Simplicity, Pulse, Making Music, & Blake Allison
OLD: What got you into drumming in the first place? Why did you start?
Blake Allison: When I was growing up I started playing guitar, not serious or anything, just wanted to play the guitar as a grade schooler. On my first day of high school, I signed up for band. I walked in and they asked what I wanted to play. When I said I wanted to play guitar, they asked what kind of music I like. I told them Metallica, and they said, “Ok, you’re going to play drums.”
That’s actually how I got started. They stuck me on cymbals to start. By the time I was a senior, four years later, I had played drum set in a couple of bands.
I got really got into drumming along the way, and when I graduated high school, I got a scholarship to go the University of Memphis. I was a part of the drum-line there, and once again, I was on cymbals as a freshman.
By my second year of college I had gotten my first record deal, and so it was kind of hard to do both, go to college and be in the band. So I chose the band over college, and that’s pretty much how I got started.
OLD: Are you disappointed with the decision to pursue the band over music education?
Blake Allison: I think that there would be a lot more opportunities presented to me, considering, if I had the degree, and then again music education is one of the hardest music degrees to get.
OLD: What was your first drum-kit?
Blake Allison: My dad, when I was 14, was nice enough to buy the Mapex Venus series, and I still have that actually. It still sounds great! I played those all the way through high school.
OLD: Before a show, what do you like to do to get yourself ready?
Black Allison: I don’t really do too much. I definitely don’t have any drinking rituals or anything like Popeye with his spinach.
I like to listen to music. Not necessarily our music, but anything I like. I just like to listen to a drummer hold rhythm, just kind of get in the groove mentally.
Sometimes I play the guitar and sing, too, because I do a little backup.
OLD: How many sticks do you go through?
Black Allison: I usually go through four sticks a show.
OLD: What do you like to play?
Black Allison: I play Vic Firth, Extreme 5Bs. Those are my favorites.
They are longer, so I don’t have to reach far. I like my kits to be set up pretty spacious. A lot of drummers like to put everything really close. I like to snap, so I can really, really hit the drums as hard as I want to. I can really slam each drum.
OLD: Your most recent album’s namesake is the song White Rabbit. Do you have any stories you want to share about the making of that song?
Blake Allison: The drum part in the intro was something that I had wanted to do, something like the intro for Last Resort by Papa Roach. I wanted to do something like a war-drum rhythm.
As of right now that’s one of the best drum songs we do. For a live show, White Rabbit, Ghost Town, and another song called The Drug, are great to play. They’re all drums.
OLD: With this new release, does it liven up the tour for you, as far as bringing something fresh to the plate?
Blake Allison: Yeah, seven years I have been playing the songs. I don’t even need to think while I am out there, playing those old ones, I’ve played them for so long.
OLD: Does it ever get tiring for you to play the songs over and over?
Blake Allison: I would say it depends on the show. If it’s a show with a great crowd and we’re doing well, I could play anything and still be having a great time.
But I will say, I keep re-writing parts. Sometimes I realize that I’m doing too much and need to go back to the original. I’d end up playing a completely different song if I didn’t stay focused. I just need to relax and remember that simplicity is the key.
OLD: How much flexibility do you give yourself as far as changing the parts that you play and not going strictly with what’s on the recording?
Blake Allison: I would say that snare placement is one of the most important things that has to be uniform to the record. Sometimes I’ll do a couple of fills differently.
Sometimes I feel like in the rush of recording a record, I don’t put enough forethought into some of the fills and later find that something else works better.
On that topic, I feel like drummers and singers can get away with a lot more in the studio nowadays. You don’t have to be as trained or as perfect in the studio. So, making sure that your parts are strong when you perform, I think that’s one of the things that people lack from records today.
OLD: When you’re on stage, do you put an emphasis in putting on a visual show as well as audible?
Blake Allison: Oh yeah, I would say it’s progressively gotten “worse” because moving around and stick flips, it’s sacrificed the solidness of what I play.
But, I think that when you are at a show, if you see a band that looks like they are really enjoying what they are doing, it leaves a big impression and lightens up the show. It’s about keeping a balance, though. I am trying to contain myself.
When I started I was all about technique and perfection, and I’ve grown as a performer, realizing that perfection is a great thing, and being right on your click track, not rushing your beat are great, but after watching some of my favorite drummers, I realized that the “pushing” of a song can be beneficial to the way that the audience feels it.
OLD: If you could only pass one piece of drumming advice on to the next generation of drummers, what do you think that piece of advice would be?
Blake Allison: I would say simplicity is the key and the pulse of the song is the most important thing.
Blake Allison is endorsed by ddrum Reflex and plays Sabian cymbals.
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Author
Publisher of OnlineDrummer.com, Alfred Publishing author, Ddrum artist, and veteran Drum! Magazine contributor, Nate earned his Bachelor of Arts in Education at John Carroll University and Master of Arts in Education at the University of Findlay.
