CHAD TASKY
DRUM PLAYER
ABOUT
MY NAME IS CHAD TASKY, and unfortunately I am a drummer. My first memories as a child were of the band KISS, or more specifically their drummer Peter Criss. It was all downhill from there...
INDIANA: I got my first Ludwig drum kit in 5th grade while living in Long Beach, Indiana. I had made a deal with my mom that if she bought me a used drum kit, and in return, I'd take piano lessons. Damn. Beginning of 7th grade... time to move. Have to sell the drums. Damn. So in 1986 the family moved to Lynnwood, Washington... a suburb about 12 miles north of Seattle.
LYNNWOOD: It was there that I helped start my first band - Wild Diamond. I played keys ,because I had yet to buy another drum-kit. The mere fact that i now owned a couple decent keyboards (Yamaha DX7 and Akai AX60) also got me stuck playing keys for another band called Concrete Jungle. Soon, I saved up enough money and finally bought a Tama Camco drum-kit. Once again, I was complete. Around 1989, I bought my first 4-track cassette recorder (Fostex 280), and began recording under the name Chump Fool Suckas with a high school friend. We wrote funny songs about ripe bananas, flying dogs, and pastries that attacked people. Good clean fun. I graduated high school in 1992 and moved to San Francisco, California.
SAN FRANCISCO: I began attending San Francisco State University, and lived in the dorms... which meant no drums. I bought an acoustic guitar, studied audio-production, worked two or three part-time jobs, and still managed to work as an audio engineer for shows on campus and around the city... rock, jazz, rap, death-metal, klezmer, and once a even a guy that played Tibetan bowls. It was while at SFSU that i discovered the world of hand-drumming.
MALONGA: I began playing percussion with an African Congolese dance class for Malonga Casquelourd, a master drummer and dancer from the Congo in Africa. My years of playing dlembe, congas & cowbells, as well as learning the dances for that class opened up a whole new approach to drumming & rhythm, and I began to incorporate those new ideas into my playing on the drum-kit.
ANDIAMO: Soon after I started playing percussion with space rock instrumental band Andiamo. I recorded one CD with them before we eventually dissolved in late 1998.
DOWNFALL / PEG: In 1999 I started playing drums in the super-loud & super-heavy band Downfall. We later changed the name to Peg. We played like crazy all around SF for about two years, and recorded one demo at radical house studio in SF. After our eventual break up, the guitar player and I started a project called Pipsqueak. We recorded a handful of songs with just the two of us (and sometimes Jay Roe on bass).
THE ROCKET QUEENS: On October 28th, 2000 - my dreams came true. I played my first show with The Rocket Queens, an Appetite-For-Destruction-ONLY Guns N' Roses tribute band. The Rocket Queens are currently alive and well as can be expected (what with the binges and all) and are currently available for shows. That is, if we can all get a hold of each other and can remember the songs. (Rocket Queens Website)
STEREO GRANDE: In November of 2002, I started playing drums for Stereo Grande - an alternative-rock cover band. playing everything from Green Day, White Stripes, Nirvana, Queens Of The Stone Age, to Michael Jackson, Prince, and Men At Work - Stereo Grande played hundreds of shows all over the bay area until retiring the band in early 2006.
ENDA: In early 2003 I joined the band Enda, and played with them until breaking up in early 2004. Enda was a really great band with a lot of potential and energy. We were sort of a cross between Smashing Pumpkins and Foo-Fighters, but with female vocals.
DRUM-TECH: In February of 2003 my life took a complete turn when I landed a job as a drum-tech for The Dead (formerly The Grateful Dead). I know... weird, right?!?? Working with drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart - I toured the country with The Dead up until 2009, and have worked at more shows than I choose to remember. Since then, I've toured the world as a drum-tech with: Dennis Chambers (Santana), Karl Perazzo (Santana), Raul Rekow (Santana), Pepe Jimenez (Santana), Paoli Mejias (Santana), Cindy Blackman Santana (Santana), Abe Cunningham (Deftones), John Molo (Phil Lesh & Friends), Jeff Sipe (Phil Lesh & Friends), Tim Alexander (PRIMUS), Brian "Brain" Mantia (Les Claypool), Paulo Baldi (Les Claypool), Mike Dillon (Les Claypool), Stewart Copeland (Oysterhead), Brad Pemberton (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals) & Narada Michael Walden (The Narada Band).
DISASTROID: I started playing drums with Disastroid in June of 2007, and started to tour/gig immediately all over the West Coast. We were loud, we were heavy, we were tight, and we rocked! We recorded a couple really good CD's before I eventually left in late 2010.
THE GOLDENHEARTS: In 2007 I also found myself playing drums with The Goldenhearts. We evolved from being an all-acoustic quiet band to becoming a full-blown psychedelic-rock band! I recorded and gigged/toured with The Goldenhearts until leaving the band in mid 2012.
WHICH BRINGS US TO NOW: I'm currently living in San Francisco, and I have a rehearsal-space in the city where my drums live. I am available for writing, rehearsing, recording & touring. I'm into good music... sometimes even bad music, so let me know what you have in mind!
