Today we’d like to introduce you to Tauseef Anam.
Tauseef, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I never thought I would try and be a musician as a kid. I would listen to all sorts of Bengali folk songs and Bollywood music growing up and at the time, none of it caught my ear. I remember my whole script changing when I heard Linkin Park’s “Crawling” for the first time at age 11 and getting a CD player just to listen to the album Hybrid Theory. I had a pair of headphones on at all times listening to music and trying to mimic the drum parts on my imaginary drumkit. I had been playing Clarinet in the school band for several years at this point but I finally managed to convince my parents to let me get a drum set when I was 12 along with drum lessons. I spent all my free time listening to different kinds of music and playing along to records. I started out worshipping guys like Travis Barker of Blink 182 and playing Metallica covers with some of my friends growing up. My appetite for various music styles kept growing, staying curious about what my friends were listening to and they would always point me in the right direction lucky enough. By the time I was in high school, I was learning about all sorts of music ranging from Classic/Indie Rock, Funk, Jazz, DnB, Trip Hop and the list goes on.
I finally had an opportunity to know what it was like being a part of a band right before I went to college. I played a small show with some friends while I was living in Gainesville, GA and we opened up for a band called Chainestereo led by Phillip Frobos. The band’s sound was super catchy and inspired by all sorts of alternative rock and punk stylings of the ’80s and early ’90s. Very rare for a band of high schoolers. Phillip happened to go to the same high school as me so he knew who I was. He had heard me play that day and later asked if I would be interested in playing with their band and I emphatically agreed. That relationship lasted well into my time at college at Emory University. While I attended Emory, I was very active in the various music programs available ranging from Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Jazz Big Band, and many more. While I attended school, I would spend most of my nights playing shows with Chainestereo, who eventually changed the name to Carnivores to reflect the grittier punk rock nature of the music we were writing. I loved every second of being with a group of friends going around town playing music. We eventually started touring around the country thanks to Phillip’s knack for making connections while also recording a few records with producer Chris Unck.
Things were smooth up until my junior year of college, where the band got offered to tour in Europe and I would have had to stop going to college to do it. I had also started getting much more into studying jazz music, which influenced my decision to hang up my skinny jeans and spend more time learning the art of jazz. I still, to this day, regret parting ways with the band as they were my family for many years. Phillip also stayed on the grind musically and is now the bass player and frontman for the Atlanta trio Omni which is easily my favorite local band at the moment. While studying jazz in college, I was fortunate enough to have Gary Motley as the director of Emory’s jazz program. He pushed me to dig into the history of the music and to listen to the musicians around me at all times. He was hard on me during rehearsals, which used to drive me insane but now, looking back on it, I realized he did that because he knew that I cared enough to make a difference and get better. It took a lot of work but eventually, I came out of the program Swingin’ as the jazz players would call it as a term of endearment for making the music feel good.
Once I graduated college, I spent that time playing as much as I could around the city of Atlanta. I attended many jam sessions to practice and meet other musicians to work with. I ended up landing a few consistent gigs of my own, which were big for my development as a musician. I was staying with my family in Lagrange, Georgia and driving to the city every week to play at Apache Cafe on Monday nights and Churchill Grounds on Tuesday nights as the house drummer for their jam sessions. I would play these gigs and freelance with various other jazz musicians around Georgia for a while but it ended up becoming unsustainable due to a variety of reasons. One of the biggest reasons was my mental health, as I was so stressed out and scared for pursuing something that felt like trying to win the lottery more than following my passion. Every time I would have to play a drum solo, I would be internally screaming from all the nerves I would feel. Working at something you love can be bittersweet at times and I felt my love for what I was doing slowly dwindle so I decided to stop and figure out what to do with my life.
