Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Modern Drummer features J.R. Hardee

http://www.moderndrummer.com/modern-drummer-blogs/J.R.%20Hardee%20Of%20Paper%20Tongues/
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Hey, guys, this is J.R. Hardee from Paper Tongues! I’ve been playing with Paper Tongues for three years, but I’ve been tappin’ them old skins since I was three feet tall. I used to drag out all the pots and pans from my mom’s kitchen and make a drumset out of them. Now I play a Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute kit, and it’s sweet because it actually sounds like drum tones instead of the annoying clanging of metal on metal. We all have to start somewhere, right?
I didn’t grow up taking lessons, but I had a natural sense of rhythm from my pops, Ricky Dean, the percussionist/BBQ god, and my poppy Gary, the fishing drummer. Poppy now plays steel guitar and is the proud songwriter of hits such as “Margarita Momma.”
Though I never took lessons, I always looked up to and studied the underground hip-hop community, Carter Beauford, and Jeff Buckley’s drummer, Matt Johnson. With all the amazing opportunities Paper Tongues are getting, I hope to truly inspire kids to play drums as much as these players inspired me.
I’m going to exit now due to the fact that I’m writing this on my iPhone and my thumb is getting tired. I’ll post more down the road. Thanks for reading and hopefully I’ll see you out at a show. Play with your heart and soul, stay in control, and rock ’n’ roll!
Photo by Brad Moore. For more on J.R. Hardee and Paper Tongues, go to http://www.papertongues.com/.

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