119 – Go-Go Ray: 25 years of Funk, Rock, Fusion, Blues, and Experimental Music in Kansas City

Go-Go Ray has been a Kansas City fixture since he moved there in the early 90s. He grew up in Dallas where he played in every possible school ensemble from 4th grade on, and got his first professional experience in a local funk/R&B cover band. He studied music briefly at North Texas but was drawn to the rock, punk, and other music scenes that were happening outside of school. Mike Dillon‘s band Billy Goat needed a new drummer and the chair was offered to Go-Go, with the caveat that he had to move to Kansas City where the band was based. Go-Go made the move and hasn’t looked back, playing in a litany of groups including Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, Karma, The Brody Buster Band, and most recently with blues guitarist and singer Samantha Fish. In 1992, he won the Guitar Center Drum Off and in 2010, won the Roland V-Drum Competition. He has also been an educator for 20 years, maintaining a steady roster of private students to whom he is known not as the drum teacher or the drum instructor, but The Drum Counselor.

In this podcast, Go-Go talks about:

The musical culture of Texas when he was growing up there

Playing in various projects lead by Mike Dillon

The history of the blues scene in Kansas City

Making his playing more mainstream after playing experimental music

How advertising himself as The Drum Counselor started as a gimmick but quickly became an educational philosophy

The growth that comes from participating in competitions

His five-year tenure with Samantha Fish and why it was time to move on

Putting himself in a position to be patient and wait for the right project to come along, rather than taking whatever comes up next

Go-Go Ray endorses Yamaha Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Aquarian Drumheads, Promark Drumsticks, Humes & Berg Cases, Sweet Spots, Carmichael Thrones, BDM Mic Clips, Cympads, and 64 Audio.