At the Pecan St. Festival

Who am I?
MMy parents and the government know me as David Edward Kepner, 25 year-old Yale graduate with a degree in American Studies. You're picturing a nerdy-looking guy with glasses and poor social skills. I know you are.

On the contrary! I am The Hoagman! Long-haired drumming beast from one of Austin's coolest bands, Full Service!

Though I do read lots of books and have a subscription to The Smithsonian, what I was born to do was play drums in a band with my brother. I'll never forget. One day when I was in 4th grade and he was in 6th grade, he came home with a guitar and an amplifier. "Uh....where's mine?"

I asked my parents if they would buy me a drumset, which they soon did, but only after I showed I was serious by making a drum set out of pillows and couch cushions. (At least I didn't use pots and pans. A considerate young lad, if i do say so myself).

All of which means I've been playing for 16 years. My strengths? Composition, arrangement, knowledge of drum notation (reading and writing drum parts on staff paper), playing and singing at the same time (I share singing duties with my brother Tim), and improvisation.

Full Service is a mixed genre band, and as such, I am well versed in a variety of styles, such as Reggae, Funk, Rock, Jazz, Metal, and Punk.

Styles
Full Service is a mixed genre band, and as such, I am well versed in a variety of styles, such as Reggae, Funk, Rock, Jazz, Metal, and Punk. I am most comfortable teaching beginners and intermediate level students. I've worked a lot with kids ages 8-16 as a counselor at various summer camps and music camps, and most of my current students fall within this age-range as well. However, I've had students in their mid-40's, mid-20's, female students, male students, you name it.

I have a casual but focused approach to teaching, and I possess a natural ability to get my students excited about what they're doing. In fact, one of the reasons I teach is because it helps me re-discover the child-like joy of playing drums. Of just hitting a drum and thinking, "That sounds so cool."

A typical lesson might go like this: I show the student a beat or a technique, one that is challenging, but do-able. Only after mastering a pattern/idea/technique do we move on to something new. If the pattern is too long or proves too difficult to master right then and there, then I break up the pattern and isolate something that CAN be mastered, even if it's the simplest little beat. This gives confidence to my students, and it gives focus. They can literally HEAR themselves getting better every few minutes, and that gives them the confidence and desire to learn even MORE cool stuff.

But of course, it's always fun just to PLAY, and to let loose on the drumset, mistakes be darned! This is why I set aside a certain amount of time for the student to just hack around, "explore" the instrument, and have fun. The student never fails to arrive at a pattern or a beat, and from their free-form explorations, I help them key in on certain things that they have "found", and help them master it. Mistake-making and Perfection: who knew they were brothers?

Influences
My favorite drummer of all time is Animal, from the Muppets. But I also really enjoy listening to Stewart Copeland (The Police), Carlton Barrett (Bob Marley and the Wailers), Horsemouth Wallace, Brann Dailor (Mastodon), Chad Sexton (311), Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Elvin Jones (John Coltrane Quartet), Brook Martinez (Brook's Qawwali Party), and Steven Adler (Guns n Roses)