gotten to play drums behind some of the most amazing worship artists , traveled the nation and parts of the world , and humbly been able to help influence the next generation of worship drummers to keep playing ; both guys and girls . It ’ s been an unimaginable exciting adventure !
[ WM ] Who were your main drum influences ?
[ Nicole ] My main drum influencers for years were definitely Mike Johnston , Luke Anderson , Paul Mabury , Anika Nilles , Benny Grebb , and Jojo Mayer . I don ’ t sound like any of these incredible artists , but they were huge in helping me discover what I was passionate about and teaching me how to carve out practice time to focus on the disciplines I understood to be necessary to me .
[ WM ] Do you drum outside of the church ? Do any session work ?
[ Nicole ] While I don ’ t do any session work , outside of playing drums at my local church , I played drums full time for I Am They up until last year , when we decided to come off the road as a team . I didn ’ t feel finished in the industry and now play drums for the sweet Christian artist Katy Nichole . Occasionally throughout the year I ’ ll get invited to play drums for some amazing events or one-off ’ s for other artists who need a drummer for a weekend or for a music video shoot , including the Women Who Worship project . But each year varies wildly as to whether or not I do much else outside of my main gig , which is now the touring drummer for Katy .
[ WM ] Thoughts on drum cages ? Are you using sound deflectors ? Are they working well ?
[ Nicole ] I think drum cages can be hugely beneficial for many rooms , as they do dramatically quiet the overall sound . It does require , however , that the tech team take great care to understand and communicate their needs , as much as it requires the drummer to understand and communicate what they may need . Drum cages create their own problems as well , so it ’ s not a straightforward simple fix always . On the flip side , I think any room can have acoustic drums but requires developing that skill set to do it well , and a ton of communication between all departments .
As far as sound deflectors , I like to run shy baffles for nearly all shows we do ( except for arena tours where there tends to be more distance between the drums and vocal mics ). The shy baffle does nothing to lessen the overall sound in the room of the drums but can fairly dramatically improve the sound quality of the mics near the drums , cutting a good 15-25 % of the sound that directly hits any mic nearby . It ’ s not perfect , and shy baffles that are scratched up look horrible , but I have found they are pretty helpful for the singers and FOH engineers !
[ WM ] Do you have a kit at home … tell us about that one ?
[ Nicole ] I ’ m a minimalist by nature and currently just own one kit : early 1970 ’ s Slingerland Antique White Pearl kit . It ’ s punchy yet warm , and has a decent tuning range . Plus I think it looks incredibly classy . I used it on the I Am They music videos “ Faithful God ” and “ Promises ”, as well as a ton of our ( I Am They ) acoustic versions of our songs , a Christmas video shoot with Carmen Justice called “ Everyday is a Holiday ”, and also just recently used it on the Anne Wilson “ Hey Girl ” music