We recently connected with Mike Gomez and have shared our conversation below.

Mike , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Creating a full-time income as a working musician is no easy task. At this point in my career, it comes through multiple revenue streams. Gigs, recording sessions and teaching are the main sources, but often production consultations, video and photo jobs as well. It’s busy, but I enjoy it.

My journey, like so many others started immediately after college. The year was 2004 and I was the proud new owner of a degree in music performance. Feeling very good about my playing ability, my objective was to make a living playing live music. From the get go, that was extremely difficult as I quickly learned I had almost no network in the local market. Nobody to vouch for me, no one had ever heard me or any of my bands play.

Fortunately, I was recommended for an interview at St. Cecilia’s Catholic School where I taught for the next 6 years as I got my live music business off the ground. I quickly fell in love with teaching and towards the end of my time at the school I on-boarded with JBSA Randolph as a contract musician in a Sunday morning band. This is probably the moment I realized that the key to my career was diversity. Generate income through music performance and instruction while holding down a wonderful Sunday morning job.

I was with JBSA Randolph for 12 years. 5 through the contract musician and 7 as Musical Director. I’ll treasure that time forever.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Mike Gomez, but most people call me theDMG! It’s a nickname that was given to me years ago on tour in New Mexico. It stands for The Drummer Mike Gomez and the story goes that we drove 1,300 miles and no one knew we were coming. None of our flyers were up and things were looking well, not great. My DJ and I, performing as a duo absolutely packed the venue for 3 nights straight and after numerous people could not remember my name, a good friend shouted “theDMG!” out loud and the rest is history.

I’ve only wanted to do one thing with my life and that is music. Ever since I was a child I begged my parents for drumsticks, drum sets, basically anything that was percussion related. I got my chance in the 6th grade when I joined the school band. I practiced feverishly and took part in contests placing well often. That led me to study music at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas under the tutelage of Audra Menconi. Audra taught me everything I know on drum set. She was pivotal in my growth as a drummer as well as my business vision.

I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the stage with and or supporting the following artists: The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Lucas Jack, ZEUS. El Mero Necio, Doc Watkins, The Offspring, Foreigner, Dennis DeYoung of Styx, Ian Moore, The San Antonio Spurs Drumline, 3 Doors Down, Buck Cherry, Doja Cat and Logic.

I offer professional music services in many areas including utility player (ie. drums, piano & synthesis), studio drummer, live sound & lighting consultant, band leader and educator. My private studio remains full at 35 students per week and I consistently place high school students in State and Region bands. I am the adjunct professor of music production at St. Mary’s University and I began exploring cameras and content creation in 2020.

I absolutely love helping people. Whether it’s working on marimba technique, mental approach for live performance in demanding situations or creating high quality deliverables for online distribution, there’s something about working with others that fulfills me. In a way I feel that I become part of their story and suddenly it becomes not just less about me, but all about them.

My proudest teaching moment was helping coach a student to 1st chair All-State Jazz Band 2019. My proudest playing moment was subbing in with the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. It was a last minute call with zero rehearsal and I read it down.

I’m releasing my first educational product in December 2022. It’s a play along product for drummers based off something in the music community called a beat tape. The student reads/learns a beat on the provided sheet music and can then play along to a backing track that is in that style. Reference videos of myself playing examples will also be included. The first installment of this product focuses on a Hip-Hop/beats driven feel at one tempo. The goal is to just sit at one tempo for a long time so that a new level of mastery is realized. It will be available on my website, www.DMGPIP.com.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My mission is to improve peoples quality of life through shared experience. I try to accomplish that by creating meaningful lessons, content and performances for clients. It’s easy to be overwhelmed with everything going on in the world today and the way I see it, I’m lucky because I get to alleviate some of that for people.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of what I do is sharing it with younger people. I recently mentored a high school student in the Independent Study Mentorship (ISM) program in San Antonio and it was just awesome to see the final presentation.

We worked together for the better part of an entire school year and my student was tasked with a 45 minute final presentation where he outlined his research, spoke at length about sound design and performed an all original electronic music set. He performed on a professional array system to a programmed light show; it was great to see the next generation so excited about the field.

It really is the best feeling in the world to share what I know with young people so they can have an edge in their musical journey. Whether it’s how to read a big band chart to help secure and All-State chair or what DMX and MIDI mean in music production.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dmgpip.com
• Instagram: @thedmg
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedrummermikegomez
• Linkedin: Michael-Gomez-theDMG
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/djdrumsetcombo

Image Credits
Mike Gomez, Mary Gomez, ZEUS. El Mero Necio, Abbey Ogier, Alberto Ruiz Sors