I roller skated

November 20, 2007 4:03 AM

What were you doing at 9 years old? At least he picks good music.
posted by dasheekeejones (45 comments total)

His time is a little rough, but his attack is near perfect. Particularly at his age. Particularly at my age.
posted by psmealey at 4:17 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Nooooo! He nailed the bass/snare triplet at 1:24 in Tom Sawyer...Terry Bozzio Jr.
Hopefully he doesn't form a shitty group and fade into irrelevance.
posted by greenskpr at 4:18 AM on November 20, 2007

Neat, but what's the story with that viral he worked on? Why should I feel compelled to forward that? I mean, there are plenty of places to find barely-dressed women moving their fingers around...
posted by DU at 4:21 AM on November 20, 2007

At 9 years old I would have totally been listening to Sabbath and huffing camera cleaner with this kid after drawing hand turkeys in arts and crafts class today.
posted by The Straightener at 4:22 AM on November 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

Heh! What was I doing at 9 years old? Essentially, I was doing what this kid is doing! The difference being that I didn't have a proper drum kit til I was 12, so I was wacking pots and pans raided from our kitchen and meticulously set up into something as close to a drum kit as I could fashion. And, um, I didn't have any headphones or a laptop. I did have a record player, though, and I was playing those pots and pans along with Beatles records. The year was 1966, and what really tripped me out was Ringo's beat for Lenon's "Tomorrow Never Knows". Still one of my favorite rock songs of all time.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:28 AM on November 20, 2007

(And back in those days Lennon spelled his name with only 2 Ns. Bet you kids didn't know that.)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:30 AM on November 20, 2007

What were you doing at 9 years old?

My first thought was, "This must be a double of this
post."
posted by Jenafeef at 4:45 AM on November 20, 2007

Ole
posted by caddis at 4:58 AM on November 20, 2007

Playing hockey and raging against Parti Québécois.

So for the last time
Get Off My LAWN!
posted by From Bklyn at 5:10 AM on November 20, 2007

John Lenno?
posted by strangeguitars at 5:12 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think I was making a couch-fort, listening to my Barry Manilow 8-track and generally wasting my time. Thanks for that.
posted by Pecinpah at 5:14 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Wow, am I ever having a Comic Book Guy "Oh, I've wasted my life." moment right now.

Obligatory link to Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age, in case being shamed by a 9-year old just isn't enough humiliation.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 5:23 AM on November 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

At 9, I was contemplating about how I would ahve a kid and force him to practice [name instrument here] n hours a day, jes' like my daddy done to me.
Isn't that the theory behind cloning? And: comment above not autobiographical, and analysis not accurate; for humor purposes only.
posted by not_on_display at 5:37 AM on November 20, 2007

Alvy Ampersand wrote: Obligatory link to Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age, in case being shamed by a 9-year old just isn't enough humiliation.
I checked, and at my age, "Michael Lusher slept through a gunshot to the head." Whoo, am I glad my birthday is soon.
posted by not_on_display at 5:45 AM on November 20, 2007

Quite good for his age. If I knew the kid personally I'd tell him to relax and improvise at the kit more often - learning the drum parts to songs is all well and good, but it doesn't help you develop a gut feel for time.
posted by phrontist at 5:46 AM on November 20, 2007

When I convinced my parents to let me quit my piano lessons and get me a guitar. Not sure which was the biggest mistake.
posted by lordrunningclam at 6:08 AM on November 20, 2007

*When I was 9.....
posted by lordrunningclam at 6:08 AM on November 20, 2007

Lest you forget, it's November 20th! Free your inner Rock Star!! It's nevar too late!

I'm totally playing this at a friend's house tonight.
posted by LordSludge at 6:11 AM on November 20, 2007

He seems like a dedicated musician. Love when he checks his laptop mid riff. So he had the camera on, was playing, excellently, and laptop on...all at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking. At 9. Amazing.
posted by nickyskye at 6:18 AM on November 20, 2007

Awesome! Now could you please link to those videos you mentioned in which he picks good music?

I kid, I kid.





No, I don't.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 6:21 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

I of course was playing piano at honky-tonks and shebeens all across the south, prior to forming one of the earliest jazz orchestras.
Above comment may contain lies.
posted by Abiezer at 6:30 AM on November 20, 2007

Now if 6 turned out to be 9,
I don't mind, I don't mind,
Alright, if all the hippies cut off all their hair,
I don't care, I don't care.
Dig, 'cos I got my own world to live through
And I ain't gonna copy you.

Someone should help the kid out and take away a couple of those cymbals and maybe a tom or two.
posted by Sailormom at 6:38 AM on November 20, 2007

This 4-year-old is pretty badass on the djembe. His 2-year-old brother ain't no slouch, neither.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:42 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of Tony Royster Jr.
posted by xmattxfx at 6:55 AM on November 20, 2007

Yeah, but can he make it to the last level of Super Castlevania IV?

I think not.
posted by Muddler at 7:27 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Let it be known from this point forward that little children who can play musical instruments very well make me insanely jealous. I refuse to see August Rush because of this less-than-noble facet of my personality. I always feel so inferior compared to these little guys.

