TigerBill's DrumBeat Community Forums for Free Expert Advice on Drums and Percussion.

MY NAME: Alistair Leitch

MY LOCATION: The bustling metropolis of Kawakawa, Northland (the province), New Zealand.

MY OCCUPATION: History teacher. I am also a Volunteer Firefighter for the local Fire Brigade. Hobbies include rugby (when I'm not injured), racket sports (badminton mainly), swimming (used to swim for a club for 11 years), skiing and snowboarding when I can afford it, any sport I'll try at least once!

MY BAND: Not yet - just an unofficial jam band with a group of other teachers. I am trying to persuade the rest of them to do some gigs, but we'll see

.

MY WEBSITE: Not yet.

MY FIRST INSPIRATION: Probably all the music my parents played when I was growing up. Motown, ska, reggae, rock, blues, jazz, classical - pretty much every style of music was played in my parents' house. I guess my inspiration would have been the many drummers who played the different styles of music; particularly Ringo, Charlie Watts, and Keith Moon (as you may have gathered, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Who were particular favourites).

MY INSPIRING/FAVORITE DRUMMER: Ones I have respect for or who have inspired me through listening are: John Bonham, Bill Ward, Ginger Baker, Al Jackson Jr., Joe Morello, Fergal Lawler(the Cranberries), the list goes on and on... Pretty much anyone I listen to inspires me.

MY MUSIC STYLES: At the moment, rock, funk and blues mainly. I am trying to get into reggae and jazz, but it's taking a while!

MY SUPPORT/MENTOR: Roger Strange. The amount of support I have had from Roger over the last year has been immense. I would not be the drummer (or person) I am now without his help and guidance. Oh, and my wife

MY STORY: I remember being allowed to bash pots and pans along to music from an early age, but not for very long though! (My mum encouraged this at the time) When I got to Primary School and it was time for band auditions, I knew I wanted to be in the percussion section. The teacher liked having me there, apparently, because I kept good time. Percussion then took a back seat - I asked to learn to play drums, but we lived in a small house, and it was "too noisy". I was encouraged to play piano and violin (we had a piano at home, and my Mum's Dad's violin was also in the house). I played for a while in school orchestras at second violin, then gave up in Secondary school.
When I went to Secondary school I started working for money, cleaning the school every night. Mum would come and pick me up afterwards, but there was a 30 minute gap between when my shift ended and when she arrived - I found some drumsticks, and went into the music rooms at school and got playing on the drums to pass the time. About this time, I planned to convert the garden shed into a drum practice room by saving up egg boxes to soundproof the walls. I put this proposal to my parents, but again was rejected

I used to play along to songs in my bedroom on a pillow, which was as much as I could do at home. Eventually I let the drums go again, as it was clear I would not be allowed to play - I was biding my time until I moved out!
2 years ago, I got injured playing rugby, and my birthday was coming up. I was talking to my wife, and the conversation came up about things we wished we could have done when we were younger, and drumming came up. On my birthday a couple of drumsticks and a receipt for lessons was waiting for me!

I have really been looking to make up for lost time over these last few years, and I am really enjoying getting back into drumming again.

MY PICS - GEAR - AUDIO/VIDEO:
A driver's eye view of my kit...
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m73/AlistairL/MapexSaturn-driversview.jpg
Front page news from last month - I'm on the right with the log!
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m73/AlistairL/floods001.jpg
Anzac Day in my uniform:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m73/AlistairL/AnzacDay.jpg

Edited by Alistair (Sun Aug 19 2007 06:16 PM)