One of our drummer’s recalls how they first got involved in the band.
I’ve been playing with Devon Drummers for over four years, though I have been involved with the environmental protest movement for nearly 20 years now. I joined the Drummers because I wanted to have a positive role in the actions they support. I’d heard XR samba bands play at actions I’ve been part of, felt the amazingly uplift of moral they bring to activists and supporters, how the tunes they play add a unique dimension to the messages that actions carry – whether it’s about sewage pollution, depletion of nature or social injustices – all messages close to my heart.
I hasten to say that I’m not a musician, but I found everyone I met so supportive and friendly that it didn’t take me long to realise that I’d ‘found my tribe’ and playing with them enables me to feel that I may just be making a tiny bit of difference in this world of so many challenges.
The support I feel isn’t just within my local Devon Drummers group, I’ve travelled outside my local area to join other players to support their local actions and together on national actions and the feeling of inclusion is just the same.
Whether you class drumming as ‘music’ or not, it’s a language that unites and speaks without divide, and I love it!
Written by Simone