#292 Jon Shiffman- Drummer for the Atomic Funk Project, Bleachers, Steel Train & More!
This week’s guest is Jon Shiffman. Jon is a drummer and Music Director based in New York City.
Growing up in Teaneck, NJ - Jon's love of drumming was forged under the tutelage of his high school band director Bob Hankle (Aretha Franklin - Trombone), and his son Matt (Blue Man Group, Tom Morello - Drums).
After jazz studies at both New School University and City College of New York, Jon began his career as a touring rock/pop drummer.
Most of his time on the road was spent with his band Steel Train - led by Grammy Award winner Jack Antonoff. Garnering a cult following throughout the States, Steel Train's performance highlights included performances at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Conan O'Brien, and David Letterman.
After Steel Train disbanded, Jon went on to record with Antonoff's Grammy award winning, Fun, and was hired as drummer and Music Contractor and Musical Director for Antonoff's solo project, Bleachers. With Bleachers, Jon received a Gold record for his contribution to the record, "I Wanna Get Better".
Since retiring from touring in 2015, Jon maintains a busy schedule that includes drumming for various NYC artists, jingle work, drumming and bandleading in event bands (namely Atomic Funk Project).
He also writes music under the moniker, Sports and Arts, and hopes to release solo material independently in 2023.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to Colin McNutt. Colin has instructed and arranged for the Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps and the popular stage production Blast! He has also written for and instructed the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps, Magic of Orlando, and the Madison Scouts. Colin has served on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is an alumnus and received degrees in Classics and Music Education. He was the Percussion Caption Supervisor and then Caption Head for the nine-time DCI World Champion Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps. Colin is currently the Caption Head for the Boston Crusaders.
He hasn't only instructed, as McNutt started marching drum corps his junior year in high school in 1988 with the Boston Crusaders of Boston, Mass., then aging out with the Santa Clara Vanguard of Santa Clara, California, in 1992.
McNutt has made a career out of his passion for music and percussion, while in between completing his double major of music education and classics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1998. When not instructing drum corps, McNutt conducts clinics for the percussion companies Avedis Zildjian Co., REMO, Inc., and Vic Firth. He also writes music for marching bands in the United States, Canada, Thailand & Japan.
Happy Birthday to Gabo Lugo! Born in Puerto Rico, Gabriel “Gabo” Lugo’s production work has been nominated for multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy awards. Raised in Old San Juan, he is always humble doing magic behind the scenes. Gabo received a Grammy nomination for his work on Tego Calderón’s 2008 album “El Abayarde Contra-Ataca”. Still in his early 20’s Lugo’s talent, paired with a hunger to learn new things and to innovate, has him poised to fulfill the promise of his musical upbringing. Gabo’s thirst for knowledge led him to Berklee College of Music, where he continues work towards a degree in Sound Design.
Happy Birthday to Dafnis Prieto. From Santa Clara, Cuba, Dafnis’ revolutionary drumming techniques and compositions have had a powerful impact on the Latin and Jazz music scene, nationally and internationally.
Various honors include a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship, Up & Coming Musician of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association in 2006, a 2018 GRAMMY Award and Latin GRAMMY nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album for Dafnis Prieto Big Band Back to the Sunset, a GRAMMY nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album for Absolute Quintet in 2006, and a Latin GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist in 2007. Also a gifted educator, Prieto has conducted master classes, clinics, and workshops throughout the world. He was a faculty member of Jazz Studies at NYU from 2005 to 2014, and in 2015 became a faculty member at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
Since his arrival to New York in 1999, Prieto has worked in bands led by Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Eddie Palmieri, Chico and Arturo O’Farrill, Dave Samuels and The Caribbean Jazz Project, Jane Bunnett, D.D. Jackson, Edward Simon, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Roy Hargrove, Don Byron, and Andrew Hill, among others. He has performed at many national and international music festivals as a sideman and as a bandleader featuring several of his own projects and music.
