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Deane Ogden talks about being born into a musical family and moving to the other side of the world
Episode 16 • 6th June 2023 • The Music Room • The Sound Boutique
00:00:00 00:58:09

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Personal stories of inspiration from professional composers, songwriters and musicians.

In this episode, Gareth chats with record producer, session and touring drummer Deane Ogden about being born into a musical family and moving to the other side of the world.

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Gareth:

Welcome to the music room.

Gareth:

At this time in the music room.

Deane:

and he answers the door in his U s C ball cap and

Deane:

sweatpants and was like, what?

Deane:

You know?

Deane:

So I spend an afternoon crawling underneath his desk with him

Deane:

sitting there, drinking coffee, watching me, you know, stuff.

Deane:

Just weird things like that.

Gareth:

Hello, and welcome to the Music Room, the show where I chat with

Gareth:

composers, songwriters, and musicians about what's happening with them.

Gareth:

Before going back in time to find out how it all began.

Gareth:

In this episode, you're going to hear from

Gareth:

Dean Oakton.

Gareth:

Drummer, producer, composer, songwriter.

Gareth:

He's done it all and has the most fascinating story.

Gareth:

He grew up in the us, now lives in Bali.

Gareth:

Lots of interesting stuff happened in between and stick around because Dean has

Gareth:

some great advice and a very interesting item to leave in the music room.

Gareth:

But first, music stories.

Gareth:

Music Room alumnus Daisy Cool and composing partner Tom Nettle

Gareth:

ship are scoring a brand new drama series for Channel five.

Gareth:

The four part thriller for her sins which stars Joe Joyner and

Gareth:

Rachel Shein started yesterday.

Gareth:

That's June the fifth at 9:00 PM Massive congratulations to Daisy and Tom.

Gareth:

I'm looking forward to seeing that It's on my watch list.

Gareth:

Next I ask the music room community on Facebook, a big question.

Gareth:

What's one quality you look for in a collaborator?

Gareth:

Hmm, rod, this is going to sound lame, but honestly it's way more

Gareth:

enjoyable if you get on to some degree socially and can have a left together.

Gareth:

Criticism will always sound more palatable when coming from someone you trust.

Gareth:

I like, I agree with that.

Gareth:

Rod Toby says, someone who will force me to bring my A game or

Gareth:

more a air quotes, you only get better by playing a better opponent.

Gareth:

Okay.

Gareth:

Yeah.

Gareth:

Herman these days.

Gareth:

Someone who commits and actually sees the collaboration through em.

Gareth:

Brackets, size, ply.

Gareth:

Oh dear.

Gareth:

Sounds like, uh, Herman was let down a little bit there.

Gareth:

Uh, still we try these things out, don't we, Marco?

Gareth:

Fun and commitment first and foremost.

Gareth:

Yeah, great stuff.

Gareth:

Marco.

Gareth:

Uh, Anique to me, organized and reliable are equal to creative and nice these days.

Gareth:

I agree with that.

Gareth:

To an extent Anique.

Gareth:

I think maybe if you can have all four, that's even better, isn't it?

Gareth:

Organized, reliable, creative, and nice.

Gareth:

that's a winner to me, Neil A Pulse.

Gareth:

Okay.

Gareth:

Looks like Neil's looking for collaborations.

Gareth:

come and say hello to Neil in the music Ring community on Facebook.

Gareth:

You too can take part in wonderful discussions within the Music

Gareth:

room community via the Facebook group or via the Instagram feed

Gareth:

or subscribe to the newsletter.

Gareth:

It's all there to help.

Gareth:

And links are in the show notes or head to music room.community to find out more.

Gareth:

And if you like this section, I mentioned the music room newsletter

Gareth:

there, which you can read.

Gareth:

Share, subscribe to whatever tickles you're fancy.

Gareth:

And the link, as they say, is in the show notes.

Gareth:

Dean Ogden is an American record producer session and touring drummer

Gareth:

and co-founder, songwriter, drummer of the band, stone Cold Killers

Gareth:

over a long and winding career.

Gareth:

Dean has worked as a recording and touring drummer with the likes of Stevie Wonder.

Gareth:

Robbie Williams and Seal written the music for feature films and

Gareth:

primetime tv and produced some of Indonesia's finest musical talent.

Gareth:

With no further ado, let's hear from Dean himself.

Gareth:

Dean Ogden, composer, producer, rocking drummer.

Gareth:

Welcome to the music room.

Deane:

Thanks so much, man.

Deane:

I really appreciate it and it's really an honor to have some time with you.

Deane:

It's cool.

Gareth:

You are all the way over in Bali.

Gareth:

Where you

Gareth:

live.

Gareth:

This is

Gareth:

fantastic.

Gareth:

How is it in Bali today?

Deane:

It's fantastic.

Deane:

It's, well, it's, it's nighttime now.

Deane:

but it, today it was wonderful.

Deane:

It's, you know, it's, it's kind of perpetual summer here.

Deane:

It never, never gets cold, um, which is good and bad, you know, but, uh, but

Deane:

it's pretty great for kids and, you know, beach time and all that kind of stuff.

Deane:

It's, it's a, it's a good hang.

Deane:

It's a nice place to work and live and yeah, we really like it.

Deane:

We've been, we've been at balling now for

Deane:

almost 10 years, so,

Gareth:

Wow.

Deane:

Yeah, it's been great.

Deane:

It's really great.

Deane:

I don't, I don't see, I don't see us leaving anytime soon, you

Deane:

know, unless some apocalyptic nightmare takes place or something.

Deane:

But, and

Gareth:

But that's quite a difference, uh, from your roots, which we will get into.

Gareth:

Uh, I'm sure there's a fascinating story there about how you got to Bali.

Gareth:

But yeah, just by means of introduction, it's, I I think it's really hard

Gareth:

to introduce someone when they do.

Gareth:

I don't think you fit the mold particularly, you know, you've been

Gareth:

a drummer with the likes of Stevie Wonder, jewel, Robbie Williams, Al

Gareth:

Jerome, Britney Spears, nataline Lia, and so many more artists.

Gareth:

Uh, but then composed the music for feature films, primetime tv, as well

Gareth:

as producing for a lot of artists.

Gareth:

So for those listeners who are trying to figure out where they fit in the

Gareth:

huge tapestry, that is the, the music business, how do you see yourself

Deane:

Very lucky.

Deane:

You know, uh, I, I mean, you know, credits can be, I don't know.

Deane:

they're interesting.

Deane:

You know, I, I've, I've definitely played with a lot of people, but I

Deane:

was never really anybody's drummer.

Deane:

You know, I, I sat in with a lot of people.

Deane:

I did, you know, a lot of small tours, filled in for people, but never was

Deane:

really like the number one guy, you know?

Deane:

so it's kind of been a career of just, I guess, you know what, what a

Deane:

lot of musicians probably do is just, you do whatever you can to survive.

Deane:

You know, I've, I've, I've played with a lot of people.

Deane:

I've produced records, like you said, I've, I've definitely, there was

Deane:

a period of time, I don't do it so much anymore, but definitely a period

Deane:

of time where a hundred percent of my energy went into film scoring.

Deane:

And, you know, when I was living in Los Angeles, I was really pursuing that.

Deane:

And I kind of thought that would be the thing that, that I was most interested

Deane:

in, you know, after playing drums my whole life and, sort of trying to, you Carve

Deane:

out a career doing that is, is pretty difficult, or at least it was for me.

Deane:

and, and it, and it, it never really materialized into anything permanent.

Deane:

You know, I was a jobbing drummer, which I loved, you know, and that's

Deane:

really what I wanted to do from the time that I was a little kid, you

Deane:

know, was just be a studio musician.

Deane:

And I achieved that and it was great and I loved it.

Deane:

And then where I lived in Los Angeles, you know, that, that, that industry

Deane:

kind of dried up and everybody bailed and went to other places.

