Down On The Corner

By Paul Moffett

AgeOn paper and my mom says I'm 47... not sure why? Maybe it's an attempt to calm me down because I act like a little kid that hasn't had his ADD medicine… Or a gremlin that got wet after midnight. Whatever the reason, I think everyone around me has accepted I'm just going to be on a level 13. All this behavior definitely as shown in my playing. My chill and volume button definitely have a malfunction... they are just stuck wide-open!+

Instrument: Definitely a drummer first. My job in the band is drummer. I love playing guitar as well but it's pretty much for fun. I'm teaching my wife drums, so I play guitar on the songs we jam. I might write the occasional riff for a song but my heart is behind the kit.

Band/Former Bands: Currently play drums for Layne's Calling. A Louisville Alt/Rock band signed with Pavement Entertainment. We're currently on our 2021 Post Apocalypse tour. We're sharing the stage with some killer acts such as Saliva and Drowning Pool to name a few. We work with and are managed by Paul Crosby Management. Paul is the original and present drummer for Saliva. Past bands I've played for are mostly underground, heavier not so commercial. I played a lot of heavier music in my earlier years. If I can remember them in order here you go After Dark, Rats on Acid, Psychotic Krunch, Mike, Ball Deep, Dead Six, Kasper from the K, Dragumite.. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few projects… sorry to those involved! I've also done some studio recordings for people as well. After Dark, Rats on Acid, Psychotic Krunch, Mike, Ball Deep, Dead Six, Kasper from the K, Dragumite.. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few projects… sorry to those involved! I've also done some studio recordings for people as well.

How long on instrument: I've got 33 years on an actual real drum kit. But I knew I wanted to play drums at a very young age. I went through the pots and pans, stacking model boxes phase. I didn't get my actual first real drum set until I was like 14 or 15, it was a black Pearl International.

Equipment: I have quite a few drums and hardware around the house and attic. I like to collect older drums as a hobby. I'm bad about hanging on to old worn out equipment. Some of it has a lot of sentimental value like certain venues I played at or just an awesome time in my life. I guess they're kind of like trophies. My main kit, my favorite kit, is a Mapex Black Panthers with all black Mapex stands and hardware. My wife and I pieced this kit together. I have a hard time getting equipment to hold up being a high energy, hard hitter. I tend to break a lot of equipment if it's not screwed or taped down. It ends up in the crowd halfway through the first song! This kit can take the abuse I give it at every practice and every show. Sizes 2x24 kick drums, 13X7 tom, 14x14 floor tom, 16x16 floor tom and 14 x7 Outlaw drums custom made for me, Purple Heart snare drum. 2x24 kick drums, 13X7 tom, 14x14 floor tom, 16x16 floor tom and 14 x7 Outlaw drums custom made for me, Purple Heart snare drum.

This kit not only holds up, it will blow a roof off!! Current cymbals are Meinl Byzance. Cymbals usually don't stay around long, unfortunately they only like to get hit the way I hit them (hard as hell) so many times, so they have a short lifespan.

Influences: Man influences! Above all, John Bonham and Shannon Larkin are the biggest. Before I even got a drum kit, I wanted to be Tommy Lee. I sat and hit model boxes to Motley Crue's Shout At The Devil album hours every day. Tommy may not be the most technical drummer, but what grabbed me was his style and the way he played, just simple beats but sounded HUGE! I am way more into hard-hitting straight beats in the pocket over super technical. I play with 100% feel from the soul! I know even though John Bonham could be super technical, but when he played just a simple straight beat you know right away who it is… Then I discovered Slayer. Game changer. Double bass was now my new passion. So Dave Lombardo is a huge one. My biggest influences that really made me work a lot harder were local guys that I was playing and sharing the stage with in our local scene. Jeremy Spencer who went on to be in Five Finger Death Punch blew my mind. He stood out big time over all of us local guys. His speed and double bass work was just crazy to me at the time.. this made me go into a way more intense practice. I thought at the time, if I can't do that I might as well just stay in the garage, Damn it!! About the same time my band Rats on Acid got to open up for Wraithchild America a few times.. The drummer Shannon Larkin to me just does not get any better. This is one of the most under rated players ever. I stood behind him backstage and watched him do things that I didn't think was possible. He made a huge impact on my playing. But to me these influences just opened my eyes. I didn't want to duplicate anybody. I wanted my own style. Just what naturally comes out…

