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Welcome back to another episode of DrumGAB podcast.  So episode seven turned out to be a very spontaneous episode.  Every episode has a pretty clear path for how it will go but sometimes things go off in a totally different direction.  When this happens and it is feeling good, it MAKES the episode.  This is one of those interviews, I think.  I had to figure out a different way to present the interview to include something that....just happened.

So the interview starts off discussing how Francois started playing the drums.  Long story short, he bought a $50 drum set and with support from his parents and advice from his father, who also played drums, he began his journey.  Eventually, he would become a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.  In this segment, I ask him questions about his education background and certain benefits and deficits to attending such a prestigious music program. 

In the second section of the interview, we get into some of the aspects of being a working drummer.  How important is reading music?  How does the scholastic advantage play into how employable and desirable you are for gigs.  We get into a bit of detail on this.  We also discuss his accolades.  For example, in 2010 Francois won the PASIC International Drumset Competition for R&B/Funk/Gospel category.  Quoted by David Garibaldi about Francois, "Solid timekeeper. Good facility and very ”loose” looking hands and feet. Really creative. He’s very good!"  That's a pretty glorious statement.  Nuff said. 

The third phase deals with the loss of his father and how music and his family kept him on the right track, which in my opinion, highlights those achievements further.  How this ties into how Francois was introduced to drums by his father and their relationship through the instrument is really touching stuff.  It is very clear that he is a very focused person that carries his father's spirit with him.  His dad always said, "Just go have fun".  

Francois is also putting together a project, which I am stoked about.  It is pretty clear that he is a fan of jazz/funk and likes to groove his ass off.  Francois is a very smooth player.  While going on a tangent about how I like the groove videos but that I am tired of chop videos.  Then....we conclude the interview.

And then Francois asks me if I do the "Ketchup, Mustard thing", which alludes to the first interview that was wiped off my hard drive....I explain this in the intro.  I tried doing this bit at the end called "Four off the Floor" and I decided to forgo this bit in the second interview.  But then I try to say goodbye and see ya next week and then Francois says the nicest thing about DrumGAB and it got me going.  I started getting introspective about why I do DrumGAB and my time developing it so far and how it adds a lot of value to my life.  I become my own guest in a way and it is totally out of nowhere and it kind of turns into a confession about my time so far with this project and my thoughts about a clinic that I am trying to prepare for.  Basically admitting that I have very little theoretical knowledge of the drums and how that presents a major challenge when performing a clinic.  Then Francois suggests that it is important to let some of the theory go when it comes time to play music.  I also suggest my thoughts on how I abstractly look at music and approach drums.

Then we conclude the episode.

Throughout this episode, I include "System" by Brotherly.  Francois performs some incredibly tight and groovy drums on this track.  There is some intense soloing towards the 3/4 mark in the interview.

Check out Francois' website

Instagram @franky_freedom