Chixdiggit - Chixdiggit!

When you were in high school your band sucked. It's OK, so did mine. We went through the normal high school progression of learn an instrument, find other musicians, start a band, play a couple shows, figure out you suck, break up, move on. It happens to 99% of musicians.

Chixdiggit didn't go through that cycle. They started selling band T-Shirts before they even had a band. They just thought the name Chixdiggit sounded cool. Once they started selling lots of T-Shirts they bought a drum kit, and started doling out band roles. Jason Hirsch was given the role of drummer, and with no previous experience with their instruments, Chixdiggit started practicing.

Four years later, they put out this record.

Now, Jason Hirsch isn't a dynamo on the drum kit. His time lags sometimes and his kickdrum foot is a little week, but all in all, he holds it down. What IS interesting is this. Think about how you learned how to play drums. Maybe you took lessons, maybe you sat in your basement drumming along to your favorites, maybe you were unfortunate enough to be born into a family band, but rarely does someone start playing drums in a band with absolutlely no previous experience, and if they did, rarely does that band stays together as long (or is as awesome) as Chixdiggit.

Hirsch was thrown head first into the world of punk rock drumming, and he fared pretty well. He has a lightning fast high hat hand (songs like Where's Your Mom and Stacked Like That have him playing fast quarter notes with equal power), and he is on top of every chord change or rhythm shot that happens (Henry Rollins Is No Fun has him crashing a cymbal on every change).

It's interesting to see how people approach an instrument (and what happens when they keep up with it) from a unique angle, Jason Hirsch might not be the flashiest drummer around, but he sure makes more money doing it than I do.