Today we’d like to introduce you to Brady Knippa.
Hi Brady, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My dad had been a drummer his whole life and introduced me to the kit with a VHS copy of Dave Weckl’s “Back to Basics” at the age of three. We’d watch that tape over and over for weeks and months on end, and I’d try to follow along with chopsticks on my mom’s pots and pans. I guess they got tired of the mess I would inevitably leave in the kitchen, because on my fourth birthday, a real drum set appeared.
Those early years banging away at that junior-sized drum kit at home eventually led me through the classic middle school/high school band kid evolution. Years of marching band, concert band, percussion ensemble, lessons, and auditions developed within me skills that would later become incredibly useful behind the kit once again on a real stage.
By my freshman year of college, I resonated less with the orchestral side of percussion and more with the greasy weeknight club gig scene. I wound up auditioning for a brass band out of the University of Texas (shoutout Big Wy’s), and can ultimately attribute my first 300-400 gigs to those guys. The shows weren’t always flashy and rarely paid much, but they were a great introduction into the life of a burgeoning full-time musician.
The Austin music scene is a tight-knit community, and one gig will always lead to another (as long as you know the music, act professionally, and are a decent enough hang). That brass band gig led to shows with another four or five groups over the next couple of years, and was ultimately how I came into contact with my good homie Sloan, AKA Dayglow.
I played my first few shows with him in March of 2019, and it didn’t take long for things to gather momentum. By August, we were on our first US support tour, and once the touring market opened back up post-COVID, we were travelling around the world. To date, we’ve done all sorts of festivals, late-night talk shows, and tours across a few different continents, and it’s been a greater blessing and opportunity than I can put into words.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It certainly hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but I do consider myself very lucky in the grand scheme of things. Those early years of gigging around Austin were exhausting – lugging the kit around to two or three venues a night several times a week, in a small sedan, for just enough money to eat dinner – it was tough. But it was also so new and exciting, the tiredness often never even registered.
Touring can present an entirely new set of challenges. Depending on your setup, you might be taking turns behind the wheel of a sprinter for weeks on end, or spending months at a time in a coffin-sized bunk on a bus, emerging into dank venue alleys only to eat, use the restroom, and play shows. On my first-ever tour in 2016, we got in a late-night wreck and flipped the van a few times, destroying half our gear and forcing us to turn around a week later with maxed-out credit cards. Breakdowns aren’t uncommon either, and everyone gets incredibly ill at least once or twice on the road.
Even with a job you love, things won’t always be easy. But as long as you love it, those tough bits make everything else so much more worth it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’d call myself a multi-instrumentalist, but that might be considered an insult to those who can hop on stage and truly perform on multiple instruments. I’m a drummer at heart with a repressed, tuxedo-wearing orchestral percussionist hiding away somewhere in there. Though I’m not really a part of that realm any longer, I do credit much of my drumset knowledge to those early groups and educators. Orchestral percussion requires a great deal of finesse, and even rock drummers on festival stages can benefit greatly from a solid, rudimentary background.
At this point I’m primarily the live touring drummer for Dayglow, which can occupy a good chunk of the year on a good year. I’ll occasionally track drums in the studio for various artists when given the chance, and look forward to spending more time in the studio in the future as I develop those skills (and as my body begins to give out from time on the road).
Nerdy drum talk aside, I feel my greatest strength comes from my internal battery. In a world where neither circadian rhythm nor personal space exists, and eating vegetables is more of a luxury than commonplace, I find a great deal of energy. Don’t get me wrong, I love the peaceful predictability of home – especially after a long stint on the road – but there’s something about living out of a duffel that gives me a great sense of purpose. I never considered playing the drums for a living to be possible when I was younger, so having the opportunity to do so now is a dream come true.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
If there are any words of encouragement I could offer, it would be these: go to the shows, introduce yourself, pick the brains of the people you look up to, and be prepared to say yes when opportunity arises. Things won’t always make sense, and the future won’t always be clear, but trust the process and put in the effort, and you’ll be rewarded greatly. Music is a huge gift, and whether you share it with 10 people or 10,000 people, do it with love, and that love will come right back to you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bradykdrums.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradykdrum/?hl=en
