conceived in the early days of the pandemic lockdown, "drum and drummer" started as a vehicle for brian eschrich (mr e) to fill his suddenly empty schedule by writing experimental drum pieces for fun. after finishing two, he quickly realized a drums-only record would be as boring to most listeners as it would be to him, so he fired up his keyboard and wrote melodies to accompany the tracks.

this led to a further complication: brian cannot play guitar or bass to save his life. thankfully, his longtime friend and musical collaborator sean loepp agreed to not only step in to provide his exceptional musical and mixing talents to the project but also put up with brian's constant barrage of left-field ideas with nary a complaint. upon hearing sean's contributions to "found," the first track completed by the duo, brian knew he was the perfect addition to the project, and it provided the necessary spark to turn it into a full album. with the exception of two unused pieces brian wrote for his previous band, these are all new compositions.

although no longer a drums-only album, the songs are based around and upon brian's particular approach to rhythm, so the title still seemed apropos. furthermore, it also reflects the sense of humour that pervades the album whilst also fitting in thematically with the songs, which generally focus on how bizarre, confusing, fractured and maddening (but yet still full of wonder, hope and beauty) the world has become.

for a singer, brian makes a pretty good drummer (ahem), but he came to the sobering realization that the lyrics were too personal for anyone else to sing them. unsurprisingly, the recording of vocals was the most difficult hurdle to the completion of the project. he eventually gathered the confidence to not only hit the notes (in private, of course) but add some much-needed emotion to them. that being said, no one should expect him to suddenly become a frontman.

"drum and drummer" is intended to be listened to as a single piece, and most of the tracks blend/crossfade without any pauses. because of this, it might sound odd listening on this site. rest assured the download will be the best listening experience. we certainly hope you enjoy it.