Check Out Jason Kaplan’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Kaplan. 

Hi Jason, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started playing music in 2011, and not even by my own choice. I didn’t think I was going to like it, yet my parents had a free coupon for a drum lesson and so I went ahead and gave it a shot. It was the best thing I ever did because here I am today, 11 years later and there’s no sign of me stopping anytime soon. I fell in love with drumming and playing music from the moment I first hit those drums and it’s been non-stop ever since. Over the past 11 years, I’ve had the opportunity to play what seems like hundreds upon hundreds of shows, and I’ve been fortunate enough to play with many skilled musicians and diverse bands; ranging from classic rock to blues, to metalcore and indie. I’ve played shows for literally just my parents and also for 1,500+ people before as well, with shows spread across the western US; including primarily California and Colorado. I went through some pretty rough periods as well where my mental health was not at its best and some periods where I felt like I would never become a successful drummer and that my love and passion for music was fading by the day. However, those experiences ended up bringing me closer to music and now I’d say I love playing, writing, recording, and just listening to music now, more so than I ever had in the past before. I currently play drums for an indie-psychedelic rock band called Magnolia Grove, and it’s one of the most promising and also passionate bands I’ve ever had the opportunity to be a part of. More than having the chops or knowing the right people, I would just say being passionate and resilient are the main things that keep me going and that has helped me get to the place I’m at today. Sure, keeping time and knowing some A&R guys can get you a very long way in this business, but none of that matters if you can’t pick yourself up from those ruts and reconstruct yourself from devastating failures. I am by no means a “career” musician, meaning this is not my primary income source, and I don’t know the answer to everything in this business as I feel like every day is a new learning curve for me, but I hope that I can at least inspire one person to get behind the kit for the very first time or to just make music and listen or look at it in a very different perspective. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has 100% not been a smooth road, but that’s just life itself. If there’s one common theme, I’ve learned to recognize over my years playing music, it’s that things will rarely, if ever, go according to the timeline you want them to. I think the pandemic definitely proved that to us, but even before that, I think that it was fair to say that timelines tended to fluctuate and change as much as the weather in Colorado does. Life never has a “perfect” timing for us and I feel that with enough time, hardwork, and determination it’ll eventually happen, just maybe later than you were expecting it to. One event that hit me pretty hard was the breakup of my first band that I was in. I was only about 16 at the time, but we had been together for 4 years at that time, and witnessing the separation of a band that I had practically spent most of my early adolescence/late childhood with was a really impactful experience to me. I also didn’t really know what to do with myself once we had broken up because I wasn’t playing with any other bands and that just left me craving the stage and the presence of jamming with other musicians. It was nearly a year that I went without playing in another band, but in that time, I reinvented myself. My “look”, stage presence, and skills were transformed within that year and I came back a totally new drummer. 

Another pretty negative experience (as if you couldn’t guess the common theme here) was the breakup of one of my later bands, Over The Castle. This was a band that I truly put my blood, sweat, and tears into and pretty much dedicated my life at the time to, and we were actually gaining a good amount of traction and recognition on the Colorado music scene, as well as from some minor labels before the plug was pulled on it. It was by no means a bad breakup, but everyone was graduating from high school at that time and the mutual decision was made to end things due to college/life plans. I remember the last summer that we were a band and just knowing the impending doom threw me into a spiral of depression. I wasn’t taking care of myself and definitely was not treating my body right, and just knowing what was coming made me start to despise drumming and even just music itself. I continued to spiral down to the point where I was rarely practicing my craft and even when I was playing on stage with my other bands at the time, it didn’t feel like “me”. For me, the most important part of playing music is that you have to be feeling it and playing it with passion. And all of a sudden, that aspect was completely gone. It took me a long time and a lot of encouragement from my partner, Bee, and some friends to get back into it eventually. In fact, I feel like that creative and personal depression may have even set me back a few years as far as my skills and overall career goes, but I slowly but surely gained back my love for music, day by day, and band by band, up until only within the last 2 years, where for some almost ironic reason with the pandemic and all of the BS that came with that, I have been even more driven and I love playing music now more than I ever have in my life. 

I haven’t looked back since and I’ve been working on myself (musically, mentally, and personally) more so now than I ever had in the past. I feel like bands breaking up can be very similar to a relationship ending. In a way, I’d say it’s worse because music is where we go to escape from our personal hells, and then when our escape becomes that hell, it makes it almost unbearable to endure. But just like any relationship, you can heal with time, and eventually, you’ll move on and find that “right one” that reignites the fire that was lost. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In simple terms, I play drums. But if you want my personal answer, then I entertain people. It’s more than just playing drums, but putting on a show and leaving a lasting impression with those willing to watch and listen. I want to give people their money’s worth when they come to one of my shows and I want to make a lasting impression on them and hopefully inspire them to find their inner creativity and pursue it to its fullest extent. And as far as specialization goes, I just play drums. Drums are my specialty and it’s truthfully the only thing I’m really good at. 

As far as what I’m known for, two things come to mind: my stage presence and being “too loud”. I’m all for stick twirls, standing on the kit, and playing standing up when it comes to my live shows and I’ve noticed that to be a common theme with compliments towards me over the years. And then as far as those dynamics go, I just like hitting those drums… what can I say? Just ask any of my bandmates and they’ll be the first ones to tell you that I tend to get a little carried away behind the kit. But it’s a work in progress and my dynamics have definitely transformed from where they were a few years back. 

I am definitely most proud of the work that hasn’t even been released to the public yet. I’m talking about the upcoming Magnolia Grove album that I’m playing on. It’s not my most technical drum parts by any means, but it just felt so good to play and record those parts, and there’s so much passion, feeling, and groove on this record that I think it is really going to have something for everyone. I haven’t felt that good about my drum parts and about sitting behind the kit in a very long time, and so I’m just so excited to share what we have in store with everyone. There’s currently two singles released for the album, Woozy and Take My Own Advice, that you can hear my playing on and I’m so incredibly excited for everyone to hear the rest of what’s to come. 

As far as setting me apart from the rest, I would just say it’s my unique playing and show style. Every musician is unique in my opinion and we all gain our skills and knowledge of our instruments from different places. I’ve taken inspiration from death metal drummers, all the way to folk percussionists and I try to combine those aspects with my own “sound” that I’ve formulated over the years to set myself apart from others. For me, I’ve diversified my playing as much as possible and I’ve taken inspiration from not only musicians that I’ve looked up to, but also actors, professional wrestlers, and celebrities. This has inspired not just my playing, but my overall style and the performance I want to give on stage. 

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
If you’re passionate about something, pursue it as much as you can or want to, and never give up on it. Even if it goes nowhere in the end (which hopefully it doesn’t), you gotta have something to keep you sane and your own escape from reality at the end of the day. 

Also be on the lookout for Magnolia Grove’s third full-length album, Coalescence, coming out later this summer! 

Contact Info:

• Email: jasonkaplandrummer@gmail.com
• Website: https://jasonkdrummer.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonthefacelessdrummer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kappadrums 

Image Credits
Bee Pucci
Chris Tracy
Dallis Mack