On Oct. 19th the DC crew was on hand to witness yet another great performance by  none other than John Blackwell himself. Just one day before leaving to Japan to start rehearsal for a pop tour with one of Japan's premiere artists,  John was able to give us yet another taste of why he's one of the most sought after musicians today.

The clinic started off with a funky solo, then segued into several performances with backing tracks mostly composed by Blackwell. John also gave us just a quick listen to one of the tracks on his highly anticipated album "The John Blackwell Project" which will be released by Christmas or the first of the New Year. Either way…if you weren't there you really missed out on the sneak peek, it's gonna be awesome! In fact, the drum tracks for two songs on the new album were recorded by Kamelot drummer Casey Grillo who was also in attendance at the clinic. For those who don't know Casey is quite the sound engineer-you can check out his interview with us here: https://drummerconnection.com/casey_grillo_interview

John then took the time to answer several questions from the fans and then shared some hilarious stories form his days with Prince…they never get old!

DC: As far as practicing is concerned, what are you working on in order to take your playing to the next level?

JB: Everything…..no seriously. I'm learning a whole new style of drumming based out of my wife's country the Dominican Republic. They have some incredible things going on down there with percussion that I'm still trying to understand like meringue and bachata and all of these different types of beats that I never knew existed. I mean I knew a few, but I just knew them. I wanted to be able to feel it AND play it and get to the point to where one of their native musicians can say "Hey, let's call John." But I haven't got to that point yet so that's something that I'm working on.

DC: Early in your career what were some things you would do mentally and physically to prepare for auditions with different groups?

JB: Know the music, listen to the records and study the tracks. For example, this tour that I'm embarking on I didn't have to audition but I had to learn close to 100 songs, out of those only 26 are being played. But I learned everything because they told me to. I may get there and she may say "I don't want to do that song, I want to do this song from one of the other albums." So I'm already ready, but if she says that and I'm like " I only learned the songs you told me to learn. Can you give me a couple of days?" She'll say "Yeah, I'll give you a couple of days…matter fact I'll give you a whole lifetime-go home! Where's that other drummer that knows the music? Get him in here!" So you need to know all of the music.
You can find the rest of John Blackwell's interview here: https://drummerconnection.com/john_blackwell_interview

 

Another great point John made was regarding the impression you give other artists, which is why they want you to play for them.

"When Justin Timberlake called, that was a big tour for him - and by now they've seen you with other artists at your best. So the best thing you can do is study their music and have it learned so you can be at your best for them as well."