0:00 So, I used to play drums a lot, and I'm talking about like 4 to 8 hours a day. I traveled competing. Um probably at the highest level that you could think of. >> Like marching band ████ >> High school. Just across the board percussion. And what's crazy is fast forward to today, I don't do that at all. My I do have a drum set still, but it's just stacked up in my storage shed, and it's been like that from the last couple of houses that I've moved. And when I think about it, like the comparison, it does feel sad, and I don't know if I should let it go. There's times I even think about selling the drums cuz I looked up how much they're worth, and they're like considered vintage drums now cuz I got them when I was 15. >> Oh, crap. You have that set. >> Yeah, so think about think about 25-year-old Yamaha drum set that they probably don't
0:50 make anymore. Like it's like a vintage thing now. So, someone that would as in the drumming space would be like, oh ████ that's a ████ like 67 Mustang that's in really good condition. I would love to buy that off you. But it is crazy to think how much I dedicated my life to it. So, back in high school, I first got into drums in fifth grade cuz I wanted to be in band cuz you know like when you're in band, you get to be one of the kids that leave class. >> Yeah. >> So, you don't have to listen to all that boring ass ████ So, every either people play the trumpet or saxophone or whatever. And then I was poor, so I was like, how much does a saxophone cost? And they're like, oh dude, it's like 800 bucks. I'm like, god damn. And then this other person was like, how much the trumpets cost? I was like, oh, 500 bucks. And then the drum pad, it's like 20 bucks. Sticks is like 10 bucks. I'm like, that's my cheapest ticket out. And it was still kind of cool. I didn't want
1:40 to be like gay and play a trombone or something. Even though now now I dig trombone, everything is tight. >> [laughter] >> But you know, but back then you're like either saxophone or drums. So, I buy the little drum pad, and I started getting into it. And then in junior high, everyone is in concert band. Have any of you guys been in band? >> Yeah. >> But it's like the most basic ████ You play ████ like all the whackest tunes like Yankee Doodle came to Like that Like ████ that no one actually listens to. Um but I actually liked it and then after band class like during snack time when it you only have like 15, 20 minutes to go buy like a hot pocket or instant noodles, I would be in there playing my like trying to put my own drum set together like a concert bass drum, concert snare, get two symbols. I'm okay, that's my hi-hat. And I'll just be the one messing around in there. So I really really got into it. It was just like self-motivated passion.
2:30 >> Yeah. >> And then uh in high school, I went to Cerritos High School and at that time they probably had the best marching band and drum line in the Cerritos area. So you got to try out. A lot of the schools are like uh >> It was really funny you just say Cerritos High School had the best in the Cerritos area, but yeah, continue. >> Well, cuz there's like Gahr High, Artesia High, there's all these other Whitney High School, there's all these high schools. So um so it's it's good enough where you have to try out. And so when you go to a standard like If you go to a school that's not ranked, you just usually walk on and then you play whatever you want. You go to a good concert band, you know, they have like first string violin, a second string, third string. It That's almost like your varsity, JV, or whatever, right? And then so the Cerritos High School drum line every single highest position it's
3:20 ranked from snare, which is like the one in the middle, to tenors, which is like five or six drums, and to the bass drum, and then the the the lowest is symbols. So when you're a freshman, you can't be even be in the drum line. You have to play xylophone, bells, ████ triangle, all the whackest instruments because that's kind of like you being a bum and you got to pay your dues cuz everyone else is like that's the varsity lineup. Uh my freshman year two of the symbol players, they quit. They're sophomores. So now there's a chance for like the eight freshmen to try out for those two positions. Me and the other guy got it. So, we we got the symbol position. So, we're the only >> freshman >> only freshman to to be there. Or in other words, the only non upperclassman to be there. So, that was a huge deal. I'm okay, cool. Like this is on my my um my drum track projector uh trajectory
4:11 and started like Berkeley School of Music, like where John Mayer went, started like, you know, floating around in my brain. I'm like, this is what I really want to do. Sophomore year, uh two of the seniors graduated. So, there's two more spots that you could try out. Um we all tried out and I made one of the snare positions. So, usually snare is for juniors and seniors. So, I think me and the other kid were the only sophomores to ever make it. Which is a huge deal to me cuz that's like being like a sophomore on a varsity winning team. We would compete and in our federation in like the world-class federation, we would always win like fifth and above all the time. Fifth, fourth, third, second, first. We would travel, go to Vegas, you know, do all these trips. It was like a big big part of my life. So, much to the point where as dedicated as I was, I was still a ████ rascal. You know, like it's how
5:01 I am as a I remember one time my I don't even know what I did, but um there's a like my drum instructor would like throw drumsticks at me. So, that's how much trouble I would get into. He's like like whiplash, [laughter] right? I'll be doing something wrong. He just gets a drumstick like the marching one. Whoosh. And then just like whack me in the face. Like he would he would throw it at me. Um but that's to paint the picture of how much I ████ up. And then one time uh my my band director, he would actually kick me out of drumline. And I don't know why cuz I don't know my rascally ways or what all the infractions were. But what it meant to me was when I was in the office, this during this time I'm like trying to be hard, too, right? In high school. But I remember as he kicked me out right in the ████ carbon copy paperwork, I was crying. I was like, "Please, please, please. This is like the only thing I have. Please." And I I I I felt like I never begged to any adult in my whole life, especially someone that's not in my family.
