Go-To Patterns with TOMMASO
Love Music More · hosted by Luke F. Walton (Scoobert Doobert)
Guest: TOMMASO
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Topics discussed
Host note
TOMMASO (Tommaso Veronesi) is a Chicago songwriter, producer, and drummer. Scoobert collab on While Away. Same orbit: he produced Chan Fuze singles This Is Not Cool and Methadone Nights (2023); Walton mixed both. We have mixed together and hung out in the city. The episode title is his session habit: go-to fills and patterns. We start where his production ear comes from. He barely had theory; he had drums, and he thought in energy (how the song moves forward) long before he had other instruments.
We talk Ringo-y fills that stay simple on purpose, muscle memory as teaching ("a hundred times is really like nothing"), and a hot take that puts Meg White next to Ringo: the drummer who is the song without winning a rudiment contest. After years of weekend gigs he moved back to Chicago and started producing again; the solo project exists as a no-compromise lane. Identity lagged the work: singer, drummer, songwriter, producer. Now he can just say producer and musician.
The closer is the Love Music Why question. He does not know who he is without music. He lives it until the job title is almost beside the point.
Selected moments
- Chicago friends, mixing, hanging out 1:49 We start as Chicago friends who already mix and collaborate, not a cold first meeting.
- Energy first, theory later 2:56 TOMMASO describes coming into production from drums with almost no theory: asking how the song is moving, not what the chord is called.
- The simplest fill, the Ringo-y one 7:25 He hunts for the best fill in the moment and usually lands on something simple and Ringo-like rather than flashy.
- Teaching drums as muscle memory 16:32 He has taught drums for a long time: send a kid home to play it a hundred times, because a hundred times is still nothing.
- Go-to fills and patterns 20:04 The episode title shows up in the room: in sessions he reaches for go-to fills and patterns that already work.
- Meg White / Ringo hot take 21:24 He contrasts the savant kit player with Meg White and Ringo: barely a double-stroke roll, still the song.
- Back to Chicago, producing again 26:51 After years of weekend gigs, moving back to Chicago is when he started producing again in earnest.
- Singer, drummer, songwriter, producer 37:24 He used to freeze when other musicians asked who he was; now he can say producer and musician without negotiating it.
- I am music 56:28 On why he loves music: he does not know who he is without it. He lives and breathes it until the question almost dissolves.
Selected excerpts
I didn't get a say into like what the music was, you know? Like I got a say in like the energy.
It's all muscle memory. It's like your brain is like a hundred times smarter than your body.
It's so funny because I have like these like go-to drum beats.
Even like a few years ago, I'm like, who am I? Am I like a singer? Am I a drummer? Am I a songwriter? Am I like a producer?
Now I'm just like I'm a producer and a musician and I feel like happy with that.
FAQ
What does TOMMASO mean by go-to patterns?
In sessions he reaches for fills and drum beats he already trusts (tasteful, often simple, often Ringo-like) instead of inventing a new trick every bar. The patterns are how a drummer-turned-producer keeps energy moving without overplaying.
Why does TOMMASO think drummers make good producers?
He came in from the kit with almost no theory. What he had was a say in the energy: how the song moves forward, how the kick and snare sit, how a fill should be the simplest thing that still feels like the best fill. Groove and dynamics were the production ear before other instruments arrived.
How is TOMMASO connected to Scoobert Doobert?
They are Chicago friends who have mixed and collaborated, including While Away (TOMMASO × Scoobert Doobert), and two 2023 Chan Fuze singles Veronesi produced and Walton mixed (This Is Not Cool, Methadone Nights). The interview is that relationship on tape, not a first meeting. The week before, the solo episode To Be like Water, Take a Nap pointed at this conversation from the drummer's chair.
These pages are host notes, not a full transcript. The episode itself is on the listen links above.