My first gig: LOL my first gig!! The Henderson County Kentucky national guard armory. Local bands would rent this out and have shows on the weekend. Being barely in high school thinking about playing the armory was like making it to a sold out stadium! LOL I remember being more scared and nervous than I think I've ever been in my life. I think I may have even puked a few times before playing. I had only been playing about a year but was pressured into playing stuff that was over my head at the time. So again, I was terrified! But something happened, and I saw people moving to the noise I was making. Overnight your cool points go sky high in high school! When we got T-shirts airbrushed with the bands name on it, holy shit in our mind at that age we were superstars! At that point I was completely addicted, hooked ! This is what I want to do for a living. This is where I belong. On stage behind the kit.. MadMike was born!

Hobbies: Hot rods, motorcycles, 4 wheelers.. pretty much anything with a motor you can do crazy shit on. I'm completely obsessed with riding motorcross. I do a workout plan and healthy diet so I can keep going harder. This actually helped big time on drums as well! WIN WIN!!

Favorite movies: Man there are so many. Almost have to break it down in ages. But the first ones to pop into my head that I watched the most are Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Smokey and the Bandit.. I really dig Rob Zombie's Devils Rejects and just about all Quentin Tarantino movies.

Favorite food: Favorite food is by far Mexican. I am a connoisseur of good tacos. Real authentic tacos, not Taco Bell..

Favorite place: Man again it's so hard with favorites. Not a certain one but motocross tracks and mountains just make everything all right. I would choose mountains over beaches any day. After meeting my wife, my favorite place in the world is her pit! Lol yeah I said pit. Guess it's kind of a combination of her pit and the side of her breast. My head fits in there like a puzzle piece. Nothing can go wrong there. Nothing even exists when I'm there. So we just call it the pit.

Favorite sports or team: Motorsports like Supercross/motorcross for sure.

I got into some sports as a kid. Growing up in Chicago it was just in your blood to be a Cubs and Bears fan. I grew out of that once I saw Evel Knievel.. Evel Knievel was definitely a life changer. That's was really the biggest influence on me of all. That's when shit got extreme. Our bikes where in the air more than on the ground. Everything was a ramp. Everything was cooler if you jumped it! This also started random emergency room visits. Call it crazy, insane or just dumb but getting hurt was just something normal. Usually when something hurts you, it gets left alone. Well, I didn't leave it alone. I immediately would start figuring out how to heal up as fast as possible so I could just do again and go even bigger.. You actually get good at crashing. Yea, that's a thing! lol What I'm listening to nowadays: These days I definitely tend to just keep going back to what I call old school. Late 80s , 90s metal. 70s classic rock.. Usually anytime I was seriously playing drums I didn't listen to much music at all. I always thought that it would influence me too much. Being in an original band and writing my own stuff, I didn't want to sound like anybody else, and still don't. I know it's pretty weird! I catch shit all the time when I tell someone I've never heard the music they're playing. They're always like “how have you not heard this”

Coolest thing I've done: Ok this one really is going to be the hard. I could write a book on stuff I've done people probably wouldn't believe. Besides jumping out of airplanes, the coolest, craziest and scariest thing would have to be riding a motocross bike 700 miles across Baja Mexico with a few buddies. That experience can not be put into words. You know that life or death kind of adrenaline? Imagine that for 4 days straight. Yea!

Most embarrassing moment: I would say my most embarrassing moment ended up turning into a very cool moment. Going back to favorite movies. After watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High I had to have a pair of black and white checkered Vans. I think I was in like fifth grade. Nobody at school had them. So my mom took me and got me some. I guess I didn't really think that one out. Going to school the next day I was like an alien to the rest of the kids. I was going to call my mom to bring me another pair of shoes, but my teacher being younger and cooler than most talked me down. About a week later it seemed like half the kids in the school were wearing them. I'm sure I have a more embarrassing moment but I'm not real sure what the rating is on this. I assume PG. :

Bad Habits

Nervously messing with my fingernails, procrastinating which leads me to be late. Worst bad habit is probably thinking everybody else is hyper and on a level 13 like me. So I tend to come into situations and convos a little too hot for most!

