I enjoyed writing this piece on how I’ve navigated through the COVID pandemic, along with insight into the creation of Dragondeer’s most recent single, “MANIFEST”. ENJOY!
As a professional drummer, I found myself craving the crazy, hectic chaos that surrounds running from one gig to the next. It’s a fun life, but COVID gave me the time I needed to slow down, recenter, and focus my time and energy on furthering my career in ways that don’t burn me out. One of these focuses is self-producing my solo record. I’ve also been working on left-hand bass and live looping while playing drums. I taught group percussion classes in Boulder. I’m also writing a curriculum to present to other schools/groups/communities that could benefit from such a program (when that time comes). However, I did present an online “virtual drum circle” over quarantine for a Summer Library program. Oh, and I made a website at carlplaysdrums.com (still another work in progress). One of the best pieces of professional advice I received was: “you make work for yourself.” As an artist, the work never stops, even when the gigs dry up. But don’t worry, they’ll be back.
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