Right about when I decided to take a break from pursuing music, I happened to start getting into competitive gaming through the means of playing fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. I entered a local tournament at Battle n Brew for the game Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and I ended up winning thanks to some beginner’s luck. What started as me trying something new and letting off a little steam turned into a whole new chapter of my life spanning several years. Throughout my whole journey to try and be a pro-level player, I ended up meeting some of my best friends and redefining who I was. I went from being this stressed out musician trying to make sense of the world to someone who just wanted to follow his passion and see where it took him. I took a lot of what I learned musically and applied it with fighting games to become one of the best Marvel vs. Capcom 3 players in the region but what I also did not expect were the negatives I took from my musical experience as well. I was known for being a highly technical player that would constantly choke when the going got tough. I was considered strong enough to make it to the finals of these competitions but would always come up a little short.
I thought fear would forever be a dominating factor in my life until I decided to change my life up a bit and move to California to pursue web development. I did not care for coding all that much and ended up spending the time competing and learning from some of the best fighting game players in the world, such as Justin Wong, Filipino Champ, and Apologyman. What I ended up learning from these legends was not some incredible new strategy or combo to help me win games but how important it is to stay mentally focused. It finally clicked how much fear had a hold on me and how much it was affecting my performance, not only in tournaments but when I would play music as well! In my pursuit of self-improvement, I happened across information regarding mindfulness meditation and decided to apply that to my lifestyle. The results were life-changing and my tournament results reflected on it. Instead of being this highly technical player trying to make these flashy plays, I calmed my mind down and just focused on being present and patient and I ended up making it to the finals of every major tournament I entered while in California. I had completely transformed my reputation as a flashy player to someone who was patient that knew when to capitalize on the opponent’s mistakes. I managed to dig myself out of a rut and got myself a decent paying job and thought I had things figured out.
But of course, once you think you have everything figured out, the universe tends to remind you that there is plenty more to this experience called life. I was doing well at my job but there was no real career path insight that made sense for me and I knew that I was not going to make living playing video games as it was just a passion and not something I was truly gifted in. At some point, I was on my way home from work and went to a guitar center right near where I lived in Emeryville, California, and bought a guitar and some recording equipment to try and write songs for the fun of it. I had played guitar for fun ever since high school and for some reason, with a much clearer head, I started to like what I was writing musically. I realized from that point that pursuing music in some form is the only way for me to live a fulfilling life and it was a mistake to let fear steer me away from it. I learned that it was a mistake to identify as just a drummer in the past and I am much more than that. I am a musician. I left my job in California to move back to Atlanta to study Audio Engineering and music production at SAE Institute Atlanta.
I learned so much about all aspects of music while studying there and vowed to try my hand at every music-related opportunity I could grasp and see where it would take me. This led me to not only start back up as a freelance drummer in the Atlanta area but to also work as a music teacher, studio engineer/musician, and even a live sound engineer. There were many situations in which I felt uncomfortable and unqualified but I learned that those are the types of opportunities in which you will learn the most about what you are doing and about yourself. Through all the hustle, I managed to make so many meaningful work relationships with a variety of artists in Atlanta that have kept me very busy.
Most notably, I managed to have the opportunity to meet BabyRose through my friend John Scherer whom I had met working with another artist. We all were just hanging out and jamming in John’s living room one day and she happened to mention to John that their drummer could not do a show later that month and they needed a backup. John immediately pointed to me and asked if I was free to do it and I happily obliged not knowing what I had agreed to do. I later found out that day that the gig was a sold-out show at The Tabernacle opening up for two of my favorite music groups, Moonchild, and The Internet. That show was one of the best nights of my life and granted me the start for an amazing opportunity working with amazing people. I have now been playing with Babyrose and her band for a little over a year and we have played all over the US and Europe, which was something I never thought would happen so quickly.
I am blessed to have found amazing people to work in the city of Atlanta. Along with playing drums for Babyrose, I also play drums and produce for Cody Matlock, Alex Gurthie, New Tree, and many other acts. All of these musical acts have me switching between a variety of hats ranging from Blues, Funk, Indie Rock, RnB, Hip-Hop, and Jazz. That’s honestly where I feel the most comfortable. I started as a kid just enjoying as much music as I could and I am fortunate to work with musicians that keep me motivated to learn more about music.
