INTERVIEW : DRUMHEAD MAGAZINE (US) : PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2007

World tours.  Music videos.  Nationwide television performances.  It's a situation most only dream of.

A brave few move to one of the major music cities in an attempt to realize it. But what happens when you actually get the call for that big break? Jason Sutter knows, he's been there more than once. Sutter recently landed the drum chair for Chris Cornell. Those are no small shoes to fill following the likes of Matt Cameron and Brad Wilk. While preparing to embark on a world tour Sutter sat down with Drumhead to share some knowledge. What follows are some of his experiences doing the right (and wrong) things while trying to land that big gig. A glimpse into: THE ART OF THE AUDITION

DH: Although you've had other notable gigs this [Chris Cornell] is pretty huge. How did the audition came about, and how did you get the word out that you were the guy?

JS: Well, it was quite by mistake. I was hanging around, and I had some downtime. I was playing with Smashmouth, but they were kind of taking some time off. So we were doing maybe one show a month. I called Barry Squire, an audition agent that musicians call to put bands together, and said, "Hey man, I'm just kind of hanging out. I'd love to get together, meet some other people, and get in if there's a high-end audition. Maybe just play.” A couple of days later he called me back and said, “Well, Chris Cornell is still auditioning musicians." I had heard he had an audition a couple of weeks before, but I didn't even go out for it. I just figured I had a gig, and I figured it was already too late or whatever.

 I was just kind of happy doing my thing. He [Squire] called me and said, “You gotta learn five songs.” This was about five o'clock and the audition was at eleven the next morning. There were a couple of his songs, a couple of Audioslave songs and then a couple of Soundgarden songs, all that he wrote or at least mostly that he wrote. So I just went after it and got in there the next day at eleven. There were two guitarists and a couple of bass players that were all on their third call back. He [Cornell] did have another drummer in the back of his mind. I think maybe the drummer who played on the record, but he was just waiting to see if there was someone else. We played those five songs twice with the two guitarists and then we switched out bass players. That was it. The total audition was probably an hour. He (Cornell) walked outside and got on the phone right away. We were hanging out talking with the musicians. After about fifteen minutes he walked over to us, said, “Thanks,“ and asked if we could all come back tomorrow, and said, “This is great, here's five more songs.” Not easy songs. Like Soundgarden songs. Like gnarly, in some cases unchartable songs. So I figured fine, I'll come back tomorrow this will be great. I got a call maybe an hour later saying that the phone call he was making was to say, “I want that drummer to play this tour." That was cool, it was really unexpected, and honestly, I was in shock. I said I'd have to think about it because I currently had a gig with Smashmouth. Last year was busy but this year they were just taking some time [off] and just doing a few shows here and there. At first it was a very difficult decision. I'm hoping I'll still be able to play with those guys down the road. We've discussed that possibly. Maybe it'll happen. Maybe it won't. I would hope that it would but you can't do everything. I came to the decision after the second day. We went back in and played and it was really amazing. I made a few requests, one if which was that I needed to get a guarantee for six months to match that salary [from Smashmouth] plus the downtime pay. The management came back and said, “Yeah, we'll guarantee you that in writing.” So that helped.

The great thing about being a musician is that if you have a lot of friends who have a lot of experience... I went through and called about forty people and asked, “What would you do?" The best thing to do whenever you're dealing with contracts is to call other people in the business who've had that experience. I even called Todd Trent from Ludwig, who I trust, who’s had a lot of experience with this kind of situation. And I talked to Andrew from Paiste. I said, "What do you guys think?" Everybody helped me make the decision I made. The problems I had were good problems. Better to be walking into a gig and leaving another than to be waiting around and finally getting a gig. Although I will miss playing with the Smashmouth guys 'cause they're fantastic. It's one of the best bands I've ever played with. It's really kind of about just getting out there, getting exposure and pushing myself. This music is definitely incredibly demanding. I think it's going to be a different audience, and the stakes are going to be really high. I wasn't really looking for a gig. I was just looking to be busy when I wasn't and this just happened.

DH: What is the mood like at an audition like this in terms of the artist, the other band members, even other drummers that are there? Is it tense or relaxed? Is there camaraderie there?

