When I started this blog back in February, people thought I was crazy. They said things like, “Why would you just give this stuff away?” and “You’ll only keep it up for a while. It sounds like an ass-load of work.” Well, nine months and 100 free loops later, I’m still going strong, cranking out the beatz and poking fun at certain drummers. Now, on such a momentous occasion in the history of drum loop-centric blogs, I figured it would be à propos to take a moment and recap some of the highlights (and lowlights) of ryangruss.com
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
February 2nd, 2009
My inaugural blog post. Outfitted with some new mics, a WordPress account and Logic Studio, I record and post my first drum loop for free, public consumption. With this scrappy, funk-rock, hop-hop, indie sorta type beat in the vein of Tom Vek (with a bit of extra gain), I quickly establish my unequivocally opaque identity in the world of drummer/bloggers.
February 24th, 2009
A few weeks into my little endeavor, word about my site begins to spread around the blogosphere and my daily visitor stats start to show signs of life. Remixes and collaborations from readers all around the world begin to fill my inbox and the comments section of the blog turns into a peanut gallery of sorts for producers, engineers and musicians from both ends of the professional, intellectual and creative spectrum.
A writeup in electronic music authority, CDM, really sets things into motion and I soon find myself scrambling for extra bandwidth as my site begins crashing from too much traffic. It was official. I had created a monster. Well, a monster for music nerds looking for specific types of drum loops.
March 3rd, 2009
I begin stretching out from the more traditional funk and rock grooves and post the first of many odd-meter loops. Fusion musicians everywhere flip back their mullets and rejoice. I also begin supplying the loops in WAV format.
April 4th, 2009
The pronunciation of my last name is slaughtered on the popular music podcast, Sonic State, while they discuss the latest and greatest in drum loop blogs. I also figure out the keyboard command for typing umlauts.
May 19th, 2009
Pretty much totally unrelated to drum loops, I tell the first of many bizarre, mega-celebrity-encounter stories.
June 1st, 2009
Due to an overwhelming demand for more grooves, fills and styles, I begin a subscription service where members can download over 100 new loops (all in WAV, AIFF, and REX2 files) every month. There is peace in the loop world and people are happy. My house also stops getting egged.
July 6th, 2009
On a “post 4th of July jazz rampage”, I drop my first Mambo loop. I call up Lee Morgan to see if he wants to jam but then realize I’m about 37 years too late.
August 7th, 2009
The world loses an iconic ’80s movie director and I pay my respects.
September 16th, 2009
My loops make their Primetime TV debut. Much like the Apollo 11 moon landing and the final episode of Friends, people around the world drop whatever it is they’re doing and tune in.
October 19th, 2009
I sit here, typing this “look back” blog post while trying to watch Entourage at the same time. Vince, why did you let Drama bring that horse into the house?? Oh wait… yeah, drum loops. Umm, so yeah. The first 100 have been pretty amazing and I’m excited to see where the next 100 takes this blog. I’d like to thank all of you who come by on a daily basis and keep me inspired with your comments and emails. I’d also like to send a special thanks to my subscribers. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to afford that extra Jaguar in the garage. I kid, I kid! It’s actually just a Maserati.
