Lou Santiago Jr. - #sorrynotsorry
Lou Santiago Jr. is a name that some will know and others will not. What’s in a name though? Is a name that important? Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. Lou Santiago Jr. was a name with a lot of buzz around it back in 2003 and beyond after he won the Modern Drummer Undiscovered Drummer Contest. The stories that we are told in this episode are a product of his success with that contest and also a Guitar Centre contest that went pretty far until he was beat out by none other than Chris Coleman. So with everything that is said and done in Lou’s career, it is kind of insane why we haven’t heard of him lately.
But here’s the thing. Lou left the music scene and the drum industry almost seven years ago when he enrolled in medical school to pursue a career as a professional healthcare provider. A massive departure at the peak of his career as a pro drummer and some may wonder why he made that move. According to Lou, it was for his children and family. He wanted to provide his family with a stable and bountiful income and he felt tired of the hustle that he experienced in the music industry. He also wanted to be a present father and not on tour for weeks on end away from his family. These are very good reasons in my opinion, depending on what you value of course. I side with Lou on this one though.
So Lou is only three months from graduating and he also has some big plans to launch a new online business on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Lou leaked that it is an educational website and apparently you get a lot for very little money. Lou claims that his website will be an instant success, which is a lofty claim in my opinion. In my eyes, it would be difficult to break out on the internet with an education platform/business plan without some serious marketing horsepower and a very well developed plan to launch it. I mean look at who exists in that space. Drumeo, Orlando Drummer, Mikeslessons.com and ummmm that is kind of the big three, isn’t it? It’s kind of like Ford, Dodge, and Chev if we are comparing online drum education brands to domestic vehicle brands. All of these brands have been building their businesses for years, they have enormous exposure on all social networks, and they all have been chipping away and working hard to create products and services that drummers want. So in other words, even if the idea is amazing, there is still some stiff competition to deal with to make it an instant success. I will say this though, good quality content that you get to keep at a low price is a winning formula in theory.
So this is a very long episode with quite a lot of details about the life and drumming career of Lou Santiago Jr. Everything from his roots growing up in New York, his scholarship to prep school, his time spent in the Navy, his divorce, the product he developed with Meinl, his DVD called “Three Days” that didn’t come together, some great advice given by the great Billy Ward….the storied career of Lou Santiago Jr. is almost larger than life with twists and turns of success and defeat. Considering the rather short length of time that Lou has played drums it is absolutely incredible what he managed to achieve and what skills he managed to develop. There is almost too much stuff to list in this write up that is worthwhile mentioning because most of it is. It is difficult not to agree with some of the statements that Lou presents in this episode and it is also not difficult to avoid taking a close listen to the advice of what not to do as well. I believe that Lou has a lot of great principles on life and how he chooses to live. He is a person who strongly believes in his values and does not fall, victim, at least based on what knowledge I have come to understand, to temptation from offers and opportunities that many people would snap up in a heartbeat and assume their net worth based on the profile of the artist they are associated with.
So the first half of this episode is mostly biographical and the second half of this interview features the juicy stuff. Lou really comes through with strong and powerful statements that will rattle your cage. It makes you think. It’s not to say that I agree with everything he says, but the fact that he believes it so strongly is all that matters in my opinion. There are some points mentioned regarding success, visibility, taking the high road, sticking with your faith, and being used, that I can’t help but agree with and quite strongly in fact. Other things said are simply Lou’s life experience and it is his truth. That is what makes us all unique and what makes for great interviews. At the end of the day, Lou is #sorrynotsorry.