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Vic Firth artists Eric Greene and Darrell Robinson are the dynamic pairing responsible for laying down the famous grooves of legendary hit maker Pharrell Williams and his band N.E.R.D. Accurately and musically representing the music of N.E.R.D. in a live setting with two drummers might seem like a difficult task, but with their shared chemistry and a common love of the music, Darrell and Eric certainly make it look easy.
Eric Greene began his drumming career playing in his church as a young man and although he cites several professional drummers, such as Gerald Hayward, as some of his earliest influences, he never received any formal lessons. "God gave me talent and from then on, once I started getting around into the circuit, listening to drummers, understanding the business and understanding touring, all that stuff, everything came together."
As both a drummer and producer Darryl Robinson has been in demand for some time. Like Eric, Darrell's playing is heavily rooted in the Gospel circles. He first began playing drums at the age of 5 in his father's church. "My mother saw that I could play, she used to listen to a lot of records while she was cleaning and I would just play a beat, so she was like ‘Ok, if you can play that beat, that’s kind of good’. So she got me a kit and I started playing in church. "
Above all, sharing the drumming duties for N.E.R.D. requires great listening, communication and musicality. For Eric and Darrell, it's like second nature. "Since we’re both from Philadelphia we play a lot with each other and we know each other’s styles, we’ve seen each other play a lot, so when we got together for rehearsals it was just so easy..." says Eric.
The feeling of deep chemistry between these two musicians is mutual. Darrell describes Eric as "...an inspiration. He’s always killing, it always pushes me to go harder, I want to keep up, I want to keep tight. I love playing with him because we understand each other, you’ve got to have that chemistry, so I love playing with Eric, he’s killing, so that means you’ve got to kill even more."
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