The Drum Panel: Check your Self 1 before you wreck your Self 2

About this episode

The episode discusses the inner critic musicians face and how it affects creativity and performance.

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This week on The Drum Panel, I’m joined by my co-host Eric Urrea, an independent drummer from Chicago who plays with Marina City and La Armada, and Steve Durham, who is new to The Drum Panel but returning from Big Fat Five. Steve has worked with artists like Louis Tomlinson, Mumford & Sons, Foals, Wolf Alice, Aurora and a bunch of others. But the reason I wanted him in this conversation is because we’d recently been talking about that voice in your head when you’re playing. The one that judges your ideas before they even come out. So that became the jumping-off point. We got into the inner critic, why creativity can feel scary when there’s no structure, what changes when you stop trying so hard, how tension shows up in your body, playing to a click without becoming stiff, and whether being in a band is still worth it. It’s a good one. Very Drum Panel. --- Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today! 🎯 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to order now!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the…

People in this episode

Host: Ben Hilzinger

Guests: Eric Urrea, Steve Durham

Topics covered

• inner critic
• creativity
• playing to a click
• band dynamics
• musical tension

Keywords

• drumming
• creativity
• inner critic
• musical performance
• band dynamics
• tension
• click track

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Big Fat Snare Drum, Marina City, La Armada, Louis Tomlinson, Mumford & Sons, Foals, Wolf Alice, Aurora

More episodes of Drummers on Drumming

• YOU VOTED! Your favorite worst sounding snare drums... · June 10, 2026 · 51 min
• The Drum Panel: Chick Corea's cheap but good advice for playing music in a group PART TWO · June 3, 2026 · 50 min
• Big Fat Five: Tosh Peterson (Lady Gaga, Alkaline Trio) breaks down the records, mentors, and moments that shaped his drumming voice · May 20, 2026 · 25 min
• The Drum Panel: E-MAN is not a collector ok · May 13, 2026 · 25 min
• The Drum Panel: His mouth time can finally relax on a bullet train to Iowa · May 6, 2026 · 52 min
• The Drum Panel: Jessica screams at Ben to shut up. · April 29, 2026 · 47 min