Jaren Lamb has the perfect look for a musician and that is because he is one, and a good one! The real deal.

His main strength lies in his love of percussion, namely drums, but he can also turn his talent to other instruments.

It’s a gift that few have. He has come to the south of France via some very interesting routes from his native California, LA. He lives a quiet life these days in a cute village with his wife, Ruth, but that doesn’t me he is not totally into music, he is totally into music.

Jaren is not someone who turns down opportunities or doesn’t take risks. Far from it. He has uprooted himself several times to follow his musical aspirations with groups and on his own. He has an inquiring mind so when he focuses on a subject or idea becomes engrossed in it and is committed, rare qualities. When I say uprooted, I mean sold his home and left his girlfriend behind to join a group in France, a country to which he had never been, and join a group that he did not know. This trend continued making Jaren’s journey truly fascinating.

For a long time Jaren has been working on what was initially a book that has turned itself into a musical. If that isn’t enough, the musical is about pirates! Exactly, pirates! Not just any pirate but the likes of Calico Jack and Blackbeard, names to conjure with. In his meticulous way, Jaren has researched the true stories behind these colourful characters so that his musical is in fact a representation of historical fact. One very interesting point, some pirates were women, yes you read that right, women.

Right now Jaren is setting up his music studio in the charming perched village of Tourettes sur Loup. He has retired from teaching drums but has not by any means put down his drumsticks, that is never going to happen. He has some amazing kit made up of one traditional setup and another the latest in electronic wizardry. The first question is always which kit is better, old school or electric. The answer is that the latest chip based products are ‘getting there’, their one obvious advantage is that given headphones then there is no noise and so happy neighbours! But we like the noise of drums as they create a primal feeling … for me anyway.

This is the first general chat that we will build on. Future conversations will have more fascinating stories, the development of Jaren’s musical and, of course, finding out more about drums!

All photos courtesy Jaren Lamb