Welcome into a very special 38th Episode of The Up & Coming Drummer Podcast. This week, I am joined by Host of the DrumGab Podcast, Mr. Seamus Evely!
Normally, I give you guys an outline of the episode here in the show notes. Basically, a play by play of how the interview flowed. Today, however, I am gonna follow suit with the whole vibe of this episode, and go off script a bit. I'd much rather take this opportunity to rant a bit and talk about the man we here in the drum community have all come to know and love, Seamus Evely.
As you will soon find out, if you haven't already, I wanted to go above and beyond for this episode. You see, whether you know it or not, the Drumgab Podcast was highly influential in the creation of this podcast. I was working a pretty shitty construction job this time last winter, and I began listening to podcasts to help make the day go by quicker. I honestly wasn't banking on there being much that would interest me considering all I really care about is drums! (And my family of course...But you get the point.) Surprisingly, I found this show called DrumGab. It would not only make my work day better but would influence me to try something I never thought possible.
There were several Drum Podcasts at the time which came as quite a shock! Besides Modern Drummer, I'd never heard of any of these dudes who were running their own shows. I liked the Modern Drummers show. I was familiar with Mike and Mike, and it was cool to listen to episodes about some of the best drummers in the industry. But it wasn't until I heard Drumgab that I realized that there was an entire world of drummers out there who were making a name for themselves, and people were interested in them! It was an eye-opener for me. A guy who has been playing drums and teaching his whole life, but has never got recognized outside of this small Pennsylvania town.
Listening to DrumGab gave me the drive to start taking social media more seriously. If Seamus was interviewing big-name drummers, and drummers from the internet, then I could certainly make myself known on the internet. I had what it took. No doubt it! I began to focus on creating better content, and retire that God damn hammer if it killed me! Putting everything I had into making myself known. I continued to listen to DrumGab as often as new episodes were released. All of a sudden I found myself buying cameras, recording gear, and learning the ropes of how to do all this stuff. It consumed me, but I knew it would eventually pay off if I just kept going...No matter how hard or non-rewarding it could feel at times.
My plate was loaded up. I was doing everything. Making Youtube videos, stuff for FB, Instagram, building a website for myself, etc. I literally went all in on a career in drums. Mind you I was still teaching and gigging 2-4 times a week, but this was a whole different avenue I was going down that I've never experienced before. To add to an already overwhelming amount of hats to have my hands in, I decided I too was going to create a podcast! Yep, one more thing I didn't know shit about! Why not though! I was so inspired by what Seamus had done with DrumGab, that I was determined to find a way to chat drums with some of the best drummers in the world as well.
Creating a podcast proved to be one of the biggest pains in the ass I've ever experienced. I can totally see why 90% of them fail. But I wasn't a quitter. I was going to make a Podcast that solely focused on guys like me, and that was all there was to it! I made a flyer for Instagram asking the very few friends I had to hit me up if they wanted to come on my show (which I had no idea how to run). Although I was in the dark as to how I would pull this off, I subconsciously had the best training anyone could ever need. I listened to fucking DrumGab for hours on end! Lol. Clearly, I couldn't just rip off his show, but folks..... he helped me figure out what makes a good interview.