1. You became a well-known drummer worldwide because of your performances in YouTube, playing drums
over themes like the Mario Bros’ video-game, “vintage” mobile phone ringtones, and some classical music.
Why did you start doing that?
First of all, thanks for this opportunity and for the “well-known drummer”! I started making drum videos in
2005 mainly just for fun, to amuse myself and my friends, and these first experiments were only available on
my website. Sometimes because I was bored, some times because I was angry with my girlfriend (yes It’s
true, eheheh), but definitely one of the reasons that first led me, and still lead me to make drum videos is
because I love every single aspect that concerns the production of a video: the born and development of an
idea, the drum arrangement, the setting up of the drum kit and microphones, the audio sound check, the
positioning of cameras, the video editing process, the audio mixing process, the creation of the graphics ...
plus all the next steps like the publishing on Internet, the updating process of my websites, etc etc…
In the summer of 2006 I then started to post some of those videos on Youtube, soon began to have some
unexpected success in terms of views and comments. During all this time, the reasons that mainly leads me
to create videos have remained the same...but the friends became a bit more numerous
2. How do you choose the themes (or musics) to do your performances? How do you arrange, or compose
the drum parts you play?
I don’t have a proper method for the choice of repertoire. Sometimes I listen to these pieces and my mind
begins to translate the melodies into rhythms, grooves, fills, patterns ... et voilà! I definitely try to avoid in
choosing pieces in which the drums is present or is fairly delineated, and I choose pieces that enjoy me,
through which I can express myself in the best way, say my “opinion” with my drums. I have a soft spot for
classical music…and I’m sure everybody has noticed this
How I arrange the parts. Most of the times I happen to hear the piece and I already have a rhythm line in my
mind. Then I listen it several times and I try to imagine how to play that on the drums in different ways,
avoiding to be repetitive. I also try to understand which variations and rhythmic fills use, respecting and
following the melody or the main theme of the piece. The next step is to translate these ideas into the real
world, on my drumset, playing and jamming along with the audio track. Usually, before the shooting of the
video I haven’t entirely clear every single beat that I’ll play, I like to leave enough space for improvise fresh
ideas and instinctive solutions ... a lot of ideas appreciated by the audience came just when the camera were
on, and now you can see the result on Internet.
3. Surely you are not just an “YouTube drummer”. Tell us about the other gigs you played in Italy.
Until recently, I’ve been playing for almost 5 years with an italian rock band. We have recorded 3 studio
albums (the last one with a cool indie label from Rome), played hundreds of live dates, won contests for
bands and made many television and radio appearances throughout Italy. Among the earlier things I did,
apart from the band, I’ve played, collaborated and recorded with many rock, metal and alternative bands in
my area. I’ve also played in an ensemble of drummers and percussionists and recorded 2 soundtrack of
some musicals for an Italo-English acting company. Especially the last one was a wonderful experience that
challenged and at the same time enjoyed me with various genres in a place that I love very much, the
recording studio.
4. Now you are living and studying in the US. Do you believe that’s really important to a musician to go out
his own country to study music? Why?
It’s true, I'm studying music outside Italy, but I consider important each of these 2 aspects which don’t
necessarily have to coexist. So, I’ll divide the answer into two parts: studying music and going out of own
country.
I’ll start by saying that going out of our country for a while is a very good life experience. Grips with another
language, another culture, different customs and habits - including music - does well, is exciting, challenges
and helps to better understand (and to get a deeper picture of) where we lived before, who we are and how
we live our life. Surely it’s not easy and affordable for everyone, but it's something I recommend doing at
least once in the life, even if only for a few weeks.
Studying music is something that I began seriously only recently, but I wanted from a little bit time. Actually I
understood the importance of studying music only in the last few years. When I was a teenager I played so
much with my bands but I studied music - and drums - only a little because I was bored, I just wanted to play
all the time. But over time I realized that studying music, in addition to being an enjoyable thing too, helps to
understand deeply what we are playing, to better express the ideas that we have in mind, to communicate
quickly and clearly with other musicians, to perform our pieces with less effort while controlling more of one
aspect of which perhaps before we didn’t even know existed. It's a magic and wonderful universal language
that enriches a musician, that can help him to go beyond and, above all, to give him the key to express
himself in a better way.
5. What perspectives do you have to the near future? What are you planning?
The first thing I’ll do is play on next September 3nd and 4th at a fantastic drumming festival in Spain with
super heroes Dom Famularo, Virgil Donati, Jojo Mayer and Billy Cobham. Then I’ll return to Los Angeles for
the last lessons and exams of my musical adventure at the Musicians Institute of Hollywood. After the
achievement of the Certificate, I’ll return to Italy and I will dedicate to various projects I have in mind, soloist
and not…You’ll soon see more staying connected with me through my personal website:
http://www.andreavadrucci.com - It’s been a pleasure man! Congrats for you website, thanks for the
interview and good luck with your future!
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