Devan Bentley makes memories out of drumheads.
Over the last 15 years, Bentley’s life as a drummer in various bands has taken him around the world. To commemorate the shows he turns his beat-up drumheads into works of art, painting them with pop culture characters, like Animal, the drummer from “The Muppet Show,” and a Wild West Mickey Mouse; portraits; Japanese tattoo art; and re-created show posters.
Almost 60 of those drumheads will be featured in “One Gig at a Time,” his new exhibit at Disruptor Gallery, which is housed at Shutter and Strum, a community arts center in the Knob Hill neighborhood east of downtown Colorado Springs. Also opening is “Unshuttered,” featuring works by Shutter and Strum photography students. Both exhibits open Friday and run through September.
“It helps me stay grateful for each show I get to play,” Bentley said. “Back in the day when I was touring I may have not been so grateful. It was happening so fast and I forgot some of the shows, so this is a way of remembering every show and having a memory while doing the drumhead. A few years back I was going to not play drums anymore and this project came back around when I started to play again.”
The exhibit’s title relates to why he dropped out of music for a stretch — he got sober nine years ago, making it challenging at the time to play shows.
“I thought my life was moving away from it. I struggled with touring for awhile,” he said.
“I was partying a lot when I was touring nine years ago. It took me a few years to get the guts to play music again sober. It’s one gig at a time. Being grateful for one show at a time. It’s the AA slogan — one day at a time.”
Bentley’s grandad bought him his first drum set when he was around 12. He remembers the painted drumhead that came with the set, which might have inspired his adult art making. He began playing in bands with friends around his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., before attending college and then dropping out to be a full-time musician in a melodic hard-core band.
In 2009, the band’s dream came true when they were signed to a New York City record label and got their first world tour. He did that until 2014 when he left to join Trash Talk, a bigger Los Angeles band, and shared the stage with notable groups, like Suicidal Tendencies and The Dillinger Escape Plan, and even performed on Cartoon Network’s “The Eric André Show.”
While living in California, he also studied public art at Berkeley City College, where he hoped to turn his lifelong love of graffiti into mural art. Though he didn’t finish the program, he credits the schooling with helping him turn his drumheads into tiny murals.
“I was very into graffiti growing up and I wanted to do something positive with that,” Bentley said. “I figured murals was that. I found myself having time to doodle on tour or paint little designs and that’s how the drumheads came about.”
Nowadays he works as a house and commercial building painter and also plays in We Are the Union, an L.A.-based ska band. He also works as a hired drummer and plays with other bands around the country throughout the year. Locally, he plays with the rock band The Sleights. The guys wrote the official anthem for the Colorado Springs Switchbacks soccer team, which gets featured in a video before every game.
“Bands need drummers pretty often,” Bentley said. “I act as a fill-in drummer or live drummer for bands. I found a little spot for myself. I love playing live shows.”
