2020 has not been kind to the drumming world.
The death of Rush icon Neil Peart one week into the new year was a gut punch on the same level of guitarists losing Jimi Hendrix.
Sean Reinert, formerly of the bands Death and Cynic, died on Jan. 24. His fusion of jazz and progressive rock into the metal drumming landscape was the stuff of legend, influencing thousands of drummers worldwide.
Vater Percussion president Ron Vater died a day later. He was instrumental in building one of the world’s largest and most respected percussion companies.
Corrosion of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin went to the great gig in the sky on Jan. 27. January couldn’t end soon enough.
February, however, provides some light for Vancouver drummers.
The inaugural Drumeo Festival comes to the Vancouver Playhouse Feb. 21 and 22, bringing with it a roster of A-List artists that reads like a drumming hall of fame induction ceremony: Dom Famularo, Jojo Mayer, Steve Smith, Benny Greb, Chris Coleman and Cindy Blackman Santana to name a few.
If those names don’t ring a bell, their musical affiliations will: Smith played on Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Blackman Santana played on Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” and Coleman was the timekeeper of choice for Beck and Prince.
“There’s never been a lineup like this, especially in Vancouver,” said Drumeo co-founder and festival head honcho Jared Falk. “It is in my opinion that this is the best drum festival that has ever been created.”
Outside of the Drumeo Festival, Falk is also the co-founder of the online drum tutorial empire known as Drumeo. It’s grown to become the be-all, end-all drummer destination with online lessons, interviews, demos and every other conceivable aid for drummers of all skill levels.
The Drumeo Festival format deviates slightly from most drum festivals, where players get on the throne, shred away and that’s that. In the Vancouver context, masterclasses, along with full band performances, will be featured alongside vendor booths, artist talks and classic gear displays.
As much as the festival is about looking to the future of drumming, one must look back to find Falk’s motivations for its birth. The number 15 plays heavily on that front.
Now 38, Falk attended his first drum festival at the age of 15. The short-lived, now-defunct Vancouver International Drum Festival included the likes of Frank Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio, Simon Phillips (Toto) and Matt Cameron (Soundgarden).
“It was game-changing,” Falk recalled. “And now drum festivals have kind of stopped, and so, someone had to re-start it in order to get things going so I thought there’s no one better than us.”
Fifteen also holds significance in that Drumeo breaks the decade-and-a-half mark this year.
What started as a two-person operation now boasts 40 staffers, 14,000 paid subscribers and close to 1.5 million YouTube followers. Becoming a $10-million operation annually is within sight.
It’s getting to the point that Falk has little in the way of competitors, not that he looks at the other games in town as adversaries.
“We’re all selling drumming, in my opinion, so I don’t look at these people and think ‘I want to crush them, I want them to go out of business,’” Falk said. “We are battling over the choice of hobbies and this is one of my big initiatives — getting in front of kids at a young age and show them drumming and present it as an option.”
The online market that Falk is trying to tap in person remains largely vacant in Canada. There are few, if any, drum festivals similar in size, scope and talent anywhere besides Quebec City. They’re getting fewer and further between, as drum shops have smaller budgets to bring in talent. Not only that, students don’t even have to leave home for lessons if they don’t want to.
The preliminary numbers in Vancouver, however, are encouraging. VIP packages offered for $800 are completely sold out, while as of Feb. 7, less than a quarter of the remaining seats were available.
The real feather in Falk’s cap, however, can’t be quantified in dollars or cents, nor subscriber counts.
Pick any drummer’s name out of a hat and Falk likely knows that person, has their number in his phone and has watched them perform from five feet away.
And he does it without ego, seemingly cool as a cucumber the whole time.
“I don’t know if we always do maintain our composure,” Falk counters. “I’ve had many embarrassing moments with these guys because they’re my favourite drummers. I think what people like about the videos is that, in some ways, I do think they can relate to us as we’re like kids in candy stores when it comes to our favourite drummers. We’re forever students. We always have so much to learn.”
Tickets for the Drumeo Festival are online HERE.
