The Pocket

When you're not worried about money, you can focus on the things that matter most. For me that's drums. What ever your passion is, these 6 finance tips may be the key to helping you go after your dream.

Dennis Chambers (born May 9, 1959) is an American drummer who has recorded and performed with John Scofield, George Duke, Brecker Brothers, Santana, Parliament/Funkadelic, John McLaughlin, Niacin, Mike Stern, CAB, Greg Howe, and many others. Plus, he's a huge advocate of playing in the pocket and serving the music. He's a hero of mine so to say I'm happy to have had the opportunity to interview him is an understatement.

Ricky Ficarelli is a drummer based out of Nashville, TN.  He also does YouTube and with over 160K subscribers it's safe to say that he does it very well.

AJ Hall is a multi-instrumentalist and currently the drummer of Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen.

Rob Wallis is a drummer and President | CEO of Hudson Music and Drum Guru.  He also owned Drummer's Collective for over 30 years and was the executive producer of some of your favorite DCI video tapes. He's worked with some of the biggest drummers in the world.

Kevin Offitzer is the drummer for the band Stick Figure, a reggae and dub band founded in 2006 based in Northern California. The live band consists of vocalist, producer and guitarist Scott Woodruff, keyboardist Kevin Bong, drummer Kevin Offitzer, bassist Tommy Suliman and keyboardist, backup vocalist and guitarist Johnny Cosmic. They even have a dog named Cocoa who often joins the band onstage. Pretty sweet right?

John Epcar has worked with many artists, including Bono, Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Rihanna, Natasha Bedingfield, Carly Rae Jepsen, Klangkarussell, Cristian Castro, and many more.  He is a founding member of the band Carney, with whom he toured and recorded with for many years. On Broadway, he originated the drum chairs for Spider-Man and Amelie, and Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, where he is currently drumming. Jon’s debut album as a songwriter, bandleader, and producer MORNING DRONE, was released 2017.

John Hall is the General Manager of Washington Talent, one of the biggest talent agency's in Washington, DC. We talk music business, drums, and life.

Nate Morton. If you're a drummer, you know the name. If you're not a drummer, you've most certainly heard his playing at some point.  He's the drummer of ALL the shows.  Back in the day it was Rock Star INXS and Rock Star: Supernova.  Most recently, it's The Voice.  So, when he called out to his over 5K Facebook fan base for anyone interested in a lesson, I reached out. And man, I feel like I've known this guy forever. We talked for over two hours about drums, life...farts (not kidding LOL).  Plus here's a fun fact, we both studied with Grant Menefee who's been on the podcast. Like I said, we talked for over two hours so, I'm breaking this episode into two parts.   Please enjoy the first part of my conversation with Nate Morton!

David Raouf is the creator of the YouTube channel, rdavidr. His channel marries his love of percussion with his skills as a tradesman, by building, creating, and repurposing second hand percussion instruments. He gained popularity from posting videos featuring unique drum hacks he has picked up throughout his career. Though, his most popular videos involve him taking an old abused drum and modifying it into something fresh and new. He has a passionate focus to show that modifying music gear is easier than it look and not as scary as it may seem. In his spare time, he enjoys making hip-hop beats, play-along tracks, and creating sample libraries of the drums he has created/modified. Every year he releases a beat tape that showcases the drum sample libraries he has created. You can hear the analog influence in his tracks, which celebrate tape hiss and vinyl crackling. On top of that, when David is not recording himself, he can be found in his home studio recording local bands and rappers.

I've known about Daniel Glass for years. He's the "history of drums" guy (he's actually way more than that but that's how I first thought of him).  Now, I don't know if you're aware but I help out with a little drumming podcast called The Drummer's Resource with my friend Nick Ruffini. If you know the podcast, Nick's interviewed nearly 500 drummer's and musicians including Daniel.  So, when Nick asked if I'd wanted to help with The Daniel Glass Show, it was a no-brainer. We've been working together for a year and some change and I couldn't be happier to have him on The Pocket. Daniel Glass is an American drummer, author, historian and educator. He is recognized in the drum industry as an authority on classic American drumming and the evolution of American Popular Music and a member of the pioneering swing group Royal Crown Revue. Glass has recorded and performed all over the world with many artists, including Brian Setzer, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Gene Simmons of KISS and so many others.  He was twice voted one of the top five R&B drummers in the world by readers of Modern Drummer and Drum! magazine. As an educator, Glass has published several books and DVDs, including, The Century Project DVD this all just scratches the surface. Plus, he's the first lefty to be on the show...ahh milestones.

Grant Menefee is a Berklee Graduate, professional drummer and a world class drum educator. He's taught the likes of Jon Theodore (Mars Volta, Queens of the Stoneage), Matt Halpern (Periphery), Nate Morton (The Voice), Mike Reid (Demi Levato, Janet Jackson, Charlie Pluth), and there's many many more.

Rickman is multi instrumentalist from Washington, DC. known for his work with Shawn Lane, Garaj Mahal, Dapp Theory, Steve Coleman, Maxwell, Meshell Ndegeocello, Blacksheep, Phil Upchurch (his father), David Fiucynski & Screaming Headless Torsos, Kai Eckhardt, Anthony Tidd's Quite Sane, K'Alyn, Angela Bofill and George Duke. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

In this episode of The Pocket I give you a brief overview of who I am. Yay ME!!! But more importantly we'll get into the five things I did before deciding to break free of the corporate chains to start working for myself. Hopefully if you're similar boat, these things will help you do the same.

What's going on my fellow drum nerds! I'm Justin Thomas, a drummer, a producer and I guess now I'm a podcaster because I'm finally doing the damn thing. I'm starting a podcast about music, drums and life. So, I've had a long off and on relationship with the drums. I started playing when I was about 9 years old. I was in school concert band, jazz band, marching band, after school band, all the bands. And, it was quite the musical journey until...I turned 18. I put away the sticks, held a few jobs and started hitting the books because I never knew you could drum as a job. I mean, you can't make a living playing drums. Nah, you go to college, get a real job, and move back to Washington, DC where you work in a cubicle all day, right? Look, it might sound cliche but this was my reality. No more drums, no more creativity, no more fun and no more meaning in my life. Things are a little different now. I quit the 9-5 corporate job to work for myself. I podcast, I play the drums and I'm documenting it all in my new show called The Pocket.