Why that kid's a great drummer

I have no idea who this kid is, but I'd love to have him as the drummer on a session.

Here's the vid:

He's got so many things that I look for in a drummer:

1) He's got taste. 18, playing for parents and has got girls all around him? I would have TOTALLY been overplaying and showing off if I was him. Thank God I'm an old guitarist and not in Cleveland, screwing these kids up by playing too much, adding fills everywhere, etc. This kid does what the song and performance needs. This sort of taste is really hard to teach, and he just has it.

2) He keeps good time. He's definitely not dragging, and I don't hear his tempo swaying. He is pushing on some sections of the song and pulling back on others, but that is what you want. Time should be a bit elastic and stretch and contract for the needs of the song.

3) He's solid. By this, I mean he makes the time very clear to the other band members, and that makes it easier for them to play well. A good drummer tightens the band up. Other members play better because they don't have to worry about the time and can concentrate on what they're doing. Case in point: the song has a solo bass part at the top, and listen how authoritative and locked in that bass part gets the moment the drummer kicks in.

4) He's articulate and crisp. This is a pretty bad recording, but you can hear what this guy is doing and you can see it. He's not mushy. He hits hard, he hits right but without a lot of extra movement. His arms aren't flailing everywhere. He's relaxed, precise and clean. He would be a delight to record.

5) He listens and adapts. At 1:21 the whole group does a free form kind of wind-up, and the tempo vanishes, and then at the end of it the whole band hits the landing like Simone Byles. And then it all kicks in again. The drummer listens to where everyone is going, adapts, and then re-establishes the beat perfectly. Excellent playing.

The member of the band that gets kicked out the most is the drummer. When I was producing, bands were always saying, "We're interviewing a drummer. What should we ask him?"

My number one question to ask is: "What do you think of Ringo?"

If a drummer appreciates what Ringo was all about in the Beatles, that's a definite green flag. If a drummer hates him... run away. Chances are the player hasn't matured enough to play for the song, and for the rest of the band, and sees songs as carrier waves for fills, and performances are dead air until the drum solo.

The kid from the Cleveland School of Rock in 2018: he's a keeper.