#502 Eric Bolivar- Drummer, Educator, and More!
This week’s guest is Eric Bolivar. Eric is a musician who has shared his talents with people around the world many times over. This musical journey has seen him perform with a wildly diverse group of artists ranging from rock gods to jazz legends, revolutionary punks to hip hop poets, r&b/ funk royalty to cutting edge electronica artists.
Born into a musical family in the San Francisco Bay Area, Eric started playing drums at the age of 4 and immediately showed natural ability. By the time he was a freshman in high school marching band, he was already being asked to teach other high school drum lines. At age 17, he became a member of the 1991 World Champion Santa Clara Vanguard Drum line. While teaching and/or arranging for drum corps, high school marching bands and concert percussion ensembles, Bolivar would be performing in various groups in San Jose and the rest of the Bay area at night. Eventually, the road called and Eric has been globetrotting ever since. Eric's nearly constant touring, has seen him perform for crowds all over the world.
After re-locating to New York City and making a splash in the exploding Williamsburg, Brooklyn scene, Eric got the call to play with New Orleans based, Grammy Award winning singer/ songwriter Anders Osborne. After several flights to New Orleans to play with Anders, Bolivar moved to the Crescent City only to be forced out by Hurricane Katrina. After the flood waters receded, he moved back. Since re-relocating to the Big Easy, Bolivar's schedule has be insanely busy to say the least. He has kept up an ambitious schedule playing and/or recording with all kinds of different artists. But even with his hectic schedule, Eric still finds the time to cram in recording sessions, the occasional clinic and filming for television appearances between trips to the airport.
Eric is endorsed by Vic Firth and has been since 2001
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Darren Hazlett! Darren is currently the Battery Percussion Director and Arranger for the West Chester University Incomparable Golden Ram Marching Band. He is a former arranger and educator of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps. As a performer, he spent 7 years with the Crossmen (1992-1998) and was a cast member of the Broadway show Blast! (1999-2002). He is a marching percussion clinician for Vivace Production and is also a member of the Vic Firth Education team. Darren resides is southeastern Pa. with his family and works as a middle school band director.
Happy Birthday to Tiki Pasillas! Tiki is multi-talented. He is a drummer, multi-percussionist, and vocalist, who has been performing professionally in Los Angeles for the past 16 years. Born in Oakland California on August 17, 1968, commonly known as 'Tiki'. The nickname was bestowed on him during childhood by his older cousin Jesus (aka Pipo) because pronouncing Ricardo or Ricky was rather difficult for Pipo. The nickname stuck and Ricardo has been called 'Tiki' ever since.
Tiki's parents, Jose Luis and Rosa Maria had four other children: George, Edward, Carlos, and Rosa Angelica. The Pasillas parents insisted that their family learn a musical instrument. With their encouragement, the four siblings formed a band called Los Hermanos Pasillas. George played his Fender Jaguar electric guitar and was the band's MC, Eddie played his Buscher alto sax and did vocals, Carlos played drums, and Rosa was the lead singer and organ player. They were a busy young professional band, playing mostly Mexican weddings and parties.
Some of the parties got the best of Carlos the drummer, who according to legend fell asleep behind his Marine Pearl Ludwig drum kit during a function. Tiki came along about 10 years after Rosa and would later teach himself how to play drums on that same set of drums. His brother still owns that drum kit. Through out their musical career Tiki started to accompany them. His mother says that Tiki's tummy would move with the music when he was an infant.
As he continued to tag along with his older siblings, Tiki's natural talent began to bloom. While the band played a Cumbia, Tiki kept time on the high hat, a pretty amazing feat considering he was no taller than the high hat itself. As soon as the song lost his interest, Tiki would return to being a typical energetic kid. This could happen at the end of the song, the middle of the song, or shortly after the song began. Collecting plastic champagne corks that looked liked miniature chef hats for each finger, sliding across the dance floor on his knees, and of course inventing adventures around the dance hall with his cousins and friends were more important at that moment but the musical seed had already been planted.
The first instruments that Ricardo "Tiki" Pasillas studied were the piano and the guitar. His mother arranged for Tiki to study with Mr. Juan Silva the same gentleman who had taught Tiki's brothers and sister to play. Mr. Silva is clearly remembered by the family Pasillas for his cigarette ashes falling in between the black and whites of the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Though he endeavored to play these instruments, Tiki's natural strength was in his drumming abilities. At the age of 7 the family Pasillas moved to a suburb near San Jose.