Deane:

so I, you know, I was al I always loved movies, always loved film music.

Deane:

growing up I was a huge John Berry fan and loved James Bond and, you know,

Deane:

of course Williams and, you know, all the, all the, all the greats, right?

Deane:

but also on the classical side.

Deane:

I mean, I was a huge Aaron Copeland fan.

Deane:

I just loved John Cage, of course, being a percussionist and a drummer,

Deane:

and, just loved that kind of stuff.

Deane:

but I never was really as in love with that as I was with playing drums despite,

Deane:

to sort of like sidewind myself into a second career, being a, a film composer.

Deane:

But I did it for a decade, you know, and I, and I did a lot of fun stuff and I

Deane:

don't have any regrets about it, but I, I.

Deane:

Have since kind of found myself sort of drifting back to my first love of, you

Deane:

know, playing drums and, you know, being on the road, and being a touring drummer

Deane:

and being in the, spending a lot of time in the studio, doing a lot of sessions

Deane:

and, so that's kind of how it's been.

Deane:

It's been, it's been 30 plus years of touring studio sessions for

Deane:

a time, television and film, and then sort of full circle back to

Deane:

touring and sessions now, you know?

Deane:

with my band.

Gareth:

Yes.

Gareth:

You are banned stone cold killers.

Gareth:

you're really scratching that drumming itch, aren't you?

Gareth:

With the, with the stone cold killers.

Gareth:

I saw the video, your first video which is

Deane:

oh, cool.

Gareth:

great.

Gareth:

Really cool.

Deane:

Thanks

Gareth:

Um, how did it all come about?

Deane:

With those guys.

Deane:

It's, it's the craziest thing, man.

Deane:

So in, uh, I, I moved, I moved from LA to Indonesia, in late 2010, early 2011.

Deane:

And, I was on tour and I came over, came over to Jakarta to do some shows, and I

Deane:

met the woman who's now my wife and kind of never left, you know, I went back to

Deane:

LA for, I went back to LA for a couple of years, but we sort of had this long

Deane:

distance thing that was a nightmare.

Deane:

And so I finally just, I sold everything in la, moved over here and, you

Deane:

know, off to the races and started a family and all that kind of stuff.

Deane:

And so, and then we moved to Bali when our first son was born.

Deane:

Three, three or four years later.

Deane:

But while I was in Jakarta, I met this, this kid, he's a guitar player and we,

Deane:

I don't remember exactly how we met.

Deane:

I think we met from maybe through a mutual friend or something.

Deane:

But anyway, he was playing in a band over there and I went to

Deane:

hear his band at a jazz club over there and just really switched on.

Deane:

Kid man, Indonesian kid, didn't really speak much English, but,

Deane:

just a, an Alan Holdsworth type, John McLaughlin kind of guitarist.

Deane:

Just really, and really young, you know, he was, I, I guess at the time

Deane:

he would've been, would've been about 20 and in mid twenties, you know,

Deane:

and, um, single guy and just, you know, working in studios over there.

Deane:

There's quite a bit, quite a few high-end studios over in Jakarta, cuz

Deane:

that's where if, if, if there is a music scene in Indonesia, that's where it is.

Deane:

You know, it's where the work happens.

Deane:

he was there from his village.

Deane:

Kind of a transplant, sort of an LA type thing, like for me, you know, and I met

Deane:

him and we, we jammed together a couple of times and I, I sat in with his band

Deane:

once and, you know, that was a lot of fun.

Deane:

And we just became friends and we had a shared love of Level 42, the band.

Deane:

And when I, when I was a little kid, they, they, Phil Gould has

Deane:

always been my drumming idol.

Deane:

He's, he's like the Mount Rushmore for me, if you know.

Deane:

And so Pfizer, this kid, and I realized that we were both huge

Deane:

fans of, the founding, founding era of level 42, the Gould Brothers

Deane:

and Mark King and Mike, Linda.

Deane:

And so we kind of shared that passion.

Deane:

And we just stayed in touch.

Deane:

You know, I moved to Bali and he stayed there and kept

Deane:

working and doing his thing.

Deane:

And over the course of 10 years or so, we just stayed in touch and, you

Deane:

know, through Facebook and all that.

Deane:

But we were always talking about, man, we gotta do something together.

Deane:

You know, we gotta do, we gotta do a project or something, or write

Deane:

some songs or, you know, something.

Deane:

I mean, we just, we just played together those two or three

Deane:

times and that was awesome.

Deane:

And I could feel there was something there.

Deane:

And I had a, I had a medical issue about a year ago.

Deane:

I was in, I spent, you know, a couple months in the hospital, and

Deane:

while I was in the hospital, I got this text from him and he goes, Hey.

Deane:

He goes, dude, I moved my family to Bali.

Deane:

We've been here for two months.

Deane:

Where are, where are you?

Deane:

I go, well, I'm laying in the hospital, man, like, I just

Deane:

had double surgery, you know?

Deane:

And he's like, whoa, what?

Deane:

So as soon as I got out of the hospital, we got together, you know,

Deane:

he came and visited me and we talked and we hadn't seen each other in 10.

Deane:

We literally had not seen each other or spent any time together

Deane:

in the same room in 10 years.

Deane:

And he's a grown man now.

Deane:

He's got a family, two kids, you know.

Deane:

I said, you know, when I, when I can, when I can hold food in my

Deane:

mouth again, you know, we're gonna, we're we're gonna do one of those

Deane:

projects we keep talking about.

Deane:

And he goes, yeah, it would be great.

Deane:

It would be great.

Deane:

And he was over here doing resort gigs.

Deane:

There's a tons of resorts cuz it's a tourist island, you know, it's a, it's

Deane:

basically the, the Hawaii of Australia, you know, so all the Australian

Deane:

tourists come over and there's tons of resorts and for musicians over

Deane:

here, if you're, if you're a resort.

Deane:

Uh, player, you can really make a great living.

Deane:

And that's what he was doing.

Deane:

He was over here doing that and just providing for his family.

Deane:

so I got better over the course of about six months and good enough

Deane:

to get together with him and, and have a, have a play at my studio.

Deane:

and it was just like, we just picked, right?

Deane:

I mean, you know how it is.

Deane:

Musicians get together, it's just, we just, it, it was

Deane:

like we didn't miss anything.

Deane:

It was just like we were finishing the sentence from the day before, you know?

Deane:

and I said, man, we gotta do something.

Deane:

Let's, let's find a couple of cats and build something and,

Deane:

and you know, have a go at this.

Deane:

And he's like, okay.

Deane:

And at the time I was just kind of thinking, you know, maybe we could

Deane:

just do some gigs around the area or something, you know, just for fun,

Deane:

just on the weekends or whatever.

Deane:

Cuz we're both doing other stuff, but we.

Deane:

We got really fortunate.

Deane:

We, we had a, we had a singer for a while, for about a month

Deane:

that was really talented, but he wasn't the guy that we wanted.

Deane:

We wanted, uh, this kid who had, been, been a, a finalist on the

Deane:

voice, Indonesia over in Jakarta.

Gareth:

Cool.

Deane:

he was locked into a contract with N B C and he was, or, or not

Deane:

n b nbc, but Universal over there.

Deane:

and, you know, still had some residual things to take care of as

Deane:

a holdover from being on that show.

Deane:

And he couldn't really get out of it.

Deane:

And, you know, he was gigging every weekend for them and doing all this

Deane:

other, you know, appearances and stuff.

Deane:

And so it didn't really work out.

Deane:

And then the bass player that I wanted, um, I'd played with a ton before

Deane:

in, in other touring situations.

Deane:

But he was super busy and not available and just couldn't lock him down.

Deane:

And we couldn't find anybody who played horns.

Deane:

We really wanted a horn player and we couldn't find anybody.

Deane:

And we tried a couple of keyboard players, and those people didn't really work.

