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DRUMS :Drum Set-up The drums are Mapex; Mars Pro Studio Series in a Blue burst finish. Remo pinstripe batter heads on the toms and bass. Evans st dry on the snare. Bottom heads are Aquarian. The cymbals are Zildjian Avedis. The sticks I use are Vic Firth 7a nylon tip or super 5a for outdoor gigs. Drum mics include shure sm57 on the snare, Seinheiser on toms and Samson in the kick. I protect my investment with Groove Percussion drum covers. |
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Carl Cickavage
When I was a small child, I loved listening to music all the time. I remember my mom playing our electric organ in the living room and I soon began playing what I could. My father bought me a guitar and lessons at age 8 or so but I quickly became discouraged. My brother Mark still has that guitar. So I began tapping out songs on a homemade drum set made of pots and pans. By the time I was 12 my parents gave in and bought me a snare drum, sticks and lessons. I studied under Kip Valenz at Sluga Music on E.305. Kip’s claim to fame was that he once toured with Jay Ferguson (Thunder Island). By Christmas at age 14 my dad surprised me with my first drum kit. Some 2nd floor soundproofing and heavy padding provide me a space to bang away. My first band was a bluegrass group headed by a banjo player named Joe Radeo. Our one and only gig at a Salvation Army garage sale netted me about $10. I was not into that style of music so I formed a garage band with a couple of guitar players at my grade school. They were in the folk choir at the church, which landed me my next venture. Timpani and snare drum player for the choir. At this time the lessons really paid off because I had to read the music for the songs. Lessons became expensive and I had a good grasp of what I needed to do so Kip and I parted ways. As fate would have it, Kip is currently playing for the band Block Logic and our paths have crossed several times.
High school soon approached and during my senior year I was in my first real band. We were called The Beatnix and our two gigs were the Euclid High School battle of the bands and the Euclid community festival. My long time friend and current Rockfile member Patrick McLaughlin and I were in our first band together.
Separate colleges broke up the Beatnix. From 1987-1990 I was in various bands that never got off the ground so from 1990-1997 I packed away the drums, started my career, got married and started having kids. Patrick and I got together in 1996 for a few months to do our own studio project.
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Patrick had a lot of original songs that he wanted to record and I was into it. Patrick moved to Minnesota after hearing some sound advise from his drummer so, I hooked up with some local Euclid talent and formed Earth By April from 1998-2001.
This was a good band. Writing our own music, playing cover songs, playing live gigs all the time and finally making our own full length, all original CD. This is the time when my brother Mark came into my musical life. He was looking for some side work and E.B.A. needed a sound and light tech. He got the job. He has always played guitar, but the band was formed with no room for him. He waited out his time and finally got the call to join the band. One gig and one year later the band broke up.
Mark and I knew we wanted to continue doing the band thing but we needed some members. By this time Patrick had moved back from Minnesota. He was my first call to fill the guitar player bill. All we needed now was a bass player. After some auditions and nothing, Patrick made mention that he went to Kent State with a guy who played bass. Glenn Hetrick showed up, auditioned and got the job. The band was completed in March of 2001.
I really enjoy playing with these guys. With the addition of Tom Bopp on sound and lights, our gigs are a blast. Old friends, new friends and family are the recipe for a fun band.
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