THE MUSICIAN'S SHED PODCAST: JEREMY WARREN (Full interview)

In this soulful and rhythmic episode, Samar Newsome sits down with world-class drummer Jeremy Warren. From his humble beginnings in Little Rock, Arkansas, to the high-stakes stages of New York City and his current impact in New Jersey, Jeremy shares the blueprint of a career built on versatility. Whether he’s keeping time for legendary jazz icons or providing the backbone for hip-hop royalty like The GZA (Wu-Tang Clan), Jeremy’s journey is a masterclass in musical adaptability and dedication.

Key Discussion Points

• The Arkansas Roots: Jeremy reflects on his early childhood in Little Rock, the influence of the church, and the pivotal moment he realized music was his calling.
• The Transition to the North: The leap from the South to the competitive Northeast music scene. He discusses the "culture shock" and the hustle required to establish himself as a first-call drummer in the tri-state area.
• The Jazz Discipline: Having performed with some of the finest names in jazz, Jeremy breaks down the mental and technical preparation needed to play at an elite level.
• Crossing Genres with The GZA: A deep dive into his role as the drummer for Wu-Tang’s The GZA. Jeremy explains the nuance of bringing live instrumentation to classic hip-hop and the "bridge" between jazz improvisation and hip-hop pocket.
• The Educator’s Mantle: Beyond the stage, Jeremy discusses his passion for teaching in New Jersey, emphasizing the importance of passing the torch to the next generation of percussionists.

Memorable Quotes

"You have to be a chameleon. Whether it’s a jazz trio or a Wu-Tang track, the heartbeat of the music is the same; it's just the language that changes."

Takeaways for Listeners

1. Versatility is Currency: Learning multiple genres isn't just about fun; it’s about professional longevity.
2. Education is Essential: Jeremy highlights how teaching others actually sharpens your own craft.
3. The Journey Matters: Success isn't overnight—it's a long road from Little Rock to the world stage, paved with practice and persistence.

Where to Follow Jeremy Warren

• Instagram: @jwarrenmusic
• Check out his latest project: Jeremy Warren & The Rudiment

STAY Connected on YouTube ,  IG and Facebook.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Hey, this is Samar Newsom, and this is the Musician Shed Podcast. Today I have a very special guest, a friend of mine, a colleague of mine, very talented musician, Mr. Jeremy Warren. How you doing, Jeremy? Good, good. How are you doing? Thanks for having me. I'm good, man. How's everything going? It's going all right. All right, all right. So uh tell us about who you are. You know, introduce yourself to the audience and you know we we I know who you are, but let's do know who you are.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

My name is Jeremy Warren, uh from Little Rock, Arkansas. Um uh drummer and composer. Um I moved here to New Jersey 205th, no, 2013 to go to NYU to get my masters, and I kind of just stayed and been working, playing with a lot of people. Um yeah, that's basically that's about it. That's cool, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Who were some of the people you work with?

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Um I worked when I first moved here, I was working with a guy named Raquel Walker. Uh so we was doing a lot of party band stuff. Oh dope. Um then from there, I got uh I got the chair for Don Braden, uh jazz saxophonist. Yeah. Um it just started growing. Um I play with uh Nina Freeland, uh jazz vocalist. I play with uh James Austin, jazz pianist. Uh I do a little bit with Jiza from Wu Tang. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I'm the I sub for Ramsey Jones. Okay. So I sub for him every now and then. Um yeah, yeah. So just do what I can do.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

And then I'm I met you in a studio session. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What which was pretty dope. Melvin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Melvin. And um, and then of course, you you're a teacher also, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Oh yeah, for the teacher. You're an educator. Yeah, music, uh, music teacher, middle school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How's that? It's going. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Well, we can unpack a little bit, but man, I mean, one of the biggest things about the show, and thank you for coming again, um, is trying to highlight, you know, some breadcrumbs, some a path to uh people who might be interested in doing what we do or or seeing how to have some success to it. Because I I think there's levels to it. Right, right. Um, there's a a dance to it, to how you navigate working professionally and and having a job and having a career. And so I think you know, that's one of the things that I, you know, I think you could lend into that conversation. First, how did you get your start in your instrument? How did you identify like this is what I want to do?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Uh church. I grew up in my my granddad's church, uh, Pentecostal church, uh PAW. Um, now it's my dad's church, my dad's pastor. Well, I grew up um watching the drummers there because they wouldn't let me touch the drums. You know, they would they would cover the drums up at the service. Oh yeah. Well, I would watch uh the drummers that was there, uh Ricky Neasley, uh Aaron McGowans, Clifford Aaron, all those guys. And I just that's where I fell in love with it. Um my mom, my dad bought me my first drum set when I was six, seven years old. Nice. Yeah, yeah. So I just kind of got into it then. Um I was a member of the Boys and Girls Club, and they had a gospel choir. So I was the drummer for that for up until I went to college, actually. Oh dope. Yeah, yeah. So that's where my love grew. Uh playing for that, for the gospel choir. Right, right, right. So we were like the Ty Trippa before Ty came out. So we were actually nice, but it didn't pan out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

