Modern Drummer Interview with Jason Sutter
By Gail Worley

Playing professionally since age thirteen, Jason Sutter is likely one of the most accomplished rock drummers you've never heard of. Jason spent the '90s drumming with several of that decade's most popular alternative rock bands, and his live gigs include artists as diverse as Chantal Kreviazuk, Nina Gordon, Butch Walker and two weeks on tour with Our Lady Peace (sitting in for drummer Jeremy Taggert). With degrees in Music Education and Orchestral Performance, Sutter's stylistic versatility and almost uncanny ability to network have allowed him to pad his résumé with sessions (Joe Walsh, Pink, Chris Robinson) movie soundtracks (Josie & The Pussycats), videos (Britney Spears) and television appearances (with Rachel Yamagata on The OC) - all while consistently flying under the radar.

Sutter spent the early part of his career in Boston, drumming for indie rock chanteuse Juliana Hatfield before replacing drummer Stacy Jones in Letters to Cleo when Jones left that band to join Veruca Salt. Coincidentally, Sutter explains, Jones' influence indirectly helped him get the Hatfield gig in the first place. "I'd just moved to Boston and was planning to audition for Juliana," says Jason, "but I realized that I didn't play anything like her previous drummer. Her manager suggested I get the Letters to Cleo records and emulate Stacy's playing to get the job. That was a huge relief, because the way he plays was exactly how I needed to play for the Hatfield gig." While still with Letters to Cleo, Sutter joined lo-fi retro rock trio, Jack Drag, with whom he toured extensively and recorded two albums. Jack Drag disbanded in the wake of the Universal/Polygram merger, just after the release of 1998's Dope Box, and Sutter joined the touring band of Australian singer/songwriter, Ben Lee. "That gig was a great transition from Boston," says Jason, "because I relocated to New York with Ben, and then moved to LA." Within months of arriving in Los Angeles, Sutter was "catapulted into the 'hip' circle" when he started working with singer/songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist, Jason Falkner. "I met Falkner through a mutual friend," the drummer explains. "We connected on a personal level and he invited me to work with him. Jason is an icon to many, and deservedly so, because he's extremely talented. I played a series of live dates with him at the end of his Can You Still Feel tour in 2000 and, musically, it was a fantastic experience. Playing with Falkner also emphasized for me that how you conduct yourself personally can be as - or more - important than what you do behind the drums."

In 2004, Sutter's long-time friend Stacy Jones, now lead vocalist with modern rockers American Hi-Fi, asked him to replace that band's recently departed drummer; an offer he couldn't refuse. Having already logged several months of stateside touring in support of American Hi-Fi's latest album, Hearts On Parade, Jason took some time out to speak with Modern Drummer about his eclectic career journey and his hope that playing with America Hi-Fi will be the gig that finally puts him on the map.

MD: You've had a lot of formal musical education. What important techniques have you learned from studying with various teachers?

Jason: At a young age, I studied with Jim Pietrzak and learned the advantages of having a really serious professional's tutelage. I hooked up with Jim because he and my father both taught at Potsdam State College in New York. My dad was a sculptor and Pietrzak was an art fan, so my dad traded him a drawing in exchange for my drum lessons. Jim's hands are absolutely fantastic and his technique is impeccable. I would sit for hours at a practice pad, practicing this technique he had hyper-developed, using traditional grip with the back three fingers of your left hand. Dave Weckl, who Jim also taught, talks about that technique in his first video. Jim instilled in me the importance of having great technique and a great understanding of the rudiments. While at Potsdam's Crane School of Music, I studied with Tony Verderosa. Tony was a big inspiration because he was checking out cool players and he hipped me to the fact that Pietrzak had taught Weckl when he was my age. Tony really opened me up to great jazz technique and pushed me to harness what I was working on in rock and fusion and try to put it in perspective. He gave me my first jazz direction and that really saved me when I studied at North Texas (UNT).

