Meet Sean Bennett | Session Drummer and recording Artist: NODS

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sean Bennett and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sean, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I grew up in the south suburbs of Denver, Colorado.

Before 2012, Denver was a relatively isolated city. Its airport was about 45 minutes from any livable part of town, and it took roughly 9 hours to drive to the next major city—unless you counted Cheyenne, WY. Aside from the Great American Beer Festival, there wasn’t much in the way of tourism.

Now, this might sound like a complaint at first, but these circumstances gave Denver a unique character, particularly when it came to its music scene.

One major factor was that, if a band wanted to tour from the East Coast to the West—or vice versa—they were pretty much forced to pass through Denver. This meant I had access to every style of music imaginable, all thanks to a number of all-ages venues that were thriving at the time.

These venues not only gave me access to a wide variety of music, but they also nurtured a vibrant local music community. I was performing in real venues and selling tickets by age 15. Local high school bands were selling 400-500 tickets to their shows, while other local bands were signing major label deals. There were even top-tier recording studios, like The Blasting Room, working with local artists, ensuring their records sounded incredible and offering opportunities to grow beyond just the local scene.

Growing up in Denver fostered my early musical ambitions. It gave me the chance to join a touring band at 17, sell thousands of tickets, and tour the country—all before I turned 21. The confidence to pursue and succeed in whatever I set my sights on was definitely a product of Denver’s unique music culture and the opportunities it offered when I was growing up.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I currently exist in the music world as a session drummer and as a recording artist under the name NODS.

Most of my work over the past 20 years has been in the studio, though I’ve also spent time as a traveling live musician.

What sets my work apart from other session drummers is that every project I’ve been involved in—now over 200 recordings—has been built on real, personal friendships. I’ve recorded all over the country: in Denver, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Nashville, Portland, Seattle, and more. While there have been times when I’ve recorded with musicians I didn’t know personally, every session has been infused with a sense of genuine connection, whether it’s with the artist, the engineer, or the producer. Reflecting on that, I realize that friendship is what makes collaboration so strong. It creates a foundation of trust, where no one feels the need to compromise their creative vision because everyone is on the same page.

As a recording artist, NODS is my project for exploring the sounds around me and turning them into a sonic world that feels deeply personal.

I am a walking case of ADHD, coupled with synesthesia—specifically, taste and smell synesthesia—and echolalia. For those unfamiliar with echolalia, it’s the involuntary echoing of sounds. It’s something that I’m sure many people have experienced in themselves or seen in others. For me, if I hear a beautiful bird singing outside, I can’t help but try to mimic it. My wife especially finds it annoying when I repeat things she says in a way that I can’t control.

NODS songs start with me recording real-world sounds. If a door creaks in a way that triggers my echolalia, I’ll record it on my phone, load it into a sampler, and start transforming it into a musical instrument. The final songs tend to blend elements of instrumental hip-hop, modern classical music, and glitchy electronic music, but at their core, the majority of the instrumentation is made up of these “found sounds.”

These days, I’m generally most proud of whatever my freshest release is. Each new studio session that comes out is a celebration of friendship and a continuation of my 20-year drumming career. Every new NODS track is proof to myself that I still love creating music that connects to my daily life—and that the creative fire is still burning.

There’s nothing easy about being a musician. It takes years of monotonous practice and discipline to become a good drummer, let alone a multi-instrumentalist and recordist. Just ask anyone living in Nashville—no one gets an easy road in the music industry. But I’m not complaining. If it were easy, everyone would do it. For me, music is more of a compulsion than a choice. Easy or not, I’m still playing every day and recording whenever I can. Overcoming challenges in your career is much like overcoming challenges in life: you have to accept that life is long, and not everything will go as planned. But if you’re alive, surrounded by people you love, and have food on your plate, life is good.

If anyone is following my career, they’re also engaging with the life and creations of my friends and family. That’s what I hope people know about my story—that it’s not just mine. It’s a collection of incredible people, making meaningful music, and doing their best to survive and thrive in this world.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I absolutely LOVE Nashville, TN. So, showing people around town is always a pleasure.

