Welcome back to another blog entry for Drummers I Love! This one is a massive highlight for me, as this drummer was responsible for my initial endeavor towards becoming a more technical drummer. While I was in college, I spent a lot of time dissecting some of his drum parts to understand both his writing process and his ideas for fills. This amazing drummer is none other than….
Matt Garstka – Drummer for Animals as Leaders
Taken from https://theukdrumshow.com/matt-garstka-impact/
The pure talent and capability of this man is incredible. I never use the word talent lightly, however; I use it to describe the many years and hours of practice and dedication to one’s craft. I once read that during his education at Berklee College of Music, Garstka was practicing roughly eight hours a day to perfect his abilities the best he could and get where he is today. After everything I have heard and witnessed from him, this does not surprise me one bit. I have seen him do things that many drummers twice his age are not capable of.
Above all of his amazing attributes, I would have to argue that his strongest ability lies in his sense of time. No matter what time signature(s) or tempo(s) Garstka is playing in, he is able to manipulate it in a way that makes the music even more complex than it already is without missing a beat. Without a doubt, he is one of those drummers that has you asking, “um… where is beat one [of the time signature]?” With this being said, I would highly suggest checking out Garstka’s videos on Mastering Time, available on his website. It is a three part course that breaks down how Garstka perceives time whilst playing and what he does to manipulate it. I think a decent example of this can be seen in his playthrough of “Inner Assassins” by Animals as Leaders. I have a hard time even understanding what is happening starting at 3:43 in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUMYJF-_gm0
Asides from his unwavering sense of time, he really is the full package. Blinding fast chops, well-refined rudiments, proficiency in various unrelated genres, natural feel and groove, precise dynamics, metronomic accuracy, and much more. I have seen Garstka claim that his weak point on drums would be double bass, but I strongly believe he could still dance circles around several other drummers in the metal genre, at least for coordinated grooves. It is also obvious that Garstka has spent much of his time not just practicing, but also listening to and dissecting many great drummers from several different genres that have come before him. Understanding what makes your predecessors great is key to becoming great yourself.
To elaborate on a point made above, I really respect Garstka’s ability to play multiple different genres at a high level. That takes an incredible amount of practice and discipline to do properly. Being able to do this will definitely increase one’s ability to be hired for multiple gigs, as well as open up new innovations to be used across genres. For example, playing a Latin groove in metal can sound incredibly interesting when done appropriately. Below is a video of Garstka playing drums in the Afro Cuban style, which is in my experience one of the most difficult styles to pick up. Keep in mind that Garstka was only 24 when this video was uploaded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqmoloHHsvQ
Although Animals as Leader’s most recent album “The Madness of Many” is an incredibly well-written and interesting album, I was totally captivated by the release of the previous album “The Joy of Motion,” which was Garksta’s first album with the band. I found the general flow of the album to be more melodic with more focus on groove than anything, but still technical in its own regard. This was the first time I had really heard very technical playing that also had amazing groove to it, and I was immediately captivated. During my time in college, I spent a lot of time dissecting the grooves and patterns, attempting to learn every song that I could on the album. I got most of it down, but at the time some parts were beyond me. The ability to play technical grooves is absolutely the most intriguing facet of metal drumming for me, and Garstka is able to do so with utter perfection.
To sum things up, I believe Garstka is without a doubt one of the best all around drummers of our generation. He is capable of just about any style at a high level, and can manipulate time at will with ease. His dedication to his craft should be an inspiration to not even all drummers, but all musicians out there. I will end this off by leaving you all with one of my favourite Garstka performances: a live rendition of “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliot played at Meinl Drum Festival 2015. Thank you all for reading, and enjoy!
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