That's cool, man. I mean, yeah, there's always pockets of energy in different places. You would this was in Little Rock?

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yeah, this was in Little Rock, Arkansas. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, yeah. So we was doing our thing. And then I um went to University of Memphis to study jazz on a marching band scholarship. Wow, okay. Yeah, yeah. I didn't get into the jazz program, but because I only I only played gospel. Right, right. So I was on the marching band in the drum line and you know, and then they let me in the jazz program once I started taking lessons. Cool. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, that's where it all started.

unknown 4:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

And then you say you went to NYU?

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yeah, yeah. I got my master's at NYU 2013. That's when I started. Okay. And I finished 2015. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

And that was in jazz too, or that was it was a jazz, yeah. Gotcha. Yeah, yeah. So you now by now you just like, I'm in jazz. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

So now we're whatever cause, you know. What'd you say? Whatever cause. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Yeah. So now that's cool. Um, what was your fascination with jazz coming from gospel?

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Um, consider how everything was similar.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

You know, a lot of stuff I was playing in gospel, I was I started taking lessons, like this is, you know, this groove is this. And I was like, oh, it's in this song. That's what the drummer was doing. Yeah. You know, so it kind of connected. Okay. So once I that's why the switch wasn't hard. Right, right, right. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

So now do you play more jazz than gospel now?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, basically.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Yeah, yeah. Now that makes sense. Um, what was I gonna say? Um, so what what was what was those first years like? I mean, like, okay, so obviously you said that the drummers that you grew up with was covering the drums afterwards, all that kind of stuff. So, what was that transition to actually them saying, you know what? Let's put them on the drums now. Like, how what what kind of work did you have to put into getting to that level?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

A lot of work. I was, you know, work on timing, um listening and not trying to chop everywhere. Back there they were like pocket, pocket. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so um, yeah, so those things, once I worked on it, they started letting me play. Yeah. You know, played for the youth choir and things like that. And then when I got in the boys club choir, so that that helped out a lot. That gave you more opportunity. Yeah, yeah. So we was traveling, we were traveling all over the state and and surrounding area. So we was, you know, being the feature guests in different churches and stuff like that. Got it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

So once you left Little Rock, you never came back. No, I never was. I I always talk about um musicians who leave like these because I I mean New York is kind of like the New York or like LA or something like that, especially if you're doing TV or acting. But like for music, LA and New York, you know, those are kind of the places. I mean, maybe Nashville, Atlanta, Nashville for sure. Yeah, but so it just depends on what you're doing and what scale. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because if you're doing Broadway, New York, yeah, yeah. There's no other place really. Right, right. Um, but I always uh like kind of am amazed at musicians who come from different parts of the country or just different countries also, and they kind of conquer the place. Like, you know, we're from here, sometimes there's people from here that don't even do anything. Right, right. You know what I'm saying? That's from here. Tell us about the challenge of coming from somewhere else, yeah. Or is it or is it in your opinion easier because you don't have the expectation from being there?

