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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:52

Interview with Demian Arriaga - Jonas Brothers Percussionist, Teacher, Mentor, Podcaster

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I can't imagine how energized you must be to get back on the road after such a long touring drought. So let's start there. How you doing? How you feeling? You looking forward to tour

Demian and I talk touring, professionalism, and Arsenal Women! http://demianarriaga.com/en_US/ #ArsenalTilWeDie

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@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 4:47
And as a music educator, you never know enough. Right? So I'm always in need in craving the learning of deeper knowledge. Right? So knowing music theory better, like you said, I'm a percussionist, a drummer or drum set as my main instrument. So I'm always practicing that. But when I'm not, I need to play more guitar. I need to play more bass. And I need to know more about recording
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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 2:35

On being a mentor...

And you just find that when you go to a place like that, you're surrounded by other people who, like you said, their interest in music is more than just casual. They really take it to the next level. And between the theory aspect of music and the business aspect of music and the music aspect of music, there's this wonderful network that is created
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@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 4:59
So I realized that there were these things and these Nuggets of things that people could listen to and read and internalize. That wasn't necessarily somebody putting their arm around their shoulder figuratively or literally and telling them what to do or how to do things, but to see farther than just what is being presented to us. So that's what I wanted to do instead of me having or somebody having to magically listen to that song and be spoken to by it
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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 2:04

Preparedness, punctuality and professionalism! 🙏

So with punctuality and preparedness in mind as a touring musician, as a music that is working alongside one of the biggest acts in the world, how do you apply all of these lessons that you are teaching to your students to your own professional career as a percussionist that's going on massive tour after massive tour. For those that have not been in the production side of things, one thing that I think that they missed is how much really goes in before and after the performances
@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 1:33
US musicians really work for about an hour and a half a day, 3 hours at the most, whereas these people that are sitting on the stage and so on work literally all day and sleep for 3 hours for two months. So it's remembering how humility goes a long way in realizing that we're a small part of a bigger picture, like a member of a team
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:15

Duties as a percussionist pre, during, and post show?

What are your responsibilities and how does everything sort of come together for you on the night of I think that for a lot of people, getting a glimpse into that aspect of performing on such a large scale is something that we don't really get to see very often or hear very often. So any insight that you can provide into your experience and sort of what you have to do to stay on your toes and all of that good stuff would be great, appreciated
@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 2:01
This specific role that I play as a percussionist, it varies greatly as that of a drummer. So I'll illustrate as best as I can. Most people understand drum set, right? Just a guy with a bunch of drums, snare, drum, palms, symbols and stuff like that. They're the bus driver, the heartbeat, no pun intended of the whole operation or the whole band on stage, right
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@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 1:07
I'm not there to stamp my personality or call attention to myself. And I just constantly have to remind myself of that. And it has worked so far. And again, there's also a lot of things that go on that a lot of other people do
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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:04
First of all, I love that you call them The Brothers. I think that that's really cool. Sounds like the level of dynamism that you bring is not only welcomed, but very much so needed in order to really we make the most of this experience. And in these massive venues, you mentioned a few of them. They're larger than life
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:11