JS: I think in LA there's much more camaraderie. With any good drummer there should be and ego. You need an ego to an extent because I think it helps put you through, but you also have to keep it in check. I think out here in LA it's a lot more easy going. I know and see a lot of guys from music school and I'm always happy when they get the gig. I'd rather they get the gig than somebody I don't know, so we're always rooting for each other. When I did get the gig I got emails from drummer friends of mine, some of whom were also auditioning. Killer drummers for some reason or another just maybe weren't the guy. But they emailed me right away and congratulated me. I think drummers are kind of a pack that sticks together. For me, going into this, I had a gig, so I had that support. I didn't NEED this job. I'm going in to have fun to make music to the best of my ability, getting the gig is an afterthought. That's how I go into any audition. To me any other way is just going to lead to stress and that's gonna come out in your playing. It's really just about going in and having a good time, trying to convey who you really are as a player and a person, because that's what you're selling.

As far as the vibe of the band, these guys had all played together for the last two weeks in auditions. They were all coming back for the third or fourth time.

DH: It was your first.

JS: Right. Interestingly, we were supposed to start at 11. I had barely learned the songs the night before. We had the chance to run through everything, which was nice. We ran through everything a couple of times with each bass player. Then we were notified that Chris was in a record company meeting and wasn't going to be able to be there until 2 or 3. This was around noon, so we went and grabbed some food, all of us together. I was an acquaintance of the guitarists, but I'd never met the bass players, it was like one happy family, everybody was hitting it off. Normally auditions aren't like that. In this case these guys knew one of the guys were gonna get the gig. In fact both the guitarists did get the gig, and one of the bass players did. When we were eating they were saying, "This is amazing 'cause you're gonna get the gig." I was like, "Really?" And they were like, "Yeah, you're playing this way better than anyone else did." I was genuinely surprised. I said, "Actually, I already have a gig." They were kind of shocked and said, "Really, so you shouldn’t do this?" I was like, "Well, not that I wouldn't do this, but I already have a steady gig." The vibe was very playful. When Chris showed up he was very relaxed, he came in with big smile on his face and it was chill. My attitude always is: have fun. There's no good by-product of stress in an audition or in playing music - period. A lot of times, when the artist is at the audition, if they're nervous or stressed out or awkward it can make things more difficult. I've played in a lot of situations with the artists and the "artist" who are very fragile or shy. You just learn how to deal with that and the more relaxed you are the more relaxed they are.

DH: When you play those tunes for the first time are you waiting for a reaction? Are you feeding off the vibe of everyone else?

JS: Well, the band was all enthusiastic because they were like, "Wow, this is awesome. This is what it should sound like." It was like, okay great! You know, to me it's like I'm told flat out you're playing this right. It's funny (laughs). I called a bunch of friends of mine 'cause I literally had so few hours and I said "There's a section in-between verses where's this bizarre kind of count going on but you can't really hear it." I called three friends of mine from music school and said, "Listen, I don't have enough time to sit down and listen to this song over and over again to figure this out. Can somebody just call me and tell me... just work on those counts for me while I'm working on these Audioslave jams [“Spoonman” by Soundgarden]." Seriously, like a cry for help you know (laughs). Everyone had different ideas of what counts they would do. It's a very odd count it's not to a click. I talked to another guitarist who had auditioned earlier and he said most of the drummers are counting like a quarter note five. I listened to it and I was like yeah, I can fit five beats in there but they're pretty pulled back, almost like sub beats. Interesting enough, I went in and played. I just kind of interpreted it the way I heard it and the guitarists were like, "Was that right? It didn't feel quite right." Because they were used to the way some of the other drummers were playing it. But it was the only way I could hear it, so that's how I played it. When Chris came in and we played it the second time he stopped and said, "Yeah, that's it. That's the first time someone has played that section that it has felt right since Soundgarden." He was like, “No one's done that in the last two weeks, and I've never done it in any other bands I've been in where that works." It's funny that that's the part I was freaking out about, and to me when he said that it really made me think, hmm...well I know this audition is going well but if he's saying that that's a feather in my cap. That's really the only feedback that I got. But in general with Chris, and with most artists, I've learned that they know what they want, and if they're not giving you any feedback that's a good thing. If they want something they're going to tell you. If you're doing things right, they're probably not going to say anything because that means they're cool.

DH: Playing these tunes with an artist like Cornell who's been in Soundgarden, in Audioslave and a successful solo career, are you trying to stick to the original drum parts or are you just doing your own thing?

