Thursday, March 31, 2011

An Interview with David Caldwell, Part 1

By Jim Teacher

JT: What influenced your musical stylings?

DC: I've always had a love of music for as long as I can remember. I guess my first musical influences came from the little radio that would play in my kitchen when I was eating my cereal before school. My parents would always have CBS 101.1 on, and I would be sipping the sugar-milk out of my bowl listening to the likes of Stevie Wonder, James Brown, the Beatles, the Temps, Cream, and tons and tons of great music.

My sister was also a pretty big influence, as in the day, she was all about the 80's...R.E.M., the Cure, Duran Duran....loads of stuff that I can't even start to list. I made fun of her for some of it back then, but I now look back and realize that these bands have totally molded the way I look at music, and I have many of the cassettes she had on CD now, so I guess the joke's on me now.

Somewhere in middle school, I started listening to a lot of hip-hop....don't ask me how, but it just kind of happened. Groups like De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde....pretty amazing beats and a ton of originality....DEFINITELY had an effect on my drumming style.

A few years later, I met some rather unique guys ...yes, I'm talking about the MPS crew, to name a few....and had the opportunity to play drums for about five or six bands. While learning how to play, I was surrounded by various rock influences, with everything from Metallica to Rocket from the Crypt to the Bosstones....so many bands, so many great guitar licks, so many awesome drum fills.

People ask me a lot about my drumming influences..."who's your favorite drummer??".....I guess I can't start talking about drumming without talking about Rush....Neil Peart is amazing....Dave Grohl is also a big influence on me...he played hard, and he didn't make it look easy. I used to get mad at some of the drummers I would see live....drummers who would struggle but still try to make it look simple...drummers that smiled a lot.....don't do that. Don't try and make it look so easy, because I know better.

I think what's been the best influence on my music is not being closed off to different styles. I can appreciate an Iron Maiden guitar solo as much as a Slick Rick break beat. I can zone out to Coltrane one minute and rock out to Weezer's first (and best) album the next. I love music, and I think I take it for granted a lot. Answering this question tells me that, and I miss playing right now more than ever.