For some people, a name says a lot about them. For brothers Steven and Christopher Drummer, their name says almost everything.
“I didn’t even realize our last name until people started telling me ‘you play the drums and your last name is Drummer,'” said Christopher, 19, while laughing. “Some people just call us Drummer, they don’t even know our first name.”
Since the two began playing drums in their mid-teens, they’ve gone on to become part of a world-class drum corps and cultivate talent in their community.
“Music is just the thing we love. It’s in our DNA. We do it while we sleep pretty much. We do it naturally. We can just stand there and beat on our chest,” said Steven, 20.
Originally from Los Angeles, the brothers moved to Bakersfield in 1996 when their family’s church relocated.
Christopher, who plays the tenor drums, goes to Cal State Bakersfield, and is majoring in music, but is in the drumline class at Bakersfield College. Steven is a full-time student at BC and is also in the drumline at BC. He plays the snare drum.
Both brothers are members of the Blue Devil Drum and Bugle Corps whose A Corp, their highest division, won the world title and B Corps, the second highest, are the Drum Corps International Open Class champions. Both corps competed with teams from across the United States and world.
Christopher became a member of the Blue Devil Drum Corps A this year while Steven is part of the Blue Devil Drum Corps B.
“It’s hard looking at my little brother and seeing that he’s in a better group than I am, but I love him so I’m proud of him,” said Steven.
While the brothers are proud to be part of a championship winning organization, they haven’t let their status go to their heads.
“I don’t even talk about it anymore because it’s in the past. Plus, there are always new things to accomplish. It’s like, we won last year but it’s already time we start working on this year,” said Christopher. “We’re about to start competing in a month or two so you kind of can’t reflect too much on the past.”
Both began playing drums a little over six years ago. The two played horns when they were younger, but upon entering high school Steven decided to take up drums because he looked up to his older brother, Michael Drummer, who played the drums. Christopher did the same.
“I started them over at BHS when they were freshman. I had their older brother, Michael Drummer, in my line and when Steven Drummer came in he played baritone, as a horn player, and asked if he could crossover to become a drummer. I had his brother so I gave him a chance – extremely talented – right out I knew he was going to be good,” said David Ellis, the brothers’ percussion instructor since they began playing at Bakersfield High School.
“Then a year later Chris came in, and he played trumpet. He asked if he could play quads. I told him, ‘I already had too many and I couldn’t take him.’ So he asked if he could practice, and I watched him practice – I turned around and went back and said, ‘yeah, you’re in,'” said Ellis who sees the two as some of the best to come out of Bakersfield.
Ellis believes their experience with the Blue Devil group helped the brothers grow as both musicians and leaders, appointing Steven as leader of BC’s drumline this year and Christopher as leader of his section.
Ellis said, “We weren’t sure if he’d [Steven] ever become a leader type, but we always knew he was very talented. Now, he’s taken that role and done a great job with it.
“When you’re a really good player and there’s not many people at your level, it’s kind of hard to put yourself on a scale and see where you’re really at. When he went out to the Blue Devil organization, everybody was good. It helped mature him and realize that he had to work hard,” said Ellis.
Being members of the BC drumline and The Blue Devils, the two love the competitive aspect of drumline. “If you think about it, drumline is a sport also. It’s a sport of the arts,” said Steven.
Although both Drummers enjoy competing, they’ve also developed a passion for helping others develop.
Both brothers teach drumline to high school students in town. Christopher works at Stockdale High School as an assistant drumline coach, while Steven is the head drumline instructor at East Bakersfield High School.
Both Drummers see being paid to play drums as their dream job and a goal for the year.
“It sometimes doesn’t feel like it’s a job because it’s what I love to do,” said Steven.
“Like, I want to teach other kids the same way I was taught, and I want them to be as good as I am one day even though in their heads right now they aren’t thinking about that.
“You have so much fun with the kids, just joking around and stuff, but you get things done so it’s a lot more fun than it is work,” said Steven.
The younger sibling also finds joy in teaching others how to play the drums.
“If anything, I’m just a role model to the kids because they see us perform and stuff all the time in the different groups that we do. I just give the kids inspiration,” Christopher said.
“Most people in Bakersfield don’t like to practice that much. The level of striving for excellence in this town is way less than every other town there is, and I just try to get it going here.
“As an example, whenever the new freshman come to the school, I always make sure that at sometime in the year I go off and play and make sure that they’re watching so that they get inspired. So they say, I want to be good.”
The Drummers believe that Bakersfield’s potential in drumline is untapped. The two blame the “scattered” nature of Bakersfield’s school districts for the problem.
“We’re trying to show the kids how fun it can be instead of how much work it can be,” said Steven.