5:51 But I remember begging I'm like, "Please, this is the only thing I have." And I was probably this close to getting on my knees. I don't know if it's because like my home life sucked, my parents were divorced, my parents didn't understand me or anything, but this is like the only passion that I had. So, that's how much it ████ meant to me. And I think he saw me like crying and he was like, "Okay, I'll I'll I'll put you back on, but on a probationary aspect if whatever whatever you ████ up, you're out." >> Damn. >> Fast forward to I got kicked out OF SCHOOL ANYWAYS. >> [laughter] >> SO, IT WASN'T REALLY A MARCHING BAND ISSUE. >> not a marching band issue. >> not going to class issue. >> I got ████ kicked out of school. And what sucks is like [laughter] Now Okay, now I actually know the pivotal moment why I stopped drums. So, I got kicked out of school. I go to Keppel, right? I know I'm supposed to go, you're supposed to register or whatever. And then coming from like one of the top
6:43 drum lines in California, I remember going, "Okay, cool. If I'm going to go to Mark Keppel, I'll go to just scope out what their drum line looks like." And I know that everyone practices during the summer. So, I went to their field during the summer and I saw them practicing. And then I was like, "Hey, uh I forgot who the band director was. I'm like, I play snare. Uh I would love to check out your band camp whatever." And I remember watching them play and uh I felt so above them that this was going to be like not worth my time at all. >> You You You felt disgusted? >> I I honestly felt like I was going to throw up. Which is so crazy, so egotistical, but I was like, "What the f███?" I'm like, "Damn, you guys I was like I actually thought I was so high that I should be faculty. >> Yeah. >> I'm like, "Actually, maybe maybe Keppel
7:33 should uh hire me and I'll run this program. And then I I could teach these kids." And then so like I I like, "Okay, I'm definitely not going to be part of this band, cuz this is ████ this these guys suck ass. I had a uh a girlfriend who went to Gahr High School. They had a pretty decent um what is it called? >> Drum line? >> Drum line? And I remember at one of the football games I was there and I was just on the side and I was just like jamming out with some of the dudes. Their drum instructor came out and I was playing with them and then he was like, damn, where did you come from? Cuz I think I was playing ████ way above what he could even think, but it was just in my where I grew up that was normal. >> Mhm. >> You know, it's like imagine you see like those 6-year-old judo kids. You're like from Russia or whatever. Like, what the ████ Imagine you put one of those kids in a regular American like jujitsu class. You're like, where the where the ████ you come from? He's like, oh, Dagestan, this is normal. That's what it felt like to me, right? So, I was like, damn,
8:24 everybody ████ sucks ass here and that kind of just made me like put it away and never got inspired to do it ever again. >> That's why you should have watched Sister Act. If you watch movies growing up, you would have been like, I got to be like Whoopi right now. >> Yeah? >> And then you would have changed the Mark Keppel drum line. >> Oh, maybe. >> That was your calling, dude. >> That's what you were supposed to do is join and then get good and go back to your old Cerritos teacher and then you guys were the underdogs that never won and then you win. >> That is a cooler story than probably what you were doing. >> Than my drums collecting dust? >> Yeah. >> Well, yeah, that's that's not a story much at all, actually. >> So, do you feel like looking back on it >> [laughter] >> do you feel like you regret your decision not playing for Mark Keppel? >> I don't think I could have, man. I was great. >> you out of the funk? >> I think you would Like, if I were to be 100% frank
9:14 >> Yeah. >> So, they were trash. >> They're hopeless. >> They were bad. >> They're rhythm-less Chinese. >> But like at Mark Keppel you might have been like the goat. >> You could have been the greatest, dude. >> You could have been like literally a legend. You're already a legend to Mark Keppel and you didn't even do ████ at Mark Keppel, but you're like the top player of the Hornets. >> No, this is >> Top player? >> No, I would you feel like I would probably feel like that transgender dude that's winning all of the races in the females division. >> Jesus Christ. >> That's what IT FEELS LIKE. >> YOU mean you'd feel like number one? >> [laughter] >> No. >> feel like number one. >> No, it would be like >> I'm the greatest. >> No, it would be like um >> I knew I could do it. >> disrespectful to the band director because the band director didn't even know as much as I did. Do you know what I mean? It was like their their level it was like what the
