Need a Dep?
Need a Dep?
Let everyone do their thing without having to worry about the replacement piece of the “jigsaw puzzle”.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE NOT AVAILABLE?!
Drummer gone sick/on holiday/been abducted by aliens?
No problem – give me a bell!
I genuinely like doing dep gigs; I like learning new stuff and it mixes things up a bit. And playing things you might never have played live before with people you haven’t necessarily met is always a challenge. I like a challenge, me. Unless it involves team sports. In which case not so much.
Anyway, if you need a drummer even at short notice, then get in contact and let’s get it sorted out. If I’m available and the specifics of the gig are do-able (notice, set, distance, venue etc) then I’ll do my damndest to make the entire experience as seamless as possible for your band.
Before we confirm everything though, please could you give this rider a quick once over? ("Rider" makes it sound more grand than it actually is, but I couldn't think of a better word!)
Here's the aim; let everyone do their thing without having to worry about the replacement piece of the “jigsaw puzzle”.
Honestly, there’s nothing worse than booking a dep and then being given a list of songs they know so you have to rework your set around them. Or them turning up (or worse not turning up!) and by song two everyone is tense because he or she is blatantly winging it. Been there, done that, still having therapy to cope with the nightmares.
Give me the gig; I’ll be there and I’ll know your stuff; I’ll even write charts and everything. That’s if I don’t know the songs or haven’t already got a charts for them. I have charts though. Lots of charts.
To help me to help you though I just need to sort a few things in advance.
This isn’t filled with a with a load of a stupid-ass demands; I’m not asking for bananas or certain coloured M&Ms to be removed from my presence. I’m just trying to make sure we’re all on the same page so the gig goes as smoothly as possible.
Obvious this one; please let me know what we’ll be playing on the night. The order doesn’t matter, just a list of the songs. If you think you might include a song but you’re not sure, then put it in the list just in case. I’ll need a running order on the night though or it’ll make the gig “interesting”.
COVERS
Please let me know each song title and the name of the band who did the original version or the version you cover. Saves embarrassing incidents like me having learnt “It’s My Life” by Roxette and the band actually starting the Bon Jovi number. True story. That was a fun few bars.
If you play it differently to the “standard” version that I’m likely to cue up on Spotify then please let me know the changes, or send me a recording of you playing it, a Spotify or YouTube link or something similar. Basically the nearer to your version the better.
ORIGINAL SONGS
Please let me have a recording of each song (doesn’t have to be a studio recording as long as I can hear it clearly) or a full drum score. I consider myself a decent drummer but I’m not psychic...or am I? No.
SONG TEMPO
I take tempos (yes I know it’s actually “tempii” but who honestly says that?) from the standard version, so if you want a song at a different speed, let me know what tempo you actually want. Usually I’ll “click in” each song unless you’d rather I didn’t. Just let me know what you want me to do.
SEGUES AND “FADE OUT” ENDINGS
What do you do live? Knowing this stuff in advance really helps.
VENUE ADDRESS
Please include the postcode. All the better to convince the Sat Nav to take me to the right place.
TIME OF ARRIVAL
What time is everyone getting there? I will try to get there 15-20 minutes before since it’s easier for all concerned if the kit is at least close to being set up before everyone else arrives. Drummers do tend to spread out like a pint of oil.
START AND END TIMES
Obviously this might change a bit on the night (football anyone?) but having some rough indication helps.
SPACE
Don’t stress if you’ve never played the place before and have zero clue. But if you have been there, please give me some indication of the amount of space available, especially if it’s really tight. It’ll help me make a sensible decision over what kit to bring. Also, if you want my gear set up in a certain place or facing a specific direction, let me know. Much less stressful for everyone than moving it all around once it’s set up.
PARKING
Like the above, don’t stress too much about this. I’m an actual adult human – I can sort it out. But it would help me massively if you happen to know about any weirdness. You know the sort of thing; you can’t park outside the venue because the neighbours go apoplectic and hit you with umbrellas. Or the car park entrance is only accessible through the back of a wardrobe. Or similar.
ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW
Could this be more vague and unhelpful? Erm, ok, just anything else you think of that might be useful for me to know. Things like “There’s a noise limiter but you can bypass it by an extension lead hidden under some seats”. Actually, come to think of it, anything about Noise Limiters. Or “the venue is usually stifling hot, so bring a fan”. Things of that nature.
THE SPLIT.
I know, I know; money is a touchy subject. However I do like to know in advance how much to expect at the end of the evening. I’m Scottish. Sue me.
