Andre Drummond Quotes

With Sumthin Else Music Works, I wanted to spread the love and give newcomers a chance to make it because something that really helped me were all the people who had given me an opportunity when I was putting my career together.

I really value what Closed Sessions is doing to build the Chicago music scene and am excited to partner with them for my first solo project.

I like dropping into a small club and playing with some people, trying to help them get a start.

The great thing about Nashville back in the day was that the old guys hung out where the young guys were. The established writers like Harlan Howard and Jack Clement gave us encouragement and passed the guitar, you know? Chet Atkins let me sit in on his sessions. Everybody was good to us, and everybody loved the music.

All of them had so much to offer us as far as, you know, knowledge in the music industry, and especially Randy and Paula because, you know, they've been artists.

It's been a joy to be a part of other people's journey, to be able to inspire and be a part of new singers coming up in this business.

I'm excited to be launching D'Leon Records to support other young talent in their development. I have been very fortunate to have been able to break through and succeed in this tough industry, and this is one of my ways of giving back.

There was no support system in Seattle for musicians.

I didn't have no college friends. All the artists the college folks were listening to were my homies. I was leaving class, literally, to record with them.

No I.D. is actually married to my cousin, and my cousin is my manager. So I met him when she met him many years ago. I was in the studio and he hooked me up with a bunch of producers that he knew.

If you're serious about your music, there's this thing called The Remix Project in Toronto, and it's an art incubator, and it's basically like free school. If you don't got money for studio, you don't have the networks, they help you.

I don't get mentioned in too many things that deal with hip-hop, really, because I'm not really friends with anybody. Not in the way where I'm enemies with them; I just don't meet people.

When you first start out, people think this is super easy and you find your crew super quick. But you've really got to go through songwriter boot camp to find your people.

It's not like a boss and artist relationship; it's like a big brother to a younger brother relationship, and he's a great guy. So big shout-out to Akon and the Konvict Muzik crowd.

I'm no longer the young guy in No I.D.'s studio asking for Kanye beats.

To be able to work with Bun B and be able to have a conversation, and the insights the OG has, and really be able to get just advice from him, is amazing.

I started out on an apprenticeship in Hollywood working as an assistant to Hans Zimmer and another composer Klaus Badelt. That's how I got my foot in the door.

I think everyone's trying to come up together and bring up other bands along the way, and we've always been really blessed to have bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden take us under their wing and say nice things about us.

Brooklyn is where I primarily developed. I had an opportunity to make records and perform in clubs here and there, and I started networking with the right people in the right places.

For a producer, you want to be in L.A. You want to be close to the action, and in L.A. there are always singers, artists, songwriters, collaborators and other producers. It's easy to get access to all that, which gives you more opportunity to work records.

You get a letter from her agency embracing you into the family that says, 'It is our goal now to help you achieve your dream of being a songwriter, in John's memory.'

I always wish I'd had more mentors, better mentors, wiser mentors, people who were proper professional working musicians to guide me as I was coming up.

It's a good community, country music, because we get the chance to sit down and... me and Tim McGraw spend a lot of time. Me and Kenny Chesney had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together. It's been a lot of great advice through the years.

Everyone in the music industry is so fun and laid-back.

Pharrell's affected everyone through music. To work with someone like that - it's a gift. You ever meet somebody you can learn so much from, and all you have to do is be quiet and watch? That's what it was like. I took in how he moves, speaks, how he creates, the whole nine.