Jon rockin' at Kewadin Casino, Sault St. Marie, MI
Jon Dillman
Jon Dillman plays Drums and percussion as his main instrument now, but grew up playing piano from age four. Playing in front of church audiences just a few years later, nipped any future stage-fright issues in the bud. Seeing "Genesis" as his first concert at the age of 14 inspired Jon to pick up a pair of drumsticks, and he hasn’t put ‘em down much since. At 18, open mic night appearances in the tri- cities began to create a buzz about Jon and he and his garage bands "Mad Hatter" and "Hard Driver" were able to make the leap into the bar scene. Where his unique soloing techniques forced many a bar patron to put down their drinks and applaud. At age 21 Jon hit the road with the legendary A-circuit touring band "Raggedy Ann", (a year or so after Mike Hawke’s tour with them). On home stints he made a name for himself sitting in and making friends with many local Saginaw acts, so on his departure from R.A. in ’94, work as a steady paid performer began immediately, landing fill-ins with "Wet Cement", "The Jitters",
"Buster Fingers", and then "Shovel", which turned into a five year stint as one of the tri-cities’ busiest bar bands. Jon also started teaching drums at Rit Drums East in late ’94, and some of his students have gone on to play professionally since then. "Shovel" and "Wet Cement "merged in ’99 to form "Burnaround" due to original material written by Jon and "WC.s" frontman. Soon after that he formed a 3-piece act called "Face Down" with Shovels frontman Mike Eudis and Dr. Rock’s current bassist Matt Palmer. 2 years later, a performing job at "Pit and Balcony " Theatre, and another original project trumped the bar band thing for a while as Jon and Noel Howland formed "Lila Rasa", which became another tri-cities fave for a few years, mixing the boundaries of rock, reggae, jazz, funk, and Latin. Once again though the focus of originals turned to covers and a fantastic jam band called "Sprout and the Orange" asked to have Jon play in a percussionist role, adding help vocally and occasionally on drums, including amazing dueling drum solo’s with Sprout’s drummer Steve Nyquist, drawing monstrous applause at every show including the "Rock and Reggae" bash. Sadly after only four or five months steady with Spout, Jon had to accept a job in a well-paid cover band called "One Pump Daisy", led by former Rev. Right Time Bassist Troy Miles. Jon continued his improvisational wizardry with Sprout on off weekends for the next two years while forming a Flint based super group called " Voodoo Honey" with Miles and John Nitz from Rev’- and the group "Thrust". Giving much thanks to Boomer and Bob form that band as well, Jon had to leave when Tommy offered the chance to play with him and Mike and get a few nice paid vacations. Jon still teaches Drums/percussion, and guitar, now at the "White Crow" conservatory of music where Tommy also teaches keys.
Influences: John Bonham, Phil Collins, Keith Moon, Neil Peart, Scott Rockenfield, Buddy Rich, Kenny Aranoff, "God and everyone I’ve ever played music with first, of all my Mom and Dad, including Students and the occasional fellow musician, you all have my eternal gratitude." And the Detroit Red Wings.
