076: Damon Atkinson (Braid, Hey Mercedes)

The Trap Set with Joe Wong

Joe Wong

Joewong, Drums, Comedy, Performing Arts, Arts, Drummers

4.8 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2016

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Damon Atkinson is perhaps best known for his drumming with Braid and Hey Mercedes. His cleverly composed, crisply executed beats are essential elements of those bands' formulas. He tells Joe about becoming fascinated with drumming while still a toddler; his punk rock roots in the northern suburbs of Milwaukee; how his DIY background served him well in the world of music business; and how--at age nineteen--he balanced fatherhood and musical ambition.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Trap Set is brought to you in part by Collecivo Coffee, handmade coffee since 1993.
0:07.4	Check them out online at collectivo.com.
0:23.6	This is Joe Wong. Welcome to the Trapset, where each week we explore the lives of drummers.
0:27.6	I want to play something for you. You're hearing a dozen roses by Braid, featuring my guest Damon Atkinson on drums.
0:53.3	Formed in 1993 in Champaign, Illinois,
0:57.0	Braide combined complex angular musical compositions with hard-on-sleeve lyrics.
1:03.0	Their inexhaustible work ethic and nonstop touring won them a rabid fan base,
1:08.0	especially in their native Midwest.
1:10.0	Damon anchored the band with cleverly conceived, crisply executed beats, his unique style
1:14.6	proving incredibly influential on Indian mainstream acts alike.
1:22.6	Brave disbanded in 1998, but Damon and some of his bandmates continued in another acclaimed
1:30.3	group, Hey Mercedes.
1:32.3	Damon also built on the skill set he first developed in the DIY rock scene and cultivated a career in music business.
1:40.3	I spoke to him at his home in Nashville, where he works as a live event producer and has also recently become a restaurant tour as co-owner of Nicoletto's Italian Kitchen.
1:51.5	And now our conversation with Damon Atkinson.
2:00.8	Prior to moving here, I had spent some time like two years uh on the warp tour
2:07.2	Kevin lineman in what capacity i was production office manager
2:12.1	uh which i could do that during the summer but then I could still tour manage and or play
2:18.8	drums in other bands during the rest of the year. But 2010, there was an opportunity for me
2:30.2	to become full-time. Kevin had asked me to join the team as operations manager for his company.
2:37.5	And that would have either required me to move had I taken the job, which I did, but it would
2:44.5	either require me to move to L.A. or Nashville, because he had just started an office in Nashville,
	...

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