As a composer, he has created music for dance, film, chamber ensembles, and most notably for his own bands, ranging from duets to big band, and including the distinctively different groups featured on seven acclaimed recordings as a leader: About The Monks, Absolute Quintet, Taking the Soul For a Walk, Si o Si Quartet: Live at Jazz Standard, Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio, Triangles and Circles, and Back to the Sunset. He has received commissions, grants, and fellowships from Chamber Music America, Jazz at Lincoln Center, East Carolina University, and Meet the Composer. In 2016 Prieto published the critically acclaimed drumming instructional book, A World of Rhythmic Possibilities: Drumming Lessons and Reflections on Rhythms.
Happy Birthday to Dr. Iain Moyer. Iain is the Director of Athletic Bands and Music Programs Recruiter at Widener University. As Director of Athletic Bands, he oversees all aspects of the Widener University Marching and Pep Band, which performs at home football and basketball games, along with other university events. In his role as a Music Programs Recruiter, he is responsible for recruiting high school students with a music background into Widener’s academic majors and placing them in one of the many Widener music ensembles.
Iain also serves as the Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps' Front Ensemble Arranger. Prior to joining the Boston Crusaders, Iain served on the percussion staff of The Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps, where he served as Front Ensemble Arranger from 2009-2016. During his time with The Cadets, the corps won its 10th DCI World Championship in 2011, and the percussion section received the Fred Sanford Award for Best Percussion Performance in 2013.
Happy Birthday to Will Fry. Will is a multi-percussionist based in Peckham, London. Will moved from his hometown of Brighton to London at twenty years old and quickly began working with a wide range of influential musicians, including Alex Wilson, Snowboy, Roy Ayers, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Nathan Haines, Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers, Sola Akingbola, Jamiroquai, Duffy, Roberto Pla and more.
Over the next ten years, he performed in over thirty countries across six continents, including Baaba Maal’s Blues de Fleuve festival in Senegal, Java Jazz festival in Jakarta and Fuji Rock festival in Japan. Will also took classes in Cuba, Brazil, Senegal and the United States with many of his favourite percussionists.
Later performance credits include Eliane Correa, Ola Onabule, Giovanni Hidalgo, Eliel Lazo, Joe Bataan, Dele Sosimi (Fela Kuti), Native Dancer, Femi Temowo, Ill Considered, Rene Alveraz and more.
Recording sessions include Sam Smith, Utada Hikaru, Human Nature, Mr Children (Jpn), Baaba Maal, Duffy, Ola Onabule, Nostalgia 77, Natural Self, Eliane Correa, M Ward, Sahra Gure, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation and more.
Will has worked on several West End Shows including Motown the Musical, Thriller Live and The Lion King. He has performed on major TV shows including Later... with Jools Holland, The Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno and the Ellen DeGeneres shows and recorded on the soundtrack to the 2009 film Nowhere Boy.
With a specialism in Latin American percussion, Will often incorporates his background on drum set, orchestral, electronic, West African and North Indian percussion (as well as the piano and violin) to create something unique.
Gig Alerts
The Jazz Foundation of America has a bunch of FREE events in NYC and New Orleans for the month of August.
ATL Live is back in the Mercedes Benz Stadium in November.
Lollapalooza India 2023 pre-sale tickets are now available through the ticketing platform BookMyShow.
Lollapalooza India is taking place January 28-29, 2023, in Mumbai. Global producers Perry Farrell, WME, and C3 Presents are involved with the latest festival to join the Lollapalooza family. “After traveling through 7 countries and 3 continents, the moment has arrived for India,” the announcement on Twitter reads. “4 stages, 40 acts, 2 days, all here in Mumbai. See you on Jan 28-29!” -Article
Damon will be speaking at the DIY Musician Conference in Austin, TX from August 26-28 (Damon’s birthday is the 28th). Other friends of the show that will be there include: Chris Robley, Cheryl B. Englehardt, Suz Paulinski, and Ari Herstand.
If you would like a preview of that conference, head over to the DIY Musician Podcast, episode 307.
If you want to bring a friend, you can do so FOR FREE by entering the coupon code: DIYCONFRIEND22 at checkout from now until August 12.
Educational Spotlight
New artists for this November’s PASIC have been announced.
Damon Grant will be giving a clinic at PASIC November 12th, 2022 at 10am in room 109.
YouTube makes it even easier to convert long-form videos into YouTube Shorts.
