What were you doing at half your age?

bermuda

Drummerworld Pro Drummer - Administrator
Staff member
Chromium's thread got me thinking about where I was at earlier in my life, and I thought it might be insightful and fun to learn where everyone was at, say, half your current age.

My number is 28 (I'm 56) and I was already working with Al, and had just received my first gold album. That year I signed endorsements with Corder, DW, Remo and Simmons. I was single, and working days (between tours) at Westwood One. I also played with L.A. rockabilly scenester Rip Masters. I had no idea what the future would bring, or that I would have such long-term relationships. I certainly couldn't have imagined the Al gig lasting for what is now more than half my life. The Westwood One job lasted 14 years, and the Rip gig is still going strong. In fact, I'm recording with Al's band today, and gigging with Rip tonight!

Your story... ?

Bermuda
 
I was still in middle school... taking trumpet and baratone lessons. Can't really say much more than that because I hadn't done anything interesting yet since I was 11.5! Give me five more years and I can add that I started my first job :p
 
I was 23, had been married for a little over a year and was working as a sheriffs dispatcher. Drumming wasn't even a thought for me at that time.
 
Your actually spot on Bermuda, that was exactly half my current life. I was also at university, a mature student of 24. I bet you were amazed by that pure raw talent in my recording eh?
 
Neat question!

I was 24, fresh out of Uncle Sam's Army, had just started school at the local community college and was working at Safeway in the butcher shop here in Austin. I was 1/2 way through what was to be a 20 year break in playing drums seriously. This was 1 year before I met my wife, and we have been married 23 years this year...time flies!

Peace,
 
I guess what I was doing half my life ago is a little different than most here. I was 30 and had been playing drums for a living for 12 years or so. I lived in the woods at the end of a dead end road where I built a small cabin, cleared land and gardened. Finally had electricity and running water but went several years without either.
 
I guess what I was doing half my life ago is a little different than most here. I was 30 and had been playing drums for a living for 12 years or so. I lived in the woods at the end of a dead end road where I built a small cabin, cleared land and gardened. Finally had electricity and running water but went several years without either.

Now that sounds like a really cool thing. Pics of the cabin? :)
 
Now that sounds like a really cool thing. Pics of the cabin? :)

I no longer own the old place and don't have any digital photos of the place from back then. I was in the area last year and stopped in to see what the place looked like. It's weathered but still looks pretty much the same.

Cabin.jpeg
 
I was 28 and working by day at an audio/video store in New Orleans. By night I was playing in a classic rock band and a blues band. Peace and goodwill.
 
At half my current age, I was 19 1/2... I had just enlisted in the Air Force.

I graduated from Basic Training 20 years ago next month.

Man, where does the time go?
 
39 now so at that time I was 19, have been living in Germany since 1979, had just finished the Gymnasium (what we call 'grammar school' here), got drafted to serve in the Bundeswehr (German army, 1 year at that time). That was the period when I actually stopped continuously doing track & field (specialising on medium distances).

As for music, at that time I had been playing the el. guitar for 3 years (autodidact) and was focusing on technique (rock, metal), took up drums much later, at age 37. Damn... why not earlier ;-)

@ Chipotle
Wow, that's a nice pic and cabin!! That pic has a very pleasing vibe.
 
38 now

at 19 I was on tour with a very loud raunchy rock band living in extreme debauchery in Los Angeles

sometimes I think about the person I was then and think ...who the hell was that ?
 
38 now

at 19 I was on tour with a very loud raunchy rock band living in extreme debauchery in Los Angeles

sometimes I think about the person I was then and think ...who the hell was that ?

It's odd how quickly things change, isn't it?

I think back to when I was 16 (I was on this forum actually) and how different I am now. Six stone heavier but also a lot less naïve and more likely to fight my corner when challenged. I'm a lot more discerning with my friends now too and I've learned so much since then.

I am, however, a lot slower to anger and probably slightly more forgiving than I was back then.
 
Half my age now would be 23. I just entered college for a business degree and began "dating" the girl who I'd marry 6 years later.

Musically I already transitioned from gigging in clubs to playing private parties, weddings, corporate events, etc... Was also teaching a great deal and doing a mess of recording projects.

Gear wise I played the same Recording Custom set I purchased around 1985 and just sold last year.
 
I was 24, in the Air Force and gigging in L.A. where i could.
 
This week in February 1991, I was 21. I was in university studying engineering.

Six weeks earlier I met the woman who has been my wife for the last 18 years.

Later in the spring I played my first gig ever at a college house party.

In the summer I worked as an engineering intern and spent my time fishing and mountain biking.

In the fall it was back to school again...
 
@Chipotle - wow I am impressed by the cabin. I want one! Seems so quiet and simple. Build me one....I'm serious. Drumming in the loft, little organic veggie garden... so cool :)
 
Chop me in half, I was 15; high school. Had already started playing guitar and bass with my buddies (now bandmates), but hadn't yet picked up the sticks for a year or two more. One led to another.

I remember one month when I was 15, I was suspended from school for a total of 3 weeks, and no one suspension was for more than a few days. I'd go back, and immediately get into trouble through no fault of my innocent self. In fact, towards the end of that run, I legitimately got suspended for things I really had no part in... They just looked to me and assumed if something nefarious happened and I was anywhere nearby, it was me. They started to give me "in house" suspension where I say in the admin offices all day instead of sending me home where I could play guitar and video games. Smart move on their part, but I wasn't a fan.
 
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