JS: I think that at this point I've been playing drums [long] enough so that I feel like if I hear something on a record, like the new record, I can kind of interpret it the way that I would probably play it. It's a new record, and there were some drum parts that just didn't quite make sense to me. So I just interpreted them how I would interpret them. Usually I like to spend a lot of time but in this case it was just survival. I didn't have a lot of time to spend on analyzing every little bit. Generally, as a rule, I'm going to try and learn the parts as accurately as possible. If the drummer is a great drummer and he's playing smart drum parts I learn them exactly that way. And that's how it should be because they're easy. If I'm fighting with these parts and they don't seem to work with the song but yet they made the track then I'll take liberties. I've had to do that before. But in this case I'm learning two amazing drummers, Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave) whose fantastic and has a really great, loose feel, just killer tone and groove, and then, obviously, Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam) who's got this crazy kind of style all his own. So in this case I definitely want to stick close to those parts in feel and vibe, but I’m not going to be playing the exact same fill 'cause Matt plays tons of different fills on the record. So many fills, half the songs are like mini drum solos, ultimately supportive but constantly playful and interactive. So I'm just going to interact with the situation because these are different people(in the current band) and they're going to have different conversations. So I'm just looking at it in the contest of what we're doing.
It varies. If I'm going to play with some total pop star with parts of a record then I'll learn them pretty close to exactly what's going on. In this case I think it's a little more musical and a little more interpretive.

DH: Another gig that you're know for is Smashmouth. How did that audition happen and what was the vibe like?

JS: That was kind of an interesting story. I was trying to get into the audition for Morrissey. I had come off the road with American Hi Fi in the fall. It was February or March, and I'd just gotten a gig with the Rembrandts. Out of nowhere a friend called me up and said, "I'm writing songs with the Rembrandts and they're looking for a drummer to go out and do a little greatest hits tour." They called me up, and sight unseen I got the gig based on the recommendation of a band I used to play in called Letters To Cleo. So while I was in that band [Rembrandts], I knew it was temporary, I was trying to get an audition with Morrissey which I figured would be a long tour and I'm a huge fan and I thought it'd be cool. So I started doing everything I could to get in on that audition. One of the people I called was someone that had a connection with the old drummer of Morrissey. So I called up my buddy, this guy Mitch Marine (Dwight Yoakam) who happened to be on the road with Smashmouth who had just fired their drummer. I said, "Hey man someone said you would have the ex-drummer for Morrissey’s number." He said, "I don't. However, I'm doing shows with Smashmouth, I'm subbing. They're going to need a drummer, do you want me to put your name in the hat?" I said, "Absolutely." About two months later I get a call from Mitch on a Sunday saying, "Are you all set with the Smashmouth audition?" I said, "No, I've never talked to anybody since [our conversation]." He said, "Okay let me get on the phone. I'll talk to the tour manager and see if we can get you in 'cause they're holding auditions on Thursday and Friday." I think they had maybe fifteen guys. They had like some massive cattle call, people submitted video packets and out of those packets they chose 15 drummers to come to LA. They were going to pick like three or four out of that and do call backs on Friday. I called the tour manager and he said, "We're really booked, and we only have a finite amount of time. I don't know if I'm going to be able to help you." So I called back Mitch and told him. Mitch called the tour manager back and said, “You gotta hear this guy.” The tour manager called me back and asked for a bio and pictures. I had just built a resume for Morrissey hoping that he would want a resume and pictures. So I had this buddy of mine just throw up this website. In mid conversation I could hear the tour manager clicking away. He sees the pictures, he reads the bio and starts making comments like, "oh, you played with these guys, you played with those guys. Okay, I think we might be able to work something out." So the website really saved me. They called me and said they could they could get me in on the day of callbacks. So once again I got to come in at the end of auditions. They had actually called me to come in the night before. They had a spot open at 10 at night. I originally said yes, and then I called them back and said I need more time to practice. I had to learn ten songs for this audition which is like three times what you normally learn.

DH: So literally here's a great opportunity for you. They're calling you to come in, and you're saying that you know how you work best and....

