andrew dodson

I just came across a band I’d never heard of before - The New Mastersounds.  They are a funk band from the UK (the one across the pond).  Anyone that likes Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore, Will Bernard and others in the funk/jazz realm should like the New Mastersounds.  I was able to download some of their stuff with my eMusic subscription and they’re great! 

Fans of Corinne Bailey Rae would like to know she sings with the group on the song “Your Love is Mine” from their Be Yourself album.

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A few months back, I mentioned that I’ve been trying to do better with my budget.  For the most part, I’ve made more positive progress than negative.  I’m not sitting where I wanted to be at this point, but I have paid off a couple of debts that I’d set a goal to pay off by this time.

Most people that know me also know that I like my “stuff.”  Seems like I always have something on my wishlist.  Being content is definitely something I need to work on!

With that said, having a lot of “stuff” in the drum world also leads to flexibility.  How does this relate to a budget, you say?  With my hybrid drum concept over the last month or so, it led me to think that I needed more stuff to make it happen.  With my electronic drums living at church most of the time, I wanted to put together another hybrid drumset that I could have at home and take to gigs with me.  It would save me a lot of time and effort if I didn’t have to go to church every time I have a JMB gig.

Here’s a rundown of what I thought I needed to make another hybrid drumset:

• Drum module - $500-1000
• Cables - $100
• Rack - $180-300
• Drum pads - $200
• Cymbal pads - $200
• TOTAL - $1180-1800 (basically the price for another electronic kit)

Here’s what has happened instead:

• Drum module - traded a drumset for a drum machine; will also transport my Yamaha module back and forth from church.
• Cables - put to use some cables I had at home and only ended up spending about $50 on what I needed.
• Rack - Elected to use actual drum hardware instead (see next item).
• Drum pads - My roommate had some very nice Pintech pads that he wasn’t using; I’m taking them off his hands for $160.  They can be mounted with standard L-shaped tom mounts, meaning I can use regular acoustic tom mounts.
• Cymbal pads - transporting my Yamaha pads back and forth from church; putting them on regular cymbal stands.
• TOTAL - $210

So, I was able to put to use several items that I already had on hand and saved a lot of money.  Always a good thing.

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This Christmas, I will be participating in a presentation of Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God.  If you don’t already have plans, keep December 21st and 22nd open.  One or both of those dates will be the night(s) of the performance.  The likely location is The Point, but that hasn’t been settled just yet, either.  I know, I know… we need to get the details together.

Peterson is a member of the popular group Caedmon’s Call.  He’s also done a significant amount of solo work, including this release.  Think of this as a modern version of a Christmas cantata.  The music is a mix of folk and bluegrass in style.  It’s the type of Christmas album you can listen to year-round.  I really, really like it.

I’ll be playing drums and percussion.  Derek Hughes will be playing guitar and leading a lot of  the songs (I think?).  Josh Martin will play bass.  Many other local musicians from several churches will make up the rest of the band.   It’s been encouraging to hear about how many different musicians from different churches will be a part of this.

I’ll post more details as they’re available, but you won’t want to miss this!

I wanted to post something about one aspect of being a musician - motivation.  For the past year, I sort of felt like I’d hit a brick wall - both creatively and in terms of ability.  I wasn’t motivated to get better, and part of me felt like I’d reached my peak.  I happened to listen to a recording I did in college and had this thought - “Man!  I was so much better back then!”

Early this year, the Josh Martin Band started practicing for our live DVD recording.  It wasn’t until the night of the concert that I was sparked and motivated again.  There was just something about that night - something special.  We’d practiced more for that than anything and it all paid off.  We didn’t play perfect that night, but we came fairly close.  I felt comfortable.  I felt like I was “on top of my game.”

Since then, I’ve been inspired and motivated again.  The band didn’t play much over the summer, but I continued practicing and trying to stay sharp.  Creatively, I started taking chances again, mostly on Sunday mornings at The Point.  Part of the thrill of performing live is the ability to take risks from time to time and try to play something challenging.  I’d felt like I had been playing “safe” for a long time and a friend confirmed it.  Playing Christian music, I felt like I should keep things simple.  By doing that, however, I also realized it had put me in a rut.  Part of my style has always been trying to play interesting drum parts.  I’m not the most creative or talented drummer in the world, but I do feel like I can lay down a solid part that has interesting touches here and there.  Most of my style comes from years of listening and playing along with Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band.  So, I tried to get back to taking some chances and challenging myself.

Lately, the hybrid drum concept has kept me motivated.  I feel like I can play comfortably in any situation now.  I’m still tweaking sounds, which can be tedious, but it’s also been motivating to try something new.  Adding the new drum machine has also helped.  This Sunday, I will be playing over top of a loop I created for the song “We Fall Down.”  I plan on programming more loops for other songs, including JMB songs.

Finally, new material from the Josh Martin Band is also helping.  Up until now, it’s been fairly safe to say we’ve had a country sound to our music.  A mix of bluegrass, folk, country, and southern gospel, all with a little edge.  I can safely say our new material is different.  We’ve already started playing the song “Good Enough” live.  You can also catch “Clumsy Believer” and “Christ is Our Life” on the new DVD.  Three other songs have been worked on in rehearsals and they both have a very different sound from our other material.  It’s mainly resulted from the band writing songs together for the first time, as opposed to Josh coming up with everything on his own.  I’ve enjoyed it very much.

So, where does motivation come from?  For me, it seems it’s been reminders from the past, practicing with an intent to improve, a realization of why I’m not motivated, and trying new things.  It would also be fairly self-serving to not mention that I’ve been given this ability by a God who expects me to use the ability to glorify Him.  That can tend to be motivation enough by itself!