Liam Bradford, 14, drummer
“I love basketball, but drumming is a priority.”
It’s not every day a 14 year old drummer can publish a recording of themselves playing the drum section of a popular song and have 133,363 people view it, and over 1200 people leave comments. But that’s what Liam achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in Melbourne. Liam wants other young people to hear about this and “absolutely believe in themselves and to do something like that.”
Liam began tapping the drums as a small but mighty 8 year old, with ‘Metal’ music taking up the background noise of his family home. He also grew a love for playing basketball and Australian Rules Football (AFL) alongside his older brother, but he kept returning to drumming for his daily practice.
When Liam was 11 he injured his thumb so badly playing AFL that he had to make a choice; He could risk another injury and not be able to drum ever again or quit footy. He chose drumming.
Liam, like many young people worldwide, experienced some changes to his life during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns of 2020. In this time he discovered in himself great resilience and the ability to self-motivate. He turned to his drums and started creating content to share online, a way to succeed despite the barriers.
Practicing drumming for nearly 2 hours a day along with heavy metal music is tough work that requires patience, determination and grit. Keeping rhythm with the fast metal beats, Liam soon finds himself sweating just practicing! As fun as this is he does find that if he plays too much drums he gets tired and needs a break from it often to play video games or other sports.
“I enjoy creating content and publishing it and getting feedback. I’m really open to showing other people what I do. I’m a drummer, I drum.”
Liam is very fortunate to attend a Music Specialist School and has a great drum teacher and mentor, Russ from the band 12 Foot Ninja. Russ sets goals for Liam to aspire to and guides him on his performance growth.
Looking to the future Liam notes that he wants to achieve more than YouTube views of him playing other peoples music. He has joined a band and aims to grow his skill and performance playing their original songs.
“It’s just the most exciting thing that I’ve experienced. Every day I think, I’m in a band. I get freaked out so quickly and it’s so cool and I’m loving it.”