Tiki's interest in drums started to take hold. Mickey Laure was the leader of a Cumbia band. Though they were a Mexican band, they were very tropical. Tiki was most impressed by Mickey's awesome timbal solo. It left a lasting impression on young Tiki and long before he had heard of Tito Puente. Sonora Santanera, another Mexican band, played strickly tropical music from guajira-cha to mambos with an occasional meregue. The songs, the trumpets, and above all, the sounds of the percussion captured his attention.
Concert band, Jazz Ensemble, Marching band, Jazz Choir, Symphonic Band and Theater Arts all shaped Tiki's early music education. At age 11 the Latin Percussion driven San Jose Raiders Drum and Bugle Corps gave him a strong foundation in discipline. Says Tiki: "Bob Calcauphin was an original snare drummer from the Troopers, an excellent drum and bugle corp out of Wyoming. He was a hard-ass. He said that he would break my arm one time because of a wise crack I had said while he was yelling at the corps. Later on in high school he instructed the drum line for a spell. I learned alot from him and credit him for kickin' my ass in learning how to get straight to the point and play well and hard. High school marching band was a breeze because of the corp foundation."
Ricardo "Tiki" Pasillas became quite the acclaimed musician, having won numerous awards and trophies through out his high school years including a Berklee College of Music summer scholarship. Tiki played a couple of local college bands. Barely getting his feet wet out of high school, he started Freelancing with a top 40 band and occasionally with bass player Curtis Olson through whom he played with Rosie Gains, Andy Narell, and Bradford Marsalis. Olsen's drummer, Billy "Shoes" Johnson would always be there to give Tiki and occasional tip or lesson without knowing that he was giving it.
After playing semi-professionally in the Bay Area, Ricardo "Tiki" Pasillas moved to Hollywood to attend Musician's Institute. While there he was the recipient of the Latin Stylist Award. Tiki joined a top 40 band called Paper Doll. He played drums and sang with this group five nights a week. Says Tiki "I learned how to use my diaphragm because I had to play drums and belt out the lead vocals at the same time". He dedicated the rest of the year to finishing at MI. Upon finishing, Tiki started to teach there. Word of mouth took its rounds and gave him work. "When Lambada came out it gave me quite a bit of work Ha Ha, but it's true." Tiki started playing in the Brazilian community with fresh new talent from Brazil such as Katia Moraes who asked Tiki to help her in putting together a new band called The Rio Thing. They were a smokin' little Samba band that dissipated just in time for Tiki to make himself available to the Latin bands of Los Angeles. Son Mayor, a group fronted by the brothers Ortiz, was Tiki's first solid salsa band experience. With Alfred Ortiz close to him, they both learned a variety from each other for years to come. Working for a variety of employers, including Susie Hansen one of the hardest working band leaders, started Tiki's upward spiral into the music scene with musicians such as Buddy Rich's bassist Curtis Olsen, Alex Acuña, Justo Almario, and Abraham LaBoriel just to name a few.
Tiki is a well-respected musician with world-wide recognition, and is a frequent studio contributor to records, films, jingles and voice-overs. He along with his lovely wife Maria and their children are great contributors to the Los Angeles music scene.
Happy Birthday to Dave Fox! Dave is an accomplished, versatile drummer who has performed and recorded with a wide variety of acts in a number of genres all over New England, nationally and abroad. He is currently a full-time member of The Gravel Project, Andrew Stern’s “AS3” and legendary Boston Rock act The Stompers.
As a sideman for over two decades, he has performed with a diverse group of artists including Tom Hambridge and The Rattlesnakes, Jerry Bergonzi, Josh Smith, David Tronzo, David Amram, Charles Neville, Stan Strickland, Phil Grenadier and Bruno Råberg.
Dave is, as ever, committed to moving ahead with his craft, sound and teaching practice while continuing to enjoy working with his students and ensembles at Indian Hill Music Center (Littleton, MA) and MJ’s Music School (Waltham, MA)
Happy Birthday to Brian Kilgore! In Brian Kilgore's diverse studio career he has played on over 500 albums, including Rock and Roll with Daft Punk, Cold Play, Live, Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynne, Whitney Houston, Starship, Linda Rondstadt, Ricky Martin, Jody Watley, Robbie Nevil, the Goo Goo Dolls, Aerosmith, and Concrete Blonde, Afro-Cuban salsa with Clare Fischer and Francisco Aguabella, straight ahead jazz with Terry Trotter, Bill Watrous, Bill Cunliffe, and Bob Florence, jazz fusion with Kirk Whalum, Everette Harp, Dave Koz, Grant Geissman, and Warren Hill, and rap with NWA, P Diddy, and Dr. Dre. His numerous TV/film credits include Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, King Kong, Narnia, Beowulf, Wall-E, Hairspray, Semi-Pro, Pollock, A Bug's Life, Mighty Joe Young, A Perfect Storm, Spiderman II, The Bourne Supremacy, Troy, Van Helsing, I Robot, The Polar Express, Team America, Robots, The Legend of Zorro, Cars, The Longest Yard, and over one hundred more.
