A Different Beat
Drummer Sheldon Thwaites spends four months making rhythm in Athens, Greece
By Mari Kasanuki
Sheldon Thwaites, a junior at Berklee College of Music in Boston left the U.S., drumsticks in tow, to spend four months in Athens, Greece in the fall of 2007.
Thwaites, 20, a self-taught drummer, has been playing percussion since age five. After moving from Washington D.C. to the Boston area, he absorbed its artistic environment while attending the Boston Arts Academy and taking courses at Berklee. Now a full-time Berklee student, he is a music business and music synthesis double major, specializing in percussion.
Through Berklee’s International Study Abroad program, Thwaites traveled to Athens and attended music classes at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory. Though the program didn’t arrange musical performances for him, it wasn’t a problem. Thwaites found his own.
While still in the U.S., Thwaites set up his first gig through his MySpace page. A local musician and teacher in Greece, who learned of Thwaites through a previous study abroad student, asked him to perform at a birthday party. The day after landing in Greece, he performed jazz and funk at the party, with more than forty people listening in a private condo, located in an Athens suburb, earning 150 euros.
Two weeks after arriving in Athens, Thwaites went to see a friend from the conservatory perform at Stavros tou Notou, an “underground rock club.” That night he met some of the musicians and joined in on the drums for a few songs. They invited him to return, and after learning the musical set, he performed there nearly every week until he left. Toward the end of his time in Greece, he would often have three different gigs a week. Some nights he would be in different ensembles at the Parafono Jazz Club. Other nights he would play with the band Cabin 54 at clubs.
The exchange rate from the dwindling U.S. dollar to the Euro quickly became a financial burden on the study-abroad students. Luckily, booking regularly paid gigs weakened the blow. “I was the only person in the group who was making a profit over there,” Thwaites said.
Since his return to the U.S., Thwaites has kept busy with regular performances. He plays with the DCQ Project band, a contemporary Christian group called VedeLife, and with singer-songwriter Kevin Ross.
Thwaites now embraces the Greek influence on his drumming style. “I’ve got a more organic style of music, jazz,” he says of the changes from his time abroad. He hopes to return to Greece over the summer and perform again.
For the latest information on Sheldon Thwaites, see his Berklee website.
You can watch two of his performances at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdH81nARSH0
(performing with Cabin 54 @ Mikes Irish bar in Athens) and at www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZR2pwqq8gk
(Performing at Stavros Tou Notou with Marina Satti).