Musician First
Erik Samuel is a drummer, arranger, and composer with over a decade of professional freelance performance experience. Erik found his love for music in his late teens and has since been performing, touring, and recording with a variety of musical projects. He is presently based in Toronto, ON and has recently graduated from the prestigious Humber College.
Over the past few years, he has worked with a variety of musical projects ranging in style and genre from garage bands to big bands. He has had the opportunity to perform with a variety of different projects, ranging from rock, reggae, R&B, jazz, Brazilian, west African, dancehall, metal, and countless others. Projects he has worked with in the past include: Celtic-Bollywood fusion artist Archy the Snake Charmer, the primary arranger and drummer for violinist Brigit O’Regan, as well as drumming for the jazz fusion group Wired.
In addition to being a drummer, Erik also has experience with a wide variety of instruments including the bass, piano, and guitar. He has also become proficient in providing backup vocals while playing drumkit, making him invaluable for live performances. An experienced arranger, he has created musical arrangements for everything from solo piano to 18-piece big bands.
His natural instinct for theory and ability to work with children made him a natural teacher. Over the years, he has taught in half a dozen music schools across Ottawa, including an ongoing annual residence in Bluesfest’s “Be in a Band” program (Ottawa’s largest festival). Since then, he has begun to teach drumset and theory privately across the GTA.
Just who is this “EriksDrums” guy, anyway? Check out the video above to find out!
About Me
Writing bios has never struck me as being an intuitive thing, I’m simply a musician who loves good music, and who puts a little bit of love into everything I work on. Everything else I add on that is just decoration. Boasting about achievements and who I’ve worked with has always felt weird to me. That’s why I’m adding this little secondary blurb underneath my nice and professional-sounding one. And while everything written above is true and accurate, I feel like you should get a little taste of the actual person behind this site. That’s me. Nice to meet you.
I’m a drummer, and I love it. The drums are the best instrument, hands down. There’s nothing more satisfying than hearing the beat drop and having the sound gain a new sense of life. You know what I’m talking about. You may disagree, but let he who has never air-drummed to Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” cast the first stone.
Outside of music, I’m also an avid gamer. It would be inaccurate to say that my first instrument wasn’t a 64-bit Ocarina, and in addition to drumming, I’ve been gathering a small catalogue of video game music ready for the day that Nintendo returns my calls.
Feel free to send me a message on my contact page, and if you’re interested in my ramblings, you can also check out my blog linked above!