Arsenal FC ❤️

Now, on a different note, the thing that brought us together is our shared love for Arsenal FC, and since then, we found out that we love a lot of the same things. But it's really interesting to me because over over the last several years, the women's game in international football has obviously grown in stature. But you were actually one of the first people that I came across online that was doing significant coverage of the women's game
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 0:34
Really quickly regarding the last comment you made about music and being a Dynamism and being part of that world, what I'll say is that it's not so much that I like to think that I'm integral, but me personally, I think that percussion might be integral because that's what they want on stage. So the least that those instruments that have given me so much in my life deserve is for me to continue to play a good role in the bigger scheme of things
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@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 2:12
And I knew there were players from the Dutch squad in Barcelona and Real Madrid and other places, of course, Aix and PSV and fine art. But I was just not really exposed to much more of the English primary except for that video. And it's cemented my love. And I had read JVC the Arsenal of Mega Death soccer, and it was just a match made in heaven. So that's how I started supporting the Arsenal that was in 1995 or so
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@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 2:36
And then as I started watching more and more women's football, I started following the Dutch National team, the Lionesses, the Dutch Lionesses. And the first player I saw play that blew my mind was Daniela Vanderdonk, who happened to be an Arsenal player. Also, Vivian Mirama, who is the leading score of the Dutch National Arsenal team historic gold score for Arsenal. And it all started making sense
@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 1:46
I started noticing how they were, everything that I wanted in the club that I felt was missing, you know, people that were giving them their all to the team, to the squad that were kissing the badge. Homegrown players, versatile players. Before Tyranny was tucking in his shirt, Katie McCabe was doing it. We won a number ten, and we were so enamored with Ozil or whatever who never could even tie Burgundy shoelaces. We've had Daniela founder Duncan for years in the club
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@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 2:00
So now is the time where I feel that I want to be part of something at a grassroots level, so to speak. So what I decided to do was on Fridays because I have this Twitch stream that I do a lot of music in. And I noticed that a lot of people did have some blogs here and there about Arsenal women, or they had a podcast here and there, but nothing as interactive as this type of show. So that's what I wanted to do and create for people
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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:49

Heart and soul

That was a really big thing. You didn't see a lot of other Premier League clubs doing stuff like that, Chelsea, but I'm a little biased, obviously, but at any rate, with the women's game, I think you called out something that's really important in that they have so much more to battle just to get to that spotlight
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:35
And speaking of great work, I think that now that I have you here and we're talking about the game, there was a pretty big announcement that was made recently and that Joe Montanaro is no longer going to be the coach of the women's team. And he has been a very influential figure in, I think, strengthening and growing that team. But the resolve that we've seen from them and the winning mentality
@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 2:43
But Joe leaving to me was somewhat of a symptom of where the club is going, what they're doing. It was kind of right around the time the Super League got announced and all these other things and the club not renewing people, including Vanda Dong and including Leo Williamson, that took forever to sign a new deal and all these other players that haven't signed a new deal. Vivian meet him as on her last year of their contract
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@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 1:33
Now is the time to, hey, if we're not going to finish third, at least know that we can finish second and make the Champions League and earn more money and the whole thing attract more players and stuff like that. So I think it's very responsible for the club to not have mentioned a replacement knowing that Joe was leaving a long time ago
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:13

Demian in the drivers seat...where do we go from here?

What sort of decisions would you be making to, I guess, make sure that this club is operating in a way that maintains and really nourishes, the level of love and energy that I was speaking about earlier on in this comment with regards to the women's team, one thing that you mentioned that you think is important is a female coach, but what else, aside from that, would really sort of get things on the right track for you
@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 2:24
And I want to fix why it took so long to get rid of Ozil and people like Shocka and stuff like that as it relates to the women's team. I think it's more of a cultural thing. I think if I was in the board, I would love a campaign where the men's team players go more often to support them. The tweet about them much more, not just like right before a match against Man United
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:35
And yet again, I completely agree with you. I think that what is needed from the top down is really a cultural overhaul. I think it's screaming out for one right now. And so individuals like you mentioned Ian Wright, namely, they're are so important because the amount of visibility that they have and the platform that they have and not only that, but how truly respected they are by not only Arsenal fans, but people all over the spectrum of the footballing world
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:04

Closing thoughts!

Now, Demian, I'm gonna wrap things up here because you have been more than generous and gracious with your time. It has been an absolute pleasure to speak with you about football, about music and touring and mentorship and everything in between. Normally, when I do an interview, I like to close things out by giving you a few moments to draw some attention to causes or different projects that you're working on right now that you want to highlight
@Demian
Demian Arriaga
@Demian · 2:16
Taylor, thanks so much for this opportunity, and I appreciate it. You know, as far as the cause, there's many, you know, and I'm very sociopolitically active on Twitter. I don't and hide where my politics lie or my vision of what should be are and human rights and things of that nature
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