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Um what can I say to that? When I first got here, it was it was hard getting on the scene. Yeah, actually. Um see like people were like they didn't want to let new people you know. So um I came with my my wife, you know, she was my fiance at the time. She's a vocalist. Okay. And so they let her sit in before they let me see. Yeah, they wouldn't let me sit in, you know, wouldn't let me sit in. Even on the jazz scene, I would I would stay at small's all night trying to get in, you know. And you know, it was okay, what I'm gonna do. You know, then my wife started sitting in at different places and they started calling her for gigs, and they were like, hey, my drunk, my my husband plays, and that's how I kind of had I got on the scene. Gotcha, gotcha. You know, so um people will say my sound was different. And I spent a lot of time in Memphis too. So yeah, so that you know, Memphis is one of the hubs too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, Tennessee, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it was like my sound was totally different from what they heard here. So that's kind of how I started working. Your wife was from Little Rock too, or she's from Memphis. Okay, well, okay. So you met her when you were in Memphis. Yeah, I met her in Memphis. But um, but yeah, so it was hard. I don't know, everybody's protective up here of their of their seed. Everybody trying to hold on. Yeah, yeah. So it took a it took a little minute. You know, a lot of nights staying at smalls and staying at the the jam sessions and not getting to play. Wow. So I kind of got frustrated, but it worked out.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Yeah, I mean, some of it is time, and then when they don't know you, some of it is like just you showing up enough times. They they're good familiar with you, they see your face enough times and say, I've seen this guy before. And they're not sure what you do, right? But they might give you more chance because they've seen you a few more times. And now here, we used to have a couple of places like that. I used to go up into Cecil's places like that, but even those places don't exist anymore. No, no. But um, yeah, small's uh like almost most of almost all of the musicians I know this jazz, that's their standard place, right? Right. So you know, for for good reason. Um, so what what was one of your highlights of your career so far? Like you could say, yeah, this was the best thing that happened to me.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Um I went to Columbia with Jiza. Oh, nice. And it was 200,000 people. Wow, I've never played for that many people. That's dope. That's dope. I'll never forget that. So it was it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Have you have you ever been able to work with any other Wu Tang or just Jesus? Just Jizer. Yeah. Hey, that's big. Wu Tang is huge around the world.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, yeah. Oh man, even in Colombia, that was like they couldn't even, you know, they only speak English a lot, you know, but they they knew Jizer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And do all the words.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

That's that's wild. That's dope. Oh, yeah, yeah. Now, what was conversely, what was one of your biggest challenges, you know, like all of those places that you had to go through, all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Oh biggest challenge. Oh no. Oh, think about that one.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Okay, no worries. Come back to it. Um, so take take us to like those first few days, because uh not days, but those first few years when you started as a professional musician or you're like on the road to it. What was your what was your practice routine like? What was shedding like for you?

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Shedding, man. I want to touch the drums first. I would just sit and listen to the music. Gotcha. Yeah, yeah. So I just sit and listen to the music, get it in my head. I'll probably chart it out, you know, short head. Uh then I will sit at the kit and practice. Gotcha. And make sure everything is lined up, make sure I'm getting all the breaks, hits. Um well yeah, that's that's that's my process of things. Gotcha. Even today. Even today. Even sometimes I won't even sit at the drones and practice it, it's just listening to it. Yeah. You know, you can practice just thinking about it. That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Because you're you're, I mean, especially once you've built the um the muscle memory. Right, right. So now you're just telling your muscles and your brain, like, we're gonna do this, it's gonna feel like this, you know. And you don't even have to, like, I mean, same thing. Like, if I'm playing keys and let's say I don't have a keyboard in front of me, right, right. I could still chart it in my head, even without writing it down, like in terms of changes. Right, right. It's going here, here, here, here, here. Then here's the bridge, you know. So I I could definitely resonate with that. Yeah, yeah. Um whoa, whoa, so that now that gives me tells me like a development. Like, that's you learning a song. What about like just keeping your chops up? Like, what's your what's your regimen for keeping your chops?

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Uh man, just busting through rudiments on the practice pad. Yeah. Um, and then just just playing along to different stuff. You know, I down at the basement, I turn on some stuff I don't use to play. Okay. Just you know, play along to the different stuff. Try to play some new stuff. Yeah, play some new stuff, yeah, yeah. Gotcha. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

That's good. Important too. So people just really surround themselves to what they like, right? What they're used to, and never challenge themselves outside of it. Right, right. That's important. Yeah, yeah. Um, what's what's a musical myth like that uh you've heard, and then you're just like, man, that's not true. When you when you saw it, like like something that people say all the time, you gotta do this, but it it didn't pan out to be true.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Oh what do I say? One I know they say jazz musicians don't make any money. Oh, yeah, they definitely say that. But no, you make money.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

My old band leader used to say that all the time. He used to be like, yeah, these jazz cats, man, they're they they go out seven nights a week, you know, for 50 bucks. That's what he has to say. But yeah, and I I mean I know that depending on what the gig is, you know what I'm saying? Because I think that um I would say, and you could you could correct me, is there a scarcity of work as a jazz musician? Or is it no, it's a lot of work, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

