“Which instrument will get me the most girls?” Noah Bond asked his mom in the fourth grade. She insisted that he have a hobby, like playing an instrument.

“Drums or saxophone,” his mom said (it was the Clinton era, after all). Bond chose the former and eventually played his first gig at an art summer camp he attended when he was 11 years old. Little did he know, his decision to learn the drums would lead to a decades-long career as a touring and session drummer for notable rock bands, including Alabama Shakes, Cut Worms, John Andrews & The Yawns, and Widowspeak.

“From that point on, I became obsessed with the idea of being in a band and that really hasn’t gone away.”

We caught Bond in the middle of rehearsals and Alabama Shakes’ current tour to answer a few questions about how he became a touring and session drummer, his ability to elevate a song, and how he’s made a career out of jamming with friends.

Growing up, did you know that a career as a touring drummer was possible?

Growing up, I’m not sure that I was really thinking about music as a career. I just really liked playing. I loved getting together with friends, messing around in my parents’ basement, ordering a pizza, and hanging out. When I think about it, this is still my favorite part about playing music. The idea that I would ever make money from it, let alone enough money to support myself, seemed totally unrealistic. Even now, doing music full-time, I still can’t believe that I’ve actually found a way to make it work.

How did you get your start as a touring drummer?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Noah Bond (@primordialsounds)

Like all things in this world, touring/recording was just a slow and gradual build. I started traveling to play shows in high school, basically once I was old enough to drive. I played in a few different groups, doing basically “weekend warrior”-type tours. We were lucky if we got enough money to pay for gas. We were REALLY lucky if there was anything left over, and that almost always just went into the “band fund” to pay for the next trip or maybe a recording session.

I was lucky to have grown up in Western MA, which at that time was very supportive of the local music scene, with plenty of all-ages spots, small clubs, music stores, recording studios, etc. Gradually, over the years, touring became longer and more involved. Every job I've ever had was basically a job where my boss was comfortable with me leaving for a few weeks or a month every once in a while. I lived like this for years, moving from job to job, tour to tour. At some point, I was playing with enough groups and was busy enough that it seemed potentially possible I could eke by financially with just touring and session work.

My wife was the one to suggest I quit my job and go for it—I would have never even attempted it if not for her. We were settled enough in our apartment that I could build a home studio to do remote recording sessions when I wasn't touring. That has essentially been my life for a while now. As with any freelance job, it can be feast or famine, which brings a real special type of anxiety, but I've more or less kept my head down and kept moving.

A drummer I greatly admire, Dan Bailey, describes this life as a battle of attrition. It's not always the most talented folks who are able to make a career doing this. A lot of times, it's the ones who can stick to it and just keep pushing forward. Opportunities can pop up where you least expect them. Additionally, there are so many amazing players out there. Sometimes, just being a nice and respectful person who is easy to travel with for long periods of time will help you more than anything else.

The artists and bands you’ve worked with come from a range of genres. How do you keep yourself adaptable as you move from one genre to another?

I suppose I've been able to be somewhat adaptable because I've been lucky enough to be busy and have played with many different folks over the years. Drummers tend to get shared a lot between different groups. It's rare that a drummer is exclusive to just one band.

You’ve been a touring drummer for so many years. What still excites you about it? Are there any not-so-fun aspects about it?

I love traveling to new places and returning to places I've been before. I love how, back in my days of more DIY touring, you kind of got embedded with the local musicians and got to experience a city in a completely unique way.

Though they're sometimes difficult, I still honestly love long drives. I love playing shows, obviously, but one of my favorite parts of tour is listening to music in the van as we move from city to city. I suppose the not-fun aspects are when things go wrong (van breakdowns, stolen gear, getting sick), but if you're with the right group of people, even those things are not so bad. I also get quite homesick for my wife and dog, which on longer runs can be brutal.

Is there a specific tour that you were a part of that’s most memorable?

I'm not sure I can say there is one tour that has been the most memorable. Once you do this enough, for me personally, everything starts to blend together. I've had such a breadth of experiences, from sleeping in a van in a Walmart parking lot to playing arenas for thousands of people. It's difficult for me to pick out any one memory, and once I dive in, there are too many to talk about.

