Spencer Inch is one of the busiest drummers in the tri-state area and has been doing it the right way for a long time. He’s currently on the Water for Elephants national tour, and how he got there is a masterclass in how this business actually works.

What we covered:

• How his drum teacher in Norwalk, Connecticut — a musical theater pit musician himself — shaped everything about the way Spencer approaches charts, styles, and preparation

• Going from a classical undergrad at Penn State to a jazz grad program at UM Frost and feeling completely out of his league — and why that was the best thing that ever happened to him

• What cruise ships actually teach you that school never will: making people dance, reading a room, and playing polka music with no internet and no prep time

• How his first connection into the New York theater world came from a drummer he barely knew who shared a rehearsal space in Williamsburg — that drummer went on to play with Billie Eilish

• The real reality of life on a rock tour — the routine of it, the grind of load-in and load-out, and why it felt more like going to work than living a dream

The advice he got on a cruise ship about playing polkas at the Blue Note — and why Wynton Marsalis walking in the door shouldn’t change anything about how you play.

The throughline in Spencer’s story isn’t talent. It’s relationships, saying yes, and taking every single gig seriously — no matter what it is. The polka gig. The Les Mis at a children’s theater. All of it.

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