At UNT I was lucky to study snare drum with Ed Soph, because Pietrzak called him and said, "This kid's coming down and I want you teach him." Ed takes a limited number of students and it's always the upperclassmen and graduate student jazz majors, but because Pietrzak put in the word, he agreed to teach me. I'm a huge brush fanatic and he's probably one of the best - if not the best - brush players I've ever seen. He's so musical, it's unbelievable, and he has fantastic, impeccable chops. Ed helped me train and tune my ears.

MD: Did you always have it in mind to be a very versatile drummer?

Jason: Yes. That idea was instilled in me from being at Crane, seeing recitals of these fantastic drumset players who could also blow you away with a four mallet, three-movement marimba piece. Then you'd go to see the orchestra and that same player would be playing timpani. I'd always been a chops guy and I knew versatility would make me a better drumset player. At UNT, it was very important that you be a percussionist as well as a drumset player, so I also studied Japanese and African gamelan, played in a marimba ensemble and a steel drum band. All the while I was working my way into the jazz program, which was extremely competitive. I started UNT with about 170 guys and graduated with thirteen. I'm a better player today for having gone through that. The more you know in percussion, the more you'll work.

MD: Who are your biggest drumming influences and how did these players most influence your style?

Jason: John Bonham is my biggest influence. Bonham had the ability to groove like crazy and embellish without getting in the way of the music. He'd throw in the craziest fill ever at the perfect time and never detract from the groove. I don't have one recording where he plays poorly; it's not the room, it's not the engineer, it's him - everything he touches sounds amazing. When I'm on tour and playing every single night, his inspiration tells me that I've got to play my best.

As far as creativity in jazz, Tony Williams just kills me. Those live records he did at Lincoln Center with Miles Davis, My Funny Valentine and Four and More, are completely amazing. The way he plays his ride cymbal and his other creative touches, he's playing like no one ever had. He was just so brave to play in a way that was uncharted territory. It's very exciting to me to try to do something a little different, where you have a distinctive style. I'm inspired by so many players, but I feel like I'm at a level in my career where I can aspire to sound like myself (laughs).

MD: Jack Drag is probably the gig that you are best known for. Tell me about that band's unorthodox approach to percussion.

Jason: Playing in Jack Drag was a great experience. Prior to hooking up with me and Joe (Klompus, bassist), John (Dragonetti, vocalist/ guitarist) didn't have a band, so he played everything himself. It was great trying to get inside John's head - and John had a lot going on in his head - and figure out this Beck-ish style of music interpreted by John on drums. My kit was set up differently and I had to really change my style. I also started playing on drums I'd never played before, which were really boom-y Vistalites. I had shakers or brushes in my hand more often than I had sticks and I used the drumset differently than I normally would, approaching it as creatively as possible.

Being in Jack Drag was like playing in a mini symphony, trying to make as much sound as we could with three people. It was trippy and groove-y but with an undertow of these very strange beats, because John was influenced by beats he heard growing up in the Middle East. I was creating little percussion ensembles for each song and it took a lot of concentration to do those gigs. When we made a record, I hardly did any overdubs because I'd be playing a shaker and a tambourine with my foot, doing all of these counterpoints simultaneously. I know that Jack Drag made me such a better player, because when I started doing other rock gigs after moving to LA they were all so easy (laughs). When I got back to playing a simple rock beat, it took a little adjusting.

MD: How does the gig with American Hi-Fi allow you to stretch as a player?

Jason: These guys let me do whatever I want. For example, there's a breakdown in the song "Happy," which we close our set with. Drew, our bassist, came up to me and said, "Dude, just go off. Just take us on an adventure." Before that, I'd been following what their old drummer had done or keeping it simple. Now it's such an exciting part, because it constantly evolves. It's like an open "Whole Lotta Love" middle, where Drew and I get into a zone. It's fun to experiment, take it to different places and see where we end up. There's another tune we do called "Wall of Sound" with a 6/8 thing at the end, and I just go off and throw in some crazy three-over-four contrapuntal parts. We're all on the same frequency in this band and the musicianship is so fantastic that I can do whatever I want and they love it. It's almost like a jazz gig, in that you're riding on what everyone is doing. That makes it easy to be creative.

