[ot-caption title=” Mr. Ames (via Rachel Rutstein, junior)”]

This week, Type One interviewed another member of the Pine Crest family who balances his talent not with doing schoolwork, but with teaching. Mr. Ames, a history teacher here at the Pine, participates in rock bands, lending his talent as a drummer. Mr. Ames opens up to Type One about his long career behind the drums, including the notable memories he has made and artists he has crossed paths with.

T1: How old were you when you started playing the drums?

Mr. Ames: I started playing probably during middle school, so I was around ten to twelve.  

T1: What’s your favorite genre of music? Why?

Mr. Ames: Even though I play in a rock band, I still probably like jazz the best. It’s a lot of different playing styles opposed to one thing over and over and over that you play in rock.

T1: Did you take classes related to drumming?

Mr. Ames: Yes, I had a double major in college–music performance and history. I took a lot of music classes, performance classes, things like that and played quite a bit in college.

T1: What is your favorite thing about drumming?

Mr. Ames: My favorite thing would have to be the other players. The best part has been getting to play with some great musicians over the years. For example, we did backup for Aretha Franklin and a bunch of other Motown groups.

T1: What is your favorite memory in your drumming career?

Mr. Ames:  I played for a band that played at the 1996 olympics in Atlanta. It was not the main group, but we performed at one of the venues there, and we got free passes to the Olympics. One of the reason it sticks with me is because that night is when the the Centennial Park bombing occurred. We played in the park just three hours prior.

T1: What is your favorite place you’ve played?

Mr. Ames: Probably the Fox Theater in Detroit, we did an Aretha Franklin concert there. That’s where she grew up and played and a ton of people went through that theater. The coolest thing is to be able to play somewhere where all these big Detroit players had played at.

T1: What is your favorite quote? Why?

Mr. Ames: A phrase we throw around is, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”  From a band company standpoint we are very careful as to who we hire and who we put on stage. If your reputation is based on the music, you have to be very careful who you put up there.

T1: What are three words to describe yourself?

Mr. Ames: Hyper, detailed, fun.

T1: What is some important knowledge you have gained from playing drums?

Mr. Ames: I think the ability to work and share ideas with other people is the most important knowledge I’ve gained. Anytime you are in a band scenario it’s not about one person, it’s about give and take. Everyone has his own piece to say and you have to be able to work well with a group. You learn to find what you can contribute.

T1: How would you describe your creative process?

Mr. Ames: I think there is a lot of research, and a lot of listening involved in the creative process. We’re less in the realm of creating music, we play mostly in cover bands, not original material. We try to recreate music correctly, so that involves a lot of listening and research to get the right sound and the right feel of what the original artist was trying to do with the song.

T1: What is your biggest challenge?

Mr. Ames:  At the moment, it’s that the company we have is in Detroit. We try to keep tabs on bands and music going on in Detroit, and we’re also trying to move some of it down here as well.

T1: Is drumming an outlet for you? Why?

Mr. Ames: Yes, I’d say it’s an outlet. It has always been a ton of fun, and it’s not something that feels like work or a job. As much as I like teaching, music still feels like a fun hobby versus a job.

T1: Are you working on anything currently?

Mr. Ames: We’re putting together a lot of stuff. We have the 50th anniversary of the Motown label out of Detroit, so we’ve got several music festivals we are doing this summer with tribute bands and groups from the area. That’ll be cool.

T1: What do you hope people will take away from your work?

Mr. Ames: My goal with any of the concerts or any of the bands I play with is to allow the fun that we’re having while playing spill over to the audience. The goal is that some element of joy that comes out of the music is stemming from the joy we get from playing it.