Jovann “Jay” Carter | SoultoneCymbals.com

Jovann “Jay” Carter

Jovann “Jay” Carter

Biography- jovann “jay” carter, Age 28, born and raised in a small country town called conneaut, Ohio. He entered this world ready to bang on drums. His friend’s introduced him to a band called linkin Park in the late 2000’s and he immediately fell in love with their sound but most of all those cool drums. He’d stay up every morning on the weekends until around 4-5am just to hear crawling on mtv. He'd set up some pillows around the couch and bang on them like He was playing on a kit!! That’s when He knew He wanted to play drums.

He moved to Hagerstown, Maryland in 2001. A big change coming from a small town like conneaut. His mother made him a bet that if He entered band and got to the first chair spot then she would buy him a drum set. He practice and practiced on the drum pad and slowly moved his way to first chair! determined as ever. That Christmas she bought him a red and black cb drum kit! Nothing special but it was the beginning of something great for him. He entered jazz band so he could learn a different style of drumming and also entered marching band to build his speed and learn different rudiments. He met a boy who could play guitar like no other for his age. After one of their shows, they messed around to The White Strips- seven nation army. They both looked at each other, laughed and said let’s make a band! Faded memory was formed and they did some great things together once it became a 5 piece band. They played rock music and were good at it. They were featured in the local Hagerstown magazine, and opened up for the western Maryland blues fest, started really getting their name out there. Playing at bars and huge opening acts for local concerts. What a feeling being 13-14 years old. Transitioning from middle school to high school wasn’t easy.. things changed like girlfriends coming into the picture and friends testing friends limits.

High school came around and things got difficult. He was ready to move forward to bigger shows for older age groups while some wanted to stay around a certain younger age group. He was voted out off the band of 3+ years. He kept it rolling! practicing and practicing to get better and better. He then entered indoor drum line for his high school. He always wanted be like nick cannon from the movie drum-line. Seeing the cool stick tricks they did was always intriguing to him and the sound of a snare drum is like no other. One evening he was practicing in his basement, the door bell rang.. it was the neighbor across the street saying He sounded really good and to come over to hang with him and his friends. He went over and they were having band practice. The itch of being in a band had came back. He sat down and listen to them till the end. He really digged the stuff!! They sat with him after and said their drummer wasn’t up to par and if He could learn a few songs by tomorrow’s practice and it sounded good, He could have to spot. Let’s say He grabbed that spot and killed the show they played 5 days later. A new band for him! They were called matinee at midnight. A pop punk band who took the local scene by storm. They won their high school battle of the band in 2007, recorded their ep called the heart break and even toured on warped tour in 2011. Upgraded the kit to a black on black pearl kit with zildjian z customs. Moving up in the world lol What an awesome experience. He then knew He was meant for this career. They pushed themselves to be better but that was also a time when bills started to roll in and mommy and daddy stopped paying for things. He left the band in 2012 to work and stopped playing drums for a while.

In 2016 He was walking by a music store with a friend and we went in. There was a blue sparkle pearl kit sitting on the shelf, He stared at it and started to wonder if He could pick it up again. His friend convinced him to buy it so He did. Felt good to be behind a kit again. got the chops back up and made a post that He was looking to get back into playing again and his friend Shay hit him up saying come over and jam and that she had some friends over with guitars. They jammed for a few hours and made 3 kick ass songs. After talking and finding out everyone’s devotion to this thing they had going on. They were all set and ready to form a band. They became no ransom which is the band He's with today. What a fun experience this has been for him. Everyone in this band has a different musical background and that’s what makes them so versatile. It’s made him into the drummer his is today.

Being in a few different bands of different genres has helped him significantly as a drummer. His idols are joey jordison of slipknot, longinue Parsons III of yellowcard, Travis Barker of blink 182, and aaron Gillespie of underoath. That combination makes up for a pretty bad ass drummer if you ask him and listening to them all has given him so much. He's always wanted to be endorsed and with the help of these guys... that dream has become a reality.

Upcoming shows
04/26 angels rock bar in Baltimore, MD
05/05 troubadour in Berkeley springs, WV
06/16 mj’s pub in Martinsburg, WV
06/23 fish head cantina in Baltimore,MD
0919 redhouse in ridgeley, WV

My Soultone Set: 

Custom brilliant 10” splash
Custom brilliant 14” hi-hats
Custom brilliant 16” crash
Custom brilliant 17” crash
Custom brilliant 18” crash
Custom brilliant 18” China
Custom brilliant 20” ride