The Mad Drummer

For many years I’ve been the official photographer for the Gallia County Junior Fair. A couple of years ago one of the fairboard members told me that Rick K and the Allnighters were playing that night. He asked me to get photographs of them playing and to be sure to watch the drummer.  

When I was young, I was a drummer and a member of a country band, a gospel band, and for a short time a rock band. We had a lot of fun, but after a while my interests took me down a different path. My youngest daughter Lani has been interested in drums for several years and a few years ago we bought her a drum kit for Christmas.

I met the band backstage before the performance and they were all very friendly and we chatted for quite a while. When they began playing I was pleasantly surprised. They played a collection of hits that began in the 50s and took us to current hits. They did a good job.

The drummer, Steve Moore, was the highlight of the band. He was a wild man on the drums. He would drum with one hand, twirl the stick in the other hand, and throw the sticks up in the air and never miss a beat. At one point, the band leader took a bundle of drumsticks to the front of the stage, and throw them one at a time over his back toward the drummer. The drummer would put the stick he was holding under his arm and catch the thrown stick without missing a beat.

The drummer’s arms would flail about, sometimes making huge circles as he drummed. I’d never seen anything like it. Part of Steve’s act was to look like he was dim-witted, but he never missed a trick. While the band members were all talented musicians, Steve was the highlight of the show. 

A week or so after the show I did an Internet search and found that Steve Moore was quite popular. He had a website and someone had posted a YouTube video entitled “This Drummer is at the Wrong Gig” and it had gone viral with more than 7 million hits. Last I checked, it was approaching 15 million. 

For more information, check out The Mad Drummer on Facebook, YouTube, and look for Steve’s website: www.themaddrummer.com. Below is a photograph of my daughter Lani with Steve after he autographed a pair of drumsticks for her.