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Photo courtesy of Alyssa Ann Dueck |
I didn’t have a very strong musical upbringing. I didn’t grow up in a musical household or anything like that. We listened to music and had CDs, of course, but no more than the average household if I had to guess. I had more of an athletic background and I played any sport I was allowed. For the longest time, I wanted to be an NHL player when I grew up.
I did have a few people in my life that were involved with music, though. A couple of really close friends that all played instruments. My older cousins and older sister did some musical theatre. Being the youngest of all of them, I always thought it was super cool watching them go on stage and perform in front of a crowd of people. Those were really the only impressions of music I had growing up, though.
It wasn’t until maybe grade 7 or 8 though that something changed. My friends that played instruments performed a song at our school talent show and I remember thinking, “I want to be up there with them.” I’m sure some of it was just FOMO, but I remember thinking how fun it looked.
I was mainly drawn to drums because my best friend, Aidan, played drums and of course I wanted to be just like him. His dad played guitar and had been in bands for a long time so Aidan had a drum kit and a bunch of other music gear at his house. One day we were hanging out at his place and he wanted to show me a song he was practicing. So he goes over to the computer and searches up a video on YouTube, cranks the speakers as loud as they’ll go, hits play and then runs back to the drum set. “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World starts blasting and Aidan starts drumming along to it.
Aidan and I grew up a few houses down from each other and did practically everything together. We hung out almost every day; we both played hockey, loved video games, etc. One of the video games we grew up playing together was NHL 2003. Now ask anyone who has played any of the NHL games over the years which game has the best soundtrack, and I can almost guarantee they’ll say NHL 2003. My favourite song from that game: “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World.
I can’t say for certain that seeing Aidan play drums that day was the exact moment I knew I wanted to make music, but it was 100% the reason behind me begging my parents for a drum kit for the next three years. Combine that with our friends, Tyler and Cam, who played guitar, my sister and cousins singing for musical theatre… they all influenced me to pick up those instruments in one way or another.
I can’t blame my parents for waiting so long to get me a drum set either. Kids change their minds on a whim and there was no way of knowing if I was actually going to stick with it. Plus, drum sets are not cheap! But thank God they ended up taking that chance because damn we’ve come a long way.