Deane:

You know, we just have just kind of fumbling over ourselves

Deane:

for two or three months.

Deane:

then one week it sort of all came together.

Deane:

The bass player called me and said, Hey man, I've canceled all my

Deane:

contracts and I'm, I'm ready to go.

Deane:

And I was like, whoa, okay.

Deane:

So he came and he joined, and then the singer that we would, that

Deane:

we had originally tried to get, uh, he goes, well, let's just get

Deane:

together and see what happens.

Deane:

And so we got together with him and we wrote a song on the first day.

Deane:

It's probably one of our, you know, better tunes.

Deane:

and, and by the time we were done with that, he is like, yeah, I'm just gonna

Deane:

tell my lawyer, get me out of this thing.

Deane:

You know, I wanna, I wanna go do this with you guys.

Deane:

And then a band that I had produced a record for, uh, they had a friend

Deane:

from Sumatra who's, what, what, you know, it's about four or five islands

Deane:

over from Bali, towards Singapore, who's just this killer, just wonder

Deane:

kind, just prodigy, saxophone player.

Deane:

Just a, just a, just a, complete anomaly over here.

Deane:

There's not very many, you know, really soulful players, especially, sax

Deane:

player, you know, and his name was Cham.

Deane:

And he, coming over to visit this, this band that I had produced.

Deane:

And, and Paul, the lead singer of the bar dogs, this band that I worked with.

Deane:

He goes, man, you gotta meet my friend, you know, he is killer and he

Deane:

is gonna sit in with us this weekend up at, you know, the gig we're doing.

Deane:

And so I went over to the gig they were doing and as soon as I heard this kid

Deane:

play, I just made a beeline for him to the stage right after they were done.

Deane:

And I just totally stole him from those guys.

Deane:

Man, I just, I, I told Paul, I'm so sorry.

Deane:

I, I know you just introduced me to Chm, but he's not gonna play with you again.

Deane:

Play with me.

Deane:

You know, I just totally, I just totally ripped him off and as soon as I pitched

Deane:

the vision for the band, he, he said, I'm totally in, I'm, I'm 100% in.

Deane:

So, like, the next day, all five of us got together and we just,

Deane:

we've been going ever since.

Deane:

That was about five months ago, six months ago.

Deane:

And, uh, because of, you know, I'm, I'm a little bit of a, A commodity

Deane:

here, I guess, because there's not a whole lot of, there's not a whole

Deane:

lot of, of western musicians here.

Deane:

And then of course, our singer, who is a national television star for two years.

Deane:

So, and then, and then our guitarist, Pfizer, the, the kid that I, you

Deane:

know, had the history with, he's played with some really big Indonesian

Deane:

names, um, as a studio player.

Deane:

And our bass player was in a big band, a big touring band here.

Deane:

So we're all sort of like, it's, it's, it's almost like a super group in a

Deane:

way, at least over here, you know, in Indonesia it is, it wouldn't be anywhere

Deane:

else, but over here it's, you know, this really strange mixture of, of, of cats.

Deane:

And so we started writing and we found that we write really quickly and, and

Deane:

it's, it's pretty hooky stuff and, you know, kind of a cross between a, you know,

Deane:

funk rock and, and, and pop rock and.

Deane:

with a lot of real, you know, kind of crazy musicianship and odd time

Deane:

signatures and sort of progressive, you know, flavors kind of thrown into it.

Deane:

We're all big Yes.

Deane:

Fans and Genesis fans and level 42 freaks and, you know, so just

Deane:

kind of this hodgepodge of, of oddities, you know, um, king Crimson,

Deane:

you know, that kind of stuff.

Deane:

it's kind of taken off on us.

Deane:

You know, we, we got booked at all these major festivals over here, Southeast Asia,

Deane:

and it's just, it's moved way faster than I think any of us ever thought it would.

Deane:

It's just, you know, we, we, we played a couple of big shows and that got us a

Deane:

lot of national notoriety and we just, it just kind of took off from there.

Deane:

And so we're just, we're sort of riding the wave.

Deane:

We're not really sure where it's gonna go,

Gareth:

best way though, isn't it?

Deane:

Yeah, it totally is.

Deane:

It really is.

Deane:

It's just a it's one of those situations where we're just saying yes to the

Deane:

universe and, you know, whatever.

Deane:

We're not, we're not doing a whole lot of knowing, you know, we don't, we don't

Deane:

know what's happening and we're not saying no to a lot of things, you know, we're

Deane:

just kind of saying, yeah, let's do it.

Deane:

Who cares?

Deane:

Let's go.

Deane:

What else would we be doing?

Deane:

Sitting around, you know?

Gareth:

That's interesting you're saying about all those influences because

Gareth:

When I went to watch your video, I didn't know quite what to expect.

Gareth:

I was expecting kind of rock, but then like you say, saxophone

Gareth:

comes in and I'm like, hang on a minute, where's this going?

Deane:

Yeah.

Gareth:

And, and you've got the, influences on the guitar and, and yeah.

Gareth:

It's, it's quite different and yet quite nostalgic at the same time.

Gareth:

And when you were saying about the, um, you know, the, the components of the

Gareth:

band and the, the, the experiences and stuff, it put me in mind of Toto, you

Gareth:

know, these, guys were these amazing session players in their own right.

Gareth:

And then they came together as a group and produced this phenomenal work.

Deane:

Yeah, that's a, that's a good, I mean, I, I would, you know,

Deane:

obviously don't want to compare us to those legends, but Yeah.

Deane:

But, but I mean, it's a similar circumstance where, you know, everybody's

Deane:

had a career already, you know,

Deane:

um, jam is really the, he's the youngest guy in the band.

Deane:

He's 26.

Deane:

But the rest of the four of us have had, you know, a couple decades at least

Deane:

of, you know, real solid experience and touring and recording and, and so for the

Deane:

first time really in my career, like, you know, I'm part owner in something that

Deane:

actually means something for the future, you know, that's what it feels like.

Deane:

At least, you know, like I'm not, I'm not working for somebody else.

Deane:

We're writing all the stuff together.

Deane:

I'm producing most of it for us.

Deane:

And, you know, we kind of do it together, sort of like in the room.

Deane:

Um, but I'm definitely mixing and engineering and mastering

Deane:

everything so far at least.

Deane:

you know, we, we we're, we're we're doing crazy things.

Deane:

We're, we're collab.

Deane:

I can't really reveal it cuz we're not, we don't have a

Deane:

hundred percent nailed down yet.

Deane:

But we're, we're, we've kind of hatched this plan to do some

Deane:

collaborations with Western artists.

Gareth:

Intriguing.

Deane:

of vir, virtuosic, players over in the West that, that I've crossed paths

Deane:

with at, at some point are, you know, that are, are, are, are aware of us and,

Deane:

um, and kind of having them guessed on certain songs and, you know, so that's

Deane:

opened up a lot of doors, of course, you know, to come over to America and

Deane:

do some dates over there next year and Australia, this, this, uh, later this

Deane:

year after, after winter's over there.

Deane:

So it's interesting, man.

Deane:

I mean, I've, I've been in tons of bands my whole life, but never my

Deane:

own, you know, so this is like the fir this is a real first in a lot of ways,

Gareth:

Yeah.

Gareth:

And, uh, it's the right way round, isn't it?

Gareth:

You've got all the experience and now you know you can hit the

Gareth:

ground running really, can't you?

Deane:

Yeah, it's no drama.

Deane:

Everybody's got families, everybody's a dad.

Deane:

You know, like nobody's, nobody's looking for, nobody's got stars in their eyes

Deane:

or jealous over money or, you know, none of, we don't have any of that stuff.

Deane:

It's just, it's, it's a, it's a real mature, you know, group of dudes and it's

Deane:

just we're having a, we're having a blast.

