Hi everyone,

Firstly, I hope that everyone is safe, well and making use of any spare time during this lockdown period that we wouldn't otherwise have. I have been finding plenty time to practice and work on remote collaborations with friends and colleagues, as well as lots more family time, which has been great.

Teaching online has been a rewarding challenge, and I'm thrilled to see students adapt to this new tuition method and see them progress - you can still book lessons online with me by sending an email to stephencdrums@gmail.com

I am delighted to be hosting a drum workshop LIVE on FACEBOOK this Thursday, 11am for This Charming House.

If you have drums, great, but if not, get yourself some cushions, or pans etc to hit at the ready!

Join the page by clicking here and hitting the 'like' button to join in the fun.

Thanks to Joel Peter for inviting me to run this session.

New photography from Tom Jeavons Photography and video promos have been released for my function band The Wilderminds.

In November last year, we got together with manager Craig Robinson and his video team at the gorgeous Lost Village Of Dode in Kent - a real hidden gem, and must-see wedding venue!

On that freezing cold November afternoon, we shot the material and put on an intimate gig for the village locals; a lovely way to wrap our first gig Season!

Check out our new website by clicking here.

We are now taking bookings for 2020/2021. Get in touch with us through the website above.

Happy New Year to you all!

After a very busy month of 2 day show days with panto, it is lovely to be back home and back into the swing of things with teaching and preparing for the year ahead.
I was very proud to be part of the Imagine Theatre’s 5 star production of Jack And The Beanstalk this year at The Beacon Arts Centre, located on the West Coast of Scotland in Greenock.

As always, an intense band call and straight into tech rehearsals with this one. I do enjoy the rehearsal process though, especially for pantomime. Lots of changes are being made to the music, the script and the overall look of the production during this stage, sometimes even right up until the show opens – and further changes made during the previews stage!

Big shout out to the Musical Director, Dave Adey, for making me feel so welcome in the pit – there were only 2 of us (yes, I know), so we bonded very well!

The cast, creative team, crew and musicians worked tirelessly to put together the fantastic production which ran the whole of December.

After depping on The Carpenters Experience earlier in the year, I was offered some gigs with Real Magic – The Queen Tribute from the same company. I am delighted to be joining the band on their travels to Bahrain in the Middle East to play the Dilstock Festival – a festival of tribute bands – on 8th November.  We will also play the role of backing band for the U2, Rolling Stones, David Bowie and 80s tribute outfits. Can’t wait for this experience!

In December, I will be heading to my homeland to play on panto with Imagine Theatre’s production of Jack And The Beanstalk showing at The Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock, from 6 December to 31 December 2019. Looking forward to working with this company and Theatre for the first time!

For more information on Dilstock Festival, please click here.

For more information on Jack & The Beanstalk, please click here.

I am now trying my best to update this section of my website once a month – but of course, summer for musicians is usually crazy busy, hence my failure last month to write something! However, let me condense my June and July into one post instead...

Wedding Season has arrived again!  I returned to my regular dep slot (dep means to fill in for the regular/resident musician) with The Gentlemen Of The Road Band – a 4 piece, powerhouse, function rock outfit playing wedding and parties across the country. As the name suggests, I get to see a lot of different places – well, usually a field or the inside of a barn, but still nice. . . it’s always a fun gig with these guys, go check them out!

My own function band, The Wilderminds, fresh from Stag Promotions, have taken on bookings this year with a new guitarist and a new bassist, and it has been great fun getting to know and work with those guys.

After being asked to play for The Carpenters Experience upon returning from tour earlier this year, I was invited to play for the company’s Queen tribute, Real Magic. It had been a while since I set up more than 3 cymbals and a double kick pedal! Queen is one of my favourite bands, so it was a pleasure to play this amazing material.

