John Otto

I think jazz is a wonderful learning tool.

When the songs pop out, that's like the climax of us building.

Even on the drum level, it's all about stating your theme, going back to certain things that need to be emphasized, not doing fills for the sake of doing fills.

We've got many different sides of music to us.

Onstage, it's more of a momentary pressure.

I've always liked funk and rock and everything.

When I was young, I had one of those Yamaha drum machines, and I used to practice to that quite a bit, just to practice soloing and being in time and completing all my phrases.

Sometimes the band can't fully hear your fill, so they come in differently. So I've also learned not to really step out too much, because you sacrifice the band when you do that.

It's all about theme and development anyway. That's what music is about.