Drumstars Live – Biddick School Rock Night – Catherine Marley

I have been playing drums for about a year and a half with lessons from Amy at Drumstars. I am influenced by drummers like Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Shannon Leto and Travis Barker. I play in a band called Playing with Shadows. I have only joined this band recently as they were doing acoustic sets while they looked for a drummer and bassist. We are influenced by bands such as My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Blink-182 and Greenday. In the last few months we have been practicing at the Oxclose Music Project.

My school was holding a Rock Night to raise funds for the Music Department and give young local bands the opportunity to perform to an audience of around 200 people. My band asked to play and I was also performing in groups for BTEC Music. I had also been asked to play in the school’s Staff Band as they had no drummer and they had seen me perform a solo at the last rock night.

First I was performing with my band Playing with Shadows and it went really well. It was our first time on stage as a band. We played West Coast Smoker by Fall Out Boy and All The Small Things by Blink-182. Both songs seemed to be well received by the large audience although we still don’t have a bassist – if anyone’s interested please get in touch!

In my BTEC music group we were playing Sing by My Chemical Romance and Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. I also played Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams and Highway To Hell by ACDC with the Staff Band. This is great as I’m playing with different groups of people which helps me to develop as a drummer.

 

In the future my aim is to develop my playing and continue playing in groups. I am inspired by the events put on by Drumstars/ The Drum Shop and the advice from Amy, Phil and Wez and would like to turn my drumming into a career.

Catherine Marley.