10:05 ████ Like I would look at their sheet music. So everyone that I knew could look at crazy 16th 32nd notes and as soon as they start reading they could just already start playing. That's everybody. Everybody I knew was like that. Just sight read like that. When I go there and they're like "One e and a two and a three and four." And I'm like >> Yeah, that's right. >> ████ bro? I'm like this is ████ cr- It was just too It was >> bad. >> It was too bad. >> If this was a 90s movie though, Bart would have joined and then he would have stayed low-key while judging people. And then the teacher would have been like, "Wait a minute, you could play, can't you?" And then Bart's like And then all the kids ARE LIKE "OH MY GOD, I'VE NEVER HEARD this before." And then what Bart's going to do is he's going to find the ████ gold out of every single player and bring it out. It's like School of Rock. >> Hey Pete, you know, why don't you just
10:55 do this? >> Or he recruits all the kids that aren't in band. He goes >> [laughter] >> He's like a like a Vietnamese guy smoking A CIGARETTE IN THE BACK. LIKE "YOU WANT ME His [laughter] wrist control is crazy. >> He's like "You want me to play the drum here, man?" He's like "What you crazy?" >> Bob's got but he's still able to go like this. He's like "Dude, he's got good drum legs." >> Oh ████ damn. >> Hey man, you used to drum, huh? How do you know, man? >> And then he collects them and then like they have to join because they're like you're going to be expelled for getting caught for smoking a cigarette. But if you join the marching band >> [laughter] >> Dude, THAT'S A GOOD ASS MOVIE. >> Hey B-boy in the corner who like isn't really that good. So so all the people would shun him, but he's there and he's still he's on beat. Bart's like, "Yo, you got rhythm, brother. You want to be where you belong?" >> [laughter] >> And then Bart becomes the ████ band leader and then they got a a ragtag team
11:46 of drum line. [laughter] It's not that you ain't valuable, you're just in the wrong spot, brother. >> [laughter] >> Let me teach you how to sight read. Get him on the cymbals. Yeah. And then you you battle Cerritos High and you win and you go in your ████ face. There, you're welcome, Hollywood. We gave you another revolutionized Mike Curpble as dude beatboxing you're like, "Yo, you're a child with a microphone on a drum line?" >> [laughter] >> You don't think No, this doesn't seem like a sick movie? >> No, it's a sick movie. >> You don't have 25-year-old Yamaha drums? >> sick movie, but I'm like thinking back at what we were working with. There is no ████ way. >> to think outside the box, Bart. >> [laughter] >> There's there's no the the the band and drum line uh area in the SGV, the only people that were good was Arcadia.
12:37 But no one else was even >> John Muir? Was John Muir pretty good? >> I never even heard of them. >> Damn. That's why it's a perfect '90s movie, man. >> Damn, Bart's kind of an elitist, actually. I don't really like Bart. >> For when it came to when it came to drums when it came to drums like I It's and it's so stupid because I literally got kicked out of school and it's not like I'm like some prodigy or whatever, but it's just coming from a different program to that one. I was just like I I couldn't do it. >> But I feel like there's there's such high levels in music, though. >> But that's the turning point in the '90s movie for Bart cuz you also need the character turning point. When he's like, "I'm too good for you, right? Blah blah blah." And then like the fat like the fat girl who's like on the s█████ ass drum line is like, "Well, you still have to be in school at least to be on a drum line." >> And he's like, he's he's looking outside the fence. >> Dude, that was me, man. I was like, "Let me just play [laughter] Let me just play >> It's raining, but just on him. It's like sunny over there. >> I'm like, let me just play.
13:29 Dude, what a loser. >> [laughter] >> Let us know in the comments how gay you think Bart is.
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