He’s Got the Beat
A Q&A With Drummer David Stalsworth
Oxnard, Calif.
January 23, 2019
VENTURA, CALIF. – David Stalsworth’s age is what most notice right off the bat. That, paired with his drumming ability and all-around musical talent is what usually leaves some in disbelief.
Turns out creativity runs in the family. His mom paints and does collage art, while his dad also pounded away at the drums and previously toured in a few different bands.
Stalsworth chatted briefly with Paradigm just after Civil Conflict’s set at a backyard show in Ventura where he talked about his craft, other projects and the Berklee College of Music.
What follows is an edited version of the conversation.
So where did that nickname Baby Firmz come from?
It just happened one day. We have a group chat on Instagram and we were asking if everybody was down for a practice and [Civil Conflict guitarist] Anthony just said, “Yo, is Baby Firmz down?” I’m like, “Oh, that’s me I guess, and it’s a thing now.”
Refresh my memory, but you’ve been playing drums for how long now?
For about five, six years.
And your dad is a drummer, too, right?
Yeah, he used to be a drummer. He was in a couple metal bands back in the day.
Did he sort of help steer your towards the drums?
No, it was more like I started banging on things so my dad was like, “Oh, maybe he wants to be a drummer.” So he bought me a drum kit and kind of went from there.
Did his style of playing at all influence your style?
Actually, that’s a funny story because not at all. He tried to teach me some things when I was starting up and I didn’t listen. It’s that whole thing of “You’re my dad. Why are you trying to teach me how to play?” That sort of thing. There’s a couple things here and there that stuck out that he taught me. But the more technique aspect, I kind of figured that out on my own.
And how many other bands are you in?
So Civil Conflict and two others. I’m in a thrash metal band called Torena. I went to Guitar Center one day and I saw this kid shredding on guitar. Seventeen years old, and I was just like, “Woah, this is crazy.” So I asked him if he would be down to jam. This was a year ago. So we started jamming. We started writing music and it was just him and I. There was no bass, so we didn’t really sound that great. We started really writing music, trying to build an audience. We still haven’t played a show, which I would love to do.
Eventually, we were like, “OK we need a bass player if we want to do anything with this.” So he goes to school with a kid named Mark and we asked him if he’d be down because he used to play guitar and he said he was down.
There’s been off-and-on times with these guys just because of their busy schedules, going to school, trying to get into college. But, for me, it’s a lot easier, considering I’m homeschooled and I’m in 8th grade. There’s not much going on with that, so it’s a bit different. Sometimes, I’m thinking, “Why are these guys always flaking” but then I really have to think about, man, these guys are in high school trying to get into college. And they have a lot stricter parents than I do.
But we’re really trying to buckle down and get in a routine.
How long have you been doing homeschooling?
I’ve been doing homeschooling since the middle of the 6th grade. I was going to a school in Oxnard that was not the best at all. It was terrible. There was multiple occasions where I had to correct my own teacher on math problems and I was getting bullied really bad. I don’t know Spanish at all and these kids would pick on me in Spanish. But any time somebody tried to get physical with me, I’d obviously fight back. I wouldn’t just take it and that kind of started this thing of, “Oh, don’t go physical with David because he’ll kick your ass, but just yell at him in Spanish and he won’t know what you’re saying.”
So that’s kind of how half of sixth grade was and my mom thought it just was not working at all. So she enrolled me in homeschooling and the one I tried first was absolutely terrible and I wasn’t getting anything done because I didn’t understand how it worked. So I was sitting there clueless. There’d be weeks where I’d be sitting there doing nothing at all because I didn’t know what do.
Then I went to a charter school and it was good. It was in Ojai. Having to drive from Oxnard to Ojai on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays isn’t the easiest thing, but it was working for a while. I thought that’s where I’d end up staying because they went up to high school, but the principal there was extremely rude to my parents. My mom has a disability. She’s had a rough time and it’s hard for her to do things. So when things [at school] weren’t getting completed, the principal would start being mean and saying, “Oh, you can’t handle this. Just stop doing this right now.” It was really bothering me so I made the executive decision to say that, “OK this isn’t working” and I dropped it. I’m starting another school when I turn 14. I hope that works. That’d be great if it does.
I don’t know if I heard this right, but are you doing something, classes, with Berklee?
I’m not doing classes, but at one time Berklee [College] of Music was paying attention to me, but I don’t know what’s up with that. They could be looking at my social media and seeing what I’m doing, but I have no idea.
Wow, how did that happen?
I usually take drum lessons with this guy whose like, “Oh, I know the guys at Berklee. They’ve been checking you out.” So I thought, “Oh, that’s pretty good,” but I’ve never heard anything since. But it’s still pretty cool, yeah.
And you play other instruments too?
Yeah, I play guitar and bass. In my thrash metal band, I play drums and I sing at the same time. My biggest thing is I love to write music, and it’s hard to write music with just a drum kit because you can’t really work with notes and a melody on a drum kit.
What was the most frustrating aspect of learning to play drums?
Oh, I’d have to say the hardest thing was trying to stick out. Trying to be different from all the other drummers because you see all these drummers doing the exact same thing over and over again. I was trying to find a style that hadn’t been done before and something that really sticks out. So if anybody is looking for a drummer, obviously.... But, at the moment I wouldn’t join any other bands.
You’re a little busy.
Yeah. But, like with all the sponsors and that stuff. you need to stick out. You can’t just be one of the crowd.
That’s a lot of pressure!
Yeah.
But do you look at it as all just for fun though?
At times it’s really stressful because I feel like sometimes you get in this rut. You’re just at a plateau and you’re not going anywhere. When I first joined Civil Conflict that’s how it was. Punk drumming isn’t crazy drumming. But as of the last couple months I’ve been really trying new things. I think it’d be fun to be in a marching band and do that kind of drumming. So I’ve been working on that quite a bit. That’s pretty fun, but it’s really hard. Really challenging.
OK, anything else for this year related to drumming or music you’ve got going on?
Well, I think being in Civil Conflict it’s gotten me a lot of publicity, because before I was just playing in these bands that played a show here and there at an open mic night or some festival. I wasn’t really gigging all the time until I joined Civil Conflict. I had no idea it was going to be like this. When I first joined, I was hardly expecting any shows. I thought this is going to be fun, and our first show ever we had to drive two hours to Baldwin Park.
The VFW, right?
Yeah that was our first show and I messed up quite a bit. It wasn’t too noticeable and I really think about that like, man, it could have been a lot worse. But thank god that didn’t happen and the gigging’s just been ridiculous. There’s times where I’m thinking I can’t do this because I have family things, but then I really don’t like doing that. I don’t like being the flake. I hate that, especially with Civil Conflict.