So so then those are again, those are myths, because I think some people just think I mean there are, I mean, there are I mean some of that stuff is true. There are gigs out there that don't pay. Right. A lot of people just take them. Yeah, for the for practice, yeah. But still, like even I still get some of those calls. I do them. Yeah. You know, because you never know who's gonna be there. Yeah, that's true. You don't ever who you might meet or play with. That's true. So I wanna say, who did I play with? Um I can't remember, but I got a call from somebody. I can't remember who it was, but I did get a call that was I did a free gig or gig that was almost free. And then it turned into something bigger. Nice, nice, you know. So um my teacher at NYU, um saxophonis, SNL. Then he pick it. Okay. He was like, don't turn anything down. Wow. He's like, we like do it. He's like, that's how he got his his stuff. You know, SNL. He did a free gig and they called him to do SNL. Wow. You know, so you just never know. Like, yeah, I get it. It's a lot of work to go do something for free or for a little money. Yeah, especially a drummer. Yeah, and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of stuff I do turn down, but you know, we just never know. You just gotta take your chances. Got you.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

What what's a what's a skill that you acquired as a drummer that you were like, man, I wish I knew that five years ago? Like just a skill or something that uh information that you found out, and you was like, I wish I knew that before.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Uh oh. Uh that's a good question. Oh. I guess electronic stuff. Using electronics, yeah. Incorporating that. So if I would have been into that a long time ago, it'd be a lot easier now. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm figuring it out. Learning how to use the pads, like pads, and samples and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's it's a lot more common these days, like at least one pad, right, right. If not a whole, you know, sample pad. But um that's cool, man. I mean, technology for everybody, I think. Yeah, I think I could probably say the same thing in terms of you get used to a format and then a new one comes out that's a little bit more efficient. You know, it took me some time to get to Ableton. But I'm like, okay, if I got to Ableton a little earlier, that probably would have done something different career-wise. So I could definitely understand that. Um what's what's a time or a situation where you had to pivot? Like you had to change, of course, because of the challenge or whatever, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Oh you think you got some good questions. Uh change because what do you mean?

SPEAKER_03 16:51

Yeah, like so you had to change course. Let's say you you were on a trajectory to be the next uh jazz music jazz drummer, you know what I'm saying? And and something happened that made you have to now take care of a family or do something different. You know, that that it didn't stop it, but it just made you have to modify it or something.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah. Um I would say, um. I would say that's how I got into teaching. Okay, gotcha. You know, gotcha. I knew I needed to I wanted to teach anyway. Right. But I knew I, you know, I was gonna I proposed to my girlfriend, so I knew I was gonna need to have something steady. Yeah. So I had to, you know, pivot it, you know, to that and to take it more seriously. Yeah, yeah. You know, and not just gig, yeah, gig, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So handling both of them is it's it's a challenge. Yeah. You know, so I had to to really uh work on my skills as an educator. Yeah, yeah. So at first I wasn't. It was like, you know, I'm focused on playing more, you know, and I'm just gonna teach, you know, the best way I can, but now it's like it's more than the same. I gotta practice teaching, I gotta practice, you know, performing. Yeah, man. So yeah, yeah. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

I so I started at in public school, yeah, and the support, honestly, was cool. It was it was just basic though. When I got to charter, I got to Kip specifically, um, their support system for you as a teacher is totally different. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? It was more about like really supporting and giving you more skills versus versus just analyzing your your pedagogy. You know what I mean? Like they didn't assume that you had everything already. Right, right. And then just like, all right, we're gonna supplement what you already have. Yeah, yeah. I think that's a different approach. I mean, as a teacher, in anything, like that's one thing I learned is like to support. So even as a musical director, if I have a band, my goal, I mean, first I want to hire the right person, but then after hiring the right people, I want to figure out how to accommodate them to make sure that they're at their best. Right, right. And that's what I feel like that does. Yeah. Um, how do you do that as a teacher? Because you have that's basically our job as a teacher as well. Not to criticize children, but to find ways to get through to them. How do you find um ways to get through your kids?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Man, um I relate a lot of the stuff to to real life, you know, things that I've been through, you know, musically, or not that's not even music related. So I will be able to connect with them on those different stories, stuff that I've been through, uh, or stuff I see other people go through. You know, so yeah, so that's that's one of the the big things uh with teaching. And I feel like that's my purpose there. You know, I see myself doing a lot of that versus uh teaching music. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. They they want to come talk, you know, they got a lot to talk about, acts, you know, some kind of way I have answers. That's good. Well, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

