Why I Play the Drums So Loud

By Punk Rot Beet

Sometimes people ask me why I play the drums so loud, so I did this one question self-interview to make an excuse to talk about myself. If this doesn't answer the question, or even if it does answer the question, you can still ask me to explain it later in person so that I can explain it again, because I love talking about it.

1) Thrilling

I swear playing a song while going all-out the whole time is a crazy challenge. Every song starts with a guitar intro or four stick-clicks, and then it's holding on as hard as you can for the ride. It feels like you're not going to make it through every song, let alone the whole set, but somehow you just kind of do. It's hard. Excitement.

2) Visual Appeal

God damnit it looks cool. People pay way more attention to a guy going nuts on stage than a guy just standing there, and I am one attention seeking bastard. Some hardcore musicians like to stand still while they concentrate on playing perfectly, and that's fine, but then there are a lot of guys who like to stand still and they don't play everything perfectly, or even decently for that matter. Those guys are the worst. Boring and bad, the worst of both worlds. Don't go to their shows, even if they're your friends, because you're just supporting negative behavior. Bad, boring musicians like all the members of Jimmy Eat World have been tolerated long enough. Don't let them happen again.

3) Big Sound

When you play hard, you get this huge sound out of the drums. Hitting hard rimshots on a heavy snare with cranked heads will just fill the room up, and that's why the drums just kill me. John Bonham is my hero. He didn't play stacks of quick fills, but he cranked his drumheads way up and smashed the drums and they sounded awesome. "When the Levee Breaks" kicks my ass, the drums are so huge in that song.

4) Passion

Number one. I seriously can't help but play loud. You get your whole body involved as hard as you can and it's like you're out of the room, and you're totally spent by the end of the set. It's like a machine that's pushed too hard and gets the job done but falls apart just as it finishes, like in the movies. Like the car in The Blues Brothers. You can argue that you can be passionate without playing hard and loud and going nuts, but I don't really care.

5) Can't Help It

I've tried playing quietly on many an occasion. Every time I play with a new guitarist or band they always have to buy new amps. The first practices are torturous as I try to play quietly, but after about 10 seconds I forget and lose myself. Kind of like my friends Gregor and Niko in my Physics class, and how they play rock paper scissors. Sometimes when they're putting serious money down on a best-of-five game, they say they're going to go really slow, and they do the first round slow and the rest are all way too fast to handle. If you ever get them confused, Gregor is the one holding the axe and Niko is the one with the huge hammer. Secret: One of Niko's best game winning combinations is rock scissor rock scissor rock. Or the other way around, I really forget.

6) Confidence

It has to show some level of confidence in yourself and your playing to play very loud. I'm not afraid of people hearing how I play. I'm not afraid of people hearing my mistakes. I want everyone to know that I play the drums well and I'm putting it in their faces.

7) Hear My Hate

To quote Kurt Cobain, "Hear my fucking hate!" ("Beeswax"). I hate everything, and this is a great outlet for hating stuff without eventually hitting people. This is why people should learn to play rock instruments and just rock out all the time. If everyone were in a rock band, I bet life would totally be better, because instead of beating their wives, dudes would beat their guitars or drums, and then they'd feel better. Then again, New Jersey is totally filled with a billion guitarists in a billion bands without soul and I really hate it, because being in a band is something I like to think of as special, and now it's only cool. Seriously like 50% of the guys here are in bands, and they all suck. This is the kind of hate that I like to take out on the drums.

8) Girls

Yeah. Of course this isn't the entire reason, but I probably won't play as hard if there isn't a girl in the room. Sounds kind of weak, but it's totally true. I'm here to impress you. Or I'm just frustrated with you. I probably just get excited. Being that I go to a tech school and then when I come home I'm an antisocial recluse, I don't come into contact with a lot of girls, so when they're around I get all excited. Then when they're around I'm afraid to talk to them. I'm done immasculating myself for now.

9) Freaking-Out

I like to think it kind of scares some people. Hopefully someone who's seen me play has gotten that "What the hell is going on with this kid" kind of feeling. What do you do when you're watching that kind of energy? It's like the freakiness of watching someone getting beaten up without having the gross moral conflict of the situation to worry about. Some people hate how I play the drums, and I don't just think it's that I'm too loud, I really like to think they don't know how to react someone going so nuts right in front of them.

10) Breaking Stuff

If there's anything more I need to do in life, it's spend more money on musical equipment. And if there were ever a better way to need musical equipment, I wouldn't be hitting all my stuff this hard. Cymbals really nip you in the butt.