Greetings and welcome to my website!!! The heading above says “bio” but during the last 20 or so years of my life in the music business, I’ve grown to be allergic to bios. They are generally an excuse to dust off the thesaurus and make all your accomplishments seem grander than they are. My last website didn’t have a bio for this very reason-it had a featured credit list-as this one does as well. Just click on the “Credits” tab above to view. In short I hope my credits speak for themselves, without the adjectives.

However my childhood friend Dedo - who created this great site (link at bottom) - insists that I need one so here’s some quick points:

I have played drums for essentially my whole life. It has been an integral part of my entire being and I love it. I’ve been honoured to study with some of the best drummers in the world and am indebted to them for their insight. I’ve also been honoured to play with some truly inspired artists- some you’ve heard of and maybe some you haven’t but I’ve been touched to share something as personal as their music with each of them.

Another passion of mine is sharing what I’ve learned coaching drummers of all ages and abilities. Check out the “Education” tab for more on that.

I have also been hired as a “drum tech” for several CD’s and tours. I started doing this as I wanted to stalk the great Terry Bozzio in Denmark in 1992. My ability to tune and deliver sounds that producers want is related directly from my years of playing and I enjoy the challenge.

I live in Vancouver, Canada and am available for worldwide shows, touring and sessions.

Thanks for taking the time to check this all out - just click on the Contact tab if you want more info or just to say hi!

J!


April, 2011
Greetings spring chickens!!!! 2011 so far has been full of so much craziness- First off was signing a new endorsement with Yamaha Canada!!! I'm so incredibly excited to be playing their brand new Maple Custom Absolute line- easily the best drums I've ever played- the one extravegance was I got both 22" and 24" kick drums- I've been doing such a wide range of studio stuff- I needed both. The new hardware is also amazing- love the tilter and quality!!!

I'm also now an endorser of HiShaker hi hat products!!! Jason is a great friend and I'm excited for the new textures this unique tool is generating.

SO, in January off I went to NAMM to thank everyone and say hi to old friends: Highlights included the annual drumsmith dinner and all the countless great hangs- Lotsa pics are floating around facebook and stuff.... including several of myself and Mike Michalkow and Randy Cooke making asses of ourselves... too much fun.

Then, back to Vancouver and a full teaching schedule- one night I get a call from Vogville studios' Jonathan Fluevog- can I play with a band he's managing called The Light Machines? Live? In two days? No rehearsal? Never one to shy away from a challenge, I charted and learned the material and showed up to meet the guys and play the first gig!!! It went amazing and since I've played several shows with them- you can find them on bandcamp.com

Next I get a call from 20th Century Fox that they need to license my song Pigsty for the new Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2 movie!!! Then the movie gets released and is the #1 Movie in North America!!!! Holy Cow!!!! My writing, drumming, guitaring, and bassing is in the #1 Movie!!!

There's also been countless sessions over the last few months- and it's continuing throughout April- I'm seriously having the best time ever helping all these great bands and artists bring their art to life!!!!

There's two upcoming really cool things which I can't write about yet- but it's alllll gonna be- like Mylie says, Pretty Cool!!!!!

Thanks so much for reading- all the best to you in 2011!

JAY!!!

November, 2010
Time to catch up and fill in some blanks from the July news!!! Seriously one of the busiest few months without going on the road I've ever had. Started in August with a last minute phone call to see if I could work on the new Good Charlotte record- teching for their drummer, Dean Butterworth- as well as sourcing drums for them. It was a pleasure meeting Don Gilmore (producer)- everyone involved was as pro as could be. Because they like to work alone they even let me go across town to do another session at The Factory while I was working for them- as long as I promised I could be there in 20min if needed! Dean's an awesome guy and a great drummer. He wanted a set of Tama's but they are impossible to find for rent in Canada- the distribution here is terrible so Dean agreed that Yamaha's would be great. I knew that there are one of Mickey Currey's kits at the Warehouse Studios- but he had that out on the road with Bryan Adams in Canada!!! So, they directed me to an older Recording Custom kit that I rebuilt and it turned out amazing. They live up to their name those RC's!

Days later I was approached to coach an actor in drumming for the new 20th Century Fox film, "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2" that was being filmed in Vancouver. What started as a few lessons turned into me writing and performing an entire song (including bass and guitars!) for a scene in the movie! It was super fun and exciting- many thanks to Nimbus studios and engineer Scott Ternan for helping out on that one. I ended up being involved in more scenes and at one point I had to actually sub out to my buddy (and great author) Mike Michalkow- because I had a prior studio session booked that I had to honour.

In addition to all that studio stuff (and more), there were some great live shows as well. One of my fave artists to play with is Jessica Beach. Especially if my absolute favorite bass player, Darren Paris is on the gig!!! So, with Jessica 7 months pregnant with twins- we hit the stage at Tonic for a great set with great friends and you can see some footage right here on the media page. The day before we actually shot a full video with Jessica for her song "The Other Side" which hopefully will be done soon.

I also got to play with a local artist I've been digging recently, Nadia von Hahn. We did a webTV show in Kelowna and the UR urban rush TV show there in Vancouver.

Next month there are two records to play on so far, as well as the usual teaching, then Christmas, then NAMM??? maybe!!!

And that's the truth, Ruth!!!
JAY!!!

July, 2010
The craziness continues!!! The past couple of months have been mostly teaching and studio work- with one quick trip to Stampede in Calgary with Default. I'm doing two records in the next couple of weeks- so there has been a bunch of pre-production rehearsals; a necessary evil!!! I'm quite excited to be doing some pretty intensive writing sessions with guitarist Dave Musselman (Wednesday 13, Jet Black Stare) for artist Lee Tomaschefski. She has a movie and a TV series on tap for early next year and we're looking to augment her acting career with a killer recording! She has an amazing voice- you might have seen her on TV years ago as a "Live Links" girl as well!!! I'm really enjoying putting my Lyric writing skills to good use again. Also- I have a new teaching studio at Tom Lee Music on Granville here in Vancouver!!! I've been in the same dungeon there for around 4 years or more and they've moved me up to the new "Next Level" studios on the 5th floor. They're clean and new and have..... WINDOWS!!! I was actually blinded by sunlight during lessons... Amazing. Hope you all have a great summer!!! JAY!

February 5, 2010
Welcome to the launch of the brand spankin' new jaydeachman.com! My last site was launched in the winter of 2004 and served me well through the years of touring and playing. A little while ago, while on a tour stop in Ottawa- my lifelong friend Dedo Kola offered to give it an updated facelift and what you see before you is the result of his hard work. So many thanks to him for this amazing site and many thanks to you for checking it out! Drop me a line and let me know what you think. J!