So yeah. And that's and that's again, that's part of the job, you know. Yeah. Uh just to be a ear sometimes. You know what I mean? Um music, music has its own connections, it's gonna make with people, but I think that sometimes it's just the gateway to having relationship with somebody and being able to sew into their lives as a as a person. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? With with knowledge and wisdom and ideas, right like that. So um what so what are you what's what what's going on now? What's your I know you did some recordings too of your own. So tell us about like some of the stuff that you put together on your own.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah, so I've been at Kip four years now. Okay, yeah, yeah. Um I've been working on just getting the kids singing, yeah um, just to start because they they they didn't have anything over there musically. So I was like, okay, they're and they like to sing, they like to dance and sing. And so Sig has been working out, and so um I've been working on my songwriting skills. Yeah. So I've been working with them with that. You know, they've been flushing out some lyrics, giving me some lyrics. So we've been building that. And so we build the song that I wrote, Rise Above. That's great. And they've been singing it, they sound really good. That's great. Yeah, recorded it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

So now are you taking the whole the students in the studio to record?

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Or oh well, I took a just a small portion. Got you, gotcha. Yeah, so that's cool. They knocked it out. Ay like they've been in there before.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

How was how was that? And like how did the like what kind of you had to get parent support, school support to do that? Um, what was that? Because that's just an experience for kids. Yeah that like, okay, I want to do this one day, you know what I mean? Right, right. How would they how did they respond to that?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Uh they were they were cool, right? You know, as soon as I asked, they were like, sure. Yeah, you know, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

Yeah, that's I mean, it is those things plant a seed in. To people when they're young, just to like okay, this is something that's possible. When I was young, I remember going to studios when I was young, and that kind of influenced what I wanted to do. So I definitely can understand that.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

Um, so who's who's your favorite drummer of all time?

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Oh man, it's too many. I'd have to say overall is Tony Williams. Okay, okay. Um after that Brian Fraser Moore, uh Chris Dave, Chris Daddy, yeah. Um who else? Mel Lewis, big band. Um Gerald Hayward. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Brooklyn. Yeah. Uh Spanky. Oh yeah. Spanky's busy.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

And Spanky's so creative.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah, yeah. Even though we're close to age, but I've I've looked up to him so many years. Yeah, yeah. So that's that's my guy.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

You said y'all was y'all was the y'all was the first Chai Tribu. Yeah, nobody knew us, though. So you might have been the first Spanky.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Nobody knew us, but yeah, it was just in Arkansas, that's a rounded area. So we was doing some of the same stuff that was they're like, we were doing that.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

You know, nah, they were they were they were innovative, man. Yeah, yeah. Um, but again, and it's crazy. Even in that era, I remember there were several people in that era like innovative like that. You know, my friend shout out to my boy Leon Lacey. Yeah, Leon was coming up in that uh uh Jehovah's Chosen was a group coming up in that time. So they and it was and I remember them all. Youthful praise was coming up in the same time, and I would just remember them all in that time, and then but what Ty was doing musically was great, but also like kind of challenging the status quo of how you perform as a and that to me was the one thing that stood out even more than music. The music was great, yeah. But and then amongst his peers, they all had that great music. But what stood out for him, I mean, like he was getting I I heard stories of people like you can't come back to this church, you know what I'm saying? Like because of what he was doing, yeah, yeah. But you know, it it it you fast forward it and that you get to who you are now, yeah. And and even like Kirk Franklin at some point, I'm sure, was in a similar boat, like just challenging the norm, you know what I'm saying? And so um what uh so do you even play gospel at all anymore?

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Yeah, yeah, I can call. Not too many calls, but okay, okay, yeah, yeah. Um the church I'm at is real low-key, so it's okay. I'm not into today's what's going on. Like, so I kind of do get a call, kind of like, nah, I'm not gonna do it. You know, I've been out of practice, but when I was in Memphis, I was in the thick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was my church trap was up. Gotcha. But since I've been here, my church trap's not not up yet. Gotcha, gotcha. So I do have to work on that, but they're not gone. No, no, no. You're gonna go.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

But and I think if when you're when you're an educated drummer, like you got, like you said, you you know your rudiments, you know all your stuff. You literally can listen to it and analyze and say, okay, that's this is what he's doing. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Anything. It ain't really nothing that's uh that you can't access. Right. You can access anything. Yeah, um, that's the that's what I like about you know having studied is like, yeah, I could I can figure out whatever it is, yeah. Moments, you know what I mean? Yeah, and and that's that's a skill because you practiced it. Um so what's what's your dream thing to do to accomplish as a musician? Is there like a certain project, a certain artist you want to work with?

