When Vertical Church Band’s latest album, Frontiers, released back in July, I was blown away by how good the drums sounded so we decided to take some time to talk to their drummer and our friend, Joshua Freddy, to dig a little deeper into what it took them to achieve that beautiful sound!
[tweet_box design=”default”]Humility goes a long way. Be teachable. I’m not playing for myself. I’m playing for God and to serve people and the song.
[/tweet_box] [tweet_box design=”default”]Worship Drummers are like bus drivers. And Worship Leaders are like the owners of the bus. We have to submit to their authority and go where they tell us to.
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Show Notes
- Check out La Banquise for great poutine in Montreal, Quebec
- New Vertical Church Band live recording “Frontiers” released in July
- Gear rundown:
- 1972 Slingerland
- 24×14 kick
- 14×10 rack
- 18×16 floor tom
- 1970 Acrolite snare
- Mix of Zildjian and Istanbul Cymbals
- Night 1 of recording included a worship pit for gang vocals
- Night 2 of recording is with sanctuary filled with people – especially helpful with video and audio.
- Lots of preproduction and less postproduction
- Joshua memorizes his parts and plays them always the same. He learned this from Paul Mabury in 2012.
- Make sure you play the same parts. Once you land on something make sure you are playing the same thing of every take!
- Tip: Video record yourself playing the new songs so that you can remember what you played and so you don’t forget a good idea.
- When writing drum parts, be open to what other musicians are thinking about the song/part
- You don’t want drum parts to be too boring/simple, but you don’t want it to be too complex or busy either.
- Drum Sounds From the Album played from an SPD-SX
- Reverse snare/808 kicks/Roto toms/50 Cent
- That Sound – cinematic pop
- Google “free drum samples” – i.e. Free 808 drum patches
- Roland PD-8
- #ConfessionsOfAWorshipDrummer Josh listens to secular music 🙂 Pop, electronic, hip hop
- Josh prefers iTunes Music versus Spotify
- How to handle criticism: Be humble. There are always better musicians than you. Be open to what others hear in the song.
- Most of us just think like drummers. Worship Leaders are thinking about the people
- Worship Drummers are like bus drivers. And Worship Leaders are like the owners of the bus. We have to submit to their authority and go where they tell us to.
- Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago has 7 campuses.
- Idea: Why not have a night where drummers meet together to jam and share ideas. You can learn a lot from one another.
- Joshua is originally from Chennai, India but was also raised in Dubai.
- Moved to US in 2008.
- Joshua’s favourite food: Curry
- Josh uses his story about how he began playing for VCB as an opportunity to testify of the goodness and faithfulness of God. God-dreams do come true! ?
- More Than I Deserve is Josh’s favourite song to play on the new album.
- Humility goes a long way. Be teachable. I’m not playing for myself. I’m playing for God and to serve people and the song.
- Follow Joshua on Facebook or Instagram.
- worshipdrummer t-shirt
Pics and Vids
Josh surprised us by sporting his Worship Drummer shirt for the interview!
Here is Josh’s setup that he used for the Frontiers recording.