A Fond Farewell To Stout City Luchadores drummer…. Trent Jones

As far back as I can remember, every one of my bands has always had a “drummer thing”. I don’t know what it is, or if it is in other cities, but finding a decent dependable drummer in this town is harder than a German girl ordering Mexican food. It’s not like I can blame anyone… Being a drummer is hard. First, a drummer can easily own the most expensive gear in the band (especially a punk rock band filled with pawn shop guitars). Second, a drummer usually sits in the back getting little to no glory, but if he messes up, he is the first to be critiqued rudely. Third, unless he has roadies or a mega tight group, he will find himself the last person clearing the stage and tearing down. Because of this, I have found most drummers to be unique people, playing for the love of music, loving their craft, and doing things that will make them stand out because this is the life they have chosen. I am proud to say this unique spirit has caused me to befriend most of my drummers in bands past to be great personal friends, of which I am pretty confident to say, I have maintained great friendships with. When I started the Stout City Luchadores back up… I did so cautiously. I had to. The band was everything I wanted in a punk band when I started it. I remember my ex telling me she would leave me if I started a band with such a stupid name and idea (nope don’t miss that one) and the band went on to do some great shows. It was hard too, because when I ressurected the project, I found myself replacing the old members with new ones, and I was really good friends with all the old members especially my old Luchadore drummers Danny White and Chris Benson who became extremely close to my life in 2005-08. Looking for a drummer was hard, my first choice was drumming ninja James Williams but he was busy with The Revival and Set Trip, I knew that his schedule wouldn’t allow for a third band that was going to have a tight schedule as well. I looked for others, Paul Nasty, Aaron Puffer, and even considered calling up Benson again, but knew that they were all busy with other commitments at the time, and while I really wanted to bring this awesome punk rock band back to life, I was worried that this would be the time the fucking “Drummer Thing” would finally beat me. Then Trent Jones walked into my life. I met Trent in college that year. We were both in the jazz combo. He talked to me as much as he talked to the others, so I thought he was a cool cat, but never really much of a close friend. One day in desperate need to fill this spot, I decided to ask him to try out, not expecting much or that he would even be interested. To my surprise he was, and he came to a practice. Trent nailed practice, I could see Brea’s hesitation since we didn’t really know him and bands are usually close knit groups for us, but we took him in (or he took us in who keeps track) because we knew to get this project off the ground we needed a dependable drummer with his own gear and a sense of commitment. Something happened in those last few months… The band started to click, and we began to play like the devil. The more we played and relaxed, the more Trent became etched into our group. His ability to fit in with any group of people, make them at ease and chillax attitude made him more than a likable guy, it made him a good friend. We always knew he was going to leave. He put that out there since the start. He’s going to college to pursue his degree. We will miss him. He’s not just a great drummer, he has proven to be a great friend. He’s never missed a practice or a show, and he has never missed an opportunity to act out, become a spectacle, or have a good time. It would be selfish and greedy for us not to with him well (but we guilt tripped him as much as we could). Aaron  from Poor Favor has agreed to step in for awhile until we can find a new permanent solution. Just like that, the “drummer thing” starts all over again.   Good Luck Trent.