Gareth:

I'll put that video in the show notes for you and, um,

Deane:

Oh, cool man.

Deane:

Thank

Gareth:

look on with great interest at your progress.

Gareth:

Have,

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

Yeah.

Gareth:

to see where, where you go with it.

Gareth:

Yeah.

Gareth:

Um, but

Deane:

be the biggest failure of all time or the, you know, the, I mean, who knows?

Gareth:

well, you know, it's better to have tried, isn't it?

Deane:

That's right.

Gareth:

Yeah.

Gareth:

but that's now, uh, if you are ready to go back in time, I'm interested

Gareth:

to see how you got to this point

Deane:

Hmm.

Gareth:

right back to the beginning.

Gareth:

here we are back in time.

Deane:

Right.

Gareth:

so we talk about the, the J word, and it's probably overused in the media,

Gareth:

but your journey has spanned continents.

Gareth:

It spanned decades.

Gareth:

How did it all start for you and that, you know, how young were you, for instance,

Gareth:

when you first became aware of music?

Deane:

well, I was kind of born into it.

Deane:

My, my, both of my parents, my mom and my dad were both jobbing musicians.

Deane:

my dad was a bass player, guitar player, banjo player, a chord accordion,

Deane:

bunch of odd, strange mo mostly folk and, um, bluegrass instruments.

Deane:

But he was raised on, you know, he was a child of the sixties obviously, so he

Deane:

was, you know, he was raised on Crosby, stills, Nash, and Young and, and, uh, you

Deane:

know, Eagles and, uh, a lot of West Coast and American, uh, Americana type music.

Deane:

Dan Fogelberg and, um, Bocas and Kat Stevens and, you know, that kind of stuff.

Deane:

Sort of the hippie generation, singer songwriter, you know, Joni Mitchell.

Gareth:

Fantastic generations.

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

Really good, really high quality, you know, intellectually

Deane:

sound, lyrically, you know.

Deane:

Um, and that, so that was that side of it.

Deane:

And then my mom was a drummer.

Deane:

She was a, she was a majorette in high school and then she was

Deane:

part of the drill team and stuff.

Deane:

And, and she, she took up the drums and played drums in, in a couple of bands.

Deane:

And when my mom and dad met, they joined a band together.

Deane:

And my mom was the drummer.

Deane:

My dad was the, uh, rhythm guitar player and there was a shake up within the band.

Deane:

And they basically told my dad, Hey, you need to buy a bass cause

Deane:

we need a bass player and we have another guy who plays six string.

Deane:

You know, we don't need to.

Deane:

So my dad hurried up and bought a bass and learned it.

Deane:

And then when they figured out my mom could sing very well, um, they

Deane:

sort of pulled a Phil Collins and she came out in front of the band

Deane:

and they hired another drummer.

Deane:

So that's kind of how it all happened.

Deane:

And I was kind of like conceived in the middle of all that.

Deane:

You know, they were, were, they were, they were a regional act.

Deane:

It wasn't anything huge, but they were pretty busy up, up and down the coast

Deane:

of Oregon, which is where I'm from.

Deane:

And, um, they were kind of a thing in our geographical area.

Deane:

and in the midst of the three or four year run they had, I was, I was born somehow,

Deane:

you know, in the middle of all that.

Deane:

And so there's pictures of me like, you know, in asleep in bass drums and, you

Deane:

know, sleeping in the back of band vans and bandwagons and, you know, speaker

Deane:

cabinets and all this crazy stuff.

Deane:

and so my mom's side of it, you know, was more Neil Diamond, uh, Willie Nelson.

Deane:

Dolly part and a lot of country, country rock.

Deane:

and so I kind of got that sort of flavor from her.

Deane:

And then my dad was kind of more on the band side, you know?

Deane:

so I, I was just constantly around it.

Deane:

I was around it, you know, with their gigs.

Deane:

I was around it in the car all the time.

Deane:

I was, it was, it was a situation where all my, all my quote aunts

Deane:

and uncles were musicians cuz they were band members and road crew and

Deane:

all this, you know, kind of stuff.

Deane:

And it was just sort of like, it was like the jackass movie except

Deane:

everybody's a musician, you know?

Deane:

So that's kind of how I grew up.

Deane:

You know, I grew up in, in the, in the middle of all that.

Deane:

and they never encouraged me to do it.

Deane:

They never encouraged me to follow that path.

Deane:

they never said, oh, you need to do this, or, you know, do what

Deane:

we're doing or anything like that.

Deane:

But they also never discouraged me from it either.

Gareth:

is there some kind of inevitability about, you know,

Gareth:

when you say, I was born into a musical family, really, I mean,

Gareth:

born in a bass drum on the road,

Deane:

Mm-hmm.

Gareth:

surely there's some kind of inevitability that you would

Deane:

I think so.

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

People, people have asked me about that before and I, I just,

Deane:

you know, I just think it's, it's a, you know, nature nurture.

Deane:

Uh, I was, I was nurtured around musicology essentially, you know, it was

Deane:

just a, I got a good friend who's who, both of his parents were lawyers, and

Deane:

he's just a brilliant, he's not a lawyer, but he is, he knows everything there is

Deane:

to know about law because he just grew up in that atmosphere, you know, and he

Deane:

just decided for whatever reason to be in real estate instead of being in law.

Deane:

But he could have very well got shot to the top of his class

Deane:

in law school had he decided.

Deane:

You know, it's kind of one of those kind of deals I think, you know, I just.

Deane:

I never really knew anything else.

Deane:

You know, um, after I came along they, they buckled down and had real jobs,

Deane:

you know, cause they had to provide.

Deane:

And then where, where I lived, there was no music scene other than, you know, kind

Deane:

of what they were doing just on weekends, sort of weekend, warrioring it, you know.

Deane:

so my dad, you know, started his own business and kind of became a family

Deane:

business and with him and his, and his father, my grandpa, and they did that.

Deane:

But, but it was still a huge part of my life.

Deane:

You know, it was, I, I I, I, I don't remember a time, and I know it sounds

Deane:

cliche cuz a lot of people say it, but I really don't remember a time

Deane:

where there wasn't music playing in the car at home, on the way to school.

Deane:

You know, I mean, it just was just was was always on.

Deane:

I would come home from, you know, it was the era of M T V and I would come home,

Deane:

come straight home from school on the bus.

Deane:

I'd let myself in.

Deane:

I was a latchkey kid cuz my parents were at work and I would let myself in and

Deane:

I'd make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sit down on the couch and

Deane:

watch m t v for three hours, you know, at, its at its peak, you know, when

Deane:

it was still actual music videos and, you know, just that kind of culture.

Deane:

So I just, I just, I just was never without it.

Gareth:

So was your introduction to playing, just having

Gareth:

instruments around and just hitting things and playing things and.

Deane:

my mom had a couple of drum sets in the basement and, you know, even

Deane:

after her and my dad's band broke up, she still kept playing with other bands

Deane:

or singing with other bands rather.

Deane:

and she had a drummer for a while named Dennis.

Deane:

and.

Deane:

He had a champagne Sparkle Ludwig kit in our basement where they did their

Deane:

rehearsals, and I wasn't allowed to go down there and touch anything,

Deane:

but of course I went down there and sat, played his drums all the time.

Deane:

I mean, you know, they had, they had rehearsal like Tuesday nights,

Deane:

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were my

Deane:

rehearsals, you know, on his drums.

Deane:

And he, I remember he was always coming up, yo, who played my drums?

Deane:

This was moved and blah, blah.

Deane:

You know, it was always me.

Deane:

And so I just got bit by the bug.

Deane:

You know, I just, and then there was a series of, you know, uh, radio

Deane:

Discoveries, you know, my Sharon in 79 and that huge drum intro.

Deane:

I'm, I, I'll, I'll never forget the first time I heard that my mom

Deane:

brought the 45 home and gave it to me, and I went upstairs and played it.

