Josh Drolet

 

Keep up with Josh here:

www.myspace.com/goreality1

Additional links sent in by Josh:

www.pathosproductions.com

www.returntothepit.com

www.freewebs.com/gore-reality/index.htm

 

 

 

 

My father taught me how to play drums as soon as I was old enough to stand and walk on my own. At first I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. Eventually shit started to make sense. My first kit was a five piece Courtley with single heads,  Sabian AA and  Zildjian K cymbals. Talk about fucking old school.  I would follow in my father’s footsteps and queue Led Zeppelin songs on the stereo to play along with. After years of bullshit, playing off and on, I started getting into metal. The first metal CD I bought was Pantera Far beyond Driven. It was fucking solid. Soon after I got into Fear Factory and started working my legs and building double bass skills. This was around my freshman year of high school. The following year, I started to take lessons from Rick Costa, a jazz drummer who attended Berkley. It helped me to understand what I was doing and it helped  further my ability to play what I hear.

basically to make an ass long story short. The key was getting a nice new (at the time anyway) double bass drum set when I was 14. Since then I have played consistently 3-5 days a week and some times 7. I have played in several bands including Entrails of Angels and breathe The Plague. I now currently play for the death/grind/thrash band Goreality. I would have to say the milestone of my career would be, even though it is small bullshit compared to the shit that other people have done, but the outcome is still top notch. I won the Tama fastest feet contest at ozzfest in 2004 with 436 beats in 30 seconds. Which means I should be able to pull of at least 850 in a minute right? And they sent me one single double bass pedal for my troubles. Yay!

 

 

Josh Drolet Interview:

 

 

 

 

SD.com: How old were you when you started playing?

Josh: I’m not really sure. Probably since I was about 4 or 5 or so. My father played drums too, so they were always around.

 

 

SD.com: Did you play in a school band or any drum corps?

Josh: No. I always wanted to but at the time I could never really read music because I had never taken lessons. But I started playing in bands when I was 15 though.

 

 

SD.com: Ever take any lessons?

Josh: I did for about a year but even having the playing experience to be able to learn and play all kinds of songs I still had to start from the beginning. But it sharpened my timing and all that good stuff. Since then I still haven’t taken lessons. I guess I’m a natural player.

 

 

 

 

SD.com: Who are your top 5 influences?

Josh: John Bonham (no explanation needed), Cory Grady – black dahlia murder, Gene Hoglan, Chris Adler and Mike Portnoy. Goddamn it was so hard to choose 5

 

 

SD.com: Assuming that influences doesn’t mean favorites, who are your favorites?

Josh: I have to many to list. Im sure there are plenty of ridiculous drummers out there that I don’t know about. Shit lets see. aside from the aforementioned drummers, Sean reinert, Richard Christy, Flo mournier, peter wildoer, Raymond Herrera.

 

 

SD.com: Let us know 5 CD’s that are in your current rotation

Josh: Dream Theater – Awake, Fear factory – Archetype, Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos, Lamb of God – Sacrament, Strapping Young Lad – The new Black

 

 

SD.com: Can you remember a night you think was your best playing ever? If yes, when and where?

Josh: The best show I can remember was at the Middle East in boston with Lividity. It was pretty sick. In a way I kind of feed off the intensity of the crowd. And the sound system kicked ass so I definitely, we as a band defiantly rocked the house. The best part was that we were minus one guitarist.

 

 

SD.com: Do you have a favorite brand of drums or cymbals?

Josh: All I know is pretty much what I have played. I have a 9 pc tama Rockstar and several zildjian cymbals. And a couple of sabians. In my experience playing out. I have concluded that my “not so cheap but not so expensive” drum kit has sounded better than some other nicer kits that I have seen. Plus I am a poor broke bastard anyway so I haven’t really experimented too much.

 

 

 

 

SD.com: Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Josh: I used to smoke a blunt before shows but now it just makes me stupid so I just drink a lot of water and red bulls and shit. And then I do 2 jager bombs right before we go on.

 

 

SD.com: If you could give one piece of advice to young drummers, it would be…

Josh: Practice and pursue your style. Whatever kind of shit you’re into ,the more shit you pick up the more you incorporate certain techniques into creating your own “style”. Another thing is that if you play with a lot of different musicians, like I have had more bands than girlfriends kind of thing, you will pick up other people’s playing styles as well.

 

 

SD.com: Who gave the best live performance you’ve ever seen?

Josh: Dream Theater on the six degrees of inner turbulence tour at the orpheum theater in boston. It was ridiculous.

 

 

SD.com: If you had to stop drumming, what would you want to do with your life?

Josh: There is nothing left to do. But I guess if I had to, I’d say a life of crime. “As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”