Dan Duggins


Bio

So I didn't grow up like a bunch of other musicians I know. I didn't start playing drums while I was still in the womb and wasn't sitting in on my first gigs by 2 or 3 years old. I started playing music just before entering the sixth grade. I enrolled in the school band and my first instrument was clarinet. Somewhere around the 9th grade I added alto saxophone to my repertoire and eventually bought my first drum set about age 17. Two years later I was accepted into the music program at Virginia Commonwealth University where I was classically trained in percussion and began extensive drum set studies with some great professors like Donald Bick, Barry Dove, and Howard Curtis. During this time I discovered guys like Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Philly Joe Jones, and Art Blakey. After two years at VCU I transferred to Berklee College of Music and studied with some other amazing players including Rick Considine, and Ed Kaspick. With these guys I really focused on extending my knowledge as far as I could into jazz, latin, and similar styles. It was at this point that I started to play in my first real groups. They were mostly indy rock style bands because it was easy to find people to play with. Before long I started playing a lot of local/regional dates and began touring nationally. As part of those early gigs I had the opportunity to play alongside groups like Fugazi, Jawbox, Barkmarket, Sensefield, Bad Religion, Jejune, No Knife, and Jimmy Eat World (to name a few).


A few years have passed since then and I have continued my pursuit of artistic enlightenment. My musical tastes have grown and will hopefully continue to grow. I have worked with a bunch of bands and artists in many different styles, toured all over the world, and have found myself only needing to play more. I enjoy working with players that are pushing the envelope of artistic expression. So, with that said, this site should hopefully keep you entertained and up to speed. Thanks for coming!

Dan Duggins performing live - photo provided by Ryan Russell. Visit RyanRussell.com to learn more about Ryan's photography.