By Hannah Liu
An enthusiastic and dedicated drummer, sophomore Dylan Evans is the Jan. artist of the month. Outside of school, he plays with his band, Electric Blue, and takes lessons at the YMCA Center for Creative Arts (YCCA) where he has the opportunity to play live concerts.
Q:Why do you enjoy playing drums?
A:I think every music player can relate to this, but it really lets me express myself. If I ever have good ideas or just have free time, it’s something I can do other than snacking and watching TV. It’s also engaging, and it’s fun. I’ve never had that experience with a sport or a school program.
Q:When did you start playing drums?
A:I started playing drums about six years ago because my cousin had a drum set in his basement during Thanksgiving that I always loved to go down stairs and play. My parents were like would you ever start playing an instrument because my sister already played piano.
Q:What role does music play in your life?
A:I play music at home almost everyday, and it’s just a really big part of my life. I wouldn’t say I write my own music, but I definitely sort of noodle around a lot. Sometimes, I’ll record somethings.
Q:What do you like about your role as a drummer?
A:The whole sort of timekeeper vibe because people always tell me: You know if you’re out of time the entire band is out of time. I think if you find the right band and find people you’re comfortable with. They’re okay with you messing up, then the pressure is kind of mutual. I think it’s the fact that people trust you. That’s sort of where the pressure comes from.
Q:Who do you look up to?
A:The Black Keys’ drummer, Patrick Carney. I’ve always loved his music. I’ve always loved that style of drumming.
Q:What type of music do you like?
A:I really like Indie rock. Really recently, I’ve been into electronic dance music and sort of that electronic genre, but I also really like punk rock, indie rock, and a bunch of different subcategories of rock. A little bit of rap.
Q:What is your favorite memory?
A:Definitely the first time I played up on stage. It was really nice because I had a new teacher. He did something differently from my other teacher with the YMCA. First, I had this one teacher, and I’d go to his house, and he’d teach me, and he had a drum set and everything. Then, I started going to the YCCA with Kevin [music and creative arts director of west suburban ymca. He had a recita, and your parents and all of your friends could come. All the other students would play, and it would be really cool. That was probably the most fun because I got to play in front of all those people.
Q:What is your band, Electric blue, like?
A:We are starting out. We’ve only written one or two songs, but we do plan on going to a recording studio in Boston for a day and recording a bunch of things. We started last spring. We got started because we wanted to meet whenever we wanted and be able to organize our own thing. With the YCCA, they do a lot of covers, and me and these two other guys wanted to use our own time to write music. I think that was also sort of another turning point because that was when I was able to start a band without the help of anyone else.
Q:Have you ever thought about quitting?
A:I’d say maybe once. Two times tops. I remember being with this one band, and we had this song. It was bad. It was when I was first starting to play with other people instead of the teacher. There was this really complicated drum part, and I just couldn’t figure it out. I was just like this is annoying, why do I even play drums? Eventually, I kept practicing and got through it.
Q:What are your plans for the future in terms of music?
A:I think it’s definitely going to be part of my life later, but I don’t know if I want to pursue it, or if I want to pursue something else.