Robert "Steady" Casler, Rhythm King (Band Profiles, Part III)

Robert Casler's first drums were empty ricotta cheese containers that he played as a pre-teen, lip-synching to the Beach Boys and the Beatles with friends in a garage while the moms sold juice and cookies to neighborhood kids. He obviously had the right kind of parents: after that performance, his folks offered to pay for lessons. (Years later, it was deja vu when he debuted with the X-Tension Chords at Lake Tahoe. His drum kit consisted of the bottom of a hotel trash can, and yet again, shaking their heads, his parents offered to pay for lessons.)

Casler’s first public performance was similarly inauspicious. Sister Margaret had convinced his band to perform “The Alley Cat” at the 8th grade graduation assembly, while the other band in school threw caution to the wind and played rock and roll to an enthusiastic audience.

And it's just kept getting better. Casler has played lead snare, cymbals, and a mean triangle in a symphony orchestra. His high school marching band endured four years of losing football teams, and continued the scatological theme with a march behind the horses in the Macy’s St. Patrick’s Day parade – all the more challenging since the drummers never stop playing and they can’t see directly ahead of them. In high school he and his (non-marching) band made good money playing weddings, where he caught an occasional glimpse into the dark side of family celebrations: you can always count on a person requesting "Dixie," one asking for "The Stripper" (usually a middle-aged male), and one person who insists on playing your drums. He also learned the value of a strong family life: his dad was always there to pick him and his drums up, no matter where the gig was or how many extra sets he had to play. The list of his bands reads like a pantheon of middle school rock: The Continentals, Nadine and the Mophonics, The Lincoln Street Bullies.

Then things started to quiet down as Casler took on the father's role himself and sat back to watch his sons’ progress as musicians. A stint in a campus community orchestra showed him that little had changed over the years: the trumpet section was still preppy, the trombones still unruly, the clarinets very proper, . . . and the drummers never seemed to have any sheet music. In terms of musical performance, he thought his best days were behind him.

It was with no little shock and surprise, then, that he saw his hotel suite at the ACE 2004 conference at Lake Tahoe fill one night with singers, players, and newly minted fans for an informal jam session that turned into a launching pad for the X-Tension Chords phenomenon, with Robert and his sons filling out the band and sharing in the magic. (The boys also got to see how intoxicated people behave – a good primer for college life.) And the beat goes on.