Deane:

And, you know, five days later she's banging on the roof with a broom.

Deane:

You know, can you please change the record?

Deane:

You know, but I just wouldn't stop.

Deane:

And my dad, you know, my dad said several times, we couldn't

Deane:

have stopped you if we wanted to.

Deane:

you just wouldn't quit, you know?

Deane:

It just, it was the only thing I cared about.

Deane:

I didn't wanna be outside playing with my friends.

Deane:

I didn't wanna, I wasn't interested in sports in any way.

Deane:

I wasn't interested in anything but just playing drums and playing music, you

Deane:

know, really until I graduated from high school, you know, I was, I worked, worked,

Deane:

worked in high school in really one band, primarily with my best friend, who's

Deane:

also a session player in Nashville now.

Deane:

You know, we kind of went, I went to la you went to Nashville when we graduated.

Deane:

He's a guitar player.

Deane:

Just played with a lot of people and.

Deane:

still talk to 'em all the time.

Deane:

We're still really super close.

Deane:

But we were in a band together.

Deane:

It was like a funk band that we, original outfit that we put together with a

Deane:

couple of students from the college that was in the same hometown that we had.

Deane:

So we were the young guy, we were the 15, 16 year olds and they

Deane:

were the 20 year old college kids.

Deane:

And we played frat and sorority parties every weekend.

Deane:

And we were sort of the IT band in town for that kind of stuff.

Deane:

so that's kind of what I cut my teeth on.

Deane:

And then when I graduated from high school, you know, I moved to LA and

Gareth:

Hmm.

Gareth:

What prompted the move to la?

Gareth:

Why la?

Deane:

well, LA was, you know, at least in my brain was the, at the time, this

Deane:

is 93 when I graduated from high school.

Deane:

So it was still.

Deane:

It was still, even, even though the Seattle sound had kind of taken over by

Deane:

that point in Nirvana and Pearl Jam and you know, s TP and bands like that, you

Deane:

know, so Sound Garden, you know, that that thing had happened already in 91, 92 when

Deane:

I was still in school, but it was still La la was the place, you know, if you wanted

Deane:

to be a session musician, you moved to la you know, and if you wanna be a jazz

Deane:

musician, you'd go to New York and if you wanna play country, you'd go to Nashville.

Deane:

You know, it was just kind of the thing that was the understanding, right?

Deane:

Unspoken understanding.

Deane:

And so I kind of bumbled around and sort of, you know, probably wasted a couple

Deane:

of years kind of deciding whether or not to, to really go down there permanently.

Deane:

But by the time I finally did in the late nineties, um, there was still

Deane:

enough of a scene down there mostly pop.

Deane:

Where I could get involved.

Deane:

And, you know, it took a few years.

Deane:

I, I did a lot of stuff for free, you know, to, to, I mean, hundred hundreds

Deane:

of sessions for free for people just trying to network and get to know people

Deane:

and, and understand, you know, the lay of the land and LA's a big place.

Deane:

And I was, I was scared.

Deane:

I was young, you know, I'd never lived in a place that was larger than, you

Deane:

know, 23,000 people, which is the town I came from in Oregon, you know, just a

Deane:

little, little coastal town in Oregon.

Deane:

So, moving to, you know, the metropolis of la, you know, seemed pretty daunting.

Deane:

And first couple of years was, was real interesting.

Deane:

made a lot of mistakes and moved to the wrong area several times and didn't

Deane:

realize, oh man, I'm, I couldn't be further away from where the action is,

Deane:

you know, and God, now I'm stuck in this six month lease type deal, you know?

Deane:

But I, I navigated through that and, um, just got real fortunate,

Deane:

you know, I met a lot of people.

Deane:

One of the, one of the smartest things I ever did is I got a job

Deane:

at Guitar Center, which, you know, in the in am in America is like the

Deane:

biggest music retail chain in America.

Deane:

I think it still is.

Deane:

Maybe Sweetwater might be bigger and bigger now, but back then Guitar Center

Deane:

was the brick and mortar place, you know, and they had a huge flagship store on

Deane:

Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, but they also had another flagship store in Sherman

Deane:

Oaks, which was just over the Hollywood Hills in, in the basin, in the Valley.

Deane:

Um, on Ventura Boulevard, and I just happened to move

Deane:

just down the street from it.

Deane:

So I walked down there and I got a job immediately.

Deane:

I, became really good friends with the general manager who was a pretty

Deane:

high up guy in the, corporation.

Deane:

he made me a store manager.

Deane:

He made me an assistant manager of that flagship store, like within weeks.

Deane:

so I got super fortunate there.

Deane:

He really took care of me and gave me a huge opportunity and just, and running

Deane:

that store or helping to run that store him and his, and the other associate

Deane:

managers taught me a lot about business and how to deal with people in LA and

Deane:

how to deal with professional musicians and how to deal with tour directors.

Deane:

And people would come in, I mean there's, there's tons of stories from that place.

Deane:

I worked there for about a.

Deane:

Two and a half or three years.

Deane:

And while I was getting my career going, you know, kind of on the side.

Deane:

But, you know, one of many things that happened is I installed a pro tool

Deane:

system at Steven Spielberg's house.

Deane:

I, and I didn't know, I didn't know it was him, and they just sent me up there

Deane:

in a van with a bunch of gear and they said, yeah, this guy bought this stuff.

Deane:

You need to go hook it up.

Deane:

He's a V I P client.

Deane:

I'm like, okay, cool.

Deane:

And I go in this big gated giant, you know, compound and he answers

Deane:

the door in his U s C ball cap and sweatpants and was like, what?

Deane:

You know?

Deane:

So I spend an afternoon crawling underneath his desk with him

Deane:

sitting there, drinking coffee, watching me, you know, stuff.

Deane:

Just weird things like that.

Deane:

and I just learned how to network with people and how to, you know,

Deane:

stay in touch with people and.

Deane:

Know who they knew and research and do all that stuff that you do, you

Deane:

know, when you're trying to build.

Deane:

so it was a really great opportunity for me and I still to this day, I

Deane:

have clients and relationships that are from that time in my life that

Deane:

now know, 20 years, 20 years ago, you know, that, that I still, I still

Deane:

collaborate with people from that time.

Deane:

And, you know, it was really a great, great time in my life.

Deane:

I hated it at the time cause I didn't want to be there.

Deane:

But in hindsight, it was the greatest move ever.

Deane:

You know, it was just,

Deane:

it was, it was awesome.

Gareth:

I'm sure you get people asking you, you know, what

Gareth:

do I need to do to get here?

Deane:

Hmm.

Gareth:

you have to say, well, you know, decide what you want to do

Gareth:

and then do anything you can around that to point in that direction.

Gareth:

You know, for you,

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

And we.

Gareth:

at working at Guitar Center and

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

And really be, you know, decide what you wanna do, but also be open

Deane:

to what comes your way, you know?

Deane:

And I, for, for me, that was a huge part of it.

Deane:

You know, I wanted to be a professional drummer.

Deane:

That was my goal.

Deane:

But I had a few things to learn first.

Deane:

You know, I needed to learn how to run a business, for instance, how to handle

Deane:

my finances, how to keep myself secure enough so that I could pursue the drumming

Deane:

career without having to take every single gig because I was starving to death.

Deane:

You know?

Deane:

So I had this great job on the side.

Deane:

know, it didn't, it didn't make me rich, but I didn't have to worry

Deane:

as much as I would have had, had I just been like, ah, screw that.

Deane:

I'm just gonna go full tilt.

Deane:

I'm gonna go down to the gloves every night and find out who needs a drummer.

Deane:

You know, if I would've done that.

Deane:

I probably would've had to go back to Oregon to my folks, you know?

Deane:

and, you know, that wouldn't have been a bad thing either.

Deane:

I mean, I, I say that a lot too.

Deane:

When I talk to young musicians.

