Musicians don’t get the luxury of planning for their big break, but for drummer Spencer York, that was a good thing.
When York joined the post-hardcore band Movements a decade ago, he was merely hoping to make a name for himself where he grew up: in Orange County’s local music scene.
Now an internationally touring drummer and a drum craftsman with his own company, York Drum Co., York’s music has spread far across the Pacific. Revue caught up with him to find out how his journey with Movements began, and what it was like for York to find himself on the road as a young artist.
You knew your bandmates before Movements formed. How did you first meet?
We all knew each other from the local music scene. Patrick, our singer, and Austin, our bassist, went to high school together. I went to the rival high school. We were all in less than noteworthy local bands as high schoolers, and we found our guitarist, Ira, playing in one of his old bands too, which is called Modern. He's the only one who's ever done anything that's actually noteworthy before Movements. So, yeah, (laughs) that's all I'll say about that.
Movements formed nearly 10 years ago. What were you up to at that time?
I was going to my local community college, Saddleback College, for my associate's degree in cinema, television, and radio. My initial plan was to be one of those latest, cool local bands that people within maybe a hundred mile radius had heard of. Maybe do a week or two week tour or something, just to see what it was all about, and then get back to our career paths.
And now you’ve made a career as a drummer. What was a defining moment when you realized Movements was more than just a local band?
I think that the defining moment was when one of us had randomly gone into our Gmail account and saw that we had two emails from two separate record labels that were like, three months old.
One of the other more noteworthy shows was probably our first one at Chain Reaction. We actually had like maybe 20, 30 people that actually knew lyrics to some of the songs and we could hear that back at us on stage, which as somebody who's always been begging my friends to buy tickets from me so that I can even play the show, that was pretty amazing. I'm pretty sure I cried. At least at the very least, I teared up. It was absolutely surreal.
How has being a part of Movements changed your life personally, not just as an artist?
When we started the band, Patrick was 19. I was 22 or 23. I think the experience of being on tour and being away from home was a big, big part of it. I was forced to actually be on my own and away from people that I was used to being close to on a daily or weekly basis.
That’s an interesting perspective; you essentially became an adult on the road. What were those early touring days like?
I feel like I couldn't do it at the age I am now. I'm too tired for that. But I definitely have some good and some not so good memories of being in that smaller band, getting a hundred bucks a show, having to sell merch when you're not on stage, being your own loaders, and then at maybe midnight or 1 a.m., you still have to knock out four hours of your eight hour drive to the next destination. That was an interesting thing to get used to as a kid growing up in Orange County, to all of a sudden find myself waking up in some random Walmart parking lot in Georgia.
Alongside playing drums, you also hand make them. How did you go about starting your own drum company, York Drum Co.?
I grew up in a very frugal family. Both my parents didn't have much growing up and they did their best to teach me that, while also doing their best effort to give me all the things that they wanted that they couldn't have. My parents are great for that. So, I went into building drums because I was wanting a certain kind of custom drum kit, but being 19-year-old making minimum wage part-time, it was kind of hard to afford something like that. I thought to myself like, well, what if I just did it myself?
You’ve seemed to have a DIY mentality from the beginning, which has undoubtedly been an asset to your journey. Is there anything else you’d like to say about Movements or being a drummer?
Repetition is everything. Nothing's going to happen overnight. There's not always such a thing as talent, but repetition and practice can easily equate to raw talent. So, for anyone out there trying to learn an instrument, or trying to learn to play drums after being a Movements fan or of other bands in the same vein, I would say to just be patient.
Movements
The Intersection
133 Cesar E. Chavez Ave. SW, Grand Rapids
Sep. 19, 7:30 p.m.
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