Shane Graham
Shane Graham began playing music at the age of 12. Following in his father's and brother's footsteps, he first began playing guitar. After plucking around a little he found that something wasn't right. He wanted more interaction with his hands and feet to play the music. Shane was always banging on tables, buckets and trash cans, all of which thrilled him more than playing guitar. After constantly begging his parents for a drum set, they finally gave in and bought him his first drum-set for his 13th birthday. Soon after, Shane started playing drums everyday to his favorite records and songs. When Shane went to high school, he joined his school's drum-line and marching band. It was during this time that Shane began to heavily focus on his rudimental training. Also, during high school Shane played drums for four years in a grunge rock band with several of his friends.
Shane was a self taught drummer until he enrolled at California State University, Northridge, where he began studying percussion with Tyler Smith in preparation for auditioning into the university's music program. Soon after in his sophomore year, Shane was accepted into the Music Industry Studies program. While in the program, he studied with percussionists, Aaron Smith, Jerry Steinholz and John Roscigno, training on snare drum, marimba, vibraphone, and various hand percussion instruments. Outside of school, Shane began taking drum set lessons with Jack LeCompte, whose lessons were focused on hand technique, touch, jazz playing and creativity. In addition, Shane began studying with modern jazz drummer, Jason Harnell. While studying with Jason, Shane learned how to mark the form of a tune, sing melodies in his head and then adapt them to drums to create more melodic playing. In May 2011, Shane graduated from CSUN with his Bachelors degree in Music Industry Studies. He then began studying with the great, Gene Coye, who helped him focus on control, 4-way coordination, groove and creativity. Currently, Shane is playing drums in Nacosta, a psychedelic rock band which released its debut EP in September 2011 and plans to tour in 2012.