And on that note, a very enjoyable (if not slightly rainy) weekend was spent with The Carpenters Experience in South Wales. The first gig held in Cwmbran, followed by Barry Island (which reminded me of a very small Blackpool) and brought back found memories from my childhood. Izzy (saxophone/flute) and I made it our mission to find a House Of The Dead arcade game. . . but none could be found, so we had to settle for another shooter! The search continues. . .

Rounding off this post, it’s worth giving a shout out to the Newham Music  team (and Chris Buglass) – a company which provide music tuition to schools in the Newham area – for the trust and hiring me for their youth concert performances at Stratford Circus earlier this month. It was awesome to perform with their orchestra for audiences of young people, many of whom would never have seen a live orchestra perform before. The evening performance starred young students taught by the music hub, including a short opera based around people in Newham, entitled ‘Full Circle’. With no drum charts handy, I worked off scores, lyrics and a bass chart – great band though, and a lot of fun! Thanks again for having me.

Since coming back from tour at the end of February, things have been pretty busy! I’ve returned to teaching and taken on some new students, and been kept busy gigging too. 

The Carpenters Experience got me in to dep a gig in South Wales upon returning from Germany, and I’ve since been booked for further gigs with them. Those guys are great to work with, and I will TRY my very best to keep my gig page up to date with those concerts!

Another very enjoyable gig with Markus Michelucci & Sound Refuge took place at one of our favourite spots, The Feathers in Rickmansworth. You can watch a brand new live session with the band here. The song performed is ‘Blue Jean Bride’ (music & lyrics by Markus Michelucci), which was specially written for Markus’ grandmother. The song features lush guitar playing from Chris Buglass and soothing cello from Marianne Hardisty.

And last week, I found myself with a great band for Burgess Hill Musical Theatre Society’s Sister Act, a musical based on the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, with music by Alan Menken (Beauty & The Beast, Little Shop Of Horrors, Tangled) and lyrics by Glenn Slater (Love Never Dies, The Little Mermaid). Go check out this amazing musical if you haven’t already!

Now that I’ve wrapped up things on The 12 Tenors Best Of Tour, I thought I’d go back in time to November and share some pictures from where rehearsals began at the Schloss Schweinsburg Hotel in Neukirchen.

The cast had 2 weeks of rehearsals, and we (the musicians) had 1 week with the cast prior to the show opening in South Korea. The set, lights and instruments were built up in the big sports hall at the hotel and at the end of rehearsal week, we performed our dress rehearsal for a small audience of hotel guests.

Special shout outs here to Christian Hesse (amazing lighting design and operation), Attila Götz (instrument set up) , Philipp Fritz and Florian Burger (sound).

I am pleased to offer drum lesson vouchers exclusive for this festive period!
There will be several highly reduced lesson packages to take advantage of this festive season, so head over to my Facebook page here for the latest updates. Or, for more information on these special discounts and my lessons, please drop me an email: stephencdrums@gmail.com

Returning from the international tour of The 12 Tenors in March 2019, I will be recommencing my tuition service. Here's just a few things some of my students and students' parents have said about me:

I am delighted to announce that I’ll be joining The 12 Tenors as Drummer on their Winter ‘Best Of’ tour from 1 December until 1 March 2019.

This will be my first big international tour, playing shows in South Korea, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg and I am delighted to be offered this incredible opportunity!

THE SHOW:

“With their new tour, THE 12 TENORS pay homage to the world hits of the last millennium!
In their 2-hour stage show, the 12 exceptional singers pick up on music history. Powerful and unique, they bring to life songs of all sorts of genres: songs that have shaped pop and rock culture, ballads that have touched millions of people, and classic arias that will probably last for ever.
Be there! Enjoy a concert of emotions with songs that everyone knows, everyone loves, uniquely interpreted and specially arranged for the 12 tenors and their band”.

For more information on the show, visit the Facebook page here.

I am especially happy of course to be taking my branded stick of choice, PROMARK, on this epic journey - for information on Promark and their products, visit the link here; highly recommend!

www.12-tenors.com
www.promark.com
www.stephencoetzee.co.uk