Witham’s Will Daly first picked up a drumstick at the age of twelve after a couple of years of pleading and begging his parents resulted in a drumkit turning up beneath the Christmas tree.
That generous gift from Will Daly’s father has had a lasting legacy as the talented musician tells us “I love Christmas for all the obvious reasons, but more and more these days I see it as such a significant moment because when you’re a kid, that particular present you might get has the potential to be life changing or even career defining”.
Will, who credits Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters as inspirations, and recalls his favourite gig as a “magical” Saturday night at Glastonbury where Radiohead treated revellers to a secret set and then the sunset, “perfect”.
Now a seasoned drummer and educator Will tells CommunityAd “I’m massively passionate about music, film and the arts and I guess my main driving force behind my teaching is that I want everyone to have as positive an experience from the drums or movies as I’ve had. I know how amazing of an impact it can have in your life and so I just want everyone to have the same opportunity to feel the same”. One-way Will is doing so is via his social media presence where he posts educational videos to much fanfare and gratitude amongst the learners.
CommunityAd had the pleasure of asking Witham’s Will Daly some questions.
You started your channel before the lockdowns of 2020 is that right? Did you notice an uptake in viewers as a result of lockdown? I can imagine for some your lessons were a bit of a godsend…
Yes, that’s right I posted on Instagram more frequently but my YouTube channel only had a few videos and they were very sporadic. I actually broke my hand playing football 7 weeks before the first lockdown and that really kickstarted me making more videos online. I started making video diaries about playing drums one handed in the build up to a gig my band had. (We are in the final of a battle of the bands competition to win a slot playing at Glastonbury, the gig still hasn’t happened yet because of the pandemic but we’re still in it!)
That experience of making videos more regularly was great practice for talking to a camera and feeling more comfortable. So then when the pandemic hit and I had so much more time I could then start making more and more videos. I still feel like my audience is quite niche and quite topic specific to what people are looking for. But I’ve had messages and comments from drummers from the other side of the world thanking me for the lessons and that was amazing! The power of the internet I guess!
I imagine teaching via pre-recorded videos is a completely different process to teaching face-to-face, drum-to-drum? As an educator what is preferable when learning an instrument?
Yeah it’s very different. I actually ended up making a series of videos for a school in Thailand at one point in the pandemic last year. I have a friend who teaches music over there and their pandemic rules were so strict that even when students went back to school, they weren’t allowed to play any wooden or brass instruments or sing out loud. But they gave all the kids plastic drumsticks and practice pads. So I was recruited to make play along videos, almost like a work out style drum lesson which I had never really done before.
I think when you make education videos you’re trying to be clear and succinct whilst also anticipating what they are going to find difficult and where they might need extra explanation. But, of course, it’s difficult to really gauge what skill level your audience are when you’ve never seen them play. Whereas with face-to-face lessons you are a part of their journey and you know what teaching techniques and topics are going to work with each student. It’s so much easier to offer a more individual and personalised style of teaching and education. So I have to say face-to-face is the winner.
Why should any readers or perhaps readers’ children tune in to the channel?
It’s good solid fun! Haha, well I hope it is anyway. I do my best to make my videos both entertaining as well as educational and try to let my personality come across as best I can. I also only ever put videos out that I think are up to a standard I consider good enough, I’m more of a quality over quantity type of person. The aim is to help people and encourage people to want to play the drums. I get a much bigger boost personally from people telling me that a video really helped them out with something, than a video having particularly big numbers and views.
If you had to fill in for one band’s drummer (past or present, dead or alive) who would it be and why?
Foo Fighters seems the obvious choice because just imagine jamming with Dave Grohl? But there are so many bands I’d be happy to come and do one number for. I actually would also love to play a set for The Hives! It just looks like it would be so much fun. Big, fast rock n’ roll drums and loads of personality, amazing frontman. I’m up for it. Someone let them know.
If you had to self-isolate tomorrow and could pick only three singles to take with you into isolation what would they be and why?
Foo Fighters – ‘Everlong’ – It just is my favourite ever song and I’m still not sick of it.
Local Natives – ‘Who Knows Who Cares’ – These guys are one of my favourite bands, I love their drummer and I love that their songs encourage you to sing along at the top of your voice. You need that when you’re going mad in isolation.
Star Wars – ‘Yoda and The Force’ John Williams – I mean definitely not a single, but everyone knows track 13 of The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack, right? Not sure if in this scenario I’m allowed to watch films or not but I’ve got a special place for Star Wars in my heart and the music in this particular scene always gives me goosebumps, so it’s coming along for the ride.