Page 38 - Sick Drummer Magazine Issue 29 - Hannes Grossmann

SDM: It’s nice to be hanging with a fellow upstate NY guy, as you grew up around here in East Amherst. Sow how old were you when you first got into drums, and what did it for you?I was 6 years old and my parents took me to a concert at the old War Memorial. It was Billy Joel and Elton John, so I got to see Liberty DeVito play, and I thought, I kinda want to do that! Then my Grandfather took me to see Yanni like a year later, and that drummer had an insane Terry Bozzio style kit. From then on I knew that I had to do this. My parents then bought me my first set, which was a 5-piece candy apple red Premier set, and that was it... I just couldn’t stop.SDM: Was anyone else in the house musical at all?Only as a hobby, nobody was really musically educated. My Father played drums a little whenhe was younger, as well as trumpet. So, in termsof “musicians,” there weren’t any, but my parents and Mom’s Father were always showing me stuff. My Mother would play Earth Wind & Fire, Elvis Costello, Rick James and some other stuff. So, I was surrounded by a lot of Big Band and funk growing up. One one side of the family there was Big Band and Funk, and on the other side there was a lotof Ratpack type stuff, so I also was exposed to stuff like Dean Martin, Frank, Sammy Davis, Paul Anka, Mel Tormé. And also hearing guys like Ed Shaughnessy and Buddy Rich, so that was my real first taste of drumming. All pretty much based on swing and funk in the beginning.SDM: Did you get any structured education or lessons before you went to Berklee?Absolutely... I was in the music programs all through middle and high school, and had a couple of really great band directors throughout my time at school.I went to St. Joe’s high school in Buffalo, NY and had a great director there. I was into the musicals and almost every other thing I could be into, so myreading chops were really good as a youngster. Then around 15-16 I started to get into different stuff. I was around a lot of other musicians who also knew music was what they really wanted to do, so I started checking out a lot of stuff they would bring around.SDM: I knew you were going to say things that prompted other questions I had not thought of, which is very cool. A lot of people look at reading, writing, charting, as something that holds back creativity and some people say they are more creative because of it. How do you feel about that? Do you think it hinders, or helps?I haven’t played with a chart in probably ten years.I mean, if I sub on a gig or something and they need to send me the material, I’ll write my own cheat sheet in natural shorthand. So, it’s not like a regular “chart,” but it helps. The fact that I had all that training, allows me to have more freedom now. It was a great fundamental in the beginning of my career and I still have the skills now, so if I got a call for a reading gig I would easily be able to take the job. If you want to be a career drummer, I think it’s very important, because you never know what call you might get one day.SDM: So moving onto 2006-2008 when you attended Berklee...I graduated high school in 2003 and got a gig with a National Dave Matthews tribute band and did that for about a year and a half. Then came home and went off to do some work on cruise ships, then played around with a few bands in Buffalo and Rochester. Then, in talking with my Father who was very supportive, he said; “look; if you want to really do this you should go to a place that’s not here.” So I applied to Berklee, Eastman, Miami, N. Texas. Berkeley gave me an early acceptance and said if you want to come here, come on down. The programs they were teaching and the instructors they had, well that was what I really wanted, so I took it and went there beginning in 2006...........carubba cntd.