Talking With Todd Patterson And His Search For A Vegan Drummer

Someone in the East Village is in need of a vegan drummer. "Must like sad music. Imagination and personality valued more than technical skill."

Upon spying the flyer seen here, NYC The Blog grabbed a pen and pencil, and set out to find more about the band.  Thumbing through a phone book, Drummer, Vegan, was listed there; right before Drummer, Vera.

When that turned out to be the wrong number, we tried the email listed on the flyer: "How is your search for a vegan drummer going?" we inquired. Todd Patterson graciously responded, responding that the band, The Mercy Word, are currently going through the responses they received. "So far, there's only a few candidates that I would call serious."

Is everyone in the band vegan?

"I'm a longtime vegan and activist, my bandmate is not (although he's progressive in every other way). I just thought it'd be great if we could get vegans to fill the rest of the spots in the band. After making ads that talked up our influences (e.g. Nick Drake meets Neil Young,  and not getting much response, I figured I'd try another tack."

But what about non-vegans, will they considered?

"Non-vegans will definitely be considered for the band. It's most important that they like the music and want to be a part of the band. I don't write animal rights songs, by the way. A lot of my songs are character studies, most are minor-keyed."

So now you know.