Rickie Mazzotta - Sound Profile Interview
Rickie Mazzotta
Drummer and founding member of the explosive and influential band mewithoutYou.
As the group is entering their final year touring, Rickie shares advice and opens up about his recent experiences with Tinnitus and hearing loss: “It is life altering. It happens without warning. It is something to take as seriously as you take your craft.”
Photo credit: Nick Karp
Earmark: What (or who) first drew you towards music making?
Rickie: I got into listening to and subsequently attempting to play music when I was in about sixth or seventh grade. I was a pre-teen when the grunge explosion hit in 92-93 and as an avid MTV watcher, I was a ripe candidate for being the target audience. I was largely influenced by that type of “alternative” rock music and had an uncle who would get me records and take me to concerts as well as a best friend who shared in the same interests. For its time, it was fresh and unique, deviating from the L.A. glam scene that dominated the mainstream. I wasn’t sure how I fit in with all my classmates at school so it seemed like a natural pairing - grunge was about just wearing whatever you wanted and writing songs however you wanted. It also appeared to me that anybody could do it, you didn’t need costumes or even that much skill to get going.
My parents got me a boombox for my 13th birthday alongside Nirvana’s “In Utero” and the Smashing Pumpkins “Siamese Dream” on CD. A year later I would get a drum kit and start to play along to all types of LPs that my Dad had laying around. One particular performance left an impression on me; Nirvana in December of 93 on MTV’s Live and Loud. Dave Grohl was playing so hard and the whole vibe of the performance kind of stuck a chord with me and really put the idea in my head that I wanted to be a drummer; It didn’t hurt that my main boy at the time got a guitar for Christmas. But all in all, growing up in the Lollapalooza era with so many great bands was what set me on the course of being a musician.
Is there someone who inspires you, musically?
This is always one of the hardest questions to answer, it never really is just one musician or album that inspired/inspires me but the sum of many parts fusing together. When I started taking drums seriously, Jimmy Chamberlain was my go to guru, Dave Grohl too. I ripped so many things from their playing, heck, all the people I am about to mention I took all I could from. With how they presented their art, there was never anything that felt too impossible to emulate even though, at times, it was fairly technical, especially being a self taught drummer. As I progressed and got older, Abe Cunningham from the Deftones really pushed me to play harder and be dedicated to keeping a certain level of intensity while performing. Brendan Canty of Fugazi introduced me to elements of rhythm I was not familiar with that added many volumes to my musical knowledge. My Dad always use to tell me that whenever I was around somebody who knew more than me that I was to “pick their brains” and using music as my primary form of entertainment, I always soaked as much as I could when I listened. As of now, being almost 40, every day it changes. It could be Jerry Garcia on a Friday and then Kim Deal come Monday morning with so many other artists and genres in-between. I really do not have any boundaries of where I pull from (even though I am have almost exclusively been talking about “rock music”). If it is audible and makes me feel something, it is fair game to drive my creativity.
What is your current monitoring setup used when performing and rehearsing?
This current tour, with Thrice, I was forced to make the jump to custom molded in ear monitors, using Westone ES30 earphones. Prior to that, the past year and a half I was using generic in ears that were my introduction into the “in ear world”. And before all of that, I was using a standard stage monitor, almost exclusively on my left side. I would say foolishly but I truly didn’t know any other way to do it. My reason for waiting so long probably had something to do with the initial cost it takes to get an IEM set up and just being a creature of “whatever is easiest” habit. Looking back now, with what I know and now feel, it would have been worth it from day one. I do understand however that it is not necessarily practical for people starting out.
Hearing Conservation is a general term that means "maintaining one’s current hearing health by reducing the risk of acquiring hearing damage from noise/music exposure." How do you think Hearing Conservation plays into your career and life?
