cards, was released last September. “But a live drummer is now someone who plays to tracks, who has an SPD-SX where their rack tom would be, and whose drum sounds never appear on the recording. Yet the sound set of kick, snare, cymbals, and toms persists, stronger than ever, and so drumset lives on, evolved.”
Rahav Segev
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