MD: You've had some very fun and interesting gigs. Can you give any advice on how to create opportunities for oneself as a drummer?

Jason: Take every gig. Never turn down a gig because you don't think you're good enough, because you'll learn and grow from that experience. The busier you are, the busier you'll stay, because work begets work. LA is a great social scene and rock & roll, especially, is embraced. When I first moved here I went out every night and that's how I met the girl who introduced me to Jason Falkner. Going out every night, you meet people and the next thing you know you're getting a call from somebody who heard about you from someone you've met. If you put it out there in Los Angeles, you will get calls from someone. It's a matter of persevering, rubbing elbows and being seen. Eventually you'll walk into an audition and see someone you know. That connection will break the ice and maybe you'll get the gig because you knew this guy on a personal level and you did well in the audition.

I've also supplemented playing drums with teaching as much as I can. I taught at the LA Music Academy with Ralph Humphrey and Joe Porcaro, which was a great experience. It was something I could pay my bills with but still go to auditions and have sticks in my hands. There are lots of ways to do that. During summers in college I played on cruise ships and at Disneyworld. That was a way to make more connections, keep playing, get better and not get distracted from the goal, which is to ultimately be in the position that I'm at now; playing drums at a higher level, to a bigger audience.

MD: Do you have survival tips for players who are stepping into a lot of sessions or touring gigs?

Jason: It's really about how adaptable you are. Auditioning is a great way to learn about yourself and get feedback. The more you do that, the easier it is to become the drummer who makes everyone happy. You don't want to steal your bro's gig, but at the same time it's the ultimate compliment when the band you're filling in with tells you that they like the way you play a certain song better than their regular guy. It's also important to play with confidence and conviction. Just go in with both barrels and go for it. There are very few bands that will say, "I wish that guy could have been a little more timid."

There's an essence to playing that I strive for. Essence is the only word I can think of, it's what makes Bonham Bonham. Maybe you're playing two and four and that's it, but it makes the person you're playing with want to pick up their guitar and play. It says so much when they can tell from just that two and four that you can blow chops at the drop of a hat. Drumming is so simple; it's really just about finding the essence of what makes it feel good.

MD: How did you start teaching the players in Blue Man Group?

Jason: I was teaching privately in Boston to supplement my income from Jack Drag when a Blue Man came in to study with me and became one of my best pupils, ever. He got me hooked up with a gig teaching The Blue Man Group in Boston because, while many of them are great drummers, some are just actors who've never held a pair of sticks. My job was to get eight guys to warm up and just play together; get the heights of their sticks together and get them thinking on the same wavelength, much like you would on an eight piece snare line, but on a more primal level.

Interestingly enough, that gig led to me getting a call from Steven Spielberg's people. They'd contacted Blue Man Group looking for actors who could drum for the movie AI. They passed my number along to Spielberg's assistant, who called me in LA and asked for a video of me playing percussion. I sent them my graduate recital from Miami where I'm playing "The Black Page" by Frank Zappa, a four-mallet marimba piece and a multi-percussion piece (laughs). When the video was returned to me, it included a letter saying, "Loved the video, can't wait to work with you. Steven Spielberg." It was bizarre! The next thing I knew, I was on the set in Long Beach for three weeks filming the Flesh Fair scene. I'm credited, but I'm only on screen for two seconds.

I've had a lot of great, weird experiences because I've stuck it out and put myself in the right position. There are lots of drummers who have been playing forever, and they're killing it, but you'll never hear of them until they land that one gig that gets their name out there. I think the American Hi-Fi gig has shed a little more light on me and I'm so lucky to be playing with three of my best friends in the world. When we get on stage every night it's like, "this is what it's all about." I feel like I've arrived, but it's still just the beginning.