EDGE: You’ve been on tour for a bit supporting this latest release. How’s the road treating you?

Jonah David: It’s treating me well and changing me, that’s for sure. I’m becoming more and more used to living out of my suitcase and depending on the tour manager to schedule my life. I was more used to staying at home and hustling my schedule months in advance. It’s a weird feeling to come home off tour and sleep in my own bed. Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and get scared because I feel like I’ve forgotten to play or I’ve missed sound check. I also noticed that I’ve started asking questions like, “What day is it?” or “Where am I?” There’s also the all-important, “Hey, do you have that European adapter I lent you?” I remember waking up one morning in the middle of the last run incredibly jetlagged and calling the front desk asking a hotel receptionist, “What country am I in?” Other than that, I’m seeing so much of the world and meeting so many people. I’m learning more now than I ever have before.

EDGE: Have you always played reggae or have you had to adapt to that particular style of music?

JD: I can’t remember exactly when I was first exposed to reggae, but I’d definitely say that I was pretty taken back by it. I just remember falling in love with that sound. It was a groove that I was able to grasp and develop fairly quickly. I didn’t think that I was going to really play reggae at the time. I was a jazzhead. Then I got a call from a buddy of mine named Mike Heady, who wanted to stop playing with a reggae band to focus his studies on jazz. I needed the work to pay the rent, and he knew I could play, so it all worked out. Within a couple of years, I was playing in four Top 40 reggae bands and touring New Jersey. We’d go up and down the Garden State Parkway during the summer. It was the busiest time of year for me. Sometimes I’d play 13 shows a week. Playing “Margaritaville” and “The Electric Slide” paid my college fees for quite a few semesters. I had no idea that I was paving the way for the gig with Matisyahu. I feel that I still have a lot to learn in terms of the style, and I don’t always play it traditionally, but we’re not playing strictly traditional reggae anyway.

EDGE: You have some pretty serious chops. How do you stay in shape while on the tour?

JD: Wow, thanks for the compliment! Ideally, I try to keep sticks moving in my hands for at least four to seven hours per day. We’ve been playing one to two-hour sound checks where we run through grooves and new material. After that, I’ll usually practice for another two to three hours before the show. The set is another one to two hours on top of that. I carry my books, pad and metronome around with me almost all the time. I’m actually kicking myself right now because I just left everything backstage at the Chiemsee Reggae Festival in Germany. It’s getting mailed back to me, but I won’t see it for a couple months because I’m still on tour. I have to stop at the Guitar Center when I get home. Sometimes the practicing just doesn’t happen, but I really try to keep that goal if at all possible. I also stretch every day and do my best to hit the cardio. If I can get in 30 minutes of cardio three days a week, I feel great. I’ve been slacking on my regular workout routine this last run— just too jetlagged.

EDGE: What have been some of your favorite gigs recently?

JD: Playing in Japan was a blast! The shows themselves were nothing spectacular, but I had never been there before. I also brought my fiancée with me and proposed on the steps of the Seen Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo. The country was so incredibly beautiful. I really fell in love with it. I want to visit again for a longer period of time and really soak in the culture. I wouldn’t mind living there and studying Taiko drumming and karate for a year or so.

EDGE: Talk a little bit about your new kit and how you got hooked up with Drum Workshop.

JD: Man, my new kit is really beautiful. 8” and 10” mounted toms, 12” and 14” floor toms, 22” kick and 14” snare. I’m seriously digging the Kurillian finish. It’s one of the new PDP exotic kits. It’s a Charcoal to Natural Fade, and it looks and sounds amazing! I have another DW kit being built with the same finish, but with a Blue to Natural fi nish and with Gold hardware. To answer the question, I got into DW because of the pedals. When I was just starting out, I had a DW 5000 single pedal, and it was amazing. I wound up trading it for some cymbals when I bought a double kick pedal, but I wasn’t ready to lose the DW 5000, so I wound up trading the double with someone else just to get that exact 5000 back! At the time, I knew nothing about the honesty and integrity of the company; I just wanted to get through the fi rst couple pages of “Realistic Rock” and “Syncopation” with a metronome. When I got older, and my career started blossoming, my good friend Yael made a call to Steve Vega over at DW. We talked, and everything just felt right. It’s good to work with people who you could consider to be family.

EDGE: What’s your idea of the ultimate drum sound?

JD: Honestly, it all depends on what style I’m playing. I like a lot of overtones on the highpitched toms when I’m playing jazz. The added response of the heads makes it easier to articulate at lower dynamics more clearly. When I’m playing with Matisyahu or Roots Tonic, I love a clear, warm sound. I never tune my toms very low. I use Evans drumheads. In my opinion, the EMAD is the greatest bass drum head on the market.

EDGE: Which drummers have influenced you most, and have you met any of them?

JD: I’d have to say that most of my influences have been Jazz drummers. Many of them passed away or retired before I even picked up sticks. Let’s see: Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Tony Williams, Billy Higgins and Max Roach are all big influences. Elvin Jones is a major influence on my playing, and I got to meet him through my teacher Ralph Peterson at the Blue Note a few years before he passed. I met Roy Haynes too and he is still killing it! Lenny White is also a massive influence. There are
too many to name; it all depends on what style we’re talking about. I got to really hang with Sly Dunbar while he was working on Matisyahu’s new single, “Jerusalem,” and Desi Jones who works with Jimmy Cliff. He’s crucial. He wrote one of the first and only good books out there on reggae drumming. I also listen to some of the Philly guys too, Questlove from The Roots and Chuck Treece.

EDGE: Where do you see yourself in a few years?

JD: Well, married for starters! I do have a longterm goal of finishing college. It’s something that I’m going to do when the time is right. The next few years are not completely clear because nothing is cut in stone in the music business. A safe assumption would be that I’m still playing with Matis, but I’ve also appeared on a number of other recordings with Roots Tonic and some other artists. I’ve also released one of my own recordings. I’m really just continuing to get a foot-hold in the entertainment industry. Who knows: maybe I’ll start my own label, maybe I’ll try acting or fashion. Maybe I’ll be teaching English in Japan while I study Karate, or living in Ohio with my wife. You never know where life takes you.