Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeromy Bailey.
Hi Jeromy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
When I was 15, I took a trip to Guitar Center with my Mom and somehow I convinced her to buy a drum set while we were there.
Things didn’t take off immediately. It wasn’t until I was 16 and going through my first high school break up that the drumming addiction took off.
The early years were split up with punk bands and pretending to know what I was doing as a music major in college. After dropping out of college, I found myself touring with a couple of reality TV stars. If you’re familiar with the Bachelor franchise, you’d definitely know them.
In 2016, my wife and I made the big move to California. Looking back, it was crazy hectic. I played with a ton of different artists, dipped my feet into background acting, walked dogs, and fell in love with coffee.
You know when you hear stories about writers disappearing into a log cabin to do their work? That’s kind of what California was like for me. I spent my days listening, writing, practicing, and challenging myself in every way possible. I was DEEP in the development phase of life. I really miss those days.
In December of 2019, we had our first kid. That changed things enough already, and then the Covid days hit. In April of 2020, we packed up everything and moved back to Texas to be around family. I ended up with about 4 months off paid through Starbucks due to my store in California being closed and using my paternity leave. It was a major blessing that allowed me to hang out with my kid early on, and of course, practice more.
As things opened up, I found myself busier at Starbucks than I wanted to be and I made the shift to get back into teaching and gigging. In a week, I quit Starbucks and found myself completely consumed by Texas marching band and private lessons. This sums up the last 5 years and brings us to today.
I’m currently the assistant percussion director of a giant 6A high school. It has to be one of the better percussion director gigs out there. It’s more flexible than most.
On top of that, I’ve been fortunate enough to resurrect my playing career. While I’m always looking for new artists to play with, I stay fairly busy with The Teague Brothers Band and Matt Gumley.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been direct, for the most part, though, I wouldn’t say smooth. The best destinations are down the windiest roads, right? The last 20 years has held a lot of ups and downs, but I am pretty blessed to say I’ve only faced two major challenges in my career.
The first was moving away from Texas and leaving all of my contacts and relationships here, I had to rebuild my network from scratch in California. Then, leaving that network behind when I moved back to Texas. This industry is all about who knows you, and more importantly, who is thinking about you. I’ve learned that lesson in the hardest way possible.
The second thing is managing a full time teaching career, being a dad, and trying to get back into playing full time. That ties into building a network a little bit. It is extremely hard to build a network when you aren’t in rooms with people. Instagram is alright at helping you maintain those relationships, but it rarely starts anything meaningful. My days for the last three years have been extremely full with working however many hours a day, then coming home and being a present father. It’s tough. I’m doing it though!!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
For the most part, I’m a hired gun. Send me your set list and your recordings, I’ll chart them out and play them tonight. That’s been my strategy for 15 years or so. The speed in which I can learn a set list, and then consistently play that set has won me a ton of gigs over the years.
There is an aspect of teaching that I really love to do. I love working with students one on one and figuring out how to take them from point A to point B. Something about seeing their success and sharing in that excitement is extremely rewarding. When I dropped out of school, I didn’t stop studying. I studied privately for years with some fantastic teachers, but I also started reading books about high performing people. From athletes to CEOs, I enjoy that stuff. I try to pass on all of that through my teaching.
Currently, you can catch me with The Teague Brothers Band and Matt Gumley.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Where to begin.
Books –
7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon
The Art of Learning – Josh Waitzkin
Deep Work – Cal Newport
Unreasonable Hospitality – Will Guidara
Apps –
Polynome
Moisesz
Podcasts –
The Working Drummer Podcast
Drummer’s Resource
The Tim Ferriss Show
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jeromyabailey
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/jeromyabailey