He has also performed live with Barbra Streisand, Teena Marie, Elton John, Billy Joel, Chaka Khan, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and many more.
Brian received his Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Northridge, where he subsequently served on the faculty from 1992-1998. His ability to cover all aspects of percussion, from Afro-Cuban rhythms to orchestral percussion, to the extensive use of electronics and exotic sound effects, has made him a first-call player on the Los Angeles recording scene.
Gig Alerts
The Global Citizen Festival is returning to Central Park in NYC on September, 26th 2026
Friends of the show, Third Coast Percussion (Episode #202 and Episode #273 ) have released their upcoming tour dates.
Snarky Puppy continues their Somni tour in Europe and the USA.
Damon is headed back out on tour with Ziggy Marley for the fall with Govt Mule as a co-headliner.
Educational Spotlight
There are just a few spots left in the 2026 Individual & Ensemble Competition, happening on the Friday of PASIC, November 13. Learn more at THIS LINK HERE.
Iconic Recording
Eric chose the song “Sunshine” from the Earth, Wind, and Fire album, ‘Gratitude’.
Music News
Spotify, one of the largest streaming companies in the world, says it will soon start labeling AI profiles posing as human artists. The "AI Persona" badges, which will start rolling out mid-September, will appear on the artist's profile page, in search results related to the profile and in playlist track listings. -Article
Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board has found a new way to potentially circumvent a federal judge’s order to remove his name from the building. -Article
Onsemble is finally here and officially available in the App Store! Download it now for free. Shout-out to the great Eric Krasno!
Eric Bolivar Interview
The song leading into the interview is, “Ride Your Pony (feat. Trombone Shorty) performed by Bonerama from the album, ‘So Much Love’.
Eric is in Wisconsin playing with Ghalia Volt. They are on tour through September.
Eric recounts meeting Damon in the group The Bomb Squad way back in 2003.
Eric moved from the bay area (San Jose) of California to NYC.
Eric talks about marching drum corps with the Santa Clara Vanguard in 1991, 1993, and 1994l in the snare line.
He played drumset first though.
His dad introduced him to drum corps.
He talks about how his high school band staff and firends helped continue the drum corps instigation.
Shout-out to drumline lot cassette tapes, as well as judge tapes.
Eric recaps some drum corps memories. His first year was 1991.
Eric went to community college and then taught a lot of other drumlines as well as played drumset live.
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe was Eric’s first break into a lot of touring.
Before Napster, there was AudioGalaxy, and Dreaming Tree. After Napster there was also Limewire that were all used for sharing MP3 files of concerts similarly to what Grateful Dead fans and drum corps fans did with cassette tapes.
Eric talks about the Jam Band circuit.
Eric talks about why he moved to NYC and playing with the Global Funk Council and then joining The Bomb Squad.
He would travel between NYC, New Orleans and California. He ended up moving to Brooklyn to play Radio Mundial.
Eric talks about his New Orleans Hurricane Katrina experience. He was on tour with Anders Osborne at the time.
Eric talks about replacing his gear and clothes and other personal effects after he lost everything in the hurricane while being on tour.
He moved back to New Orleans full time after Radio Mundial broke up around 2006ish.
Eric got diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in 2015. He ended up going onto dialysis while touring with Tab Benoit.
He talks about his experience dealing with the disease before getting a kidney transplant.
He also became a dad!
Shout-out to the Jazz Foundation of America and MusicCares!
Eric gives a little history on the band UB40. it comes from the UK form, Unemployment Benefit, Form 40.
Damon gives a little history on the Green Book, which was also a movie that Eric contributed to musically.
The apps Damon mentions to stay safe in dangerous neighborhoods are called, TravelSafe-new makes it easy to avoid danger zones in bad neighborhoods while traveling. Other options include Crime and Place, Noonlight, bSafe, and more.
Eric picks the iconic recording for the week.
Sending love and prayers to John Paris.
Eric uses Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets.
Shout-out to Eric’s family (especially his mom, dad, the Bolivar uncles, and Uncle Brad), Mr. Beacock, Mr. Miata, Mr. Marks, Ralph Hardimon, Scott Johnson, Lee Rudniki, Kevin Murray, Mike Clark, Karl Denson, and more!
You can follow Eric on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The song leading out of the interview is “Junco Partner (feat. Papa Mali)” by the Joe Krown Trio +1 from the album ‘Qualified’.
