MasterMind Drummer
Newsletter #48
Nov 18th, 2024
The Art Of How To Disappear Completely – pt.2
Last week I told the story of when Radioheads ‘How to disappear completely’, imprinted on me, and completely changed my life.
I explained how, in my opinion, you don’t find music. Instead, when the timing is right, and when you are ready, music finds you. That night, that song found me.
I’ve always loved that title, too – ‘How To Disappear Completely’.
I hear power in that title.
I hear power because, basically, that title is saying to me ‘Hey, if you need to disappear completely, I’ve got you… and this is exactly how to do it.’
Its a guide.
So, it’s taking it quite literally – the idea that there is some sort of stepped process in order to ‘disappearing completely’, successfully, and on your terms.
I just think that is such an interesting premise, and something I’d like to explore a little more with you today.
I love to disappear. Over the years, I have done this many times.
Some of the biggest jumps I’ve ever made personally – on and off the kit, were when I made a conscious effort to disappear, focus, get the reps in, and then reappear with more value, and more to say.
True periods of growth.
One of those times in particular was when I was playing for an Australian group named Miami Horror.
These guys were great. They were signed to a major, were on the charts, were getting great shows, and had a lot of industry support.
I joined them around the same time as I was playing with Kimbra.
This worked out well as Kimbra ended up doing a collaboration with them, also.
The music itself was essentially dance music, but live, they liked to produce it with a full band.
So the sets were anywhere between 60-90mins, and played like a DJ set – meaning, no stops! Every track blended straight into the next one.
This was fantastic for my internal clock, as everything was to a click and my job was to just lay down a heavy pocket and essentially be the connective tissue between each track.
Things were on the up-and-up for them. Bigger and better opportunities were coming thick and fast.
Basically, in short, due to their strong international audience, they decided they wanted to move over to L.A. and base themselves from there.
This made a lot of sense as they were getting all the dance festivals in the Northern Hemisphere, and could build quite large tours from that end too.
So, the next question…
They asked me if I would be willing to go with them. We had formed quite a bond by that point, and they were hoping to keep the key band members together for this adventure. This included good housing, good pay, and I’m sure, many many good times, too.
But, it wasn’t for me. This wasn’t my journey. So I politely declined.
It was a fun gig, for sure, and to be honest, a great gig for any aspiring session drummer, but for me, for my journey on the kit, aside from strengthening my internal clock, there wasn’t really much else keeping me there.
I wanted more.
It’s probably worth mentioning at this point, that over the entirety of my 27 years on the kit, and 22 years as an active professional, no gig has ever been more important to me than my own personal growth on the kit.
So, the timing to leave Miami Horror was actually perfect as I was ready to dive back into my own playing and level-up in some key areas. This would free up the much-needed time and attention required in order to do so.
As professionals, we often forget that gigs can actually start to come at a cost. They can become a hindrance. No matter how ‘good they are’.
We are so determined to be a ‘busy pro’, that we can forget just how much of ourselves we have to give away in order to be that ‘busy pro’.
I’m not sure why exactly, but I’ve always been aware of this, and have always kept this in mind. I think it comes purely from my love for the craft.
Like I said before, NO gig is more important than my journey with this instrument. No gig.
So, I took this change as an opportunity. There were areas in my playing I wanted to focus on and develop – specifically my touch, feel, and dynamics, and in order to do so, I knew I needed to lock myself away for a while in order to achieve the results I wanted.
I needed to ‘disappear completely’.
Now, bear in mind, you can not just disappear for no reason and hope for the best. You need to know exactly what you want, know exactly how to get there, and then, do the necessary work needed, in order to give yourself room for that growth that you are seeking.
There is a process, and this is what I call –
The Art Of How To Disappear Completely.
Let’s break it down.
In order to do this effectively, to absolutely maximize a growth period, there are 5 key steps that must take place –
1. Vision – You need a clear vision of the player you want to be.
2. Preparation – You need to know exactly what to work on in order to achieve that vision.
3. Time – It’s all about time. You need to free up and then build in the necessary time required, into your day, your week, and your month.
4. Focus – Your biggest asset is your ability to stay focused. People who stay on task get the results.
5. Consistency – Remove your feelings, just show up and do the work.
Now we’ve established the core ideas, let’s go a little deeper…
Vision.
I chose the word vision here, instead of the word goal, as this is more than just a goal. This is not about simply learning a 16th note linear fill, this is about locking yourself away for a period of time and re-emerging like a phoenix from the ashes. It’s about coming back as a completely different player, on a whole new level.
A true and substantial growth period in your journey.
So for me, at this time, I was determined to add a much more nuanced touch, feel, and dynamic control to my playing, as these were the areas I could see I was lacking, compared to the greats I was inspired by.