While playing drums has kept me quite busy in the Atlanta area, I also continue to teach drums and music production. I am also working on putting out a solo project of music I’ve produced, which should be out later this year under the name Seef. I am excited for the people of ATL to hear it!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all. I personally feel that my experience trying to be a musician is a little different due to my upbringing in a South Asian household. My parents came from Bangladesh to practice medicine and create a home for their family to thrive in. They had no concept of what it meant to be a musician for a living. My parents, along with many other family members, would worry constantly that I would not make it as a musician and that I should focus on something else. This cultural atmosphere of always being questioned about your purpose made me second guess many aspects of my life. My drum teacher at Emory, Justin Chesarek, told me something I would never forget. “If you can do anything else other than music, do that!” I remember hearing those words and thinking that my music career was doomed. I happened to be pretty alright at anything I put my mind to and thought that my parents were probably right in trying to have me pursue something like medicine or pharmaceuticals.
Being so focused on self success and appeasing my family led me to take a break and go into competitive gaming just to do something else for the fun of it. Through my time with the Fighting Game Community (FGC for short), my whole approach to what mattered changed in an instant. I learned that success will come eventually once you stop caring about who you are and care more about what you can do for others. I was very active in the community to try and help it grow and in turn, I had access to opportunities I never would have imagined. When I came back to Atlanta to study at SAE, I took that same approach of being a positive member of a community and not worrying about my own success. I can honestly say that this shift in thinking has helped me achieve my dreams of becoming a professional musician. My family now sees me flourishing and have been the most supportive in my efforts to grow my career as a musician and it warms my heart to be able to say that now after all the trials and tribulations that led up to this moment of me talking about it!
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I’d like to think of myself as a triple threat as a professional drummer, producer, and songwriter that all combines together to be what I think is the modern musician. I am grateful for the time spent at SAE as it helped me really understand all the perspectives when it comes to creating music in the industry. I am comfortable being the instrumentalist as well as making the proper decisions when it comes to writing/arranging while being tech-savvy enough to know how to handle all the ins and outs of music recording software. To me, I find myself to really stand out in that sense since many musicians that I know really double down on being either a songwriter, instrumentalist, or audio engineer. All of those aspects interest me heavily and I do my best to find the right balance of all things to create a unique perspective when I’m working with people musically.
I take my approach to music and apply it to my teaching methods as well. While I do teach drums and other instruments such as guitar, I actually teach people of all ages how to make their own music using their computers. It brings a different kind of joy to my heart when I teach a kid how to sample a song and make a hip hop beat out of it and show them the ins and outs of how to play with sound. Drumming may have brought me into my journey with music but the pursuit of creating dope music is what drives me to stay humble and learn more about what it is possible. I want to share that feeling of creating music with anyone else that is interested in doing so!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment is undoubtedly when I performed with Baby Rose for her NPR Tiny Desk concert. I have been watching these concerts ever since I was in college ten years ago and would always talk with friends about which ones they like the best and so on. Preparing for this event was eye-opening for me as I had to use almost everything I had learned in all my of my time playing music to perform this event as well as I could. When we first started rehearsing for it the sound was all wrong and we did not get to capture the tiny desk vibe. There are no microphones or PA systems for any of the artists when performing there so we all had to learn how to bring the volume down but still perform with the correct amount of intensity.
I switched my mode of thinking like a drummer and tried to instead go back to college and approach the performance as a percussionist, choosing all sorts of different soundscapes to accurately convey the music in this intimate atmosphere. I came with four different pairs of sticks, including brushes and mallets, just to make sure I chose the right sounds for every moment of our 18-minute set. Every musician that was part of the performance took it just as seriously as I did and the result was nothing short of the greatest musical experience we have all been a part of. You dream of moments like this as a musician where you are given the opportunity to share in a musical experience that is bigger than yourself.
Pricing:
- Lessons for Drums/Percussion and Music Production are $60/hour
Contact Info:
- Email: tauseefanam@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sifuseef/
Image Credit:
Unknown Vincent and NPR Music
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