Born into a family of musicians, Travis Gouge has been playing drums for over forty years with his interest in drums beginning around the age of five. Travis’ parents fronted the gospel band Spiritfest in the late 1970’s, causing him to be exposed to the drums as a young child. Travis states, “Since rehearsals were at our house, the drum set was always setup in our practice room. At five years old, I would literally sneak in there every day, crawl onto the drum throne and play for hours at a time. I had absolutely no idea how the hi-hats worked or anything (laughs), I would just try to figure things out as I went.”

As the years went on, Travis became self-taught simply by copying other drummers, listening to records and playing along to music. Regarding being self-taught Travis simply says, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that it’s wrong to copy other drummers, because it’s really the only way to learn at first.” By age nine, Travis was getting experience playing in front of church crowds and by age eleven, he became the house drummer at his local church where he played for thirty years. “It was during that time when I learned what the word dynamics meant (laughs) because I had to really be careful regarding my volume in church sanctuaries.”

As an early teenager Travis was really into Rock music, however, things quickly changed for him when his parents signed him up for drum lessons at the age of fifteen with a local Atlanta jazz instructor. “Being self-taught for ten years, my parents knew I needed some polish on my playing, so they signed me up for lessons and it was there that I discovered this thing called Jazz .” Travis also states, “Nothing beats one on one instruction from another drummer. You can watch all the videos you want these days, but there is something special about getting that face to face time with an instructor where you can really break down a groove or a pattern. I grew so much as a drummer during that time.”

It was almost ten years later when Travis himself became a drum instructor in the Atlanta area at the age twenty-six. Travis says he absolutely loves teaching drums, especially kids. “When you watch a child’s face light up when they hit the drums for the first time, it is a magical moment. It’s like a whole new world opens up right in front of them. I have been teaching drums now for over twenty years, and it never, ever gets old.”

Travis considers himself to be a jack-of-all-trades drummer, playing and recording various styles from Hard Rock to Worship and Gospel. Travis is the current drummer for gospel recording artist William Clayton and The Redeemed. Travis is also one of the premier drum instructors in the Metro Atlanta area. “Teaching drums is my passion. It’s important to me to be a positive influence on people and to share the joy of drumming to both kids and adults alike. It’s a perfect way build their confidence up and to let them know they can do anything. Most importantly, it is the greatest feeling in the world and I would rather do that than play in a huge arena any day”. When Travis is not drumming, he enjoys spending time with his wife Brooke and his two kids Taylor and Gunnar.