Interview - Emily Dolan Davies
Photo Credit: Emily Dolan Davies
Emily Dolan Davies is a touring and recording drummer based in the UK. She has worked with artists including Bryan Ferry, The Darkness, Kim Wilde, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey, Tricky, Cher Lloyd, The Hours, and many more. Emily is the drummer in the Voice Kids band which is how I know her. I am always amazed by the speed that the band work at and how many songs they have to learn. They are the ultimate professionals and lovely with the kids too! Each contestant has their very own arrangement made of their song to suit their voice and style, it is a huge undertaking. When lockdown happened I noticed that Emily had created a course that may be relevant for some of you. Anyway, I will let Emily introduce herself and tell you more…
Emily, you have had an amazing career so far. Please tell us a bit about it, how did it start for you? What sort of training did you have?
Firstly, thanks so much for doing this interview Jai, and for putting such inspiring content out there – you’re awesome!
So for me, drumming started off the back of a note that was in my school register at age 11. There was a drum club starting that lunchtime, and anyone who wanted to attend could. Now, at the time, I was the shyest, quietest kid you could ever imagine, so what possessed me to think this was a good idea, I still don’t know to this day! But I’m glad it did!
So I toddled down to the music room and met around 30 other kids who also decided bashing things for an hour at lunch sounded like fun. One by one, we all took turns in sitting down at the kit and playing what the teacher told us to do.
The second I sat behind those drums and started playing the pattern, it was like I became Neo in The Matrix. It’s like I could see the code, everything made sense, and I knew in that moment I knew I could, and wanted to be good at this thing! Cue life long love affair and obsession with the drums!
From there I started taking private drum lessons, attending jam nights (not sure how my parents wangled an 11 year old being allowed in a pub!) and playing with all the musicians I could within my school from kids my own age, up to students doing their A-Level music assessments!
By age 14 I knew this was what I wanted to do professionally, and decided I needed to branch out from just playing with people within school, so started to look for bands to play with outside of school. I swiftly joined a heavy metal band and started gigging around London, and then joining more bands until all my free time was completely rammed!
At around 16 I sat and had a conversation with my parents who have always been incredibly supportive, and very much believe in doing something you love for a living if you can (when they were younger they weren’t allowed, so I guess this was their idea of rebelling! Ha!), and we spoke through my options. We talked about music college, maybe studying music at uni, or a number of other ideas. We came to the agreement that I would continue in school and finish my A-Levels (in case I lost a limb), and just get out there and play as much as I can with as many people as I can! They said I could stay at home til 21, like a type of ‘uni’ and they would give me a small allowance for petrol money to get to rehearsals, gigs and increase my networking opportunities.
This single act was definitely a great option for me, as you really can’t circumvent treading the boards even if you’ve studied something for years; it’s the real world experience that gets your name in the hat.
You have recently created a course helping musicians to set up a successful remote recording businesses for themselves, is this relevant for singers too?
Yes! I created this course after 5 years of working within the remote recording space, and falling in love with it! I had wanted to create this course for a good couple of years to share everything I’ve learnt on how to run a business (but without all the confusing business jargon), make it accessible for musicians, and create a blueprint that others could follow to get to get earning whilst avoiding all the mistakes I made!
Once Covid hit which gave me a bunch of free time (I had a years-worth of touring canceled) to get the course created, and in turn help those whose work is also affected by this horrendous world pandemic!
The course isn’t instrument specific, so singers are more than welcome. As long as you have a basic recording setup (computer, interface, mic), then you can start a business recording vocals remotely for songwriters, producers, and atists alike.
What do you cover in the course?
The course covers how to get clients through the door and keep them coming back whilst raving about you and your services. All the systems to have in place to make you work smarter, not harder. Also how to create a great online presence through social media, websites, and creating your own following and fan base that will be breaking down your door to work with you. All of this combined will give you a consistent client base and income whilst you get to do what you love and be in control of it (something we can seldom say in the current world climate)!
How do people find you and sign up?
You can find out more at RemoteRecordingBusiness.com
There’s a free workshop to share the first steps in starting your business, and then the option to join the full course if you want to dive deeper into running your own remote recording business.
You are very active online. How important do you think it is for artists/singers/musicians to have and maintain an online presence?
I think it’s essential. Social media is such a wonderful thing because it gives you a platform to put out into the world exactly what you want! It’s like having your own tv show to showcase your talent, and build your own fan base.
