School Of Rock and starting music

I was so excited to be offered a paid job to photograph the annual end of term School of Rock gig in the Purty Kitchen last Sunday afternoon. There’s nothing like young musicians starting off on their career and the magic and excitement in the air. While most of it was surprisingly assured, I loved that one or two of the songs were on the point of collapse and how the band reacted in the moment. The real lesson here was also a life lesson…even if things become derailed, there will be one or two people in the group who will dig deep and pull the train back on track so they can keep on rolling along to their ultimate and rewarding destination. 

It all reminded me of how I started playing the drums. I was 14 and there was a local band playing in a garage. My friend Diarmuid Ryan was the guitarist, and his brother Peadar was playing dustbin lids with chair legs, and I thought I could get a drum or a drum kit and maybe then get into the band. I actually bought a bass guitar book as they told me they needed a bass player (phew, that was close!). But I had my heart set on drums. I had a biscuit tin and knitting needles before my first red sparkle ‘Star’ (Tama) snare drum. I went to lessons with the late Johnny Wadham in Dalkey, County Dublin, and he is probably still the best, most inspiring drummer I ever saw up close. He was a curious character, already a legendary jazz drummer of British descent, and had a big curly handlebar moustache, greased back long grey hair and a big belly. He had wall to wall records in the drum room with a phenomenal record player and speaker system. Weirdly, he wasn’t a great teacher per se, as he used to disappear for most of the lesson and get me to write out drum theory notes with no guidance or explanation. Then he would come in and ask why I hadn’t learned some complex modern jazz chart properly for a track the week before! After hearing me spoof through it, he would sit down and blow my socks off with a mastery of stick control, dynamics, texture, tone, musicality and timekeeping. ‘Do what I do, not what I say! Might have been his ironic version of that mantra. My mother met him on the road one day and asked how I was doing at the drum lessons. He said, “Well put it this way, he thinks he can sit on top of the ladder without climbing it”. It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. But the real early learning curve for me was the self-schooling….listening, listening, and listening. And playing along to Led Zeppelin records with my guitarist friend and prodigy talent Diarmuid ( I did get the job in the garage band in the end!).