Call & Response: Devin Drobka

(5 min)

Devin Drobka has been hailed as one of Milwaukee’s “hardest working, most exciting drummers.” Any given night, you’ll see him playing anything from free-form improvisation to jazz trios to Americana/folk/rock. You can hear him performing with his group Bell Dance Songs, Lesser Lakes Trio, Argopelter, Lady Cannon, Field Report, and many, many more. To say he is versatile would be a massive understatement. Drobka talks about listening and making choices, he gives us a glimpse of what goes through his head when he plays, and how a little time in the garden keeps him grounded. Oh, and he apparently drinks a lot of tea.

Lab Notes (LN): If you had to boil your musical journey into one sentence, what would it be? (Run-on sentences accepted and encouraged.)

Devin Drobka (DD): Trial and error and hard work and a lot of risk and sacrifice.

LN: How do you approach playing drums?

DD: I try always to play what I hear and that works to varying degrees. I also respect the space I inhabit and what I bring to the table so to always bring my best self to the music and to others.

LN: You performed and composed a record for us called Perc Up: Energy Kits. Tell us about the process of creating and recording those beats.

DD: Daniel is really a great motivator and someone that is willing to experiment and that works well with me and my ethos. We just tried a bunch of moods and feelings and I tried my best to access what I thought those worlds would be on the drums. What he did in post is amazing and I hope that the clients enjoy them as much as we did making them.

Every choice is hopefully incredibly deliberate because choice is our only truth, you either make one or you don't but what is true is you made a choice.

LN: Not many musicians can so easily cross between improvisatory jazz and pop music. Can you describe the relationship in your mind?

DD: I guess I never tried to put much of a boundary on those two worlds. Most music at some point is all improvised and sometimes it comes out as a Sam Cooke number or it comes out as birds in the forest. It's about the process and the end results everyone is seeking. I usually always listen to what the song needs and really take into account what sort of percussion density is needed. If there needs to be a groove then we will GROOVE! If there needs to be a sense of wonder and ocean waves then we can go there to. I also have a slight bent towards not wanting to do something that I feel like has already been done at the highest level. Like I could never recreate a Roy Orbison record or Love Supreme by Coltrane so I use my love of both worlds to try and take risks like those artists have to hopefully find what I want to say. I like both worlds for a lot of the same reasons and I've been fortunate to have people hire me for my love of both.

LN: What goes through your head when you are playing an improvised set?

DD: Am I connecting with my fellow musicians on the stage. I also think in terms of how we are all picking up the energy. I am a very sensitive person so I feel like I can pick up on certain things while playing that can allow me to either help the music float or make a quick decision if it feels like no one else is. Every choice is hopefully incredibly deliberate because choice is our only truth, you either make one or you don't but what is true is you made a choice.

LN: What inspires you?

DD: Knowing that there is always a lot to learn if it is something you want to know about. Knowing that I have the chance to greatly and deeply change someones world through performing and making music. Knowing that I can grow plants and help give back to this world because it is in great need.

LN: What music are you listening to right now?

DD: I've been listening to a lot of field recordings from West Africa as of late. I've been checking out a lot of early jazz drummers and people they played with such as Baby Dodds, Zutty Singleton, Kenny Clarke, and Cozy Cole. Madison Cunningham and Blake Mills as well as anything on Stax and Motown.

Most music at some point is all improvised and sometimes it comes out as a Sam Cooke number or it comes out as birds in the forest.

LN: What do you do when you’re not creating music?

DD: I try and garden and enjoy growing vegetables with my wife. I feel like I don't take enough time to read because I don't have it balanced with my musical life so that's something that's been on my mind. I love watching old silent films and pretty much anything that inhabits the criterion collection of films. Tea, so much tea.

LN: If you were trapped on a desert island, what 5 albums could you not live without?

DD:

1. Rubenstein playing the Chopin Nocturnes 

2. Dntel - Life is Full of Possibilities 

3. Arca - Arca 

4. Blake Mills - Heigh Ho 

5. Erroll Garner - Penthouse Serenade

LN: What are three things about you that wouldn’t want left out of your Wikipedia page?

DD: I've messed up a lot - I've tried to learn from my mistakes - Try harder the next day