The Barking Pupfish

Boy, talk about finding the Holy Grail late in life. Better late than never I suppose.

I know now I was born to play drums in an acoustic band. The only amplified instrument is Kerry's acoustic/electric bass, and he keeps it at just the right level.

The Pupfish is an elastic outfit that expands and contracts week by week and season by season. There's a lead singer and a backup singer, two acoustic guitarists, and an accordian/squeezebox player. That makes seven that are always present, and other than that at least one of the three mandolin players is always there, and sometimes a violinist and sometimes a conga player/percussionist.

It takes a delicate touch to play drums with an unamplified string band. You have to know when to crescendo and decrescendo, when and how to use (very lightweight) sticks and when to go to brushes, and when to drop back completely and just barely be there. It takes the right person, but that right person can add a great deal of depth to such a group, and that right person is me.

God, I love it. I can finally hear the bass drum, which for me is actually a 14 x 16 converted floor tom which anchor a tiny little set -- a 4 x 12 Pork Pie snare, a miniature tom tom, hat cymbals and two other cymbals, one of which (the accenter) is a little ten-inch.

Sooner or later this group is going to hit paydirt. The sound is just too appealing and infectious for that not to happen. But even if there was no chance of that, even if I knew I'd never make a dime with the Pupfish, I'd still play with 'em all I could. It's like being in heaven.