T. DiGGiTy

"I...just...GOTTA have more cowbell!"
Bits and pieces:
I am a pretty busy guy. . . . . .
WORDS I RARELY SAY: "I'm bored!"
I play drums in lots of projects, and hope I always will. I am pretty pumped about "Strange Beauty," my latest disc with Eastave, and we are already working on the next one. Letters to the Dead is my most recent undertaking, and it is about as killer as any project I've ever been in. Stay tuned for Zero Hour Effect - some pretty heavy/aggressive music I am putting together with my bro's that were in The Thirteenth Story with me. A "Rocky Horror" CD with the Pink Bombers is currently in production, and it is going to be awesome!MoFryky's project is turning out killer, too!!!
Here's a clip of me drumming in my basement studio on a boring September Saturday in '08:
Here's a video of me on drums with Letters To The Dead performing the song "1,000 Miles Wide" on March 21, 2009:
A video of me on drums with Eastave for the premiere of the City Music television series..September, 2008:
Memorable band moments through the years:
Sharing a plane from LA with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and having their drummer, Chad Smith (one of my main musical influences), play with my baby while we talked drums. Dude is cool as hell!!!
Waking up in our van to find out that G stumbled into and slept in a different, WRONG van after partying too hard with SugarBuzz in Toledo. We couldn't find him and then heard snoring from another van in the neighborhood. We had to get him up and get the hell out of there before someone found out.
Playing basketball with my band in a park all day because there was nothing else to do on the road between shows on Friday and Saturday nights. . .then getting not one, but TWO shoes stuck between the rim and the backboard trying to un-wedge a stuck ball.
Passing out mid-song in 1999 during "War Pigs," unplugging the bass amp in the process, only to wake up to chants of "Tommy. . .Tommy. . .Tommy," which compelled me to resurrect and resume the song. All caught on tape. Best line: (amidst crashing/thumping noises and the band grinding to a halt) "Uh, sorry everybody, but our drummer just passed out."
Seeing my bass player almost drown. . .he went in the hotel hot tub at 2:30 a.m. when all were sleeping. At 6:00 a.m., we found him snoring in a hot tub that was as still as glass, with water about .25" from his nose. His response when we woke him. . ."Could you hit the bubbles for me?"
Watching my singer for one of my heavy bands kick a sound guy squarely in the ass after the guy shut us down for being too rough on his PA equipment
Almost coming to fisticuffs with one of my best friends and musical brothers when he uncharacteristically blurted the line: "It's rock n' roll, bitch. Want some?"
Playing in front of 4500 fellow Erie-ites on the bay in front of a beautiful waterfront sunset.
Watching a dude drunk-fall about 30 feet from a loft at a barn party/gig that we played in the middle of nowhere in Central PA, to emerge unscathed. Wish the same could have been said for Dev's guitar, as it broke part of the fall
Playing with Yolk and Schleigho back in the day when Erie was one of their regular stops. We opened a lot of shows for them, hung out, and jammed.
Chris Mathers to bassist: "A, F, D!"
Any moment with one of the funniest, smartest, and baddest bassists ever, my friend, Gerald Cooper. RIP -I love you, brother.
The time when Mike, one of my former bass players, introduced himself to a band we were playing with out of town as "Rudy," and then explained that this was his first gig since he got out of jail. It was cool to watch this guy's reaction to Mike's totally made-up story. The other guy shortly thereafter went to the restroom to change into his "gig outfit," which consisted of a tracksuit made of shiny material. Shoulda been made of cheese.
Watching Stretch (at least that is what we called him), a guy from a pretty bad band who opened for us in Kent, throw a free CD at the crowd only to watch it sit there, untouched, on the floor for several minutes before our sound guy mercifully snagged it and thanked the band.
Passing out while playing the bongos at a campfire 7 years ago, without stopping playing or even losing time. I was even snoring, but I didn't miss a beat. If I had a superpower, that would be it: Being able to drum even while mostly unconscious.
Deafening my bass player with my China cymbal at Broadway Joe's. Still sorry about that, Hooks!
I built a "road case" for all of my drums. I have never seen a bigger turd in my entire life. Cuts were crooked. Hinges would bind. Latches didn't line up. Loaded, it weighed about 200 pounds. So I put little, teeny-tiny wheels on it that were about 1.5" diameter. Lasted one whole gig. The wheels got caught in the smallest of cracks in the pavement, so we had to lift it. This then caused the handles to pull the sides right off of the case. End results: Drums crashing to sidewalk. 3 bandmates swearing at me as soon as they could regain their breath from laughing so hard. Guitarist having to play a gig with spraypainted-black plywood splinters embedded in pretty much the entire length of the inside of his arm. A promise never to try to build a drum case again. Ever.
Catching the trailer brakes on fire on our way to Akron.
Catching the beautiful brown shag carpet on fire in Van No. 1.
Playing a show with Train, and having the guys compliment our heavy-ass version of Men At Work's "Down Under."
Almost dying while sliding sideways down a muddy hill with a loaded trailer in tow for a gig at a rainy festival in the middle of nowhere that had about 30 people in the audience (and about 20 teeth amongst those 30 people). Just when we thought it was a crappy gig, the generator powering the lights and PA blew out. Then we KNEW it was a crappy gig.
No band memory list is complete without mentioning all of the angry calls from neighbors or visits from the police because of the noise.
Blinding everyone in the house with our massive laser show. Ok. . .not really. Our guitarist's mom just overreacted when she walked into the basement at practice and saw our one, teeny-tiny laser and thought we were all going to blind ourselves.
Recording Dev's cats and playing them backward
Dr. Zepper
Stopping, mid-song, and hearing our fans sing the choruses to our songs back to us, back in the heyday of OVM. Also watching these same fans almost break the floor at a show because they were all jumping in unison during one of our tunes. You could actually see the floor dip in the middle. A lot.
The list could (and will) go on. And on. And on...