JS: I'm saying I know that if I'm a professional I would take as much time as I could to be as prepared as I could. I knew I was under the gun because by the time the audition was confirmed on Monday I already had other gigs and commitments. So I'm trying to fit in these nine songs which aren't easy either. The difficult thing about Smashmouth is that the hits are very poppy and groovy. There’s' a certain vibe. It has to rock but it has to swing. It has to be heavy. They want a driving force. The songs you haven't heard are their thrash super speed like fast punky songs. Then there will also be a bossa nova or a ska. It was a challenge, so I showed up and said to the tour manager, "How many songs am I gonna play?" He said the more you play the more you stay. We started playing. They knew American Hi Fi which broke the ice. We ran the first song and everybody started looking around at each other kind of smiling. I was like, "Alright, that's pretty cool." Second song Harwell comes over to me and is nodding his head kind of rockin out, smiling and winking at the bass player. After the third song I'm getting high fives from the guys in the band. I'm hearing applause from the techs in the room. I ended up playing six songs. They were like, "We still have these call backs." There were guys waiting out side to come in. I pack up my cymbals, and as I'm walking out the soundman who did sound for Led Zeppelin is pattin’ me on my back saying, "That's the way to do it man! That's the way to play." There are two doors at S.I.R. in Hollywood. The back door leads to the parking lot where those guys [ Smashmouth] were havin’ a cigarette. Steve the singer yells to me, "Hey man, come here for a minute." So I come out the door and he says, "We got good news and bad news. The good news is that you nailed it. The bad news is that we want you to join the band (laughs).” It totally took me off guard. They said they were canceling all the callbacks. They didn't want to hear anyone else. I'd never had that happen before. I literally had to walk around the block to get it into my head like what am I gonna do? Of course, I did say yes. We rehearsed the rest of the day, had a blast! Played a bunch of Van Halen covers. That was on a Friday. They said, "We're flying up on Wednesday to Santa Cruz and then we have a gig in Vegas on Saturday for a giant private party in the Hard Rock Hotel." So it was a whirlwind. From there we made a record and it was great. The musicianship is fantastic. I just grew in leaps and bounds. It was a great experience. There was a percussionist in the band, Mark Cervantes, who is fantastic. We had a lot of fun playing together.


DH: You mentioned Morrissey. What was that like?

JS: I had done an audition where the music director who was Alanis Morissette's music director and also Michelle Branch's was now the music director for Morrissey. So I had played with him before and we hit it off. I called around and got his number, which is generally a no no but I wanted this audition. So I called him up. He said, "How are ya? I already have five drummers and we think we're going to find a drummer out of that. It's kind of a closed audition already.” I said, “Alright but here's my number. Here's my info,” He knows how I play. "Call me if it opens up." So I'm in an airport on the way home from Vegas with the Rembrandts, and I get a call from this guy [the Music Dir.], and he says, "Come in tomorrow at noon. You gotta learn three songs." I was like, "I'll be there." I had the evening to work up the music, and I had to go in the next day. I've seen Morrissey I'm a fan. The band’s all short hair and clean cut. Here I've got long hair and a scruffy look. I go in and the guys are all in suits and I'm like, "Oh great!" That's one strike against me, but you can't make everybody happy. They had played with four of the guys and they didn't find anyone yet, my persistence paid off. I go in and they're setting up a video camera. I'm the first audition of the day. The camera is aimed straight at me. I know Morrissey is very visual and has an idea of what he wants his band to look like. We do the three songs. One of them is to a click. That was part of the audition to see if I could play along with it. So we played through these three songs and we kill it, it was magical. Everybody is looking around at each other like, "That was awesome!" The energy of the first time playing these songs for the day, everybody was fresh and on. It was one or the best auditions I've ever had. The bass player (who was in charge of the video) says, " Alright that was great, now I'll tape it (laughs).” Everyone looked at him like, "You're kidding, you didn't tape that?" I had just gotten everything yesterday, so he just thought he was being cool and gave me a chance to run through everything once. Of course, the next time we ran through everything everyone was thinking of other things and the energy wasn't there. So it was kind of a bummer. I didn't get the gig but they went out for like two or three months and Morrissey didn't want to tour anymore or something. The gig ended and I ended up getting the Smashmouth gig after all from that experience.

DH: You auditioned for Vanessa Carlton?

JS: She was an unknown. There were a lot of drummers, great drummers, high-end dudes. I went in and the drum set I was playing on was terrible! It was tuned awfully and had been beaten to death. We were in a big room and she was miles away playing an upright piano. So I couldn't hear her hardly at all. I could hear her voice, but I couldn't hear her play the piano. It was really a frustrating audition. It was one of those situations where I couldn't connect with her, and I was playing on drums that sounded awful.

DH: Are monitors involved in this situation?

JS: Not for the piano, and it was just far enough away where I couldn't hear her. I was trying to play quietly but still with force. So that was a bummer. I left there feeling really bummed out.

DH: And how about Michelle Branch?

