Tyson Taylor

 

Keep up with Tyson here:

www.myspace.com/closedcasketfuneral

 

 

I’m from Windsor, Ontario, Canada (Border City to Detroit) and I’ve been playing drums since the summer of 2001. I started playing drums for “ADHD” one of the biggest hardcore bands to come from Windsor and since that outfit I’ve played with many different bands of different genres. In between ADHD shows and recordings I worked with a local folk/experimental hero, John West in many different projects entitled, “Guys With Dicks”, “Johnny West”, “Mr. Sinister”, and “The Band” to name a few. Also in between all those projects I was also working with long-time best friend and musical soul mate, Steve Landgraff, on a few projects. We had grown together musically by playing guitar together years before I’d thought of playing drums and we had written a few classical guitar pieces and also wrote all the music for a Nu-metal project called, “Fetal Pulp” in this time period. But after I had gotten into drums we had started up a well-known local metal band called, “Today I Bleed…”, which had featured a female singer on the quiet parts and then moved on to our most popular project, “Blindly I Follow”, which was based off a lot of different styles ranging from local metalcore bands to European metal to classical compositions.

After Blindly I Follow had ended, I was slowly beginning to lose touch with John West, and the hardcore scene was fading away so ADHD had called it quits as well. Another popular local metal project was Cleansed By Fire and they had member changes and ended up having a guitarist for a drummer. I was free of any band obligations so they decided the guitarist should play guitar and that I was of great value to them and they asked me to come play their set and see what I thought. The same night I tried out they wanted me to stay and we all decided to change the band name to Closed Casket Funeral. We practiced close to a year before doing our first show and after 2 shows we decided to change vocalists and we also recently added Steve Landgraff, as second guitarist, to the roster.

 

 

Tyson Taylor Interview:

 

 

SD.com: What has it been like for you, recording with Antoine from Ion Dissonance?

Tyson: Working with Tony was one of the best experiences in the world. This is a guy who we all look up to due to the talent he possesses and the music his band has created. At first it was a little nerve-racking just because his drummer (J-F) is just amazing so I was worried about being PERFECT in front of him, but our bands have always been very good friends and it got more and more relaxed for me after an hour or so. He told me I was the best drummer he’s worked with besides J-F so my spirits got boosted and I just had a great time working with him.

 

 

SD.com: What would you say is the best and worst part of touring?

Tyson: I personally LIVE for touring so I don’t have many bad things to say about it. I just love that feeling of traveling with your closest friends, and musical soul mates across the country to display something you’ve created to people who rarely get to see you live. Some good things are just the friends you meet, who end up being your best friends and random promoters, or “fans” who let you sleep on their floor when you have nowhere to sleep. The only real bad thing for us would be worrying about gas, or van problems. Also, I book 95% of our shows and tours so I tend to make sure our next show is all good to go or if one’s getting cancelled due to venue problems or etc. I just don’t want a show to be dropped if I booked it because it would bum me out quite a bit. As long as the van’s tank is full and it’s running well, I don’t have a worry in the world when we’re out on the road.

 

 

SD.com: When did you start playing drums?

Tyson: Well I actually started out playing guitar when I was 12 and learned all I could learn and really didn’t pick up drums until 2001. My neighbour had a drum set in his garage and I heard him jamming all the time and I finally knocked on the door and asked him if I could try them out. He showed me some stuff and I picked it up quite fast and I never wanted to play guitar again. Then my brother wanted to start a band and they needed a drummer so I picked up a kit and I’ve been drumming ever since.

 

 

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

Tyson: I did play trumpet and percussion for my school band in grade school from grades 6 to 8 so that really helped with reading music and timing. No drum corps though.

 

 

 

 

SD.com: Have you ever taken any lessons?

Tyson: Everything I’ve learned has been self-taught. I’ve never had any real lessons besides some jazz patterns, and some rudiments from our singer. He’s an excellent jazz drummer and teaches drums so he’s given me little tips and things here and there whenever I ask.

 

 

SD.com: Who are your top 5 influences?

Tyson:

1.CHRIS PENNIE (The Dillinger Escape Plan)
2.JUSTIN FOLEY (Blood Has Been Shed)
3.KENNETH SHALK (Candiria)
4.J-F (Ion Dissonance)
5.JOHN BELLON (Fact of Death) *Local drummer*

 

 

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

Tyson:

1. Chris Pennie (The Dillinger Escape Plan)
2. Ryan Forsythe (Dear Black Diary)
3. Kevin Boutot (The Acacia Strain
4. Nicholas Barker (Dimmu Borgir)
5. Tomas Haake (Meshuggah)

 

 

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

Tyson:

1. BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED – “I Dwell On Thoughts Of You”
2. THE ACACIA STRAIN – “The Dead Walk”
3. GAZA – “I Don’t Care Where I Go When I Die”
4. ION DISSONANCE – “Solace”
5. BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED – “Novella Of Uriel”

 

 

SD.com: Do you practice any specific rudiments or combo’s regularly?

Tyson: Not really. I practice a LOT but it’s generally freestyle or I’ll run through our songs and parts that are trouble spots and work on them until they’re perfect. Sometimes I’ll run through paradiddles on my practice pad if there’s a lot of free time before I play a set but I don’t get too technical. I like to relax and let it come naturally. If you get too worried about playing live you’ll likely mess up more. Always stretch!!!

 

 

 

 

SD.com: What is your favorite part of your drum kit?

Tyson: I can’t say I have one favourite part but I guess if I had to pick I’d have to say my kick drum. I have it set up custom the way I like it with an E-MAD system and an Evans Retro Practice skin as my front skin and it has really separated itself from other drummers’ kick drums.

 

 

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

Tyson: The biggest advice any drummer should give is to practice! Practice a lot!!! If you feel like giving up then you’re normal. It happens at first because it’s hard and you should want to work past the give up point. The second biggest advice I could give is to NEVER play a show too early. All these new bands coming out have been together a month and then play a show and it’s horrible and most times embarrassing. Practice a year together before doing a show. You’ll find it’s much more rewarding and you won’t look stupid at your first show. Haha.

 

 

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

Tyson: The best live performance I’ve ever seen would be Chris Pennie at The Dillinger Escape Plan/Every Time I Die Tour that came through Detroit MI a few years back. Their flight was late and they JUST made it to the show and they had NO equipment and had to use ETID’s gear and the drum kit was SO small and Chris just made it sounds SO AMAZING and I’ll never forget how incredibly tight they were that night.

 

 

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

Tyson: Anything involving music. If I had to live being not involved in music in some way I’d rather be dead.