Missing a beat: There aren’t enough drummers to go around in Miami’s music scene

Drummer Javier Nin was scheduled to play with local band Folktale San Pedro at what would be the very last show hosted at Las Rosas, an Allapattah bar and live music venue that closed in 2022.

But Nin’s other band, Frogs Show Mercy, had its very first performance in Orlando booked on the same night.

“They say man plans and God laughs,” said Nin with a chuckle. “In that moment I had to think ‘Where is it that I’m needed the most?’”

Torn between these options, Nin decided his heart was closer to Frogs Show Mercy. The prospect of spreading that band’s reach to Orlando was too important to pass up.

This situation happens a lot in Miami, with local bands cycling through a limited roster of drummers who often play for multiple bands at live music venues throughout the county, like The Sandbox Stage in Miami Beach, Gramps Bar in Wynwood and Naomi’s Garden in Little Haiti.

The drought of drummers in the scene can be chalked up to a variety of reasons: the expense of buying a complete drum set, lack of places to practice (without annoying your neighbors), and the low profile of drummers, who often take the backseat to the frontmen.

Because of this scarcity, Miami drummers must be be malleable enough to play alongside sonically different ensembles - like Frogs Show Mercy (an Emo band) and Folktale San Pedro (an Indie band).

“If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it,” said Nin. “It’s a blessing to be able to play with groups who do completely different things and still be able to give them infrastructure to continue to work on their sound.”

Musician Gian Gavidia was originally a guitarist but shifted his focus to drums because of the shortage, he said.

He was approached by Opposition Dolls, a band with a much heavier spin on Emo music, who were in need of a new drummer at the time. Gavidia admitted to the band that he was not the most knowledgeable when it came to percussion but took on the task of filling the missing role in the band.

Though he is still Opposition Doll’s core drummer, he now plays with local bands Glumdays! and Pansy Prep while also subbing for other bands who need drummers for scheduled gigs.

“It’s not the easiest instrument to keep at home. It’s really loud, it’s a lot of gear you have to lug around, and storage space can be a problem,” said Gavidia when asked what he thinks some of the causes are for the lack of drummers. Another issue: finding someone who owns their own drum set.

Local musician Sebastian Crow is another local drummer who performs with several bands.

“It made sense for me to choose drumming because all my life I was doing it without realizing,” said Crow, who is the drummer of three bands –- Shiiva, Buko Boys, and Devil Castle.

His father may have planted a seed for his love of music by making sure the first song he would ever hear would be “With a Little Help From My Friends” by the Beatles. He played it on the way home from the hospital after baby Sebastian was born.

Crow recalls immediately gravitating to the rhythm section in music when listening to obscure genres like Viking Metal with his older brother. He did not begin officially learning to play drums until his sophomore year of high school, but recalls making beats by banging on whatever was around him.

Both Crow and Nin graduated from Christopher Columbus High School and were involved with the music program run by New York-born musician Keith Cooper.

Nin remembers rushing to the music room after school where Cooper would often jam with students.

“With him as our teacher, all of us drummers definitely had the right platform and environment where we could fully express ourselves,” said Nin.

Cooper moved to Miami after high school to study music education and jazz performance for saxophone at the University of Miami. With plans to move to San Diego after graduation, he was invited for an interview to teach at Columbus’ music program.

After being offered the job within an hour of the interview, Cooper only intended to stay with the school for a year but ended up spending 20 years there while also becoming part of local music collective, The Push. He has worked with notable artists including Lil Wayne, Meek Mill and John Legend.

“One thing I tell my students is that the best drummer you can have is one that no one really says anything about because if you’re doing a good job on the drums, it means you’re just laying it down and no one is complaining about you doing too many fills,” said Cooper.

Cooper has seen a steady flow of young drummers come through his program thanks to institutions like School of Rock Miami, where teachers are nurturing passionate artists who want to continue to hone their skills on the instrument.

“Kids always want to hit things,” said Cooper. “My motto is ‘this is your opportunity to let loose and hit things as hard as you can, we can have a pizza party if you break the drums’.”

He believes it can be hard for young musicians to grasp that if they are the drummer in a band, most of the audience is going to be paying attention to the vocalists and guitarists. It can take a while for some to understand this role in live performance.

“It can be hard seeing the singer get all the attention after a show while you’re lugging away all your heavy equipment back to the car,” said Cooper.

This story was produced in partnership with the Lee Caplin School of Journalism and Media at Florida International University.