I DON’T WANNA WORK, I WANNA BANG ON ME DRUM ALL DAY

We’re kicking off a massive five-day holiday today, thanks to the Lunar New Year starting on a Monday. So that’s three days off for us. I’d take Thursday and Friday off, but I have deadlines those days. Of course.

Anyway, as it’s the Year Of The Ox, I may or may not revive the 52 Animals series I started with the Year Of The Pig, but couldn’t sustain during the Year Of The Rat. In theory I’m more likely to find 52 varieties of interesting cows than I was of rats. On the other hand, it’s probably all the same to you, so long as I keep it entertaining.

Meanwhile, here’s a good way to kick off a holiday: a video of Sara, a 13-year-old girl from Japan playing Rush’s “YYZ” on the drums.

I’ve been hooked on this video for a couple of days now – partly because I’m a Rush fan, and partly because I think it’s wonderful for someone her age to have Neil Peart for a role model.

Sure, it’s not a perfect performance, but so what? It’s pretty good, considering most aspiring drummers at her age are more at the level of, say, Phil Rudd than Neil Peart. And there are Rush songs with far easier time signatures to tackle, especially when you’ve got only about 25% of the kit Peart uses just to play “Working Man”.

Besides, the best thing about the video is that she’s clearly having fun playing. All music should be played that way.

CLARIFICATION: No dis on Phil Rudd, incidentally. But let’s admit it – playing drums for AC/DC is the ultimate low-effort/high reward music gig.

That’s how we drum-roll,

This is dF

SLIP THE DRUMMER ONE

While we’re on drumming, and the importance of having fun, of course there’s such a thing as having too much fun.

So hopefully young Sara won’t grow up to be this guy.

(The drummer, I mean – not the guy in the still shot.)

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve sat behind a drum kit, and I’ve been in enough bands to know that the singer and the guitar player usually get the attention, so it’s up to the rhythm section to generate their own heat.

But you don’t want to be a distraction either. Phil Rudd knows this.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I once played drums in an AC/DC cover band. So my Phil Rudd jokes are well-informed.

Waving not drowning,

This is dF