Damien Bassman - What is one of the biggest lessons he learned about playing for Broadway musicals?
Drummer for the new musical ‘Almost Famous.’
Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, Damien Bassman received his BM from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a MM and Performer's Residency Certificate from Carnegie Mellon University. He also earned an Advanced Performer's Certificate from The Juilliard School.
He was a featured drumset soloist with the Tonkunstler Orchestra in Vienna and Italy and recorded with the orchestra playing drumset and hand drums on Leonard Bernstein's Mass. Damien has performed as both soloist and section percussionist/timpanist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Columbus Symphony and wrote, arranged, and performed the hybrid multi-percussion/drumset book for the hit musical Next To Normal. He also created the drum/percussion book for Hi-Fidelity, created and performed the African/multi-percussion book for The Color Purple. He played drums for Mario Cantone's Laugh Whore and has worked on shows such as Aida, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Legally Blonde, Nine, Grease, Never Gonna Dance, Fiddler On The Roof, Caroline Or Change, The Wedding Singer, Xanadu, Glory Days, Baby, BatBoy, Radiant Baby, and Making Tracks.
He collaborated with the band Green Day on the Broadway adaptation of their CD American Idiot and with composer Andrew Lippa, Nathan Lane, & Bebe Neuwirth on the Broadway musical The Addams Family. Before Jagged Little Pill, he was the drummer for Spongebob The Musical and he is now the drummer for the new musical Almost Famous.
Damien also serves as drummer/percussionist in the bands of many of Broadway's biggest stars, including Adam Paschal (Rent, School of Rock), Kristin Chenoweth (My Love Letter To Broadway), Kelli O'Hara (South Pacific, The Pajama Game), Jason Danieley (Curtains, Chicago), Julia Murney (Wicked, Lennon), and Michael Longoria (Jersey Boys).
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Clayton Craddock hosts the Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast and Newsletter. He has held the drum chair in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill and Ain’t Too Proud.
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