I started playing the drums at Aura Elementary School in rural southern New Jersey. I was a natural due largely to my Pops who was a hard hitting rock drummer and was thumping the tubs at 70 plus years old all the way until he passed from Leukemia in 2018. I played drums all through my teens in a variety of fun little garage bands but I always noticed there were eight drummers for every bass player and that smelled like a good opportunity. So I put on the Allman Brothers and started playing along. Thanks Berry Oakley!
In the years since making the switch I’ve played for many blues, rock and country bands and toured the US and Europe extensively. I even picked up a little guitar work playing duo gigs on tour. I stay busy with the South Jersey cover band circuit but still find time to work with my buddies Moot Davis and Eric13.
My other great passion is cooking. It started with my Italian Nana when I was very young. My job was to turn the crank on the pasta maker and help roll out meatballs while the sauce cooked. As I got older I got more and more interested in trying new cuisines and trying to cook them myself. I’ve read many culinary textbooks and studied videos for hundreds of hours. OK so maybe it’s closer to an obsession.
Check out my Instagram feed for all of my cooking action: https://www.instagram.com/michael_mean.
