Frank India’s Biography
Part: 1

A little bit about me…I started out life as a normal person in Brooklyn, (no small feat), and would have been content to remain so, but the forces of life were to conspire against me. I received a prophetic message from some deeper part of myself very shortly after my birth, and then my parents, who I suspect were sending one another messages of a different sort, split up. So I went to live with my grandparents and played punch-ball in the streets with the ‘big kids.’ I got to sit on the laps of cute high-school girls on the corner of Barbey St and Blake Ave because they thought I was cute, or maybe because they wanted kids of their own.

Then I moved to Queens, and then Long Island. My real dad, who loved the drums but didn’t have time to do anything with them, gave me his set of white mother of pearl Gretsch drums, complete with calf skin heads. What beautiful depth and tone those drums had! And then he proceeded to take them back, because I pretty much let them sit there and played baseball instead. How I would love to have those drums today…1950’s white mother of pearl Gretsch drums? Are you kidding me!

I got back into drums heavy during my last two years of high school. I was having a party at my house, and some friends who were part of a popular local band offered to come over and play. The party was a smash hit, and I spent most of the night just watching the drummer, who would later become a dear friend of mine, play. I’m not exactly sure, but I think it was like the very next day that I went out and bought my first set of drums with my own money. It was a set of beautiful silver sparkle Gretsch’s. This kit was one size smaller all around than the set my dad had given me. There was a 14”X 20” bass, 8”X12” and 14”X14” toms. The dealer recommended the now venerable Ludwig A-400 chrome snare to go along with them…a 5 and a half by 14” Superphonic. I also picked up some 13” Zildjian hats, an 18” Zildjian medium ride, and 18” and 16” Zildjian crashes. The deal included all hardware, hard cases, and a trap case with no wheels. It’s impossible now to remember the exact dollars and cents, but back then when the earth was still cooling and dirt hadn’t quite been perfected yet, (they couldn’t decide on the color), there were some pretty good deals to be had on drum gear. I think I spent somewhere around $600 to $700 for everything! No doubt it was a kit meant for jazz, but I was playing Young Rascal’s, Beatles, James Brown, Mitch Ryder, Spencer Davis, Hendrix, Aretha, Stones, Kink’s, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, (trying to play along to Buddy Rich and Dave Brubeck records), Isaac Hayes, (Shaft), and many, many others.

It’s been a great ride. I’ve done my share of road, studio, and even a touch of overseas playing, as well as lots of local playing with some really good musicians on both the east and west coast.

Many sets from almost every drum maker have come and gone over the years, but I was lucky. I got to wind up coming back to where I started. No, not those 50’s mother of pearl beauties I surrendered in my youth, but I am back on Gretsch again. It’s a six piece black lacquer set from their Renown series…all maple shells and die cast hoops. I’ve been happily playing them all over the state of California this last year. And as a matter of fact, my playing now is better than it’s ever been.

Getting older is no time to stop moving in the direction of your passions. In fact, it’s the exact perfect time to do just that.



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