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Dave Montana: Yes, I'd say we are rare. Not only among drummers, but also among gay rock musicians in general. When I was growing up it was interesting to see some people's reactions because they'd usually think gay guys couldn't rock or whatever. Then I'd have all these guys asking me to teach them how to play.

When I started with NYT I was still under 21 so they usually kept me in the dressing rooms or DJ booths in between sets. At the time I was the only openly gay member. The singer came out long after the band called it quits. As far as I know, we were the only two gay guys. That was the only band I was in that had another gay member. To be honest, I'd never noticed how rare we are until just recently.

Luis Illades: I don't tend to see or meet too many other gay drummers. However, I think that the music is salvation enough and needing to identify isn't particularly on my mind when in my little music world. I think that I tend to have a need to group and identify when I feel vulnerable or disconnected (as far as being on the road), but when playing i feel in top form and perhaps purposefully isolated, so i think i tend to search out less for community. Does that make any sense? I'm also older now. when I was younger I think I hungered more for a sense of community or identifying with people.

Chris Ohnesorge: It’s true: being a gay drummer is like being a unicorn, but without actually being a big white horse with a giant horn coming out of its forehead. But seriously, it’s not something I think of in a conscious way all that much. Being queer is a really integrated part of who I am, just like being a drummer. It may be important or inspiring to other queer folks, and I am all for that. But I think it’s similar to the whole “what is it like being a female musician” question that so many women hear ad nauseam. It shouldn’t amaze anyone that I have sex with men AND I can rock the hell out of a drum kit. And it’s sad and indicative of how limited our cultural thinking still is that people find it so remarkable.

AE: What are your own thoughts on why there are so few gay male drummers?

Dave Montana: I don't know why it is. I'm afraid of saying it's too 'butch' for gay guys to handle because it's not so. Considering how most gay guys love to dance you'd think they'd go for the rhythm maker but instead they seem to be driven more to the melody maker. I can speculate that when growing up most kids who know they are gay, look for what is out there in the 'gay world' and what they find is gays listening to divas such as Cher, Madonna, Streisand and that kind of stuff or whatever is being played by the djs at hottest local bar. I don't know if it is something we are conditioned to or a learned behavior. I think the only female singers I listened to growing up were Pat Benatar and Joan Jett and they rocked.

I didn't have gay rockers to look up to. I mean, at the time Rob Halford was still in the closet.

Chris Ohnesorge: I think you’d actually be surprised at how many there really are. Like if someone could wave a magic wand and make all the gay drummers in the world (professional drummers, sessions drummers, indie drummers, the ones just playing at home, etc.) appear in one room, you’d be shocked at the numbers. And then you’d be shocked at how quickly they all started talking shit about one another and criticizing each other’s fashion sense.

Mike Fass: To this day, I'm still positively mystified by that. Drums are such an
aggressive, macho instrument that you'd naturally expect gay men (whose whole world involves the embracing of all that is manly) to naturally gravitate towards them. I'm certain that must have had something to do with my attraction to them in addition to the fact that, when I fell in love with my first rock album, Have Twangy Guitar--Will Travel by Duane Eddy And The Rebels when I was four, my mother had to give me a couple of empty sherbet containers with two pencils to use as drumsticks because I'd been banging out the beat on our floor with my hands and was probably driving the neighbors nuts. One of the early effects of testosterone, I guess.

Luis Illades: Because all of the queens in music want to be the MAIN STAR! Ha ha ha!