The Drummer's Dominion

Yes, this joint has been a mess for a good long while. The reasons are bountiful, and they range from “good” to mostly “poor”. A complete revamp has been in the cards for years, and I want 2015 to be the successful restart, but I make no promises. So, for now, I will continue to at least post others’ videos as proof of life for the 2 people in Uzbekistan who continue to check in on this thing with decreasing interest and regularity.

When I first created DD and published content to a very modest HTML website back in the mid 1990s, there were not many sites like it. I’m not claiming it was good, just uncommon. Embedded videos were nonexistent, and my handful of poor-quality WAVs and MP3s was fairly unique. What I had was CHARTS. The early ones were literally drawn in Paint Shop Pro. Then I got Cakewalk! Getting my hands on Finale in 2002 and Photoshop soon thereafter changed everything. Lots of charts and mini-lessons were made.

“That’s great that you’re yammering on about your amazing charts. Where the **** are they?”

I neglected this site for quite a stretch while I was in school because I was busy… well, drumming all the time. When I finally came back to it, HTML and Flash websites were DEAD. I breathed what life I could into it, and then I threw up a quick WordPress site as a placeholder while I developed new content and converted old content. The longer it took, the more buried I felt by the tech and talent surrounding me in the virtual marketplace. All the while, YouTube both improved and ruined everything. Technology got so cheap and easy to use that now everyone who even casually picks up a pair of drumsticks posts high-definition videos with studio-quality sound. On top of that, everyone sharing all these over-the-moon videos has led to the education and proliferation of MONSTER drummers. Crazy chops are now as ubiquitous as HD. Just in the past handful of years came this onslaught of “djent”, and now everyone’s playing along to Periphery and Animals As Leaders as if they were Syncopation. So, my relaunch isn’t just a website redesign, it’s become an onerous reason to invest in equipment and get really good (which I spent 5 years and a fortune doing at Berklee).

This is how 2015 begins for The Drummer’s Dominion. Something will happen with this site this year. When? As soon as I figure out how to do more with less. In the meantime, let’s go play some drooms for the fun and the art, not for views and likes and shares.