Chris wrote:Hey Ryan,
just a short question (but feel free to write a long answer): Do you remember the first time playing/ jamming together with the Dev? What was it like and did you immediately know that it would work?
Thanks,
Chris
Hey Man,
Yeah, I totally remember the first time I jammed with Dev. It was a very memorable and surreal experience.
It was at SYL's old rehearsal space, I was playing on one of Gene's old beat-up kits (Which was surreal in it's own right). I brought my own Snare, Sticks and Cymbals. I had learn't Earthday, 7th Wave, Truth and a couple other tunes. The first thing Dev did was start jamming on a riff, i jumped in right away and just started playing a groove as solid as I could with some fills here and there. The coolest part I remember vivdly, was jamming for about 10 minutes, even before we jammed one of Dev's songs, and Dev saying " You're the guy !" I was like... "What?" we did'nt even play one of his songs yet. He just said it because he liked the way that I sat back on the groove and the way I hit the drums, which was confident and solid. I thought that the gig would work out from that point on and it did. Things just clicked.
We ended up jamming all his songs and working stuff out for some of his new material (Accelerated Evolution) the rest of that first jam. Dev admitted he had to try-out a couple other drummers he had promised auditions for, after my audition, but still said I was "The Guy". He jammed with the other drummers but in the end he stayed true to his word and I officially became the drummer for The Devin Townsend Band after that first jam.
It was really cool and an exciting time for me. I had so much respect for Devin (Still do of course !) and to be jamming songs of one of my fave albums of all time (Ocean Machine) with the actual artist, was very exciting and extremely surreal..... an honor.
So there it is..... hope that answers your question for you.
All the best,
RVP
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 1:27 am
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