Bradford Pearson

One-armed drummers, and their awesomeness

So Monday night I went to a random open mic night in Baltimore with my new roommate Bert and my brother Tyler, who's in town for a few days.

I expected a few Bob Marley covers, an awful psych-goth band or two, and the requisite singer-songwriters.

What I got was a lesson in cymbal crushing.

When we first showed up at the club, I saw a kid walking around with only one arm. I thought that he must be a friend of one of the bands. Then the one-armed kid picked up a drumstick, so I thought maybe he was going to help the band set up.

Then the one-armed kid freaking taped a drumstick to his stump and proceeded to crush it on a drum kit.

Let me repeat that in case you missed it. The ONE-ARMED KID TAPED A DRUMSTICK TO HIS STUMP.

Man, I was blown away. My brother, Bert and I joked before he went on that he would only play Def Leppard songs, since Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen only has one arm.

He did not, but I found this awesome video of Rick Allen explaining how he relearned the drums after losing his arm. Epic.

I assume Monday night was the only time in my life I'll ever see a one-armed drummer. Anyone else ever seen one?

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Posted by Bradford Pearson at 4:19 AM