One thing though; payment in cash on the night please.
I realise that might cause an issue if you have agreed payment by invoice with the venue so that’s why I mention it up front. No-one wants awkward discussions and trips to find an ATM at the end of a long tiring night.
MONITORING
I use in-ear monitors connected to my personal mixer so a general mix of everything going through the PA please or I won’t be able to hear the rest of the band. If you can tailor the mix more specifically then that’s great and we can play with it (given time) on the night but a general mix is usually fine.
I’ll bring 10m leads and adaptors for standard 6.35mm jacks and XLRs (male and female). If I’ll need longer leads or different connectors can you please let me know beforehand?
Honestly I’m quite flexible (oo-er missus) over most things but I won’t use wedge monitors. At all. Please don’t ask. If that is all that is available it’ll cause a major issue with me hearing the band as I’ll keep my in-ears in even if they have no feed to them. That won’t be good for anyone. Cards on the table - I’m not 14 anymore and my hearing is already bad enough so I’m protecting it from my own gear as much as anything else.
BACKING TRACKS
If you use backing tracks as part of your set then great – I love playing to backing tracks.
No really, I do.
All I ask is that you send them over to me well before the gig so we can avoid potential train wrecks. You can send the tracks over by email, via WeTransfer or a similar service or I’ll arrange an upload folder in my cloud storage. Worst case scenario we can use a carrier pigeon or I’ll turn up at your door with a USB stick. I don’t care as long as I get them well in advance.
If you could arrange the monitoring on the night so the click is in one ear and the backing track in another then so much the better. If not, everything in both ears but much louder than the band is fine.
VOLUME AND MICS
I have decent gear and both it and I are capable of producing quite a volume. Certainly more than sufficient for most bands and most venues.
However, unaided it’s never going to compete with a 1000 Watt MesaBoogie turned up to 11. Without mic’ing up, the kit and cymbals will only go to a certain volume no matter how hard I or anyone else hits them. And cymbals crack if repeatedly pushed over their limit. Then I cry. A lot.
If your band are used to producing volumes from your back line that would be more appropriate for Wembley (or if you are playing Wembley!) then please let me know and I’ll bring mics and a bigger personal mixing desk. Unless you have a sound engineer who is providing all the gear in which case job’s a good ‘un and I’ll be a very happy pixie.
All of this aside, it is usually a good idea to run the kick drum through the PA just to help it cut through a tad. Not essential unless I’m bringing the compact kit with the 18” kick in which case it definitely does need help from the PA on any remotely “rock-y” gigs. I always bring my own kick drum mic and appropriate leads though so you don’t need to worry.
On the other hand, if your gig is going to require a low volume then please let me know in advance and I’ll tailor the gear accordingly, probably by bringing an eKit. I'll check with you first though as you'll need decent bass bins to stop it overwheming your PA. Brushes or rods don't work unless it's going to be an all-acoustic gig. They used to be the only solution for hyper-quiet gigs before eKits, but they just don't work properly against a full back-line and an eKit sounds far better, especially if you are playing rock.
MULTIPLE-DEP GIGS
If I’m not the only member of the band that will be “depping” on this occasion, please let me know before we agree the gig. It’s not a deal-breaker but it makes my OCD play up something chronic to rock up and find that half the band are sitting in for the night. I’m not going to swan off in a Diva-like huff or anything, but could you let me know anyway?
If there are more than two people depping then, unless it's gig specifically billed as a jam session, I'd rather not thanks all the same.
NO KIT-SHARES
Please don’t ask for someone to “sit-in” on my kit.
Not the drummer from the support band, a best-friend, someone’s enthusiastic kid, the bride or groom, a surprisingly talented cat etc etc.
No-one. Unless I know them personally and we’ve arranged it before the gig. And even then I’d probably ask for a deposit.
This isn’t just me being an arse. I had gear permanently ruined by a punk drummer once who “sat in” on my kit and proceeded to beat the snot out of it with the sticks turned the wrong way round before I could restrain him. He grinned and walked away. It cost me a fortune to replace the damaged gear.
Never again. Seriously.
Chart List
These are just the charts I have written out, not an exhaustive list of songs I can play; I don't chart obvious standards like Mustang Sally (god help us all!), and the few I have are really just for BPM reference and to keep setlists in order.
Given a little time I'll chart anything in your set that I don't know, but if you need a dep at really short notice, these are all ready to go, complete with BPM notes.