by Andrerw Lentz
"How I Got The Gig"
Sean "The Rick" Rickman of Garaj Mahal
Marvel at Garaj Mahal drummer Sean Rickman's blazing parts on the new More Mr. Nice Guy. But to understand how he got the underground jam band's drum chair you have to journey back a few years.
Rickman, a Washington DC - based drummer best known for his work with Steve Coleman, first met Garaj Mahal bassist Kai Eckhardt in 1996 in Oakland when they were sharing the bill at a small jazz club. In a way, the relationship began before their introduction. The Rick admired Eckhardt from afar for his work in the John mcLaughlin Trio. Over the years the two men would bump into each other at NAMM or in Europe. "Every time we'd see each other it was like, 'We should play together,' The Rick recalls with a chuckle. "You know how everybody says that but it never happens?"
But the two did collaborate for one-offs in Steyr, Austria, or Istanbul, for example, and though it never turned into anything long-term, the pair bonded. "We argued a lot like friends," The Rick recalls. "I look back on it and I was like, 'No, you should slow this one down to get into the groove and he was, 'No!' because he wanted it to be all fusioned-out and busy all the time. And then he'd be like, 'Oh, you're right, Rick: Let's do it for the laaaaadies. [laughs] So it was that kind of dynamic. I didn't know too much about Garaj Mahal till later."
Fast forward to 2008, Garaj Mahal was on the road supporting their album w00t. The band's cofounder and drummer, Alan Hertz, started missing more and more gigs as he began focusing on work with the Scott Henderson Trio. Eckhardt knew just who to call.
Funny thing was that The Rick has had plenty of East Coast gigs to keep him busy and wasn't looking for any more work, especially with Garaj split between the West Coast and Chicago. On the other hand, it seemed like an opportunity to spiritually renew himself. "I was kind of open at that time in my personal life," he says. "I was going through a lot of drama so I was like, 'Hey, let's go on the road for a minute and do this.'"
While he and Eckhardt had a history together, The Rick didn't know guitarist Fareed Haque or keyboardist Eric Levy until he was thrust into Hertz' vacant chair. After the first few gigs, though, it started to feel like family. "We clicked in a lot of ways," The Rick says. "We're all geeky guys."