Over 20 years, I’ve spent a lot of time behind a drum kit, mostly alone, but with many bands, groups, individuals, and Craigslist strangers at various times. I’ve written and played a solid amount of music over the years, but almost entirely from a percussive point of view. I’ve enjoyed and still enjoy writing drum parts for songs. However, I never had the ability or means to create melody. My awareness of my inability grew over time, and pandemic lockdowns further exposed my weakness as the projects I was involved with evaporated, leaving me alone with my drums. I could listen to drums all day, but I was longing for some collaboration or at least some melodic voicings to jam with.

When my baby was born, I challenged myself to make a mini electronic kit out of a popular multi-pad product to shake up the way I approach the instrument and keep myself inspired in the face of whatever was coming. I then got to work imagining and programming some creative kit designs, and teaching myself some music theory in order to program melodic voices that made sense musically.  A couple years into this journey, I have a much better ability to capture some beats and pretty them up with a bit of melody. Enter #dadbeats.

The entire dad beats ethos is centered around seeing ideas through and producing some material a dad can be happy with in the short spurts of time available for creating. A beat or two every week can yield a beat focused song every few weeks, consisting of several layered parts. All parts are played live. Mistakes are ok. Audio effects, VSTs, and mixing is ok. Over producing is not okay. Good enough is good enough. If I’m happy with it then it’s good enough to share.

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