ABOUT JAY DICKSON
Jay asked me to write this biography for him as apparently it’s kinda weird to do it yourself and he seems to think I’m trustworthy enough to tell you all about the cool things he’s done and saying really nice things about him whilst doing it. I’ll let you judge whether he made the right choice or not…
First of all, Jay hasn’t always been as cool, creative, smart, musically talented and most importantly, modest as he is currently. No, he started off life as a tiny baby just like you and me: spelling rude words with alphabet blocks and being completely amazed by the simplest things.
Not much has changed since then. Jay was gifted with his first set of drums at the age of 13, and apart from some short term lessons in reading, he has been teaching himself ever since. His career progressed in the same way as most musicians do: playing in questionable rock & punk bands before discovering pop, jazz and Afro-Cuban music.
Early in his career, Jay enjoyed brief success in the form of a hard earned record deal with EMAP records, accompanied by a long-term endorsement deal with Mapex Drums. Within a year this saw Jay being invited to perform at Northern Ireland's first official drum clinic for Mapex drums, opening for Pete Riley (Drummer for Guthrie Govan and Monthly CD editor of Rhythm Magazine), and has since opened on additional clinics for Drum legends Thomas Lang and Jojo Mayer, (on separate occasions, not the same gig. Could you imagine?!)
Presently you can find Jay playing with an assortment of musicians, not only wanted for playing live but also bringing the rare and highly valued skill set of running Ableton Live electronic rigs with such acts as Lisa McHugh, Ryan Mack, Jake Carter, Brian McGraine and ROE to name a few, and is in demand for his tasteful, sympathetic and sometimes energetic playing style, whatever the gig calls for I guess! Lately he has been seen performing in front of audiences across the island, speaking and performing at various drum clinics, and even internalising 30 page scores for the Hofesh Shechter company.
For as long as I’ve known him Jay always been incredibly willing to share his knowledge and experience, in fact I met him when we started teaching at the North West Regional College together, where he’s still blowing the minds of the cities young drummers on a weekly basis.
Of course if you want to contact him at anytime of the day & night, there is a good chance he is somewhere in his rehearsal studio space, obsessing over his gear, or recording some drums and percussion tracks, either for clients or just for kicks. Kicks! Get it?! Ok I’m done.
Liam Craig
Producer, Mixer and Recording Engineer