Preperation.
As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
It’s a simple yet powerful sentence that gets straight to the heart of what’s important – having a plan!
For me, I went on a deep dive, researching as much as I possibly could, on how to control the stick in regard to touch, feel, and dynamic control.
I spoke to people I respected, sent messages, read blogs and magazine articles I found online, and found all the relevant connective tissue that aligned with the vision of the player I wanted to become.
And then, I formed a plan.
The thing is – and I’ve said this before – success leaves clues. Some of our greatest players have come and gone, and they, too, followed key steps in order to become the players we now know them for.
Get organised, do the research, and make a plan,
Time.
I’ll keep this one brief, but I truly believe that you have enough time in your day to achieve anything you want in life. It’s just about finding it, allocating it, and commiting to it.
Time is on our terms. I understand that people are busy, but for me, it always comes back to ‘how bad do you want it?’ If you’re hungry enough, you’ll find the time.
That could mean :
– Getting up an hour or two earlier
– Staying up an hour or two later
– Asking your boss if you could do pad-work in between customers at the espresso bar that you ran when you first got to Melbourne, on the County Court forecourt. (I did this, and yes, they let me!)
– Or, in the case of this story in particular, freeing up some time by letting something else go. So for me, that was leaving Miami Horror.
Then, once you’ve freed up some time, It’s now time to ‘TimeBlock’ your day. (lots of ‘time’ in that sentence lol)
Start to think of your day in terms 30min or 60min blocks. This helps bring to light the true moments in your day that you have available to create a schedule around, in order to achieve your vision.
So, with what I wanted specifically from this period of growth, and outside my regular practice, I created a 44-minute routine that I would do at 4:30am, every morning, and for 3 months straight!
Why at 4:30am? Because, around my family, business, and life, that’s where it worked best for me, at that point in time.
Focus.
Focus of attention is your biggest superpower, and forever will be.
Your ability to not get distracted and stay hyper-focused on a single task, in the day-to-day-micro, as well as the long-term and more macro weekly and monthly, is imperative for substantial growth.
So. The way to increase this, is simply by removing distractions… a.k.a, your phone.
Let’s be honest, in this day-in-age, that’s the biggest problem we face, and your biggest focus and attention killer.
A simple way to combat this, is to lock it away. I’ve told you before, but I have a phone lockbox that I bought off Temu, and whenever I need to stay locked in and focused on what I am doing, the phone goes away.
What’s great too, is, over time, you actually get better at regulating this better yourself. I use my lockbox less and less now.
We also need to acknowledge that focus over long periods of time, can wane. We can forget the mission, why we are here, so, to prevent this, make sure you write your vision down.
This is a simple exercise, but essentially what happens is it creates a contract between you and yourself, and creates an accountability system. This means that, overtime, as your focus and attention starts to dissolve, you can just pick up and read your vision, and remind yourself why you are here doing this in the first place.
The stats say that someone is twice as likely to achieve the results they are after, if they simply write it down.
Remember, a phoenix from the ashes!
And finally, Consistency.
With anything in life, it’s purely the consistency that is going to get you over the line with any task you’ve set out to achieve.
Feelings are good, yes, but not when it comes to task-driven achievements. Do NOT get them involved.
If you can override how you feel about doing something hard, and just do the work, whether it be related to health, well-being, or progress on the kit, you have forever taken your progress into your own hands.
When it comes to showing up daily for my health, well-being, business, and progress, I stay consistent, and do not let my feelings come into it. Its the only way to stay onboard, and stay on track.
So, there we have it…
The Art Of How To Disappear Completely.
My 5-Step process to locking yourself away, locking in, getting the work done, and coming back bigger, brighter, better, stronger, and faster.
#ResultsGauranteed
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Before we wrap up, don’t forget that my new course, ‘The Key To Dynamics & Mechanics Mastery’, is nearly here! Release Date: Nov 26th
Why Dynamics and Mechanics?
True control doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built through intentional, focused practice on specific movements—and intentional is the key word.
I’ll guide you through exactly what dynamic movements to focus on, doing a “mechanics reset” to ensure every stroke is practiced efficiently and to perfection, every single time. And yes, this includes doublestrokes!
From there, we dive into my mechanics series—a range of custom patterns I developed to address my own limitations, designed to balance the hands, enhance groove, and sharpen facility.
Then it’s all about mastering the shuffle. I’ll show you how to create a smooth shuffle that would make even Porcaro proud.
Finally, we tackle flams. I’ll walk you through my unique approach to achieving precision with what I consider to be an essential skill for all drummers.
Learn more HERE.
Apart from that, as always, thanks for all the feedback, and have a great week!
Stay hungry (and healthy),
Stan