What was your first concert ever:

First concert was Bon Jovi, Skid Row was opening up. I had no idea who they were. Skid Row came out and killed it!! I wouldn't have wanted to play after them! Was an instant fan! : 19.If you could meet a Rockstar ( past or present ), who would it be, and why

Age:On paper and my mom, say I'm 47... not sure why? Maybe it's an attempt to calm me down because I act like a little kid that hasn't had his ADD medicine… Or a gremlin that got wet after midnight. Whatever the reason, I think everyone around me has accepted I'm just going to be on a level 13. All this behavior definitely as shown in my playing. My chill and volume button definitely have a malfunction... they are just stuck wide-open!

Most embarrassing moment:I would say my most embarrassing moment ended up turning into a very cool moment. Going back to favorite movies. After watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High I had to have a pair of black and white checkered Vans. I think I was in like fifth grade. Nobody at school had them. So my mom took me and got me some. I guess I didn't really think that one out. Going to school the next day I was like an alien to the rest of the kids. I was going to call my mom to bring me another pair of shoes, but my teacher being younger and cooler than most talked me down. About a week later it seemed like half the kids in the school were wearing them. I'm sure I have a more embarrassing moment but I'm not real sure what the rating is on this. I assume PG. :

Bad HabitsNervously messing with my fingernails, procrastinating which leads me to be late. Worst bad habit is probably thinking everybody else is hyper and on a level 13 like me. So I tend to come into situations and convos a little too hot for most!

What was your first concert ever:First concert was Bon Jovi, Skid Row was opening up. I had no idea who they were. Skid Row came out and killed it!! I wouldn't have wanted to play after them! Was an instant fan! :19.If you could meet a Rockstar ( past or present ), who would it be, and why

This is about like the favorites. Man there's just so many. I would say John Bonham. Not only because he was the most amazing influential drummer ever but we share a lot of the same hobbies. He was into drag racing and motorcycles, more extreme kinds of fun. It seems to me like many drummers that I have met that are into hot rods, ride motocross or any extreme motorsport seem to play harder, heavier or something that stands out. That probably makes no sense at all but I feel like that's kind of a trend I‘ve noticed.

Who do you love:My Queen, my best friend, my partner in crime, my Bonnie to my Clyde, my wife… Vickie Calvertdrum kit, I wanted to be Tommy Lee. I sat and hit model boxes to Motley Crue's Shout At The Devil album hours every day. Tommy may not be the most technical drummer, but what grabbed me was his style and the way he played, just simple beats but sounded HUGE! I am way more into hard-hitting straight beats in the pocket over super technical. I play with 100% feel from the soul! I know even though John Bonham could be super technical, but when he played just a simple straight beat you know right away who it is… Then I discovered Slayer. Game changer. Double bass was now my new passion. So Dave Lombardo is a huge one. My biggest influences that really made me work a lot harder were local guys that I was playing and sharing the stage with in our local scene. Jeremy Spencer who went on to be in Five Finger Death Punch blew my mind. He stood out big time over all of us local guys. His speed and double bass work was just crazy to me at the time.. this made me go into a way more intense practice. I thought at the time, if I can't do that I might as well just stay in the garage, Damn it!! About the same time my band Rats on Acid got to open up for Wraithchild America a few times.. The drummer Shannon Larkin to me just does not get any better. This is one of the most under rated players ever. I stood behind him backstage and watched him do things that I didn't think was possible. He made a huge impact on my playing. But to me these influences just opened my eyes. I didn't want to duplicate anybody. I wanted my own style. Just what naturally comes out…

My first gig:LOL my first gig!! The Henderson County Kentucky national guard armory. Local bands would rent this out and have shows on the weekend. Being barely in high school thinking about playing the armory was like making it to a sold out stadium! LOL I remember being more scared and nervous than I think I've ever been in my life. I think I may have even puked a few times before playing. I had only been playing about a year but was pressured into playing stuff that was over my head at the time. So again, I was terrified! But something happened, and I saw people moving to the noise I was making. Overnight your cool points go sky high in high school! When we got T-shirts airbrushed with the bands name on it, holy shit in our mind at that age we were superstars! At that point I was completely addicted, hooked ! This is what I want to do for a living. This is where I belong. On stage behind the kit.. MadMike was born!

