Johnny Salazar of the rockin' group, Janus, gives us an inside view into the life of a drummer.
Photo by Jeff Mintline
OLD: Life on the road as a drummer... See, a lot of people have a conception of what it's like, but for you, what is it like as a drummer on the road when you are out gigging or on tour?
Johnny: For me, being a completely self-taught drummer, it's the ultimate learning experience. I think you get to see all of your favorite drummers. I mean, not always are they going to be your favorite, but if you are open-minded as a musician, you can definitely appreciate it. Then not only that, it's talking to the other artists, other drummers, more specifically, almost immediately afterwards, and it's private lessons, your own clinic, almost every single night on the road.
I would say being on tour, for me, in another band, watching all these other bands, that's probably one of the greatest things about being on tours is to be able to learn, soak in all the other things, meet new people, new bands, new drummers, it's like instant lessons.
OLD: That's something a lot of the drummers don't think about either; I hadn’t even thought of it that way really. They just think, basically they are out there working, but you can soak in like a sponge all that information. That's a good point. I like that.
Johnny: Definitely. I mean, it's a never-ending work process, from the beginning of the day, to the time that you get on stage to do what you guys have to do. But there is a lot of downtime, but it's all about that, performance, watching all of the other bands perform, and then learning about them. Everybody has a story, I just like to soak all that stuff in.
OLD: How does life on the road compare to what you thought it would be like before you even started touring; is it the same, is it what you thought, is it different?
Johnny: Well, it's definitely not -- everybody has these preconceived notions, thinking that it's going to be an extravagant lifestyle. But in reality, it's a lot more hard work. We travel by ourselves in a van and we do everything ourselves.
We tour, manage, we sell merch, we tear down, we setup, we play. We do it all by ourselves, and it's just a really -- it's a really, really difficult thing to do.
It's definitely fun to be out here promoting your band, exposing your talent out to numerous people, and that's something that I am definitely grateful for.
OLD: What do you like? I know you said a lot of things that you enjoy, is there something that you haven’t mentioned that you like most about what you do?
Johnny: I would have to say it's being able to play at different places every single night. I am pretty much a designated driver, so just traveling would probably be one of my favorite things; getting to see new people, new places, perform in front of the people, just showcasing my own talent, which is something unimaginable. You never would have thought we would be at this point, but I would say those were the things, I think.
OLD: What do you like least about what you do?
Johnny: I would say the hurry up and wait sometime. The being away from friends, family. Like I mentioned earlier, we are barely transitioning into the being gone all the time. So I know girlfriends are not liking that too much, but it's something we have to do. This is something that we consider to be a career, or hope to make a career, and it's part of the job process.
But I would say the hurry up and wait. The downtime, in between stuff; it's nothing until the performance I would say.
OLD: Now, I have asked these similar questions to a lot of drummers, and everyone has a different idea, which is kind of interesting. What drumming skills do you think are most important to succeed as a working drummer on the road?
Johnny: We're in a van, every time you get a break, you have got to make sure you stretch, otherwise you run the risk of burning out or hurting yourself.
You need to warm up. I consider myself a very energetic drummer. I don't do any stick tricks or anything like that, but I'm definitely a very energetic drummer.
So I would say, having a great work ethic with your drumming and your body, you have got to have those skills, as well as people skills, because you are meeting people all the time.
OLD: A lot of guys have said something about, a lot of work, being a strong worker. I guess starting out like you guys are and putting in the effort has paid off.
Johnny: Yes, we are getting radio play all over the place. We are getting added to a lot of different stations all across the country, and like I said, we landed -- the Agency Group is our agent, and tour, tour, tour, that's all it is.
OLD: As far as the songwriting process goes, do you think it's important to get involved in that?
Johnny: I think it's definitely important to put your two cents in at all times. I mean, we are a band; I am not just a drummer in their band. They are the singers in my band; I am the drummer in theirs and vice versa.
But I definitely contribute to where I feel things should be better; whether it's a lyrical melody, not necessarily a lyric; I don't mess around with lyrics too much, but music and drumming, and just arrangements, things like that.
I like to consider myself as one with a musical background, not just the backbone of the band, not just the drummer, but more and more inclined to get involved, definitely, I think it's very important.
OLD: How do you come up with your drum parts?
Johnny: Well, we definitely like to embrace technology. Half of this new record that I played the drums on was completely prior to me even joining. So I went back and I just added my little taste to things; whether it would be changing a kick drum note here, snare drum placement there, so on and so forth, and just made it my own, so to speak.
But we embrace technology. We have an email account that we can upload files to, and anybody in the band can pull that stuff down.
So for example, my guitar player will just load up an MP3 of a riff that he is working on. I will pull it down, bring it in GarageBand and put down a simple beat to it, something to where he can get an idea for, feed off of it, and maybe generate some more music out of that.
We all do that with each other. A lot of the times we play in one room and try to jam it out. We end up saying, man, we are not getting anywhere with it, we need to do some homework, stuff like that.
But we definitely get down, we jam, we groove, we record with two stereo mics and kind of sift through all the stuff. Most of it's just jamming nonsense, everybody going crazy, but a lot of the times we do find some good stuff after we listen to that.
OLD: Do you memorize those parts and play the same for each show, or do you change it up? How do you do that?
Johnny: I consider, the album that we just completed, it's a composition, so to speak, a recorded piece of music, that a lot of thought went into the pieces, the fills, the placements. So I think when consumers, fans, kids buy that stuff, they want to hear it. At least when I go to shows, I want to hear it the way that it's done, unless I am going to see like King Crimson or Porcupine Tree, which is completely improvisational based. I like to do it almost exactly.
Now, that's not to say that I don't improvise on certain spots. Like there's a couple of breakdowns where I do fills and there's a little bit of room for me to just embellish on top and what not. But a majority of the pieces are set in place, kind of written for the songs, and done so I think in a good light.
Yes, I do play most of the time identical to how the record is, as I wish more and more drummers would do.
OLD: As far as preparing for a show, do you have any special routine, or anything you can recommend for preparing for a show?
Johnny: Definitely a lot of stretching, a lot of warming up. I use a book called 'Stick Control' to kind of get my hands going. Also, anything that I do on my two hands, I try to apply to my feet as well, whatever it may be; paradiddles, doubles, triples, any one of those rudiments. If I do it up top, I have a practice pad that I can hook a double pedal up to it, I try to do the exact same thing for my feet, just so I can get strength with my feet as well.
But I think just warming up, stretching. Everybody needs to play a little bit. Being on the road, you are cramped in a van, but put a metronome on, and just go to town, practicing by yourself. It's well needed for the advancement of your muscles, muscle memory and all that stuff. I think that would probably be the best thing.
OLD: What has been your greatest experience so far in the band?
Johnny: Well, in the band or the music business in general?
OLD: The music business, how is that?
Johnny: Okay. That's definitely a little easier for me to answer. The one thing that comes to mind is, when I was 16, right out of high school, got picked up to a major label record deal. I spent four, five months in a studio with producer/engineer Steve Thompson who mix Guns 'N Roses, Appetite For Destruction, and also one of my favorite drum records, Metallica’s And Justice For All.
So being able to, right out of high school, me being a fan of all those guys, and being able to work with this guy, who made it sound the way it did, that was definitely a dream come true for me, and I would say that would be the thing right there.
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