Deane:

Having a place to go back to the security of that is worth a lot.

Deane:

You know, my parents would've taken me back in a minute, and knowing that

Deane:

I couldn't lose was a huge asset.

Deane:

You know, if I failed in LA the worst that was gonna happen is I have to go

Deane:

back and eat my mom's cooking every night, which isn't a bad thing, you know?

Deane:

And I know a lot of people don't, you know, some people don't have that.

Deane:

So I feel real fortunate that I, did, you know, that my parents

Deane:

were, they were, they were a hundred thousand percent supportive.

Deane:

They, they just never, They never questioned anything.

Deane:

They never looked at me like, man, are you sure this is a good idea?

Deane:

You know, none of that.

Deane:

They were just like, yeah, dude, go try it.

Deane:

Who, who knows?

Deane:

you, you're probably just as good as anyone else is doing it.

Deane:

So, yeah, go for it.

Deane:

Who knows?

Deane:

You know?

Deane:

They were just totally open about it.

Deane:

So there was a lot of things about it that, that really, I

Deane:

think, set me up for success.

Deane:

And I just felt like it, that there, there was nothing to lose by trying, you know?

Deane:

So that was kind of my initial entrance to Los Angeles and

Deane:

that whole scene down there.

Gareth:

So, fast forward then, you obviously find success doing your drumming

Gareth:

as professional drummer and, you move into composing for TV and film

Deane:

Yeah.

Gareth:

at what point, do you think, I'm gonna upticks, I'm gonna move my life over

Gareth:

to the complete other side of the world.

Gareth:

You know, where'd you, how'd you go from being a session musician

Gareth:

and composer in LA to, that's it.

Gareth:

I'm, I'm off, I'm outta here.

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

It was, it was, it was not well thought through.

Deane:

Let me just say that.

Deane:

Uh, you know, it sounds, it sounds great, sounds, uh, you know, brave

Deane:

and, and crazy, but it was, it was really, it was a combination of

Deane:

things, you know, by the time I left LA it was too, it would've been two.

Deane:

Well, I, I, I had my last big tour in 2008.

Deane:

And sort of around that time when I got back off that tour,

Deane:

that was with Britney Spears.

Deane:

I went on a, a South, south American tour with her for about six months.

Deane:

And it was, it was a weird situation.

Deane:

It was like sponsored by a hotel chain, and it was just kind of

Deane:

this strange, but it was fun.

Deane:

But it was, when I came back off of it, LA was kind of gone.

Deane:

It was like no one was really there anymore.

Deane:

It was, it was like, while I was gone, something happened and

Deane:

everybody bailed to Nashville.

Gareth:

In six months?

Deane:

yeah, but probably longer than that.

Deane:

Maybe over the course of eight, you know, eight, let's say 18 months.

Deane:

But I wasn't really paying attention because I was preparing to go on this

Deane:

thing, you know, and I was, I was busy.

Deane:

So when I'm, and I'm, and you know, I'm guilty of, you know, when I'm, when I'm

Deane:

busy, I don't really look up, you know?

Deane:

I get really bad about keeping in touch with people and stuff cuz I'm

Deane:

so focused on this thing, you know?

Deane:

So I wasn't really aware of what was happening.

Deane:

I think I wasn't really paying very good attention but man, when I was

Deane:

gone for six months, or, you know, it was about about seven, seven and

Deane:

a half months, by the time I returned home, the place was a ghost town.

Deane:

At least in my circles.

Deane:

You know, there was probably a lot of stuff happening that I wasn't involved

Deane:

in, but in my circles, everybody had kind of been like, you know, they'd

Deane:

kind of seen the writing on the wall and they, they, they went, they went to

Deane:

Nashville where a lot of recording was still happening and still to this day

Deane:

is really kind of the hub in America for live, for, for actual recording musician.

Deane:

Um, so I came back.

Deane:

And thinking, well, I'll just go right back into session work.

Deane:

You know, this was a great tour.

Deane:

It was a nice diversion for a few months and, you know, made, made

Deane:

some, some good money doing that.

Deane:

And, um, yeah, I'd been out with her once before, so it was kind of the same team

Deane:

and it was familiar and it was easy, not, not easy, but familiar and I kind of knew

Deane:

where things were, you know, it wasn't like a reinventing the wheel type deal.

Deane:

And when I go back, I'll just, sail right back into what I was doing before.

Deane:

Well, that didn't happen because the recording business had literally

Deane:

moved to Nashville while I was gone.

Deane:

and I contemplated going over there.

Deane:

I went and visited my buddy who I spoke about before.

Deane:

You know, my high school friend, uh, Rob Isler.

Deane:

And, and thought about, you know, maybe go hang out with him for a few months

Deane:

and, you know, see what, what I could drum up over there, no pun intended.

Deane:

Um, but, but I just, I don't know.

Deane:

I, I decided instead to take a gig, uh, a touring gig over here in Southeast Asia

Deane:

with a, with sort of a circ dule type production that was happening over here.

Deane:

A friend of mine, uh, was directing it and he asked me if I'd be part of

Deane:

it, and I'd never really spent a ton of time on this side of the world.

Deane:

So I, said, yeah, man, I'll come check it out.

Deane:

You know, I mean, I, I, I don't have anything going on, you know,

Deane:

and, and my lease in my, condo was almost up and it was just kind of

Deane:

like the timing was, was great.

Deane:

So I came over here and I did that production, and that production

Deane:

ended up being a couple of months.

Deane:

It was like three, three and a half months that I was over here.

Deane:

and Verina, my wife, uh, we just celebrated a few days ago, our 12th

Deane:

wedding enver 12 year anniversary.

Deane:

Um, thanks.

Deane:

she was working for that company that was doing this production as a PR consultant.

Deane:

And, um, so I met her, you know, I got to hang out with her for a few months and,

Deane:

you know, that was, that was awesome.

Deane:

then the thing finished and I went back to LA and when I got back to LA my dad, who,

Deane:

my parents got divorced when I was a kid.

Deane:

So my dad, wherever I would move to, my dad would move

Deane:

there, you know, to be around

Gareth:

Oh, that's so

Gareth:

sweet.

Deane:

uh, yeah, it was great.

Deane:

I mean, he, once and once, especially, once he retired, he really, you know, he

Deane:

really followed me around quite a bit.

Deane:

And so he lived just a few blocks from me in Los Angeles, and he kind of took care

Deane:

of my place while I was gone and stuff.

Deane:

And when I got home, he goes, dude, he, I, I kept telling him about her, you know?

Deane:

And I was like, man, I, I don't know how I'm gonna make it work, but I

Deane:

probably need to move to Nashville, you know, so I can keep working.

Deane:

But she's there and I, I don't know, man.

Deane:

He goes, dude, he goes, why don't you just sell everything and move over?

Deane:

There?

Deane:

He goes, you can do what you do from anywhere.

Deane:

You know, it's to the point.

Deane:

Now, if, if somebody said to you, Hey, next week, can you record this record

Deane:

here, you know, in, the village in New York, you could tell 'em yes and you

Deane:

could just take the deposit and spend it on airfare and fly over there and do it.

Deane:

You know, he goes, so, so you take a thousand dollars bath, who cares?

Deane:

You know, you're making, you're making, you're making good money.

Deane:

If it's a six or $7,000 gig, what's a thousand bucks for a plane ticket?

Deane:

You know, you can, you can still do the, the stuff you wanna do, and you

Deane:

can live where you want and there's no pressure and you don't have to be here,

Deane:

and you don't have to pay, pay the, the crazy prizes of living in LA and

Deane:

maintaining your condo and all this stuff.

Deane:

And, you know, and I started thinking about it and thinking about

Deane:

how wise that was, and I thought, yeah, maybe, maybe he's right.

Deane:

You know?

Deane:

So I put all my stuff in storage and I thought, okay, I'll try it.

