Think Like the Bandleader: Dave Hooper on a Session Drummer’s Career (Episode 21)

Everything you do is an audition.

Dave Hooper is an LA session and touring drummer, an old friend of Nomad's and, as Nomad tells it, the guy who is always prepared. The two of them worked together on the Donny Osmond gig. In this two-part conversation from Episode 21 of The Career Musician, recorded at Nomad's Place in LA, they cover how a session drummer thinks about the bandleader, the money, the travel and the song. They also dig into Dave's new site, Possible Chops.

If you want to know how a session drummer career actually works once the phone starts ringing, this is a long hang with a lot of answers.

A head start, and then his own name

Dave's music career started early and a little unusually. His father wrote jingles in Chicago, including the Jolly Green Giant commercials, and Dave got his first gig as the voice of the little green sprout. He is honest about why: he was the composer's son. The money went into savings and paid his way through college.

When his voice changed, he moved to drums, jamming with his dad on piano and learning to hear patterns come back around. By high school he was playing on national jingles. Then came two years at North Texas State, where friends asked why he was even there, since he already had a career. He wanted to learn more.

Back in LA, he tried to do every gig better than the regular guy. But he wanted something of his own. The moment came on a big show with Lee Ritenour, who had never heard of his dad. After years of being introduced as his father's son, Dave introduced his father to Lee, and Lee said, "Oh, you're Dave Hooper's dad." He knew then he was being hired for his playing.

Nomad put it in one line in his voiceover: Luck = preparation + opportunity. Dave had the opportunity handed to him early. The preparation was all his.

Put yourself in the bandleader's shoes

This is Dave's biggest piece of advice for sidemen, and he says it is an old one.

"The biggest favor you can do yourself is to put yourself in the bandleader's shoes as best you can."

Dave Hooper, Pt. 1, 13:25

The leader's name is on the marquee. They have to bring a band, put on a show and say something on the mic that isn't embarrassing. If the players are late, didn't listen to the material or can't fake their way through it, the leader feels it. And when the next gig comes up and they are deciding who to call, they remember. Everything you do is an audition. There are a lot of great players in LA, Dave says. You also have to hang, have the right attitude and leave your ego at the door.

Part of thinking like a pro is asking like one. A call that says "Friday, pays 100 bucks" is a verbal contract with a lot of details missing. Dave has been surprised by an unpaid rehearsal that ate a family weekend and a travel gig where he had to share a room. Figure out which details matter to you and ask: pay, gear, load in, parking, food. Nomad added downbeat, per diem, flight info and payroll paperwork ready in advance. If you don't ask, you don't sound like you've done this before.

Be the guy with one bag

On fly dates, Dave's goal is to be the low maintenance guy: stick bag, iPad for charts and his backing track gear in a backpack and a small carry-on. He plays whatever backline kit is there.

Nomad came to the same place the hard way. He once packed all his gear, it didn't show up, and he played a borrowed guitar with one cable into the amp. The band loved it. Dave's point: add playing on weird gear to your list of styles to learn. If you can make anything work and never hit the leader with extra baggage fees, that is something you can market. Low maintenance / no drama.

Know your number, and know when to walk

The money talk was blunt. Dave once asked a jazz gig promoter if he was making the same money he made there twenty years earlier. The answer was yes. Nomad laid out the three strikes: the cost of living has gone up, gig pay has stayed flat or gone down, and the talent pool keeps growing. Dave's answer is not to quit. Remember why you picked up the instrument, be excellent at every part of the job, not only the playing, and manage your expectations.

He also passed on a story from Will Ferrell, whose musician dad told him the business is at least 50% luck. Dave calls that emotional freedom: missing a gig doesn't mean you're not good enough.

Then there is the leader who keeps taking. Dave had one who constantly imposed on the band, wasn't paying well and kept asking for discounts. He told the leader directly what he would need going forward, then put it in an email so there was a paper trail. That was his last gig for that leader, and he doesn't miss it.

"You can't negotiate unless you're willing to walk."

Dave Hooper, Pt. 2, 2:05

Nomad told his own version. He was music director on a New York residency for a well-known celebrity, and after the third or fourth time asking for the band's per diem, he resigned by email, recommending another player for the MD chair on his way out. Dave stood with him and left too. Their takeaway: once you take a gig, own it and don't complain your way through it. If the terms aren't right, address it, put it in writing and be ready to go.

Find your victory in the right part

In the studio, Dave says, less is usually more. He talks about burying the click: locking in so tightly that nobody can hear the metronome under your kick, snare and hi-hat.

His best session story is an AT&T commercial with Herbie Hancock and trumpeter Wallace Roney. The first take went too far outside. Herbie said it was his fault, kept his own playing inside on the next take, and the whole band changed. Every instrument influences every other one.

"I'd like to think that my victory is playing appropriately, not playing what I hear... find victory in playing the right thing, not showing off what you can do."

Dave Hooper, Pt. 2, 24:18

Keep practicing the hard stuff, Dave says, because it makes the simple gig flow. The art is in the restraint. Take the producer's direction without an attitude. It's not your song. Reliability beats virtuosity.

Diversify, then find your niche

Dave didn't only play drums. On tour, with no way to practice on the bus, he taught himself web work. That led to a job at Microsoft, and he has also done freelance work for Facebook. The good money taught him that you have the opinions you can afford to have. He also worked as artist relations manager for Behringer. He learned that music companies are businesses first, and endorsements go to players who are in front of people all the time.

Possible Chops is his niche. Online lessons were long while attention spans got shorter. Dave and his childhood friend, drummer Gary Novak, talked about how players really pick up ideas: in the room, asking another drummer to show them that lick. So the site has drummers play two bars of groove and then the chop, slowed to half speed and transcribed with stickings. Dave thinks of it as vocabulary. Music is a language, and these are words you can use to tell your own story.

Nomad's view: every market is saturated, so go deep into a niche. Make Music Your Business.

The takeaway

Think like the bandleader. Ask the details before you say yes. Travel light, play the song, and know your number well enough to walk away from a gig that isn't right. Then build income outside the gig too, because just being a great player isn't going to do it. If you want the full system for landing work, start with the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

Watch part 1 and part 2 on YouTube or find every episode on the TCM Podcast page.