Christmas Drum Lessons Offer

Another update. This month i was featured in the wonderful 'in touch' magazine with a nice interview about teaching and playing drums for a living. I will also have an advertisement in the 'reel cinema' movie guide so watch out for that. Also i am now involved in a special offer with RST Music shop in Newark where anyone spending £50.00 or over on drum equipment will receive a voucher giving them a free drum lesson worth £20.00 with myself. I think this will be a great opportunity for me to meet more of the local people interested in drums and drumming and hopefully be able to give them a good start or some good advice for more advanced players.
In other news it's been a busy month through November and I've had a weird month where it seems everything is breaking on me and trying to make my life difficult. My printer, which i managed to fix after two weeks, my phone, which is currently being repaired and my laptop which took three weeks to locate the right screen to fix it. You don't realise how much, as a modern musician, you completely rely on technology to work the way you do. From writing out charts, to learning songs, to writing and emailing lessons, organising rehearsals and gigs to contacting companies to advertise your business and making posters and fliers. It's all done on my trusty laptop and even updating the website and social networking that goes with advertising all requires a laptop or phone.
Throughout December i'm going to be keeping busy rehearsing with a new band that i can't say anything about until next year as well as playing with Mask of Infamy and teaching. I am going to hopefully write out as many lessons as possible because next year is already shaping up to be really busy and i can't wait!
Cheers JJ

new tracks up on website

Since the last update i have received the results for my degree and i'm very pleased to say that i got a 2:1 overall which i am very happy with.
The teaching is going from strength to strength and i am still finding it really fun and challenging. In the music side of things i have been playing for a band called The Lizards which is great fun and we are just finishing our demo which was recorded with electric drums and no metronome with every song in one take! this will be sent out to venues so you will be able to see me playing with them regularly in the near future. Mask of Infamy is still going well and the E.P sounds great i have now put the tracks up on the Gallery - Audio section of my website and for those of you that are interested in how different drum parts fit the songs i have also put up the isolated drum tracks. This way you will be able to hear the track with everything else there and then hear just the drums to hear exactly what is going on. I know i love this kind of thing so hopefully someone else will enjoy it!

Cheers JJ

Unleashed From Origin!

After mixing and re mixing and mixing again i am happy to say that one of the bands i am in has officially released its first EP 'unleashed From origin'. I had a great time in the studio which consisted of getting into Nottingham really early and having nice breakfasts then playing or watching the other band members record. The mixing process was long and taught me a lot. The guys in this band really know what sounds they are looking for and how they want everything to fit and i really think that comes across in the finished product.
I'm happy with the way i played although my double bass playing still needs a lot of work to get to a standard where i can play some of the cool things that are in my head! I will be posting the finished tracks in the gallery on my website shortly along with the drum tracks isolated so you will be able to hear how the drums sound on there own and how they sound in the context of the song.
I have a new classic rock band that i'm playing for now called the lizards which is going to be great. Will hopefully be coming to a venue or bike rally near you soon. I also had an exciting phone call while on holiday asking if i would be part of a new project which is going to be amazing and will ensure that i am playing lots of good gigs all next year but i can't say too much about it now!
Mask of Infamy will also be playing as many gigs as possible in the near future that i don't always have time to post on the gigs page so be sure to follow me on twitter to get all the latest info. Cheers JJ

Academy of contemporary Music finished!

Been a while since i updated but like always i am just mega busy!. had a lot of nice gigs with Desert smile lately, which are always fun and a chance to let my hair down as well as with my originals band Mask of Infamy. I've been practising my double bass like crazy lately ready to go into the studio with Mask next week in Nottingham. Should be a lot of fun and a nice challenge i will post some of the songs when the mixing and mastering is done. Later this month i have a few shows with Ford T who are coming over from Denmark so i've got plenty to keep me busy along with my teachig which is going from strength to strength. I have also finished my degree now at ACM so am officially on the road to becoming a full time professional musician. I've had an amazing three years there and when i look back i've come a long way with my knowledge and playing ability since i started as well as meeting some of the nicest and most taleneted people ever. The tutors are first class and i recommend it to anybody wanting to persue music as a career.
Because i have finished the degree now there will be a lot more spaces available for me to take on students so feel free to get in touch.
The rest of this month is going to be pretty hectic which is exactly what i wanted when the degree finished but i will try my best to keep this updated more regularly and to let you know what i've been up to! Until then you can follow me on twitter which i update regularly
Cheers JJ

