Stage presence behind the drum kit!

  • Thread starter Thread starter FattMusiek
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Do everything and nothing in this thread! Whole load of contradictions right there ^^ :rolleyes:

Greg L, you sure sound grumpy here - I have to say you pretty much have a point though. I think there's a line between 'Stage presence' which you need, and 'showmanship' which you don't, that has become very blurred here.

Eye contact with your audience and closing your mouth are simple don't-look-like-a-dufus-behind-your-band tricks. Twirling your sticks and setting your drums up so they
mikeh said:
look very cool
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is just showing off, and *most* styles don't call for that.
 
Lol. How do I sound grumpy? I'm just being realistic. I am a live drummer. No one cares about the drummer. I like it that way. Just play your best and don't fuck up and it's all good.
 
Greg_L said:
Lol. How do I sound grumpy? I'm just being realistic. I am a live drummer. No one cares about the drummer. I like it that way. Just play your best and don't fuck up and it's all good.
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You're ugly, and your Mom dresses you funny. :p
 
JulianFernandez does hit on some very key points. Making sure you are the best musician you can be and working well with the musicians you work with and making sure your tone is good are indeed the most important things. Certainly some of the things I mentioned (perhaps most of the things I mentioned) would not come naturally to a beginner. I agree that playing music you enjoy with musicians you respect may be all you need to have a joyous stage presence.

Elton Bear also makes a very accurate observation that there is a vast difference between basic stage presence and showmanship. Looking back - my answer should have ended with the first 3 points and not gone on to address the "show-off" aspects.

While I don't want to try to defend showmanship over musical ability -we are in the entertainment business - or dare I say.......show business. While most gigs don't require "showmanship", some do. I spent a fair amount of time playing vegas shows and spent time in "show bands" back in the 70's - and in those situations, a drummer who could put on a show could be much in demand. Sometimes, having showmanship is not "showing off - it is simply being an entertainer.
 
It's different with what I do

I am an old kit player, but within the last decade or more, I've become much more involved in playing hand drum (darbuka/doumbek/darbakki) for belly dancers. I am usually playing with a couple of other musicians (oud, qanun, clarinet or mizmer and accordion), but during the course of any set there is a time when the dancer dances to a drum solo (this is confusing term to Westerners because it is not really a typical "drum solo" but rather a dancer solo with just the drummer). The drummer is the accompany and the dancer is the star. The drummer must give complete attention to what the dancer is doing and the extent of any expression is usually a smile or a nod or raised eyebrows. The drummer has to look alive, but NEVER upstage the dancer, and will underline and show appreciation to what the dancer is doing without looking vulgar or prurient about it.
When I first started doing this I was much more animated, and then I saw some videos of the performing and found that I was distracting from the dancer (no where near as extreme as the Korean drummer, but enough for it to bother me).
Rock and Roll music is all about showmanship and extremes are to be expected and encouraged. Looking like you are so into it for the audience that your face gets contorted and sweat is pouring off of you. That "show" just doesn't cut it in other types of venues. Some venues require the drummer to be understated, play with finesse and not broadcast and underline moves that scream: "Y'see how hard I'm workin' up here!!".
It's a case by case thing. Know the audience and the style that you're playing otherwise you could look like "Korean drummer" playing the ballad, or Bobby Rosengarden playing with a heavy metal band.
 
Mikeh, Greg, I may have sounded like I was digging at you guys; I wasn't, I just think striking a balance between "I'm the star" and "I couldn't give a shit" is important.

Rimshot makes a great point about not upstaging the main focus of the band (our singer is a professional actor, for example, he likes his "frontman" thing), but still not seeming pissed off that you are not it...
 
Well, I'm probably in the minority here, but as a drummer, I hate it when my bandmates turn to me and try to "lock in" with me. I personally find it amateurish. I'm playing the drums, I'm keeping the beat, so face forward to the crowd and follow along. I hate it when a band stands around and plays to eachother. Face the crowd. Face forward. Assault them sonically and visually. They don't want to see the bass players back. I play hard rock/punk/metalish music. It's fast riff-based rock and roll. There's no real "groove" to lock into. 1-2-3-4, blast off, and let's go! I'll play my part flawlessly, and if everyone else does the same, it will work perfectly without us having to make eye contact like a bunch of folkie homos. End of rant.
 
If you're a really good drummer, nobody is going to give a shit.

If you're going to mug it up, you should be pretty competent.

If you suck, it's probably best to go unnoticed.
 
It's interesting when I look back on it. In the late 80's I was in a cover-tune band. I was in my early 20s. Hell, the band had me playing gigs in bars when I was 19-20!

I shared duties as 1/3 vocalist for all the songs we played. Meaning that I was the front man 1/3 (sometimes almost half) of the time, even when behind the kit.

I soon learned that when I had front man duties, behind the drums or out front when someone else would take over, I had to have some sense of flash to make things interesting for the audience, and I milked it for all it was worth. Otherwise things got boring, because the other guitarist and the bass player had very mild stage presence.

If those guys were singing, and it was not my job to front, I learned that the most important thing was the job I had to do behind the kit! Keep the time! There was no flash when I seriously had a job to do.

The drummer's job is to set the time and be solid. If you add flash and can't keep the time, forget about all of it and do your job!
 
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