When I was little I was pretty good at figuring out tunes by ear on the piano. My parents paid for eight years of lessons, and to this day I have what I like to call "conversational piano skills," similar to conversational proficiency in a language.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:10 AM on November 20, 2007

I don't want to see August Rush because it looks excrutiatingly terrible. And it has Robin Williams.
posted by ghastlyfop at 8:45 AM on November 20, 2007

I grew up taking piano lessons via the Suzuki Method. Learning by listening, matched with a lack of discipline on my part, left me a mediocre musician but an obsessive fan of music.
posted by ghastlyfop at 8:47 AM on November 20, 2007

Yeah, but can he manage "The Rhythm Method"?







Seriously, he's better than some of the guys who get paid to play at the pub.
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 8:55 AM on November 20, 2007

Youtube is filled with prepubescent musical prodigies, but this kid is very good. This guy is still my favorite though.
posted by caddis at 9:13 AM on November 20, 2007

"...learning the drum parts to songs is all well and good, but it doesn't help you develop a gut feel for time."

I disagree. I have , through necessity, had to play with drum machines for many years. Because of this, good time is ingrained in me. Playing along with those records is going to teach the boy what good time is. He's kicking ass, BTW, especially for 9 yo. I've worked with drummers 3 and 4 times his age who aren't as good.
posted by wsg at 9:19 AM on November 20, 2007

One day, he'll get that kit up to an even thirty...
posted by Old Man Wilson at 9:46 AM on November 20, 2007

Tony Royster, Jr. (12-year-old) drum solo.

Jacob Armen (7-year old) drum solo.
posted by ericb at 9:48 AM on November 20, 2007

Alvy's link deserves its own FPP. At my age (25)

Orson Welles coscripted, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane.

By this age, Charles Chaplin had appeared in 35 films.

Janis Joplin made her first recording, "Cheap Thrills," which grossed over a million dollars within a few months.

Fayette, N.Y. farmhand Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He claimed he translated the Book of Mormon from some golden tablets revealed to him by the angel Moroni.

Now I'm depressed.
posted by arcticwoman at 9:52 AM on November 20, 2007

This little girl is all smiles.
posted by flotson at 9:56 AM on November 20, 2007

Oh, I didn't know you were interested. Well, in music I played a cheap Japanese no-name double-cutaway red electric guitar. I was embarrassed to have it, but it's all I could afford with my allowance for taking out the trash, mowing the yard, building fences, and shoveling snow. I strung my microphone between rubberbands on a Shaker ladderback chair. My amp was tiny, but it was all I could talk my mother into. I turned the amp knobs to 10 all the time. Since it was the sixties, I would dress in my sister's weird robes with paisley patterns and sort of pretend I was part of a Sgt. Pepper band. And I set my guitar to weird tunings, none of which I knew a name for. I couldn't read music. I tried to copy a few Rolling Stones songs, but liked the distorted feedback of Jimi Hendrix and Cream better--you didn't have to be smart (it seemed like). This kid is like 800 times better than I was; I wouldn't ask him to be in my bad band.
posted by wallstreet1929 at 11:04 AM on November 20, 2007

caddis: i LOVE that kid with buddy guy. he's a SERIOUS genius...totally able to riff, improvise and hold his own with the guitar master.
posted by CitizenD at 11:21 AM on November 20, 2007

C'mon, this is totally photoshopped.
posted by mullingitover at 1:27 PM on November 20, 2007

Tony Royster, Jr. (12-year-old) drum solo

holy crap...
posted by greenskpr at 2:31 PM on November 20, 2007

More Tony Royster, Jr. videos. He's all grown-up now. Here's his website.
posted by ericb at 3:11 PM on November 20, 2007

1. Jacob Armen (7-year old) drum solo.----where is he now? Not so hot of a little man now, is he? Hmm hmm??

2. it would have been awesome if during these talent shows, someone in the audience screamed "you suck."

3. while this kid is impressive, I still need to see him master the "Hot For Teacher " opening and he doubles over in pain.

4. he's GOT TO change the nick of "Teddy Z" . Too ultra 80s hair band.
posted by dasheekeejones at 4:12 PM on November 20, 2007

Jacob Armen (7-year old) drum solo.----where is he now? Not so hot of a little man now, is he? Hmm hmm??

Actually he's doing fine! His first album (at age 12) was released by Prince. He's set to release his third album soon.
posted by ericb at 4:32 PM on November 20, 2007

The 11 year old kid in the FPP is pretty damn good, but Tony Royster Jr. (at 12) kind of leaves him in the dust, doesn't he? But I have to admit I can't stand the jazz fusion stuff Royster and Armen play as adults. Not even so much their drumming in the new songs as the music their bands play. I'd take Rush over that anyday.

This post deserved a "littledrummerboy" tag as well.
posted by Devils Slide at 2:07 AM on November 21, 2007

Hopefully he doesn't form a shitty group and fade into irrelevance.
posted by greenskpr at 4:18 AM on November 20

That's what I was trying to say, or thinking at least.
posted by Devils Slide at 2:18 AM on November 21, 2007

I'd like to know who Royster studied with. There's too much technical shit going on in there'to be self-taught for that age, you don't just come up with funky patterns like that without tutelage...maybe he's Dennis Chambers nephew, or morel likely Omar Hakim and Terry Lynn Carrington's love child..maybe if I just read his bio...nah, lazy.
posted by greenskpr at 4:50 AM on November 21, 2007