About Jason Sayers

Jason Sayers Drums 2017 Promo Shot 1

I have been drumming since I was eight, and I still can’t leave it alone.

I grew up in the East End of London, in a house where the stereo never settled on one thing. Ska, rock, metal, drum and bass, hip-hop, garage, pop, all of it, constantly, and often at the same time. That mess is the single biggest reason I play the way I do. Nothing behind my kit comes from one place.

I played in a lot of bands growing up and studied at various colleges and music schools, Point Blank among them. Somewhere along the way I got to perform for The Prince’s Trust, which I still find slightly hard to say out loud.

The bands

Six Second Silence was where it got serious. Alongside singer-songwriter Jake Leigh, we played a long run of shows for some genuinely good promoters and venues, and released our debut single, Breathe. Somewhere in there we picked up a support slot with Blaze Bayley on one of his headline dates, which was comfortably the biggest room we had walked into at that point.

We recorded and released an album ourselves, Kill The Lights, eleven tracks, entirely self-financed. It travelled further than a self-released record has any business travelling. The Japanese rock magazine BURRN! reviewed it and gave it four stars, comparing us to Nickelback and Alter Bridge and saying that while the recording was demo-level, the songs themselves were strong.

2010 was the radio year. Total Rock Radio had us on Mad Maz’s show Anarchy On The Airwaves, where we were interviewed and then handed the playlist for the night, which is a strange amount of trust to give four blokes from East London. Then in July, Liz Barnes made us Planet Rock’s Band of the Week and put our single Broken on national airplay.

The following March we played a one-off Kerrang! Radio show at 93 Feet East in Brick Lane, on the 26th. Three national rock stations inside a year, for a band paying for its own studio time.

Around 2011 we rebuilt the whole thing as Repair To Ruin. That meant starting again fairly literally, including putting out our Not Alone EP and re-recording an entire album. Jake wrote it, I did a lot of the pre-production, and Matt Hyde (Slipknot, Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine) mixed and mastered it.

On 15 May 2015 we headlined The Camden Underworld and played the self-titled album front to back to a sold-out room. That is still the one I would pick if I only got to keep one. In 2019 we played Camden Rocks Festival, on 2 June at the Devonshire Arms.

Alongside that I drum for Cuecliche, a pop-punk three-piece with Terry on bass and vocals and Jake on guitar. Jake and I have known each other since 2008, so the arguments are extremely well rehearsed. Fast, catchy and cheerfully indebted to the early 2000s.

Behind the desk

The part of my work that gets talked about least is the part I do most of.

I have spent years doing pre-production, and I mix our own records. I would not call myself a qualified engineer, I am still very much learning it, but I have put the hours in and I have the releases to show for it. I mixed the last three Repair To Ruin singles and pretty much everything Cuecliche has put out.

It matters more than people expect when it comes to reviewing gear. When I listen to a snare or a set of heads, I am hearing it as the drummer playing it, and then again as the person who has to make it work in a mix afterwards. Those are two quite different judgements, and most reviews only ever make one of them.

Playing through injury

Just before that March 2011 run, my thumb gave out on me. I have been dealing with it ever since. It tightens at the base and then pops open at random, which is exactly as pleasant as it sounds.

Live, it creates its own problem. Knowing it might go makes me over grip, and over gripping makes it worse. It is a large part of why I play Promark ActiveGrip 5B sticks, because anything that helps me hold on without squeezing the life out of the stick is worth having.

It has left me properly interested in gear that helps drummers manage injury, repetitive strain and the general wear of doing this for decades. Not enough attention gets paid to that side of drumming, and I am always glad to hear from anyone working on it.

That is also how I found ToneAlly. I came across it at a guitar show in 2023, made a video about it, and fell for the thing completely. For the two years after that I was on the stand with Tony at the UK Drum Show, demonstrating it and explaining what it had done for my hand. I use products first and talk about them second, and that order matters to me.

The channel, and why it looks the way it does

Jason Sayers Drums is mostly gear reviews now.

I used to make reaction videos and I loved doing them, but copyright made them unworkable. Fair enough, it isn’t my content, though it does sting when a video you have put real hours into gets pulled on sight. So the channel narrowed, and I got more selective. If a video isn’t good enough, I don’t put it out. I would rather post less than post filler.

Every review starts from the same place. I am a drummer and a musician first, so the reviews are open and honest, including the parts a brand might rather I skipped. A review that only says nice things is worth nothing to somebody deciding where their money goes.

The drumming community

Honestly, this is the bit I care most about.

I try to be useful to other drummers wherever I can. At events like the UK Drum Show I film the stands, and I make a point of getting to the smaller and newer brands. Marketing is rarely a new company’s strong suit. A short video can put them in front of people who would otherwise walk straight past. It costs me an afternoon and it can genuinely matter to them.

Same with players. Drumming can be a solitary business, and encouragement goes a long way, so I try to give it where it’s wanted. Whether that’s someone starting out, someone coming back from an injury like mine, or a brand with an idea and no budget, if I can help, I usually will.

UK drum shops

There’s one thing I will happily go on about, and it is British drum shops.

When I’m travelling I make a point of calling in and filming a quick video. Graham Russell Drums in Fareham is a good example, five thousand square feet of it, and walking in there does something to you that a product page never will.

I know how this sounds coming from someone who reviews gear on the internet. But a video can tell you what a cymbal sounds like through your phone speaker, and that is not the same as standing in a room and hitting it. First kits, in particular, should be chosen by ear and by feel, ideally by a kid with a shop owner who actually knows what they’re talking about.

We lose these places quietly, one at a time, and then they’re gone. So if you have a good local shop, use it. If you run one, get in touch, because I would love to come and film it.

That’s the whole thing, really. Drummer first, reviewer second, and always on the side of the people doing it.

Who I work with

Brand ambassador for ToneAlly. I have reviewed gear for Thomann and Millenium Drums, Xvive, iFi Audio and ToneAlly. Plus a good number of others I have been lucky to work with over the years.