Spencer Inch is one of those musicians who makes you realize how wide this career can actually be. We talked about his path from Wilton, Connecticut to the national touring circuit, and I kept thinking: this is exactly what Broadway Bound and Beyond is about.
Here’s what we got into:
Spencer started on drums at age six when his parents bought him a CB700 from a neighbor — he still talks about that kit like it was a Stradivarius
He studied classical percussion at Penn State, then pivoted to jazz drum set at the University of Miami’s Frost School — going from big fish to small pond overnight, and what he did about it
He did multiple contracts on cruise ships right out of grad school, playing everything from waltzes to Glenn Miller to German polka with no internet and no time to prepare — and why he says he learned more there than in six years of school
He toured the country opening for the Counting Crows with singer-songwriter Seán Barna — playing to amphitheater crowds of 3,000 to 7,000 people, and the moment the Counting Crows’ drummer handed him the sticks to close out a show
He spent a year and a half on the Come From Away national tour playing bodhran — on stage, in the action, 467 shows — after saying yes to an instrument he’d never played before
He’s now on the Water for Elephants national tour, a gig that came directly through the music director he built a relationship with on Come From Away
The throughline in Spencer’s story isn’t talent. It’s relationships, saying yes, and taking every single gig seriously — no matter what it is. The polka gig. The Les Mis at a children’s theater. All of it.
Watch the full episode above!
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