Behind The Beats: With German Perez

Playing in a cover band was a right of passage for my drumming. As soon as I could hold a beat for longer than two minutes it was time to learn songs and absolutely butcher them. It wasn't always bad but in the beginning, I remember struggling for a few days on my own and barely getting the song right until it was time to play with my bass player. That was the cover band, a bass player homie and myself. We might've outdone ourselves on one occasion and that was when we tried and did learn Fire by Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was also the beginning of an adoring fascination with Mitch Mitchell's style of drumming. It was the fluidity in his playing, It was the constant crashing on the cymbals and at the time in my world, his funkiness. I tried my best to play like him. Eventually my cover band would play little functions for friends and house parties, and Fire was my chance when I could emulate Mitch's style. He bends rhythms and fits different time signatures in places that might not fit and I didn't mention,