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Uh man. At some point I want to get to, I do want to get out of the classroom just to take a little break. Like I do want to get to that point to where I'm on the road or working a lot. Yeah. But my ultimate goal is to tour with my music with my wife. Yeah, that's the ultimate goal, is to be busy with that.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

And y'all have a unique thing, man. I mean, not it's your band and your wife's band. Yeah. And then she's like a front singer, right? Yeah. Because I've seen you guys a few times. Amazing, amazing music. Oh, appreciate it. Do you so y'all have your own original stuff as well? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. What's the name of the band so that people can check y'all out?

SPEAKER_01 26:32

It's called J D Warren. So J. Jeremy, and her name is Dermel. Okay. Warren J D Warren. Yeah, yeah. Gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 26:41

And like, where can they find more information about you?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Uh, you go to our website, www.jwarrenmusic. Um, social media, J D Warren. We on Instagram. Um, YouTube. I'm bad with social media. So that's all right. Uh YouTube is um JD Warren Music. You can find some videos of us on there. Um, yeah, we on Facebook. Her name is Darmel Warren on Facebook. Okay. Um, Jeremy Warren on Facebook. Um I should have wrote my handles down. I can't remember. Yeah, it's all good. It's all good.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

It makes you makes you go back and think about that. Now, what um what is what's something that you like, yo, I gotta tell these students this, like that you make sure you teach your students, whether it's private students, because I know you got private students as well. What's something that you you always tell students like about either music, drumming, career, all of those things?

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Um, the main thing I talk about is being a good person. Um being likable. Yeah. Um when you're working with people, just make sure you're easy to work with. Yeah. You know, so especially students at at school, you know, they arguing all the time, you know. I like, yeah, I gotta cut that out. Yeah. You know, you don't know who your friend's gonna turn into or who your classmates are gonna turn into. Yeah. You know, always treat people with respect, you know, even you know, even if you don't know them, you know, always come out the gate with respect, you know, and be easier to work with. So I think that's the main message that I teach to my students. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:25

Now what was one of your worst gig experiences? Because I think I asked you a worst experience, but and I think you like, let me think about that. But what was one of your worst gig experiences? Uh I think that one's probably easier to do. I might get in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

That's all right.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

You ain't got to tell us who it was.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Uh I went on the road with a group. Um we was we did a little tour. It was very low budget. Okay. Yeah, so we were all packed in a small HUV and a small compact car. Um we was they bought two hotel rooms. Two rooms? Two hotel rooms. It was like we were overcrowded. Yeah, yeah. So we were like we had to sneak in the hotel so they weren't getting in trouble because all of us packed in one room. Yeah, yeah. So that was, yeah, yeah. That was it was pretty rough. Yeah. How was the music on it though? The music the music was good. But just the accommodations. Yeah, yeah. The accommodations was rough. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

But um Yeah, how many, how many places did y'all go like that?

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Oh man. It was had to be like eight or five places.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Eight or nine, two two rooms in H.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Sometimes we will stay at, I guess, people's houses that they do. Yeah. Or I guess the people that booked us. Okay. You know, let us crash at their place or things like that.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

That's that's how our college tours were. When we were in college, we would do like tours, and they would literally have you sit sleep leave living at people's houses. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah for whatever. And which I mean, those experiences were they could be one way or the other, you know what I'm saying? Good or bad, but um, it's interesting. And that's that's I'm sure that's normal in certain touring situations. But um, so what uh do you have a new project you're working on?

SPEAKER_01 30:24

It's coming out, it's already out. It's crazy. I've been working on it since the pandemic. Okay, and we recorded it. It was basically done, but um, I've just been sitting on it, made it financially and get it out. Like, but now I I wrote so many other songs, like, shoes, I need to record these. Yeah, you know, but so I got like two albums now. Nice, nice, you know. So um probably gonna go to the studio probably next month, try to finish these next set of tunes.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

So now what's your process in writing? Do you just like wait to be inspired? Do you like say, okay, I want something that feels like this?

