Someone just sent me this youtube video of a band playing Sharp Dressed Man. The band is a cheesy show band, probably full-time pros, complete with gold-sequined jackets. The drummer must have learned his moves in a different sort of band. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone play with quite this many tricks and flourishes. He somehow manages to keep the beat and not strangle himself.
If Chris Farley did a drum routine on Saturday Night Live it would have looked exactly like that.
Looks like he’s having himself one hell of a good time. Good for him.
Exactly.
And Crotalus, you nailed it, too - on one hand he looks like he grew up playing hair metal and looks silly now; on the other hand, what he is doing while keeping the groove is hard!
Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone drum like that and still keep such a regular beat. He sounds completely unremarkable and yet his drumming is some of the showiest I’ve ever seen.
It is pretty amazing that what we hear and what we see are so incongruous. When I received this yesterday for some reason I watched it without sound and was amazed. Then today I watched it with sound and was amazed again, because all of that flash is coupled with perfectly competent but very ordinary drumming. To complete the trifecta, I then listened without watching. His showmanship is just totally unaligned with what he’s playing, like someone doing Jerry Lee Lewis moves while playing Chopsticks perfectly.
I sent the link to one of my co-workers who is a drummer. He thought it was funny and basically said the guy is playing a simple tune with lots of gaps in it so there’s plenty of room for doing flashy moves.
I compared it to juggling - you can learn various moves with one hand and then use your other hand to do something else at the same time; it looks very complicated but the flashy move isn’t actually connected with the path the balls are taking.
Not knocking the guy, I can pound out a basic rhythm and admire someone who can actually play music, even if it’s “simple”.
Thank you so much for sharing this! 
Wow, that’s just so incredibly excessive.
Exactly. 
I guess I was in the mood for something like this.
It’s Friday.