Are there any venues you’ve played at that are memorable or made you feel like you’ve “made it”?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Noah Bond (@primordialsounds)

Certainly, playing the Hollywood Bowl and Red Rocks with Alabama Shakes were both huge moments for me, but in regard to feeling like I’ve “made it,” I’m not totally sure that will ever happen. It’s just not really in my personality or way of looking at the industry. Regardless of the opportunity, I’m always trying to do better than what I’ve done before. At the end of the day, I’m grateful for all of it.

Let’s chat about being a session drummer. How did you get your start there?

The session/touring drummer thing sort of all happened gradually over time. I've always done both. COVID was really the beginning of me doing remote sessions, which makes up probably 85 to 90% of the session work I do. I basically built a home studio and began posting videos of myself playing on Instagram.

I've tried to keep it casual, sharing little bits of things I've been working on. I'll often use AI to remove the drums from a song I like, and then see if I can record drums that sound similar to the original. This sort of has multiple benefits because I get to show an example of my drumming, my engineering, and my musical taste. I get a lot of work just through Instagram DMs.

You’ve said that your focus as a drummer is “to serve the song.” What do you mean by that and how do you go about doing it?

"Serve the song" is such a common platitude among drummers that it is almost a bit cliché, but for good reason. It's usually a way of saying, “Don't overplay.” Many drummers feel the need to constantly display everything they can do on the instrument, regardless of whether it makes sense for the song. I'd like to think I've kept busy doing this because I generally don't overplay. I also tend to play quietly and am very receptive to feedback, especially from the person who wrote the song. Leaving your ego at the door is an essential part of making this job work, in my opinion.

What do you find most fulfilling as a session drummer?

The most fulfilling part of being a session drummer is when I can tell the artist I'm working with is so excited with what I've done… the feeling that the song has suddenly gone up a level. It's the greatest feeling ever.

How can you tell when you’ve got that feeling?

A lot of clients send me songs with temporary drums on them, sometimes a drum machine, sometimes a loop. Those are great placeholders, and sometimes perfectly fit the song, but something definitely happens when live drums are added to a recording. There's just a different kind of life and energy. It goes from sounding like something produced in a bedroom to something made in a studio.

You recently recorded with Widowspeak in Greece for their album “Roses.” What was that experience like, especially since a large percentage of your session drumming is done at home?

Greece with Widowspeak was incredible—an experience I'll never forget. We lived at the studio, on a small island where there were no vehicles, so to get our gear up the hill to the studio, the band had to hire donkeys. The studio itself was beautiful and inspiring to work in, but it was also special because we basically completely adapted our daily routines to the island. I would typically get up early, walk down to the pier, drink a coffee at a cafe, hike back up to the studio, stop at a local market for bread/fresh feta/fruits/vegetables, make a simple breakfast, and then start our day.

Do you prefer working with a band in person or separately?

“Roses” was an atypical record for me in that the band rehearsed regularly for a couple of months before heading out to Greece. Normally, I show up at the studio and learn the songs right there. Getting to play and refine this group of tunes with the band was amazing. I loved it.

I really enjoy recording remotely, but something really special does happen when you get a group of musicians together in a room. I also just love hanging out with these people, so I jump at any opportunity to do so.

You’ve played with certain bands quite consistently (Cut Worms, Widowspeak, Alabama Shakes). What is it like to witness a band’s progression over the years as a supporting player?

Alabama Shakes is a relatively new gig, but Cut Worms, John Andrews, and Widowspeak, I've been playing with off and on for years now. I was a fan of all of them before I began playing with them, so it's particularly interesting to get an inside look at how each of them works.

Getting to contribute to their music and grow songs from demo to album is a blessing and a privilege I will never get over. Everyone works really differently, so I always try to absorb as much as possible and bring what I've learned to whatever the next session is.

I used to have this fear that “seeing how the sausage is made” would rob the music of its magic, but all of the people I work with are so talented that I mostly find myself in awe of them and their ability to craft these intricate little worlds with their songs.

Here are Noah Bond’s 12 songs and a note from the drummer:

Picking 12 songs feels like a nearly impossible task haha. I'm not sure it's possible to really capture the songs that changed my life in just 12. Also, it would be all too easy for me to choose some 'cool guy' picks of obscurities and odd tunes, but that would be totally disingenuous. So instead, I decided to kind of think of these picks era by era.