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Man, just whatever comes, come to me. You know, basically um whenever I sit down at the piano, uh nothing comes out, you know. So it takes like I could be working in the yard somewhere and I might hear a bass line. I like if we go, let me sing it, I sing it in the phone, and then I go back to it and just build from there. And it'll probably take days. But uh, but yeah. So no, no process. Theory, I know theory, yeah, but I don't I don't practice it all the time. Right. So I won't say, so I guess that's why people say my music is hard. Because it's not like your theory stuff, you know, like okay, this makes sense that no, I don't know. It's like whatever makes it here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I put it, I put it down.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

Well, that's like that's art, man. You know, when it comes to art, it's they say it's in the in the eye of the beholder, like beauty's in the eye of the beholder. And sometimes art is not linear, it's not just like, okay, chorus, bridge, you know, stuff like that. It's just like, okay, I felt like going here. Yeah, I felt like this chord made sense here. Right, right. And again, those those pieces are are unique and they have their own um thing that attract people to it as well. So um, so what's um, again, what's the what's your what's your goal uh as a musician, as a songwriter, as a recorder, or even as a teacher? Like, what's what would you like to see? How would you like to see all of those things kind of complete when you're like, yeah, I'm done with everything now? That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Oh when I'm all done?

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Yeah, yeah, you know, like some some people would be like, you know, like I I would love to be an e-got. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You know, so that means I gotta get started on one of those awards. But you know, that those those are some aspirations that people have, like to to say, okay, I want a Grammy, or you know, I I got an Oscar or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Um I I do want a Grammy. Yeah. You know, I do want one of those. Um don't know how to get there, but I do want to use it's just work, man, just music. Yeah. Well that I I want a Grammy for education too. Okay. So um I guess I guess my goal is just to see my students go to college, yeah, you know, get music scholarships. Um musically performing. I just I want that opportunity to be out there to do my music, you know, yeah full time. If it's for maybe for six months or five months. Yeah. You know, I just want to get for a period. Yeah, just for a period. Just to get my my music and my message out there. Yeah. I feel I think I would feel complete. For sure. Yeah, yeah. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 34:05

No, that's dope. That's dope. Um any any other things you want to share? Like any any what what what encouragement would you have for your students that might be listening or watching, or a couple years from now, they'd be like, oh, let me see this thing with Mr. Warren.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Um I would say hard work, uh, never give up. Um no matter what the challenges are. Um, like I said, I've been through a lot. Um through a lot personally and medically. Um not supposed to be here. You know, um when I was a kid, I um I had uh rare skin disease called Steven Johnson syndrome. And at the time uh the doctors didn't know what it was, and so I had the worst of it. And it is 90% fatal. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh it blinds you. Uh of course it discolors your skin. Um but yeah, I remember being in a hospital here and the doctors telling my parents like, yeah, I gotta prepare for the worst. Yeah, yeah. But um just, you know, my mom didn't give up. She was praying over me, everybody's praying over me, and I started getting better. But I've always suffered um uh things after growing up. Right. Um, especially with my eyes. Um four years ago, I lost my eye, my right eye. Wow due to complications from this was when I was in first grade when I had it. Wow. Yeah, so I was still trying to get through college, I will still have problems, you know, in my eyes. So getting through college, trying to pass uh certification exams, just trying to graduate, and I was gigging, going through a lot of pain, doing a lot of shows, a lot of pain. Um nobody ever knew. Wow. Yeah, so uh I just I was determined to keep going. You know, I could have easily gave up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could have easily gave up. But I'm here, you know, man. Still living out my dream. So yeah, so I would say never give up no matter what you're going through. Wow. God bless you, man.

SPEAKER_03 36:20

I mean, I think that that's encouraging, bro, because like you said, it's very easy to give up. I mean, people give up over uh a hangnail, yeah. Right. So, you know, for you to face that adversity, I think, you know, being relentless and being having faith in the in the midst of adversity is a strong lesson, man. I appreciate you living that out too. So um, thank you for coming, brother. Yeah, thanks for having me. You know, this this like I said, his brother is is amazing. Uh, what he's doing with his students is amazing, his career is great, and again, pushing through through challenges, very, very inspiring, bro. So if you if you want to check out my brother, um, he gave you his handles. We'll also uh put his handles up. But thank you so much, bro. Thanks for having me, man. God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

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