Deane:

I'll, I'll give it like a trial time, you know, maybe three

Deane:

months or four months, whatever.

Deane:

Put everything in storage.

Deane:

Got rid of my condo, sold my car, you know, put all my drums at, at

Deane:

the Cartage place, in la and I went to Jakarta and tracked her down and,

Gareth:

Was she surprised to see you?

Gareth:

Was she

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

She didn't, she didn't think, well, we had talked, we had talked over Skype quite

Deane:

a bit, you know, obviously I'd been gone for like a year though, since I saw her.

Deane:

And, uh, we'd had several, you know, qui Skype conversations and, she didn't think

Deane:

I was actually going to do it, you know, she just thought it was all talk cause cuz

Deane:

a lot of people over here say that, you know, I, oh my gosh, I love it over there.

Deane:

It's amazing.

Deane:

You know, I found myself and eat, pray, love and all that shit.

Deane:

So, so, but when I actually showed up and made good on it, she was shocked,

Deane:

you know, she was really shocked And you know, that introduced a whole bunch

Deane:

of other things cuz their family is, is Muslim and like I'm not, and you know,

Deane:

all this other stuff came into play and, you know, so we navigated through that

Deane:

as best we knew how and we just started dating and just taking it really slow.

Deane:

And I ended up being over here for another four or five months and then

Deane:

I had to leave because my visa was up.

Deane:

And so I just packed my backpack full of stuff and decided to

Deane:

just kind of backpack around Asia and see this part of the world.

Deane:

You know, I didn't have any gigs back home.

Deane:

There was nothing in LA to go back to except for my dad.

Deane:

and he had come over here once already to hang out for a few weeks, you

Deane:

know, and see what it was real, what was, what the big deal was, you know.

Deane:

And so I took off and ended up being gone for about eight months.

Deane:

And I went to Japan in Sri Lanka and, um, I, I went to Tibet.

Deane:

I snuck into to Tibet in the back of a water truck with a bunch of other people.

Deane:

Um, and I went to Hong Kong for the first time.

Deane:

I'd never been there in Singapore and Taiwan and Vietnam and a

Deane:

whole bunch of places over here.

Deane:

and I recorded a lot of the stuff that I was doing with street musicians and stuff.

Deane:

I would just roll up and play with people and, you know, and have fun.

Deane:

And at one point I ended up back in Japan because part of my airline,

Deane:

uh, like I got this ticket called Under Round the World Ticket.

Deane:

And it was like you could pay it, like, you know, a pretty, pretty hefty fee, but

Deane:

you had like 10 or 12 different stops.

Deane:

You could, you know, use it over the course of six months or whatever.

Deane:

So I did that.

Deane:

And it began and ended in Tokyo.

Deane:

So I had to go to Tokyo to, you know, get my own way to Tokyo and then start my trip

Deane:

from there, kind of, and then it, it was just, you know, full circle back to Tokyo.

Deane:

So I wound up back in Tokyo for another month and a half, two months, and I just

Deane:

got a hotel room and I just mixed all of those performances that I had encountered

Deane:

into an album, into a world music album.

Gareth:

Wow.

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

And I called it Eastern Chronicle, and I played it for a couple of people,

Deane:

and a bunch of people told me, man, you should, you should send this to some

Deane:

labels and, you know, see this, this is something that people would go for.

Deane:

And I'm like, really?

Deane:

I don't know.

Deane:

It was all instrumental.

Deane:

And the, the stuff that wasn't instrumental was in languages that

Deane:

nobody including me really understood.

Deane:

But it was sort of like a deep forest, kind of, uh, you know, um, world

Deane:

music, Peter Gabriel kind of thing.

Deane:

And I played a ton of instruments that I didn't really know how to play.

Deane:

Probably played 'em all wrong.

Deane:

It was, it was just, it was this experimentation time of, you know,

Deane:

just this, this time of experimenting with things and figuring out how

Deane:

things worked and cool sounds that I'd never heard before.

Deane:

And just, just, just a, a really fun, amazing time in my life that

Deane:

I'll never be able to repeat.

Deane:

It was just, it was just a phenomenal time.

Deane:

And so anyway, I ended up with 12 tracks and organized him into an album.

Deane:

And then I had a friend at DECA in the uk and he turned me on to some

Deane:

people at Warner Brothers that, that he thought might be interested in it.

Deane:

And so I got a publishing deal, a limited publishing deal with Warner

Deane:

Brothers, which they, the, in, in, as part of the part of the deal.

Deane:

They agreed to help me promote the album.

Deane:

I could release it independently through They had an independent program at the

Deane:

time and they, they might still, and so I released it through them and it didn't

Deane:

really do anything, but it was just a fun thing to do, you know, I didn't tour

Deane:

it or anything, or play live or, you know, you really couldn't because all

Gareth:

I was gonna say, how do you replicate

Deane:

yeah, it would've, would, wouldn't have been possible really, I don't think.

Deane:

But, but um, anyway, I did that.

Deane:

And then about six months later I did the exact same thing in South Africa.

Deane:

I went over there and lived there for about four or five months

Deane:

and just did the same thing.

Deane:

I ping ponged back and forth between.

Deane:

A couple of places over there, Cape Town and Johannesburg, and, this time I

Deane:

kind of researched it out ahead of time.

Deane:

I, I met people on Twitter at the time.

Deane:

I was really involved on Twitter and I would link up with people

Deane:

and kind of set things up.

Deane:

I met a choir director over there at a church.

Deane:

It was a very dear friend now.

Deane:

And, and I stayed at Hi his house with him and his wife and their two kids, uh,

Deane:

for the majority of the time I was there.

Deane:

And he really helped me a lot.

Deane:

He introduced me to a lot of musicians.

Deane:

So that was my second solo record qua.

Deane:

that was fun too.

Deane:

It was just a completely different flavor and, you know, so that sort of

Deane:

got me in the studio again, except in a different role, you know, not, not,

Deane:

I mean, I played drums on everything, But I also engineered it and recorded it

Deane:

and learned a lot about Mike placement.

Deane:

And, you know, learned.

Deane:

I, I, I had no idea really, cuz my whole career people had engineered for me.

Deane:

You know, I'd go to a session and there was already engineers and they'd have

Deane:

everything set up and they, they knew how they wanted the drums to sound,

Deane:

but this time it was me making the decisions, you know, and I, I had to

Deane:

really learn quickly, you know, what polar patterns were and, you know, how

Deane:

to eq things properly and, and what compression was and all this stuff.

Deane:

You know, stuff that I'd, I'd really listened to engineers talk about over

Deane:

the course of my time in studios, but never really had my hands on it myself,

Deane:

so it was sort of, those two albums were sort of a crash course between 2012

Deane:

with Eastern Chronicle in 2015 with Qua.

Deane:

That was sort of like a three year, Kind of a, a crash course masterclass and how

Deane:

to record, you know, properly without board gear and, and plugins as well.

Deane:

You know, I just really had never, really dived deep into that stuff.

Deane:

You know, I knew enough to be dangerous.

Deane:

I knew enough to score a film, didn't, I didn't really, you know, scoring,

Deane:

scoring a film with orchestra is vastly different than actually mixing band a,

Deane:

a full band toge, you know, a a rock band or a pop band together, which

Deane:

is essentially what this stuff was.

Deane:

You know, it just was foreign language pop.

Deane:

I'd never done that before.

Deane:

So I learned that, and that really kind of got me interested in production.

Deane:

and really since then, that's kind of what I've been doing.

Deane:

I've been producing, producing for other people, both over in the States

Deane:

and then the uk and here now too.

Deane:

and then recently with, with Stone Cold, you know, we just put out an EP and we've

Deane:

got another one coming out next month.

Deane:

And I engineered and produced all of that in the room, you know?

Deane:

and that's really what I, it's it's, it's been so much fun, man, the last

Deane:

few years of, of learning how to do that and, and trying to do it well.

