He might be the guy fueling the plane during your next flight out of Denver International Airport. But during his downtime, Aurora’s Sherman Arnold hones drumming skills that might be among the best in the country.
Arnold has taken top honors in the “Guitar Center Drum Off,” touted as the world’s largest drumming competition. This week, he’ll try to beat out five other competitors to win the grand prize. We caught up to this 40-year-old family man to find out more:
Q: What is a “drum off” and how does it work?
A: The drum off started with preliminaries in every state. There were four locations (holding competitions) here in Colorado. They took 10 competitors each week beginning in September. In October, I competed in the store finals. Then, one person from each store competed in the district finals. The best one out of that competed in the the regional competition last month in Chicago.
To win, you have to give the judges what they’re looking for, and what they’re looking for is originality, technique, style, skill, stage presence and overall performance.
I first participated in 1999 when I moved to Denver from Chicago. I wanted to see how far I could go. Sitting here in Denver, I do a lot of local gigs, but I thought maybe I could do more with my career.
Q: What can you tell about someone’s personality based on the instrument he or she plays?
A: Let’s talk about drummers. Drummers, most of them at least, are not very talkative. A lot of them are cocky. Bass players and keyboard players tend to be more laid-back and friendly. I would say I have the keyboard player/bass player spirit.
Q: Which of the following famous drummers most influenced your playing: Ringo Starr, Lars Ulrich or Animal from “The Muppet Show”?
A: Definitely Animal from “The Muppet Show.” Animal had a lot of energy, and he was fun to watch. I always liked him.
As a young adult, there was one guy who was really awesome to me. He’s in Los Angeles now, but I first saw him play when he was a teenager and I was a kid. It was very inspirational. His name is Michael White. Now he’s a freelance drummer who plays with people like Earth, Wind and Fire, Frankie Beverly and Maze, and a lot of country-and-western bands.
I first saw him at his house when he was 16 years old and I was 11 or 12. My big brother knew him from their high school in Chicago. My brother knew I wanted to play, so he said, ‘Let me take you over to Michael White’s house.’ I actually talked to him about two months ago. He didn’t really remember me because it’s been so long since we first met. But he’s still doing it.
Sherman Arnold competes for the grand prize in the Guitar Center Drum Off national finals Saturday at The Wiltern LG Theatre in Los Angeles.
Staff writer Elana Ashanti Jefferson can be reached at 303-820-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com.