Hearing Conservation right now in my life is as important as having a pair of drumsticks on stage with me. Without going into too much detail, over the past six months, I have had several health issues that called into question whether or not I could ever perform on a stage again. The ones that pertain most to the job that I do with mewithoutYou are moderate hearing loss and the development of Tinnitus. I guess I thought it was dorky to wear ear plugs on stage or that the show’s energy wouldn’t be the same. I used to think that I couldn’t feel the music when we were all playing together. I had a litany of excuses as to why I wasn’t blessing my future self with the gift of pure silence. What is the old saying about hindsight? Had I only gotten used to protecting my ears whenever I practiced, that may have translated over to the live show and potentially, I wouldn’t have gotten myself mixed up with the never ending ringing that is now in my ears/brain. Things changed almost on a dime with my entire way of living and how I treat myself and what I put in my body. The conservation and preservation of what I am left to work with physically, here on earth, is paramount to my well being. So please, if you are reading this, take all aspects of your health seriously - you never know when the bottom may drop out on you.
You've been performing with the dynamic, eclectic, and energetic band mewithoutYou for close to 2 decades now. Has your approach to performance changed as you have grown increasingly aware of your hearing health?
Well, being that this is the first tour since my hearing has changed, I am at the infantile stages of how my approach is morphing. For starters, I am using the custom molds as well as shotgun style ear muffs over top of my outer ears; it could be overkill but it's worth my peace of mind. I used to hit as hard as I could - that is no longer happening. I am giving what I think is enough to serve the music. Also, overall, I believe it is making us a better band. I am not flying through songs at a break-neck speed but rather trying to be more true to the original album tempos. That alone has reigned in how loud I am playing and I know the rest of the band appreciates it. On stage, it still feels like I am moving with a purpose even though I am not thrashing around and beating the hell out of my drums the way I used to. It feels good to embrace change, I have no other choice. Luckily, the little tweaks that I am making aren’t totally deviant from my “former self” so I would put this down on paper, strangely, as a win.
Is there anything you would like to impress upon your younger self, or someone just starting down the path of a touring musician?
Yes, yes and yes, this is the main reason I am taking the time to write these responses. Screw talking about bands I love or how I got into playing music, none of that matters compared to the conservation aspect of one’s auditory health. I wish that when I was 17 somebody would have steered me down the right path of always practicing my instrument with ear protection. Even more so, when I started touring, that there had been an old head who was suffering from Tinnitus to impart their learned wisdom upon me. You hear about things like hearing loss and Tinnitus, they may seem abstract or distant or like it can’t happen to you but HEAR ME NOW, nothing can prepare you for the actual physical feelings and distress that you may experience if you are unfortunate enough to catch either. It is life altering. It happens without warning. It is something to take as seriously as you take your craft. If you are playing live music and doing it fairly regularly, there is a good chance you will develop T - I call it T because I hate giving it a name - if I could call it Gollum I would but that would be giving it too much power 😎. It took me months to actual wrap my brain around what was happening inside of me. The developments of said conditions were directly related to the work I do and the habits I developed. It took me a crazy amount of money and a ton of visits to indifferent doctors and specialists to start to even figure it out. It wasn’t until I met Frank [Wartinger] at Earmark Hearing Conservation that I began to become “okay” with the crystal sounds that perpetually meet me when I wake in the morning, lay down for bed at night and those that visit me all the moments in between. As I understand it, there is no cure; you may search high and low in a state of panic but will be met with no magic pills or procedures to disarm the hissing. You may take on a feeling of hopelessness if you let it eat you alive; it does have the power to consume your every thought if you let it. Granted, T has many ranges and forms, it is possible to adjust over time, just takes a lot of patience, discipline and the rewiring of your daily activities and habits. Is that the position you want to put yourself in?
Please really take what I am saying to heart. While you have the ability to correct the bad form of not protecting your ears (at practice, at concerts, at the movies, at sporting events, loud parties, etc), change your ways while it is still possible. Your future self will appreciate it more than you could ever imagine.
Though this may seem morbid, it’s not, I am doing alright. I was issued the warning shot. It could be much worse and I acknowledge that. Thankfully, in my current state, doing all that I can to be health conscious and having Frank help me cope and understand the changes in my body. He has provided me with a road map of tools and techniques so that I am able to continue doing what I love with a gang of friends that I love. In 2020 I am 100 percent committed to closing out the final year of my tenure in mewithoutYou with a bang! Not a loud one of course 😉. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and remember one thing - take care of your ears, people!
Sound Profile are a series interviews focusing on the key element at the heart of Music Audiology: the musician. Frank Wartinger, Au.D., and Earmark Hearing Conservation are dedicated to improving the hearing health of all musicians throughout and the Philadelphia region.