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Skeebo Knight
(September 2002 Issue)
Dealing With Pain Skeebo
Knight loves drumming. Yet the pain he must
endure simply to sit behind
his kit and lay down a groove is staggering. Knight suffers from
Scleroderma, which he describes
as a connective tissue disorder that
causes a variety of painful symptoms including muscle rigidity,
skeletal stiffness, fatigue,
muscle and joint inflammation, and severe
muscle spasms.
Despite the pain and exhaustion, Knight
remains
devoted to drumming. He's released two albums since the onset of his
illness, and is now finishing a third.
Knight's first album, It's About Time, features several drumset compositions with percussion added to the mix.
Tales From Wimbish Woods, his follow-up release, is a jazz album featuring several guest musicians, including Rolling
Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell.
Knight's most recent venture, Jekyll Island Nights,
is also a
jazz-oriented collection featuring several collaborating
musicians. "With my health problems, I'm unable to go out and play
with
other people," Knight says. "So these projects give me the chance to
collaborate. Most of the musicians on the album
are also my good
friends."
Knight uses a strategic combination of adaptive
technology and a very specific routine to
enable him to continue
playing. On the mornings that he plans to drum, he does extensive
stretching, warm-up exercises, and
physical therapy, and then takes a
short nap. After waking up, he warms up a second time and then finally
plays. Skeebo
plays as much as he can, and then is often forced by
extreme fatigue to spend the rest of the day resting and
recovering.
"When I'm so tired and hurting so much, the thought of quitting crosses
my mind," Knight
admits. "But I've learned not to make decisions then.
And drumming has done so much for me. I've learned how to
relax and
have less tension in my body. This is a big part of drumming, even if
you don't have a physical
ailment."
Knight has also adjusted his setup. He uses a DrumFrame and locates
both the ride cymbal and hi-hats on
his left side so that he doesn't
have to cross over. He also uses Ahead sticks and gloves to lessen the
pain of
impact.
Knight's CDs are available from cdbaby.com/skeebo.
Harriet L. Schwartz
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