Tell us more about you. What achievement in your life are you most proud of?
Oooooo so many things – I often find myself feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude. That can be after a massive gig on a stage in front of thousands of people, but equally in a tiny pub in front of 3.
I think I’m proudest of this moment right now, and the journey, ups and downs I’ve been through and here I am, standing (well sitting) here right now, getting to do what I love day in and day out, getting to inspire others to follow their dreams, and earning a living doing so… it’s a pretty crazy life!
What would you like to achieve in your career that you haven’t yet achieved?
Ah that’s such a tough one – I’m always coming up with new and wacky ideas… I think at the moment I’m trying to achieve a consistent work life balance… my life has been purely centered around the drums since I was 11, and it’s only in the last 6 years or so that I’ve allowed other things into my life without feeling guilty I wasn’t doing enough for my career. So honestly, I’d like to achieve a balance between striving/growth and relaxation… not very rock n roll I know!
What advice would you give anyone trying to reach their goals in the music industry?
I’d say get unashamedly obsessed! Really embrace the intrigue and explore. Also just try everything you can! Get into different musical situations, play with as many different musicians as you can (mainly online I guess right now!)! Also realise that this industry, like many others, is about relationships, so get out there and make friends, find like-minded people, surround yourself with people that inspire you, and feel free to inspire others whilst you’re there! Also, just be in the moment and appreciate everything that is happening, even if it’s seemingly bad, because at some point you will look back at those moments with fondness as you notice and appreciate the journey you took from there.
Who is your favourite drummer?
Aaaaaahhhhhh!!! Soooooo many!! Ok, just to give you an idea of the sorts of drummers I love:
Levon Helm (The Band), Steve Gadd (Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, Al Jerrau, EVERYONE!), Steve Jordan (John Mayer), Al Jackson Jr (Al Green), Jim Gordon (Minnie Ripperton), James Gadson (Bill Withers), basically any drummer who plays for the song first and foremost.
Do you have a favourite singer??
Again, so many!!!! So I’m as much of a fan of the songs they sing and have written as their voices inherently, so just a few would be:
Neil Young, John Paul White, Joni Mitchell, Moses Sumney, Jeff Buckley, Thom Yorke, Lianne LaHavas, basically anyone that can tell/sing a great story with true emotion. That’s everything to me.
How important do you think mindset is for career success?
I think mindset is EVERYTHING! I can tell you almost for a fact that the biggest thing getting in my way when I was younger was not believing in myself… every action I took, every experience I had was through this filter and definitely made everything so much harder. Everything is just perception at the end of the day, so if you choose to see the good in a situation, you will make something good come out of it.
Have you ever had imposter syndrome and if so, how do you deal with it?
I always have, and I think I always will to a degree… there’s something in always striving to be better (which I think all creatives are), which means you’re in constant flux of getting better at something, then getting out of your comfort zone, then feeling inadequate and vulnerable, to getting stronger, and the cycle continues. When I’m feeling like that, and it’s not productive (side note the last time I had major imposter syndrome was coming into The Voice Kids), I will find ‘evidence’ that how I’m feeling can’t possibly be true historically, and (hopefully) get to the point of laughing at the absurdity of this feeling. If that’s not working to the degree I need it to, then I try to pinpoint exactly what I’m feeling vulnerable about, and make a proactive plan to absolutely smash it so it’s undeniable that it’s definitely not a problem anymore. (For The Voice Kids it was reading music properly – it’s something I’d managed to conveniently side step for 20 years drumming, but I’m so glad I had an excuse to take it on, full on!)
What piece of advice would you give to your 14 year old self?
Take action! Be scared! Go and fail fantastically, and then learn from those failures! It’ll all be ok cause the reality is, everyone’s too busy worrying about themselves anyway, so just go and experiment, have more fun, don’t take yourself so seriously, enjoy the moment, and notice the brilliance, madness and pain. And when things are really hard, just remember you need that contrast to appreciate when things are great.
But most of all: Just. Be. You. Lean into your weird… people will love you for it, and those that don’t, don’t need to be in your life – it’s ok, you only have so much space for so many people anyway, so you may as well be surrounded by the fun weirdos like you!
Emily, thank you so much for talking to me today and for sharing your words of wisdom with us. You are an inspiration!
Photo Credit: Emily Dolan Davies