Andy Doerschuk

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DRUMS ACROSS THE DECADES: REPRINTED FROM MUSIC CONNECTION MAGAZINE, 04/01: What makes the editor of a well-respected music magazine spend his weekends crammed into a van with a blues band fronted by a guitarist young enough to be his son? For Andy Doerschuk, it is his belief in the power of music to transcend generations.Doerschuk, 45, the editor of DRUM! Magazine, is the drummer for 19-year-old Corby Yates, a rising blues artist. At the end of a long week of running a magazine, Doerschuk, who is based in the Bay Area, runs out the door to join the boys in the van, traversing a tour route that now extends from Southern California to Oregon."These are some of the most fun gigs I've done in a long time," shares Doerschuk. "At last 50 percent of the shows are totally sold-out and [Yates"] audiences are rabid, kind of like the Grateful Dead crowds, because they follow him around from gig to gig. It's been 20 years since I've done gigs that have been this exciting. He's revitalized this experience for me."Earlier in his career, Doerschuk racked up serious road and studio credits with Rick Derringer, Steppenwolf, Debbie Davies, Billy Vera and the Beaters, Leslie West, Pat Travers, Naughty Sweeties, the Pop, and Kevin Russell. Still, he had to diversify in order to make ends met. "Most working drummers must develop more than one profit center to stay afloat," confides Doerschuk. "That typically means they teach or work in a drum shop." But his editorial talents served him well as the founding editor of Bass Player and Drums & Drumming Magazines (both GPI [Guitar Player] Publications), the editor of The Bass Book, and the author of Drum Hardware, Maintenance & Setup. "When I first started working at GPI, I didn't stop playing," Doerschuk clarifies. "I stopped trying to make it as a professional player. The gigs I was doing were more local and low-profile."Drums & Drumming was funded by a well-heeled publisher. Not so for Doerschuk's next venture, DRUM!, which he describes euphemistically as "soft funded." He explains. "At that time, DRUM! was more than a full-time job. For three years I had to earn my living playing gigs to fund my hobby of being a full-time editor. Out of necessity I started playing 15-20 gigs a month around the area with bands. It was the easiest and most lucrative way for me to pay the bills while I got my magazine off the ground. When I could afford to, I happily stopped playing. When DRUM! started to be more of a job, it was a happy day in my life. But the grass is always greener; when I stopped playing I was happy not to play, but I got that itch again."Two years ago, Doerschuk played with the Russell Brothers at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma, CA. On the bill was Corby Yates. "It was like watching The Exorcist," chuckles Doerschuk. "The kid was so into the music it was just astounding to watch. Corby is 19 now – he looks like he's 15 – and when you see him on stage you're struck by the incongruity of how he looks and the notes coming out of his amplifier."Current technology has enabled Doerschuk to maintain dual careers. Though his two interests complement each other, he acknowledges that they involve vastly different skills and demands. As a journalist, he has to handle emails and phone calls, transcribe interviews, write and edit copy, work ..s, and print pages of the magazine for proofing.As a drummer he has to travel, rehearse and record music. Fortunately, he is able to accomplish it all [at once] with a laptop computer, portable printer, and cell phone, and he has retrofitted a mini computer desk to fit in the band's van. Powered by these tools, he travels up and down the West Coast doing business for DRUM! Magazine on his way to the next gig.There is also another benefit: As the editor of a trade magazine he is involved, hand-on, with what he write about. "My revived drumming career enhances my ability to be an effective editor who understands the challenges and rewards of a professional drumming gig," he says. "I've also been able to employ organizations skills acquired from my work as a journalist to become a more effective musician. I've talked to the greatest drummers in the world for the past 13 years and I've learned a lot from the conversations I've had, particularly in the technical areas: tuning drums, recording, how you conduct yourself on the road. I've been able to use things from the drummers I've interviewed and apply them to my own drumming."Meanwhile, Doerschuk is creatively revitalized by the energy of working with a new artist. He enthuses, "It's like a new magazine or company. Being on the ground floor of any enterprise is exciting [whether it be] in the music business or shoe business, taking something from an idea to a full-blown enterprise."Still, Doerschuk is realistic enough to realize that at some point something may have to give. "I'll keep playing with Corby as long as I can," he stresses. "But there'll be a point where his manager will say, 'I've booked three months in Europe,' and there will come a point where I will have to back off or find a sub for the tour. Even though I've been able to work on the magazine on the road, the truth is, the most I'm out of the office is two or three days, not two or three weeks. I'm not sure I can sustain that. But my hope is the next CD we will record will push him to the next level. And that's what I wanted to do for him."Until that time, though, on any given weekend you can find Andy Doerschuk doing what he's done for over two decades: traveling the highway to set up his kit and count off the tunes that define the heartbeat of the music he loves. In sharing his experience and commitment with a rising artist he is sustaining the legacy of a classic American music form."It's never to late to jump back into playing music," he testifies. – Dan Kimpel

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