Today I posted on my Twitter that I had a band tryout. I was pretty exited about this. I moved to Juneau around four years ago and brought my drum set with me thinking I would be able to join a band. That plan turned out to be a lot harder then I thought it would be. I went around Juneau posting fliers and putting ads up on craigslist. Any responses I got were few and slim. Everyone who is in a band in Juneau seems to be only able to play folk music. And though folk music has it’s place in the musical spectrum, it’s not what I wanted to play.
Last week on a whim I checked out craigslist again and found a posting from a band who was looking for a drummer and that they played punk/rock music. I gave the phone number on the listing a call and left a voice mail. A few days later I got a call back from Jeff and set up a tryout for Tuesday (today).
I have been a little nurvouse since the phone call. I really have not drummed much at all since I moved up here. I am rusty and out of shape as far as drumming goes. I was really worried that I would just make a fool out of myself.
When I showed up at the band’s practice pad I was greeted with hellos and hand shakes. The two guys (Jeff and Jessie) where really nice and funny. The drum set they had for me to play was the same Ludwig set I play on just a couple of years older. The cymbals where ok and so was the kick peddle. I swapped out the High-hat cymbals with my own personal ones. I had brought with me my cymbals, kick peddle, and drumsticks because some of the few tryouts I went to when I first moved here I ended up playing on some pretty shitty sets. I figured it would help to have a good kick peddle and cymbals with me this time.
After we got done chit chatting and tuning up our instruments we played a few cover songs which I was happy about. We played Green Day’s “She” and The Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop”. I played the songs pretty well. I was able to hold the beat. I was a little winded after we were done but all in all I was Pretty happy. It was so good to be behind a kit again and playing music. Jeff and Jessie where really good guitar a bass players. They where really tight when it came to playing these songs.
After we were done I was told that the band had not yet picked out a name but that they really wanted to play mostly cover songs. I think this really makes sense for a tourest down like Juneau. I was also told they had another guy they where going to tryout but chances where sounding good to me that I could expect an e-mail with songs they would like to cover.
