EDITOR'S NOTE: Kat is not a doctor. The following post offers her opinion on different methods of how to overcome certain mental health struggles. If you need medical assistance for any mental ailment, condition or episode, please contact your nearest hospital immediately. This particular post is extremely personal. However, I'm sure many of you can relate to the struggles with anxiety and depression. Here's my two cents...
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Brace yourself, my friend. This is about to get real personal. Hands down, my family is the most important thing to me. Without them, I do not know where I would be or how I would behave, react or adapt in these uncertain modern times. As a young single mother, these individuals were my world. Now that my children are older, these invaluable human beings integrated into our already huge latin family. The concept of family, however, is not only bound by blood. More on that, later...
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Sometimes, I don't have a sitter and I have to take my girls to work with me. This is about one of those many times. The Bloody Muffs performed a matinee all ages show in Brooklyn, NY at the now-defunct venue called, the Place. My amazing bass player at the time, Jessica Carmen, loved children and appreciated the novelty of a little girl attending a punk rock show. My oldest daughter was 7 at the time. I walked my daughter around the venue and showed her the different facets of putting on a show. We discussed what the amps looked like and I pointed at where the drumset was located and we walked toward where the sound person stands during the show. She was engrossed in the hoopla and looked like she was...
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Flash back to 2 years ago. The Bloody Muffs embarked on a ten day long, "Get in the Van" style, road trip. Our tour consisted of visiting a couple of cities in Ohio. This story takes place in the outskirts of Columbus, OH at an ultra cool taco joint, the now defunct xxx. My mates and I performed for the locals on a fantastic bill. My band leader was especially excited to see one group in particular, called the Mathematics. We heard stories of the singer dressing in drag and playing songs similar to the Heartbreakers. As native Tri-State area folk, we were interested in observing the Mid-Western musical take on native New York City punk rock staple, Johnny Thunders. The band and I were looking forward to a great night commiserating...
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STORY TIME! The first time I ever thought about picking up sticks was when my mom took my sister and I to the local Sam Ash to buy her a keyboard. I was around 10 years old at the time and I always knew I wanted to play music. While my mother and sister were shopping for electric keyboards with weighted keys, I wandered off into the back room with all the shiny looking can things. As I approached the Drum Room, I heard a very complicated drum pattern being performed by one of the employees. At the time, I didn't understand it, but I was able to comprehend what he was doing while intellectualizing how he was doing it. I immediately scurried over to the bucket of spare drum...
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Last minute gig?? No problem! So you're cramming the weeks of preparation into several hours before you're about to perform with people you may or may not have played with. EVER. These things happen, and you're gonna own it! Here's a few things you'll need to make sure your last minute performance goes as smoothly as possible.1. Listen to the Songs Endlessly You're most likely rushing around like crazy at this point: gathering your gear, preparing your gig bag, going over logistics, etc. This is the perfect time to start listening to the songs while you're in the process of assembling your A team. While you're packing the car, place your head phones in your ears and put the songs on repeat from the beginning of the set list to the end. Then,...
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Back in the day when I was starting out as a green and fledgling NJ drummer for hire, my friends and I had a silly inside joke relating amazing drumming to the Highlander movies. For anyone who isn't familiar with the Highlander movies, a group of immortals must fight each other to the death in order to win the prize, or "Quickening." Each time an opponent wins a battle against their immortal foe, they behead the fallen warrior and absorb their power. They repeat this process and eliminate each other one by one, until the last person is standing. After all, "there can be only one." [caption id="attachment_51089" align="alignnone" width="860"] ***FILE PHOTO*** Pantera co-founder Vinnie Paul has passed away at age 54Hellyeah performing at The House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois.June...
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[*Editor's note: the names of the individuals and places expressed in this post have been changed to honor their privacy]. The most heartwarming interaction with a student happened to me recently. It was an extremely personal moment for the student as it was educational and eye opening for me. I believe opening up to anyone takes an enormous amount of courage. As an individual who suffers from anxiety, getting anything off my chest is often like pulling teeth. Like many sufferers of mental ailments, individuals find very little solace in confiding with their peers. Personally, I'm reluctant to disclose any secret because I'm afraid (there, I said it) that my business will be gossip fodder for opinionated talking heads around the water cooler. Eventually, thanks to the positive influence of my beloved...
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