With apps like TikTok leading to the rise in short-form media dominating the internet, YouTube introduced Shorts to keep up with the trend. YouTube Shorts encourage users to experiment with shorter media on the YouTube platform, but now it’s even easier for creators to make Shorts. Creators can take existing content from their library and edit it into a Short. -Article
Iconic Recording
This week’s iconic recording was chosen by Jon. It is “Workin’ Day and Night” by Michael Jackson from the ‘Off The Wall’ album.
You can check out the personnel for the album by CLICKING HERE.
Music News
Shout-out to (friend of the show) Brevan Hampden for the new position he is taking over at UNCG. Both Ernest A. Turner II (piano) and Brevan Hampden (percussion) have been fixtures in the culture for many years and bring a wealth of experience, talent, and perspective that will be of great benefit to our future students and faculty. Please welcome Professor Turner and Professor Hampden to the music faculty of the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Jazz Studies program.
Shawn Mendes cancels his world tour after a series of postponements to focus on his mental health.
The 23-year-old Grammy-nominated singer announced the cancellation of his world tour on Twitter. Earlier in the month, Shawn Mendes pushed back three weeks’ worth of concert dates “until further notice.” -Article
John Oliver talks about mental health in this past week’s episode of “Last Week Tonight”.
Here are some options if you are struggling with your own mental health and need some help.
Jon Shiffman Interview
The song leading into the interview is “S.O.G. Burning in Hell” by Steel Train, from the ‘Steel Train’ album.
The interview starts with Damon and Jon talking about Xennials and also technology vs. analog.
Jon started with pop music on stations like Z100, and then started to expand with groups like the Dave Matthews Band.
Jon talks about choosing an instrument in elementary school.
Jon studied from Gary Van Dyke who is still at William Paterson University.
His teachers after that were Dave Brown in middle school, and then Bob Hankle in High School.
Shout-out to Matt Hankle.
Damon and Jon talk about groove vs. chops.
Jon attended the New School to be in and around NYC. He also applied to SUNY Purchase.
Damon talks about steady music gigs people choose out of school. Jon talks about how more musicians have also become producers or other type of music gigs to make ends meet.
Jon talks about GB (General Business)/Function/Corporate/Wedding type bands as well as touring.
Jon was in the band Steel Train.
Jon left music and became and ENT and almost a physicians assistant.
Jon was also in the band Bleachers.
Jon talks about the commitment of being a “road dog” touring musician.
Shout-out to Jack Antonoff.
Jon plays drums for, and does some of the behind the scenes managerial work for Live Music Pros, and the band The Atomic Funk Project.
Damon and Jon talk about some tips to running a Club date band.
IEMs (in ear monitors) are key. Having a talkback mic for the musical director and no floor wedges also help stage volume and communication.
Jon talks about some of the events that band does from Weddings to private functions to even DMCs (corporate events).
Planning center is a great app for scheduling. It was made popular with its use in churches.
Jon talks about the importance of the songs and setlists.
Jon also talks about doing the same homework and preparation for GB gigs as other high profile touring gigs or Broadway.
Damon brings up having a dedicated sound engineer as opposed to a band member running sound.
An app that some people have used is “Make It Big” for calling the next song so you can segueway tunes. Jon has seen people use a small dry erase board and marker.
Damon and Jon talk about using technology to your advantage, and being organized will help the music be better.
Jon talks about Bruno Mars and Jeff Bhasker.
Jon talks about the audition process helping to gage talent and also give people a chance to prepare a lot of material before having to play a live gig.
Jon talks about how he approaches being a musical director and addressing issues onstage.
Damon brings up having public gigs and using them as a showcase for potential clients. Also, how musicians can take notes on potential bands to play with.
Shout-out to the Red Lion.
Jon mentions how much attitude plays into things as well.
Jon finished up his bachelor’s degree at City College.
Jon mentions how important it is for drummers and percussionists to understand how to mix and EQ drums in a recording program and between your limbs.
Jon and his wife were in the NY Times.
Jon picks the iconic recording for the week.
Jon talks a little about Rod Temperton.
Jon proudly endorses C&C Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, and ProMark Sticks.
Props to The Hankle Family, Bob, Matt and Ben!
The song leading out of the interview is “Shadow” by Bleachers.
