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Meet Jamie Douglass

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Douglass.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was very fortunate that my family encouraged me & supported my interest in music from a young age. I began playing drums in fifth grade and spent my middle school, high school and college years taking lessons and playing in as many different types of ensembles as I could. Once I moved to Los Angeles in 2000, I continued to branch out stylistically, practice hard, and work with a lot of great musicians. Over the next few years, with a lot of practice, experience, and tenacity, I established myself as a versatile live & session drummer. By 2012 or so, it had become common for me to play double- and triple-header live performances in single days with a pretty mind-bending variety of bands & artists, after a full day of teaching &/or recording. This breakneck but very rewarding schedule culminated in local live residencies with Andy Clockwise, Tripp Rezac & Austin Hanks, some great records with Life Leone, The Hang, Echo Hawk et al, and tours with The Kyle Gass Band, The Distants & Kara Grainger. In 2014, I began working with producer/artist Shooter Jennings (now a 2-time Grammy award winner).

In addition to playing in Shooter’s live band (60-100 dates/year all over the country and internationally), I have played drums on many of the records Shooter has produced, including Duff McKagan Tenderness, Tommy Townsend Turn Back The Clock, Hellbound Glory Pinball, singles by Tanya Tucker & Billy Ray Cyrus, and forthcoming records from Marilyn Manson & Jaime Wyatt. Duff McKagan (GNR) brought our band on the road for national and European tours this year; it was a thrill to be able to record and tour with one of my longtime musical heroes. I focus on these more recent projects because to me, they illustrate what can happen when you set yourself up in a dynamic city like Los Angeles (which may have the most creativity per capita of any city anywhere) and spend the next few years really working hard on your craft, taking whatever work & side gigs you need to in order to just stick around. It sounds like a cliche, but I really believe that the opportunities come with persistence and also when we show the humility to make changes when necessary.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Playing music is supposed to be smooth. There are times, playing with a great band when it feels like the easiest thing in the world. In concert, it is as if we are holding this big room full of people in the palm of our hands; in the studio, it’s the feeling that we couldn’t miss a note, and that something really organic and beautiful is now permanent in the form of a great record. However, this has NOT always been a smooth road for me. It took me a really long time living in L.A. before I found my creative “niche” and really felt fulfilled and capable. I would point to two challenges that are (I think) really two sides of the same coin: it took me about ten years before it felt like I was part of a truly self-supporting scene, and it took just as long for me to develop a personal style of drumming that felt grounded and consistent.

Drummers are often encouraged by their teachers and peers to be very flexible and to learn many styles of music. I had always had eclectic tastes ever since I was a child, but when I began to play professionally, I was trying to be too many things at once. I was trying to be serious about rock, R&B, funk, jazz, and also find the time to work on classical percussion, electronic music, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian drumming, all at once. In short, I lacked focus, even though it seemed like I was covering all of the bases I was supposed to. It is interesting that for me, this also manifested in the form of what was a merely superficial connection to different musical “scenes” in L.A. without one to really call my home.

A big breakthrough happened for me around 2010 or 2011, when I started to play regularly at the Piano Bar and Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. One gig led to another, and these were gigs that were connected stylistically AND in terms of personnel who often worked together. Finally, I had found a “scene” that I could really dig into, one that would reinforce some of my stronger areas of technique, namely rock, soul, country, Americana, dance music. That breakthrough occurred for me because I began to seek out the places that had the music that I really wanted to hear. This was infinitely more satisfying than combing the classifieds for anyone who was willing to pay a drummer to play. The moral of the story: go to the places where the people are doing the stuff you love. Get to know those people, and gradually get involved.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I play drums for a variety of bands and artists, locally in Los Angeles, and on tour nationally and internationally. I play live shows & recording sessions, appear in a variety of filmed media and teach private drum lessons. I am a rocker, but I am an extremely dynamic player who can go from the proverbial “whisper to a roar”. I am equally comfortable backing up a jazz singer in a quiet setting as I am laying down a ferocious groove on a heavy rock song. My passion is playing in bands and backing up artists. I am a team player, not the kind of drummer who posts a lot of solo videos of choppy playing on YouTube. I am very “artist & producer-centric”, in the sense that I spend a lot of rehearsal and recording time listening to what the artist/composer has to say about the song, and especially focusing on the notes & suggestions of the producer.

I am not there to make all of the decisions or take charge of the situation. I am there to make the music feel amazing, to support the song, the artist and my fellow musicians. In the studio, that means providing good options, and in a live setting, it means being the heart of the performance without distracting from the singer or the story that is being told. As a teacher, I put the same emphasis on listening with my students, finding out what they want as musicians, and pointing them in the direction of sympathetic musicality. I put a lot of heart and gusto into my playing at all times, regardless of the intensity or quietude of the music. I think the combination of my enthusiasm & commitment with my ability to listen, blend, and adjust in ensemble really does set me apart as a drummer.

I find it really refreshing to continue to work with a variety of artists and bands, and I am always looking for new clients and new opportunities to record and perform live in Los Angeles and beyond. Although I have some high-profile collaborators, I take all of my gigs very seriously, regardless of the venue or experience level of my collaborators. A great “first listen” or sample of my work would be to buy or stream the Duff McKagan Tenderness record (turn it up LOUD!), and then to catch the Shooter Jennings band live in concert.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I am very excited for the Shooter-produced trifecta of albums from Marilyn Manson, Jaime Wyatt, and Hellbound Glory which will be released this year. I played drums on all 3 of these albums. I am looking forward to some fun recording sessions and tours taking place over the next couple of months, as well as some much needed downtime with my family in Los Angeles.

A goal that I have for the next year or two is to improve my home recording capabilities in order to be able to better & more consistently record my own high-quality drum tracks and send them directly to clients, producers and composers. I have done a handful of sessions this way, as well as a good deal of experimentation with recording my own playing, but my busy tour schedule and local work have made it difficult to really develop this area of my business. I hope to carve out the necessary time over the next few months to bring this goal to fruition. In the meantime, to anyone interested in drum sessions, I can recommend excellent facilities for tracking drums.

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Image Credit:
Personal Photo: Will Dearborn; Photo 1: Christopher Winston; Photo 2: Niall Fennessy; Photo 3: Alley Rutzel; Photo 4: Shane Karns; Photo 5: Adam Barnes; Photo 6: Katja Spaehn

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