Craig Blundell, drummer of Steven Wilson has slammed keyboard warriors for sending negative, hatred emails to him.
Here’s the complete post:
Dear ladies and gentleman. It’s been a weird week this week. I got back from Japan, pretty tired and opened my email from my website to a few sh*tty emails from prog fans that seem to think that drumming is essentially a completion, I must play like all that have gone before and be a clone but then if I am i’ll still not be good enough?! It’s all very strange this freedom of speech thing and something that I struggle with. It’s so easy to tell a player in a comment or contact box that you don’t like them then at a gig come up to them and shake their hand and say you loved what they do, I find it all very strange but accept that’s the world we live in and it’s easy to vent for on a keyboard whatever reason to make yourself better without worrying about the affects it has on the recipient
All of my professional career playing this label music as ‘prog’ I’ve been the so called “hired gun” the substitute, or got the call after the drummer had left so I’m kinda used to it, Frost, Pendragon, David Cross, Steven Wilson, Steve Hacket, I could go on. Jobs where I’ve got the call and it’s split opinion. It’s amazing to get the support and awful to be on the end of the naysayers. To a lot of people I’ll still never be good enough or as they put it, not in the same league as “insert drummers name here” which is absolutely fine but sometimes hard to read or hard to accept but accept it I have and in some weird twist of events I use it as a bit of a ‘f*c* you’ and practice harder to push myself personally
I think that particular genre attracts music snobbery and also people struggle with change, I’ve always chuckled about progressive fans that can’t progress?!! I was one of them too by the way with a couple of bands that have had line up changes but I sit in the wings, keep my negative thoughts to myself and wish the people every inch of success. I also think the drumming dynamic has changed massively. Lots of drummers bash other players now, it’s sad to see but it is happening, I’ve had more than my share and every time I post a set up picture, suddenly the experts come out to say, too little, too many, I would have chose?! Maybe so but you didn’t get the call so it’s not your problem so why waste your time? That’s not me being an arse but that’s my theory when I see another drummer, It’s strange. I understand it’s a small minority but if people really thought before they posted, I’m sure there would be a little bit more general harmony in the planet
I find it weird to see a post or read a mail basically when people go out of their way to tell me that they are sitting this tour out because it won’t be the same or I hope you play this part like this or it won’t be the same, things that people wouldn’t say to my face, we all remember the Steven Wilson early days, I’ve never experienced anything like it
I’ve thought really hard about deleting the whole social media thing this week and thought of going back to just having a website so I would let have to look or feel compelled to respond to the idiots. There is the ‘f*c* them’ argument but I don’t have the thick skin that others are blessed with. I like interacting with people. Rightly or wrongly I find myself on the world stage now touring, I don’t know how long it’s going to be here for but I’m deeply proud of it and enjoy sharing my thoughts that anyone can do it with a bit of hard work and dedication and I stand by that, I’m nothing special, I’m not a natural, I have to work at it everyday and it comes with a lot of ups and downs
Basically what I’m saying is this. If you are kind and polite I will give you all the time I have to answer you questions and help you as much as I can with as much as I know. I know a lot of ‘ego driven’ musicians that don’t interact with their fan base, I’d hate to be considered as such, I like helping people and I love sharing my stories from around the world. There’s not many Brit drummers that get this privilege and I guess luck so I’m deeply proud
Please, if you are thinking of posting something sarcastic, negative or going out of your day to tell me how I should play the next tour or what I should be playing, please save it, it’s not needed, although I think I know what I’m doing, I’m learning everyday to be the best I can be and to look down positive routes to drive myself forward
I totally understand haters gonna hate, it’s social media, it’s not a real world, I can deal with that now after three years with SW but going out your way to say I’m sh*t or hope you up your game?! drummers bashing drummers? Very strange….
Now I’m NOT looking for praise here and I’m sure I’m not the only one it happens to but gees it’s odd, the best way to silence the critics is to say nothing at all, but I couldn’t resist and will let it slip just this once ?
I’ll close by saying, be nice, be respectful and you’ll always be welcome here. Have a wonderful Sunday
1 comment
Craig Blundell
Unbelievable! What’s the matter with people? I positively kook forward to seeing Steven Wilson if Craig is in the line up. I play guitar but also have a Roland TD15 and use Superior Drummer for my recordings. Drummers are the people I tend to take most notice of when I watch bands and drumming is my second love. Craig is amazing and anyone who has anything negative to say are obviously not drummers or understand drumming. Everyone has favourite drum moments in records and it’s often nice to hear those key moments live. The first time I heard The Wanton Song on Physical Graffiti I had to play back the part 3 times where Bonham stops then starts again. It is a highlight in that song that actually contains no drums, just a moment of silence. They are the moments that stand out in a song. Craig is one of the greatest drummers alive and a thoroughly decent bloke so we should treasure him not insult him. Craig should also understand that for every single prat out there, there are a hundred that appreciate what he does.