Never afraid to unleash a creative drum fill, Tyler always get the crowd going with his drumbeats! We sat down with Tyler to learn more about why he started playing drums and where he gets his inspiration for writing music.
What inspired you to start playing your instrument?
My father is a drummer and has played in bands as long as I can remember. Music was always present in our house and so were instruments. Once I reached the age that my parents could trust me to stay home by myself I began to play around a bit with the drums. My biggest inspiration was popping on a set of headphones and trying to learn and imitate the drums on my favorite songs. My dad may have figured out I was playing his kit after I cracked a cymbal…eek…but after that he taught me how to properly hit cymbals and even gave me my next inspiration- my own drum kit!
What are two of your favorite bands/musicians and why?
This is a really hard question, because I have had so many large influences in my musical journey.
The first band that comes to mind is a group called RX Bandits. They are a lesser known band but if you’ve never listened to them, you have to check them out! They started off as a ska band back in the 90’s and they evolved into this crazy progressive rock band that has horns licks, reggae influence, heavy groovin’ drums, tasty keyboard parts and crazy guitar madness! They are a killer group who are so musical in everything they do. Their expressiveness and dynamics are off the charts.
They’re also such a tight band and a really organic sounding group. Check out the intro to “Tainted Wheat” or “Decrescendo” for a great example of this.
“Prophetic” is a great track to check out too. I like to call songs like this ‘organized chaos’- listen to it and I think you’ll get it. But yet they still maintain a pop sensibility. They strike this great balance between catchiness and originality. That is something I think I’ve always wanted to have in any group I’m in. Hopefully you can hear that in Hollowell music too.
Oh…I was supposed to talk about two bands?…
Next up: Incubus! - Incubus was the first “hard” band that I listened to and liked. Previous to that I mostly listened to 60’s and 70’s rock. It really opened my eyes up to the possibilities in modern music. In high school I learned the album Make Yourself front to back on the drums. Jose Pasillas’ drumming was so creative and drove the song forward with both simple and complex elements. Again, there’s still this balance of catchiness, originality and a sound that wasn’t overly produced and edited. I love that.
Check out the song “Nowhere Fast”- Jose kills it with his snare flourishes and heavy groove during the verses. They maintain such a dynamic sound- a heavy intro, a funky lighter verse followed by a pre-chorus which is outright pretty and then BAM!.. a heavy chorus. Oh and the tom rolls in the pre-verse!…you get the point. Check it out and listen for all of those elements, they really bring music alive.
What is your favorite part about writing music?
Honestly, my favorite part is the moments when we are jamming as a group on a new idea and the happy accidents happen. A lot of the time the best parts often come from improvisation and playing off your other bandmates’ ideas.
Besides that I’d say having a finished product that you all contributed to and can be proud of is a great feeling.
What are three fun facts about you?
Fun fact #1- When I’m not drumming I work at a physics research lab where we blow things up with lasers!
Fun fact #2- I enjoy hiking mountains- so far I’ve hiked 12 of the Adirondack high peaks and plan on doing a few more this fall.
Fun fact #3- I’ve recorded and mixed all our music tracks to date
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