Jerome Dillon (September 2005 Issue)
New With NIN

While most folks talk about "taking a step up" in reference to career advancement, Jerome Dillon's story is like a thousand-foot dash up the stairwells of the Sears Tower. After all, Dillon just landed one of the prized thrones of rock gigs, as the touring drummer for Nine Inch Nails.

Coming out of almost nowhere - and ultimately ending up with his first NIN gig on the stage of the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards - is more or less one big surprise for this thirty-year-old Columbus, Ohio native.

Dillon speaks of playing the awards show, recalling his nervousness. "It was kind of scary, playing in front of the most widely watched television awards program in American history," Dillon recalls. "Right before we went on, they were doing something with Madonna. She was like fifteen feet in front of me, and I was thinking, 'Well, it can't be all that bad. I'm sitting here behind my drums looking at Madonna's butt.' That kind of chilled me out."

Originally from the rock band Howlin' Maggie, Dillon received a tip to audition from his manager and went for it. Dillon explains, "I went down in the beginning of March, auditioned, and got called back in the beginning of April."

The transition from guitar-rock to synth-industrial could've been a rough ride, but Dillon was fairly confident about mastering the task awaiting him. "I had studied many different types of music on my own," Jerome says, "but I was never formally trained. Howlin' Maggie was an alt-rock, R&B, rock 'n' roll band, and I was playing that to my fullest ability. So when I did finally get into the Nine Inch Nails thing, it was a smooth transition because I was familiar with the material and I really knew where things were going."

Dillon employs an Orange County Drum And Percussion acoustic kit with an Alesis DM Pro sampler and ddrum triggers. With his gear in place and his mind on the right track, Dillon approaches his stage show with a no-holds-barred attitude. "At times it's a challenge to play as musically as possible, when all you're trying to do is get the point across emotionally. Most of the time that means me trying to break every part of the drumset."

Waleed Rashidii

Back