Hobbies:Hot rods, motorcycles, 4 wheelers.. pretty much anything with a motor you can do crazy shit on. I'm completely obsessed with riding motorcross. I do a workout plan and healthy diet so I can keep going harder. This actually helped big time on drums as well! WIN WIN!!

Favorite movies:Man there are so many. Almost have to break it down in ages. But the first ones to pop into my head that I watched the most are Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Smokey and the Bandit.. I really dig Rob Zombie's Devils Rejects and just about all Quentin Tarantino movies.

Favorite food:Favorite food is by far Mexican. I am a connoisseur of good tacos. Real authentic tacos, not Taco Bell..

Favorite place:Man again it's so hard with favorites. Not a certain one but motocross tracks and mountains just make everything all right. I would choose mountains over beaches any day. After meeting my wife, my favorite place in the world is her pit! Lol yeah I said pit. Guess it's kind of a combination of her pit and the side of her breast. My head fits in there like a puzzle piece. Nothing can go wrong there. Nothing even exists when I'm there. So we just call it the pit.

Favorite sports or team:Motorsports like Supercross/motorcross for sure. I got into some sports as a kid. Growing up in Chicago it was just in your blood to be a Cubs and Bears fan. I grew out of that once I saw Evel Knievel.. Evel Knievel was definitely a life changer. That's was really the biggest influence on me of all. That's when shit got extreme. Our bikes where in the air more than on the ground. Everything was a ramp. Everything was cooler if you jumped it! This also started random emergency room visits. Call it crazy, insane or just dumb but getting hurt was just something normal. Usually when something hurts you, it gets left alone. Well, I didn't leave it alone. I immediately would start figuring out how to heal up as fast as possible so I could just do again and go even bigger.. You actually get good at crashing. Yea, that's a thing! lol

What I'm listening to nowadays:These days I definitely tend to just keep going back to what I call old school. Late 80s , 90s metal. 70s classic rock.. Usually anytime I was seriously playing drums I didn't listen to much music at all. I always thought that it would influence me too much. Being in an original band and writing my own stuff, I didn't want to sound like anybody else, and still don't. I know it's pretty weird! I catch shit all the time when I tell someone I've never heard the music they're playing. They're always like “how have you not heard this”

Coolest thing I've done:Ok this one really is going to be the hard. I could write a book on stuff I've done people probably wouldn't believe. Besides jumping out of airplanes, the coolest, craziest and scariest thing would have to be riding a motocross bike 700 miles across Baja Mexico with a few buddy's. That experience can not be put into words. You know that life or death kind of adrenaline? Imagine that for 4 days straight. Yea!

Most embarrassing moment:I would say my most embarrassing moment ended up turning into a very cool moment. Going back to favorite movies. After watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High I had to have a pair of black and white checkered Vans. I think I was in like fifth grade. Nobody at school had them. So my mom took me and got me some. I guess I didn't really think that one out. Going to school the next day I was like an alien to the rest of the kids. I was going to call my mom to bring me another pair of shoes, but my teacher being younger and cooler than most talked me down. About a week later it seemed like half the kids in the school were wearing them. I'm sure I have a more embarrassing moment but I'm not real sure what the rating is on this. I assume PG. :

Bad Habits:Nervously messing with my fingernails, procrastinating which leads me to be late. Worst bad habit is probably thinking everybody else is hyper and on a level 13 like me. So I tend to come into situations and convos a little too hot for most!

What was your first concert ever:First concert was Bon Jovi, Skid Row was opening up. I had no idea who they were. Skid Row came out and killed it!! I wouldn't have wanted to play after them! Was an instant fan! :

If you could meet a Rockstar (past or present), who would it be, and why: This is about like the favorites. Man there's just so many. I would say John Bonham. Not only because he was the most amazing influential drummer ever but we share a lot of the same hobbies. He was into drag racing and motorcycles, more extreme kinds of fun. It seems to me like many drummers that I have met that are into hot rods, ride motocross or any extreme motorsport seem to play harder, heavier or something that stands out. That probably makes no sense at all but I feel like that's kind of a trend I‘ve noticed.

Who do you loveMy Queen, my best friend, my partner in crime, my Bonnie to my Clyde, my wife… Vickie Calv