We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Quinton Kufahl a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Quinton thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
In April of 2023, I moved halfway across the United States from Milwaukee, WI to Nashville, TN. Prior to my move, I was questioned and mocked by peers, fellow musicians and even a past band mate for my quarter-life gamble, in the way of, “only playing country music in Nashville” and moving on “to go play rockstar”.
In late June, I was contacted by the metal outfit, Halocene, to fill their performing drummer position. After a few texts, the submission of my audition, a meeting and introductory Music Video, I was granted the gig which has provided a lot of steady work in the form of Twitch Streams and Music Videos, as well as a US Tour and European Tour, with a Spring US Run and European Festival Tour to follow for 2024.
I had no idea that I would be granted these opportunities, but if I hadn’t trusted my gut and believed in myself enough to move, I wouldn’t be staring the successes head on; and I can’t think of anything more “rockstar” than that.
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 Quinton Kufahl and I dub myself “The People’s Drummer”. I try with every bone in my body to entertain everyone in the room by bringing the drums from the back of the stage, into the spotlight. My journey into drumming began at age 5, and became serious once I entered Middle School at age 11 when I enrolled into band class and fortunately, private drum lessons. I became obsessed with drumming and everyday after school would practice for about 3 hours all the way through High School, which is where a lot of my skills were formed. During this time I was trying to form bands to play the Talent Show circuit and met two of my best musical friends who I will talk about later in this answer.
When I was 17, I joined a working KISS Tribute Band, and learned so much about how live shows are conducted and made a lot of connections in not only my local Milwaukee, WI music scene but the Worldwide KISS Tribute scene thanks to Facebook Groups.
After my High School Graduation, I continued to join various successful local cover bands and other KISS Tribute bands, while also creating music with my friends, as well as beginning to teach Drum Lessons, and even Roadie for Wisconsin’s top Rock Cover Band.
Through all of this work and networking I was able to join The World’s Best KISS Tribute Band in 2017, and be a member of that outfit until the end of 2022, when I decided to leave and pursue being an extensive touring drummer for Original Bands, as opposed to working primarily weekends with Cover/Tribute Groups. It was a very scary decision, but I knew I had to make the change to be on track of trying to reach a global level of performing.
This decision led me to move to Nashville, TN where I am still teaching drums virtually and attracting a few fill in gigs with established Cover Bands, but in June of 2023, I started working with Halocene who had tour offers for a Fall US Tour and Winter EU Tour. Upon being accepted for those two opportunities, I was also included in their consistent Music Video releases and weekly Twitch Streams. I don’t think that I would have been chosen for this opportunity if I hadn’t spent all of those years practicing, and seizing as many other opportunities as I could, while gaining all of that experience in the business-side of concerts and performing-side of shows.
As 2023 comes to a close, I just got back from a 16 show tour of Europe and the United Kingdom and have unmasked my own, brand new band, IDOL, with my two best musical friends who I mentioned previously. IDOL is a Dark Deco band, conceptualizing a fictional Noir, based in reality. We just released our debut single, “Holiday For You”, a Christmas track that introduces the viewer to the Main Characters in this Superhero/Supervillain Origin Story, where not all endings are happy. My band encompasses everything I’m passionate about and stand for when it comes to my eclectic musical tastes, humanitarian beliefs and epic visuals. My business is that of entertaining to evoke emotion, which I’ve been fortunate enough to do as a living for 10 years, and hope to continue for the rest of my life.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One story that specifically comes to mind, yet blankets a lot of my career in general, is I was performing with my Middle School Rock Band at a Talent Show, and had just started to implement stick tricks into my performance. At this point I was (and still am) a huge KISS fan, and started to fall enjoy (and still do) Mötley Crüe, and wanted to be like my heroes. Upon placing 3rd Place and receiving the Judge’s feedback, one comment stuck out which was to in so few of words, stop doing the stick tricks. This was frustrating to see as a 12 year old, as I felt that this Judge did not understand the value I was trying to provide as a performer. My mantra then and now is to have not only my musical performances, but my visual performances always be, over the top. So I stuck to my guns, and never at the expense of my musical ability, continued to craft my visual performance where 16 years later, I feel that it has helped set me apart from my drumming peers and define me as a huge asset to a band’s overall presentation. So while I may have potentially turned off a lot of bands from hiring me, I forged my way as not only being known as a Solo Musician, but also having found the right bands who believe in the same things I do.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
While there are no specific titles to suggest by name, what I do seek out are in depth interviews with my favorite artists being KISS, Black Veil Brides and Avenged Sevenfold. These three bands have a lot of YouTube and Podcast interviews talking about how they truly work all day at their craft and business. Outlining that no one will work harder to make your dreams come true than yourself. Meaning to get up early, and work out, answer emails/DM’s, try to create a schedule and stick to that by honoring time frames. Also arriving early to meetings and gigs, and be courteous of everyone else’s time. It has taken me a while to truly put the idea of working 10 to 12 hour days, almost everyday, into motion, but now that I’m working towards that, I find that a lot of my goals are starting to take place. So seek out interviews from your favorite creatives or other entrepreneurs as they will most definitely offer ideas and knowledge as to how they work towards their goals, and how you can too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linker.ee.com/quintonkufahlofficial
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/quintonkufahl
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/quintonkufahlofficial
- Twitter: https://Twitter.com/@quintonkufahl
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@quintonkufahl
- Other: For more on my New Band, IDOL, please Follow and Subscribe… Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thebandidolonline YouTube: https://YouTube.com/@thebandidol TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebandidol Twitter: https://Twitter.com/@thebandiol Instagram: https://Instagram.com/thebandidol Facebook: https://Facebook.com/idoltheband
Image Credits
Cover Image & 1-3, 7 & 8: Kelley Curran – kelleycurranphotography.com Image 4: Sam De Christopher Image 5: Patrick Mitchell Glover Image 6: Kyle Kostner – https://breakstill.studio/