JS: It got down to me and one other drummer who has since gone on to do a bunch of great gigs. We both went to college together. And I got the gig. I got to hang out with Michelle and we hit it off. The producer [John Shanks] was there. We talked a little and he picked my brain about how I would approach the gig. I think that was a big part. That was a first for me. I was told that in a couple of weeks we'd start rehearsals. Sit tight and we'll give you the info. I said, "Call me when you're ready." A few days later I got a call that was like, "You got the gig but we had to give it to this other drummer.” They found this auxiliary guy that she loved and he said, "I'll do the gig but you gotta promise me you'll let me bring in my band and audition them as the band. If I leave my band they’ll break up." They're all great players. They came in and played and they were like, “This'll be fine." So they just kept that band instead of anyone else they had hired. In retrospect I wasn't thinking I was going to take the gig anyway. Had I not taken the gig and she turned to be who she is I'd still be kicking myself. It all worked out for the best anyway.

DH: Does that kind of situation make you bitter about what happened or....

JS: Oh no! I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason. I had just moved to LA and was auditioning pretty rigorously, but didn't want to leave town. I decided to stay here [LA] for the first two years.

DH: You mentioned an interesting situation with Puddle of Mudd.

JS: Yeah, I was doing a Spielberg movie as a drummer/actor. The movie A.I., I was doing this Blue Man kind of tribal thing. I got a call from a buddy of mine saying that he knew of a band that was auditioning drummers. He said, "You should go, you'd be perfect." So I go down and get the music. I'm in the trailer [for the shoot] all day trying to learn the music, and then race down to Hollywood and auditioned at like eleven o'clock at night when the shoot is over. So I go into the audition and it felt great. It was another one of those things. Everybody looked at each other like, "Alright, there it is." A bunch of my friends were like, "This band isn't going to do anything." I don't know why, I was busy doing things, maybe I was slightly delirious, they were really enthusiastic and I think they wanted me to be enthusiastic. I was kind of playing it coy, and I think they wanted somebody who was really into the band. I went for a call back afterward. The manager was there and he was like, "Are you with this 'cause we're digging it. We want someone who's totally into it." I just kind of still played it coy, 'cause I just wasn't sure. I didn't get the gig after that, and I think I could've. I think I talked my way out of the gig. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure, but I think I learned from that. Go in and get the gig! Be cool, have fun and be into it.

DH: So sometimes it's about how excited you are?

JS: Yeah, it's about how excited you are, and how excited you make them. Your energy inspires them. Half the gig is the hang and the attraction. When you walk into a room and you can fit the mould of that band, you will be attractive to them. Appearance isn't everything but it's a lot. Look the part don't try to be somebody you're not.

DH: Any auditions that you missed out on?

JS: When Alanis had her audition I didn't know who to call. I didn't have a connection. It was really frustrating, I really felt like this is a gig I could kill. The guy who got the gig I had been auditioning next to for all these other gigs, even the Michelle Branch gig. But I just didn't have the connections to get in there. That's just one example, obviously there were other gigs.

DH: You auditioned for John Mayer. That's a gig that became huge, what happened?

JS: I was not yet playing in American Hi Fi, but I was friends with the band. They're my best friends. Their manager is also a friend of mine. I called him and said I want to work do you have any connections in New York? He said sure. I ended up getting a call from a guy named Jason who managed this new kid named John Mayer. He sent me the first record with a promo photo. I heard the record and said, "Killer songs." He [the manager] said John has a band right now that is hired guys who played the record, but they're not gonna be the band. He wants to put together a band. This was a year and a half before the record came out. By the time I did audition for him it was a massive cattle call. It was kind of a weird situation. I'm not trying to use this as an excuse for why I didn't get the gig, but this was a situation where the vibe was a little off. The guitarist who was also auditioning for the gig was just not happening. The vibe was just not happening. There was just no chemistry. It was like, I know I can play this gig, but I also wasn't really going for it. It did blow up, and I guess I should have tried to get it. I know he went through a couple of drummers anyway so who knows, maybe he was looking for the right guy.

DH: If you could take everything that you've learned from these situations and boil it down to one piece of advice what would it be?

JS: It's not life and death, just go in and play the gig. Don't worry about getting the gig. Be enthusiastic, but just go in and play music, don't try to sell yourself. You want to be enthusiastic. You wanna be communicative. You wanna give them and idea of who you are. At the same time it's all about just going in and playing for the music. Play great. When I go in I don't care if I get the gig or not. I go in and I have a good time and it helps me be relaxed. This is music. It's supposed to be fun for you so it's fun for the listener. That's the job. I do everything I can, but once I get there I don't worry about it.


Obviously this approach works. You can see Jason Sutter currently on tour with Chris Cornell in support of “ Carry On “, Cornell’s newest release.