photo: The Drummer
I always like to refer to Berlin as a playground for grown-ups. Here you can easily try out new things, start new projects and experiment with crazy ideas. You will find lots of enthusiastic people willing to get involved, the resources are amazing and diverse and since Berliners are so curious to discover new things you will quickly find a willing and attentive audience. People here have a certain understanding that some things are a work in progress. Some experiments will thrive, others might not work out, but you won’t fall very hard, because the playground has a very soft floor made of sand.
Last week I met one man here, that totally takes advantage of the playfulness of Berlin and its curious audience. He woke up one day with the dream that he wanted to be a drummer. He was often involved with musicians and rock bands, spending time with them backstage, but in terms of his own musical skills he is a complete novice. Let’s face it: Playing the drums is really difficult to learn. But he saw it as a challenge and decided to make a project about it: The Drummer was born. The Drummer is not simply a nickname for him, it’s also the quest of learning this instrument in only one and a half years, and it’s going to be the name of his band that he is about to form.
playing mini golf with The Drummer, photos: iHeartBerlin
Learning how to play the drums in 1,5 years sounds mostly like a lot of hard work and patience. I myself tried to learn to play the piano in my mid twenties for about 2 years so I can confirm how difficult it is to get really good with an instrument. But The Drummer is about more than the hard parts. To bring a good load of fun and excitement to the learning process he renovated a vintage mercedes van, installed his drum set inside and goes on tour around the world with it visiting festivals and concerts and meeting bands and musicians that teach him their special tricks. So he’s gonna learn from the best on the road that hopefully leads to his own rock’n’roll fame. After a year he is planning to already start recording his first record.
photos: The Drummer
A journey like that of course needs a bit of technical support so he teamed up with Huawei taking their new MediaPad M2 tablet with him on tour. With it he does not only navigate his trip, he also uses it to document the whole project, play music (which sounds pretty great thanks to the powerful and clear 4 speaker system) and practice his skills with various drum apps. So even though he is still in the very beginning of the trip the MediaPad has already proven itself as a super helpful companion.
With several festivals and band meet-ups lined up The Drummer already has an interesting schedule ahead of him. He’ll soon leave the playground that is Berlin to find other fun places to drum. You can follow his journey with all his progress and encounters on his website, Instagram and on Facebook. We’ll make sure to give you an update here every now and then, so stay tuned for more on The Drummer…
photos: The Drummer
Of course this is just one of the many projects happening in Berlin that are a bit outside the box. We’re keeping an eye out on similar projects, not just music, basically any genre. So if you’ve heard of someone who’s on an unbelievable quest do let us know in the comments below…
Thanks for the support by Huawei