Deane:

You know, I'm, I still have a long way to go.

Deane:

I mean, I, I have so many things I wanna learn, but, you know,

Deane:

it's just the, the process.

Deane:

When you say journey, that's exactly what it is.

Deane:

It's just been a long journey of learning, you

Gareth:

yeah, yeah.

Gareth:

Well, those drums on that track sound sweet.

Gareth:

They, they sound really good.

Gareth:

so yeah, best of luck.

Gareth:

Uh, with that we seem to have come full circle to stone cold killers again,

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

Well,

Gareth:

great.

Gareth:

Which is great.

Gareth:

But, um, that's really, really fascinating stuff.

Gareth:

I ask all of my guests to leave an item and a piece of advice in

Gareth:

the music room for others to find.

Gareth:

I wouldn't even.

Gareth:

Begin to be able to guess what you would leave,

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

It's hard to, it's hard to narrow it down to one, isn't it?

Deane:

I, I guess, you know what?

Deane:

I've learned a lot of lessons.

Deane:

I think, I think more about just how to be a, a better human than

Deane:

anything musical I could say.

Deane:

I mean, you're, you're gonna.

Deane:

Every, everybody's gonna have the path they have musically, because we

Deane:

all come from different places, and it's so subjective and, you know,

Deane:

we all, we all grew up listening to different things, and there's

Deane:

really no right way to do anything.

Deane:

And sometimes the wrong way to most people is the best sounding way, you

Deane:

know, and, and your ears will determine whether or not you ought to do it that

Deane:

way, you know, even if it's wrong.

Deane:

but I think there's a right way to be a human and there's a wrong

Deane:

way to be a human, you know?

Deane:

And especially in this business,

Deane:

First of all, You got about 60 years before, you gotta really start worrying

Deane:

about, man, I'm running out of time.

Deane:

I mean, look at John Williams.

Deane:

You know, he's, he's announced that he's gonna do one more score, you know, he's

Deane:

gonna do the, in Indiana Jones thing.

Deane:

And then, and then that's it.

Deane:

You know, what is he 90, you know,

Deane:

like,

Gareth:

yeah, easily.

Deane:

I mean, the guy, I mean obviously that's an extreme example, but people

Deane:

who are just starting out, you know, coming outta school or, or whatever,

Deane:

you're 20 years old, 25, 30, even 35 or 40 years old, you know, you got

Deane:

time, you got a lot of time to learn and a lot of time to meet people.

Deane:

And there's a lot of people out there who are at the same level that you're at,

Deane:

at the same age you're at, and they're not gonna have their shot until they're

Deane:

50 or 45, or 40 or 35 or whatever.

Deane:

And I think it's easy to get really worried and, and full of anxiety

Deane:

about, oh, it's, I'm running out of time, you know, I'm 26 and I

Deane:

still don't have anything going.

Deane:

Or I'm 30 or 35 and I still don't, I still have not scored a big film or whatever.

Deane:

I mean, I know, I know people in their sixties who've just done indies their

Deane:

whole career and they have a nice house and a great family and a couple of cars

Deane:

and vacations, you know, every winter.

Deane:

And I mean, they do, well, you know, and they're not Han Zimmer, but they can

Deane:

call themselves a professional composer, you know, they can call themselves a

Deane:

professional musician because they are, they're earning a living, making music.

Gareth:

Yeah.

Gareth:

Yeah.

Deane:

And there's a lot between the top of that and the bottom of that.

Deane:

You know, there's a lot of time, there's a lot of margin financially,

Deane:

there's a lot of different situations.

Deane:

There's a lot of geography.

Deane:

You know, my, in my case, you know, you can move, you don't like what's happening.

Deane:

Move, move to where there's work, you know, or create your own work, But

Deane:

I guess the point is, don't feel bad about what hasn't happened, you

Deane:

know, or what society or the industry has told you should have happened

Deane:

by now, because it's not true.

Deane:

Everybody's got a different path.

Deane:

You know, my path has obviously been a, a crazy rollercoaster of weirdness.

Deane:

I'm sure yours have too.

Deane:

You know, when you look back on what you've done and you're just like,

Deane:

man, I don't even, I don't even know how I got here, but here I am, you

Deane:

gotta enjoy the ride, man, because it's, that's where the fun is.

Deane:

That's where it's at.

Deane:

You're never gonna get to where you're going.

Deane:

I've accomplished a lot.

Deane:

I've accomplished pretty much everything I set out to do,

Deane:

but I'm still not satisfied.

Deane:

You know, I wanna do other things and I mean, look, I'm in, I'm 15

Deane:

years old again in a band, you know,

Gareth:

Yeah.

Deane:

so

Gareth:

I,

Deane:

would be, I,

Deane:

guess if, if that, if that makes any sense.

Deane:

I guess that would be what I would say,

Gareth:

yeah, I love that.

Gareth:

Don't feel bad for what hasn't happened I love that.

Gareth:

Yeah.

Gareth:

So, there was an item and a piece of advice that was advice.

Gareth:

So is there a something, a specific physical thing that you think that you

Gareth:

could leave for others to find, which you might help them something or do

Gareth:

something or, um, it could be anything.

Gareth:

I mean, we've had so many items.

Deane:

A thing like a physical object.

Deane:

All right.

Deane:

yes.

Deane:

Okay.

Deane:

So this is gonna be, this isn't gonna appeal to, mostly to drummers,

Gareth:

Excellent, excellent.

Deane:

The degenerates of your listening base.

Deane:

there's a thing called a, attention watch.

Deane:

probably the most popular version of it is made by toma, the drum company,

Deane:

which I was a TOMA artist for a number of years, and I love that company.

Deane:

But they came up with a, they actually have a rhythm watch, which is a metronome.

Deane:

And then they also came out with a thing called detention watch.

Deane:

And it's basically a, I don't have one here in my office, but it's a little

Deane:

dial that has a little ball, kind of like a, a cam ball on the bottom of it

Deane:

that kind of moves around and it's on a spring and you set it on a drum head

Deane:

while you're tuning it and it ba and you kind of move it around the drum head.

Deane:

And it measures the tautness of the area of the drumhead that it's

Deane:

sitting on so that you can get even tension all the way around the drums.

Deane:

And probably as a drummer, when I do clinics and stuff, the biggest

Deane:

question I get from drummers is how do you learn how to tune drums?

Deane:

a lot of ways to learn how to tune drums, but that is probably the best

Deane:

and fastest way to learn how to do it, is to use a a Tom Attention watch.

Deane:

And they're like, they're like 20 bucks, you know, American, uh, U

Deane:

s D, they're not that expensive.

Deane:

I have two of my, have one in my drum bag and I have one just floating

Deane:

around my studio usually, but.

Deane:

It's just the greatest little device you can, you can learn how to quickly, cuz cuz

Deane:

you, you know, you just basically dial it to the same spot on every point of the,

Deane:

you know, and on, on every lug, right?

Deane:

Every parallel to every lug.

Deane:

You just make sure that whatever number you're on, if it's five or 15, that

Deane:

you're five or 15 all the way around.

Deane:

And it's just a great way to learn how to tune drums if that's a mysterious,

Deane:

you know, thing to you, which it was for me for a long, long time.

Deane:

Yeah.

Deane:

So that would be what I would leave for everybody is a tension watch.

Gareth:

There you go.

Gareth:

That's going in.

Gareth:

And, uh, your advice.

Gareth:

Of course.

Gareth:

Dean Ogden, it's been a joy chatting with you.

Deane:

been great man.

Gareth:

thank you for joining me in the music room.

Deane:

you for having me, man.

Deane:

I really appreciate it.

Gareth:

Thanks for listening to the Music Room podcast today.

Gareth:

If you'd like to know more about the show or the community that surrounds

Gareth:

it, head to music room.community.

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