Getting busy

Can't keep up with this news page just been far too busy! The teaching side of things is still going really well with new students starting out and old students showing great improvements. I'm also now into the last term of my degree and I'm looking forward to finishing my studies.
Since my last news update the gig with Shawn Harvey went really well and was challenging as always! Since then i have been asked to play for a band coming over from Denmark called Ford T with gigs confirmed in August which should be a lot of fun and they might also need me to go over there for some shows.
Desert Smile played a home town gig on the 23 April which went really well and had a great turn out. Really nice to let my hair down and have a good rock out! Before that i was asked to join a Nottingham based band called Mask Of Infamy which i was only too happy to do as the music is fantastic.
This meant a gig with them in Derby the day after the Desert Smile one and with only two rehearsals it went surprisingly well! I had to read charts i had prepared but managed to blunder my way through, there are now a lot more gigs and recording in the near future.
There is also one more project in the pipeline which i am really excited about but not aloud to say too much so watch this space! This coupled with a lot more shows with Shawn Harvey including a week when he's over in September is definitely going to keep me busy.
Think that's me up to date!

Update

The teaching business is now fully started with a few regular people having lessons and I'm really enjoying it. I've heard a lot of people say that just because you are a good player doesn't mean you will be a good teacher. I can totally see why this is true now you need a completely different mind set to teach but it's great to pass on the bit of knowledge I have and it has made me see a lot of areas in my own playing I need to improve on already!
I've got my own drums set up where I can practise now which is amazing and great to be back on my own equipment. Getting a good couple of hours in here and there.
Got the gig with Shawn Harvey tomorrow night so I'm going to work on my rearrangement for a few hours, write out some lessons and then go and scale my kit down and have a run through the set so I'm at least prepared enough to handle whatever Shawn throws at me and make sure I have as much fun as possible.

Few Gigs, settling back home

Just confirmed two gigs that i will be playing in the near future the first is on the 20th March with my good friend Shawn Harvey. He comes all the way from Germany and plays all over Europe with his great rock and roll. I will be on the edge of my seat as we won't have rehearsed again but it will be great fun.
The second gig is with Desert Smile on the 23rd April at the Crown and Mitre in Newark. We will be playing a small set along with three other bands in the first step to getting the local music scene happening again.

I've now fully moved back to the Midlands after spending the last few years in Guildford. I'm still doing my degree course at The Academy of Contemporary Music but lectures are only one day a week so I've decided to commute down South and set up the teaching practise and base myself back home.
This means i can get to gigs a lot easier so should be a lot busier in the upcoming months, especially when the course finishes in August.
In other news i was in the Newark Advertiser today after the lovely Dawn Bond wrote a nice article about me to help promote the drum lessons in Newark.

Website up!

I am really pleased to announce that my website,

www.johnjoegaskin.com

is now fully up and running! I would really like to thank the talented person that made it, Martin

www.martincreative.co.uk

Don't know how but we managed to make it all through email communication without meeting or talking once! If anyone needs someone to make a website i highly recommend him. He managed to make it better than i imagined even with me emailing him constantly and hindering his progress with silly ideas like "Can we get a twittery box thing on the home page!"
Hope you all like it as much as i do

Cheers JJ

Website up and lessons available

The website has finally been put up in the test stage and will be live shortly. Because my degree studies at the Academy of Contemporary Music are now slowing down to focus on dissertations and final projects I have a lot more time to devote to teaching and I am currently busy writing out lessons so that I can start straight away. This is also giving me something to do with this awful weather because I'm stuck in Guildford like many other people. The gig with Shawn Harvey tonight was also cancelled because of the weather which is a real shame because I was looking forward to seeing him and his wife/bassist Silke again and having fun playing some good old rock and roll! Hopefully this weather will clear up soon so that I can get back to Newark and start advertising for the lessons. Hopefully get back on Wednesday.

I'll post another blog when the website goes fully live and i start advertising.

Cheers JJ