Paul Gerhardt

Drums and Percussion

Paul Gerhardt, drummer for the Outbacks. I was born a long long time ago in a land far far away, actually Port Arthur, Texas and shared the maternity ward with Janis Joplin. A few days later I ended up in San Diego, thank God because I like to surf better than ride a horse.

I started playing drums in junior high school and continued thru high school and college. I played in a few different bands but no one really made the it rich or famous from music. (The rest of that story can't be told.)

After college I gave up the drums for a few years and the ocean for the snow and moved to Lake Tahoe. But my love of music was so great I became a dedicated jazz lover and student of the history and development of jazz and have accumulated a fair knowledge of this music. To this day I still love a good jazz performance as much as anything else and will never miss an Elvin Jones concert.

But I never completely lost the desire to play the drums and after moving to the bay area had the good luck to hookup with a few ski racers that had a band called the Outbacks. (You wonder how the name came about?) So having the opportunity to play music again with the band has been a fun and exciting experience.

Our band plays a variety of styles of music including jazz, blues and some great original songs as well. I prefer a minimalist drum kit but don't care what kind of drums I play as long as they are tuned properly, in fact I like to play a variety of drum kits. A good drum kit is like a good woman. No two are the same and it's fun getting to know them, exploring all they have to offer, learning their reactions, how to communicate with them and bringing out the best. Someday I guess I have to settle down with just one drum kit, but in the mean time the Outbacks continue to perform and continue to write some great songs. I hope you can hear us play someday.

One dream I have for the band is to play in Japan someday.