Keep up with Chris here:
I started playing drums out of neccesity. I live in a very small town and couldn’t find a good drummer with drive and talent. Our previous drummer had left his kit at my house and I ust started playing what I could. I’ve always been a huge fan of drums and as a guitar player always wanted a drummer that could play the stuff I had in my head. After a couple of months I decided that I should take some lessons. After the first coupe of lessons I was completely hooked on drums. i’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years now and never thought I was where I should be for that amount of playing. Something just felt right about playing drums. My drum teacher felt the same and I went to lessons 2 and sometimes 4 times a week! I felt totally inspired and loved the feeling of drums. I bought my first kit in 2006 and never looked back.
I’ve been told that my playing style is a little different. I think that is alot becuase I was a guitarist for so many years. And the fact that I do all of our vocals, the drums take on a whole different feel when you have to remember lyrics and use your breathing for vocals. Seeing as how I learned to play drums while doing our vocals, it made it an easy transition from playing guitar and vocals. Now I’m just going to lessons and learing to become a more rounded player. speed has never been a huge deal to me. I think alot of music sacrafices quality for speed. As long as I’m tight when we play live and on recording I’ll be happy. To me a guy that plays extremely tight and with finess is far more interesting than a blastathon, although I don’t mind it sometimes.
Chris Barnum Interveiw:
SD.com: How old were you when you started playing?
Chris: Well I only started plyinf drums about 4 years ago so about 23. I played guitar in the band (bled/dismal lapse)for the first 8 years we we’re a band.
SD.com: Did you play in a school band or any drum corps?
Chris: No, my first lessons were taken from a drum teacher.
SD.com: Who are your top 5 metal influences?
Chris: Well as a drummer, trym, lille gruber, chase westermorland, sean reinhert and vitek. Funny that two of those people are younger than I am!!! If your talking bands than Theory in practice, gorguts, the faceless, death and immolation.
SD.com: Who are some other of your favorites?
Chris: I’m pretty much a fan of any music that sounds “GOOD” to me. It doesn’t really matter what genre it is as long as the musicianship is at a very high level. I’m very open about my music and ceratin parts of a band can be my favorite for any amount of time.
SD.com: Let us know 5 CD’s that are in your current rotation
Chris: The Faceless (planetary duality), Burning the masses (mind control), Immolation (close to a world below)”pretty much never leaves the rotation!!!!”, theory in practice (armaggedon theories) and Ihsahn (the adversary)
SD.com: What do you do to warm up before a show?
Chris: I play a set of rudiments I learned from Kenny arenoff and usually do a set of stretches. I’m usually really busy dealing with getting set up and getting merch put out to do very much warming up. Although I notice a big difference when I actually get time to set up.
SD.com: Do you read music? Regardless of answering yes or no, please tell us how it might have effected your playing?
Chris: Yes I read drum music. It was the first thing I learned when I started taking lessons. It has only affected my playing by making it possible to count things out I might be having a problem with.
SD.com: Can you tell us about the gear you use?
Chris: I’m playing a Tama all birch set with a 22″x20″ kick and shallow toms (8″, 10″, 12″ and a 16″ floor). I use an Orange county procussion snare, All Zildjian cymbals and Aquarian heads. I have a very small DW rack that Fits everything and Axis A long boards. I use the ed shaughnessy oak, pro mark sticks. I also use a Roland trigger and an alesis dm5.
SD.com: If you could give one piece of advice to young drummers, it would be…
Chris: Sounds cliche but PRATICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!! It’s so important when you really listen to recordings of old and new material you put down. A little amount of practice everyday makes a massive difference. Also play a lot of kinds of music. Metal is awesome but learning to play other kinds of music will open doors in your playing.
SD.com: Who gave the best live performance you’ve ever seen?
Chris: I have to say it was a tie between two totally natural drummers! Lyle cooper with the faceless and chase from Burning the masses. Both make me sick with how naturally good they are at drums!!!
SD.com: If you had to stop drumming, what would you want to do with your life?
Chris: Go back to playing guitar!!haha If I had to not play music I would just go into another area of music like recording or something.
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