Obviously, visitors are usually looking to dive into the music scene, so that’s where I’d start.

When I first moved to town, I was introduced to Whiskey Jam, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone visiting. Though it’s moved from its classic location at Losers in Midtown, nothing showcases Nashville quite like a night dedicated to the incredible songwriters in our town.

Another must-see gig would be New Faces night at The Basement. I’ve played more than a few of these nights, and I’ll say, I’m hard-pressed to find a better curator of music than Grimes himself.

And, of course, on Wednesdays at Rudy’s, you’ll find one of the most legendary music families performing week after week. The Wooten brothers started this jam years ago, and you can’t even imagine the talent that graces that small stage. Seeing Regi, Victor, or Future Man in a room that intimate is a once-in-a-lifetime experience—something you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the country.

For drinks, I have a few go-tos:

I always take visitors to Corsair in the Marathon building. Corsair was one of Nashville’s first craft distilleries, and they make some of the best spirits you’ll ever taste—including smoked whiskeys, a cucumber-infused gin, and even absinthe for the adventurous. The Marathon building has a taproom with local beers and craft cocktails made with their spirits.

Barrique Brewing and Blending is hands down Nashville’s best brewery. They specialize in old-world sours as well as perfectly crafted lagers. As someone who’s lived in Denver, Oregon, and Washington—states known for their epic breweries—it’s hard to impress me, but Barrique totally does. Chef’s Kiss.

My favorite local hang is in Wedgewood-Houston and it’s called Never Never. It’s the kind of place I love—great cocktails, an impressive spirits collection, or just a pop-top beer. And, to top it off, they’ve got a killer taco truck, Alebrije, parked out back.

For food, I like a variety of spots around town:

For a nicer night out, I’d recommend Rolf and Daughters in Germantown, Chauhan on 12th and Porter, or Husk in SoBro.

For BBQ, I’m a Peg Leg Porker purist. You can’t go wrong there

If it’s one of my closest friends visiting, we’d spend a lot of time on Nolensville Road. Our go-to spots are Degthai (incredible Thai food), Albasha (fantastic Mediterranean), OSH (for a quick bite), and Tempo Tacos/Coffee (because who doesn’t love tacos and coffee?).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shout out three people without whom I would not have a music career.

The first is Andrew Berlin, an engineer and producer based in Fort Collins, Colorado. Andrew was the engineer for my first-ever professional recording. My band at the time (in 2006) used our entire savings to book time at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins. The oldest of us was 19, and I was just 18 years old. Andrew treated us like professionals, giving us the same respect he would offer any established artist that walked into his studio. He helped us create an EP that ultimately launched our journey as professional musicians. He went on to engineer several other projects I recorded on, wrote me a letter of recommendation for a scholarship at SAE here in Nashville, and overall, he is one of my favorite human beings in the world.

The second person I want to recognize is Chris Jak, whom I met through Andrew. Chris was shown my first band’s EP and decided to invest his time and money into us as our producer. Through Chris, we learned how to write songs at a major label level, he introduced us to our management and our entertainment lawyer, and he helped us navigate the music industry as it was. Once again, this man treated us like adults, even though we were essentially kids. He respected us and supported us at every sign of adversity in our careers. Without him, we would have been walking around in the dark.

The last person who has been instrumental in my career is my band’s manager, Josh Terry. Josh owns Workshop Management here in Nashville and is a beloved name in the American music industry. He has an epic origin story that I might get wrong if I try to recite it, but I can tell you he’s an incredibly inspiring character. Anyone in the music industry who doesn’t know about him should definitely find out. He’s an absolute badass. Thanks to Josh, I’ve had the opportunity to travel the entire country and play music, even during a time when the music industry was struggling. I’ve had opportunities most could only dream of, and much of it was made possible by Josh Terry.

Instagram: @seanbennettdrums

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@loudnoiseswithseanbennett3252

Other: Playlist of some recording sessions:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Gf9sH0XXEWdjkrHtE3Z9c?si=31Vkob3zT2aUCXJ8HBlj5A

Image Credits
Katie Vellman, Alex Abrazaldo