Damian Graham and the HIFI Hipsters perform at Hermann's Jazz Club on Saturday. The Sutcliffes, a Beatles tribute band that features Graham on drums, plays Feb. 29 at The Clubhouse in the Strathcona Hotel.

No matter how talented or tenured, musicians who earn a living playing music in Victoria don't have the easiest of gigs.

In addition to various other necessary skills - bookkeeping, et. al. - it takes a competent multi-tasker to navigate the endless practices and performances and equipment maintenance.

That rigamarole is something Victoria drummer Damian Graham knows all too well at the moment. "The landscape for music has changed," Graham said.

"You used to be able to be in one band and you could do fivenighters all over the place. But that stuff is just gone. You have to be more diversified."

The well-liked 39-year-old has been gigging around the world since he was 17, with groups ranging from Celtic act the Paperboys to Beatles tribute band the Sutcliffes, but he's never been busier than he is right here, right now. Graham's schedule is such that he often finds himself behind a drum kit for hours at a time, for days on end.

"I'm playing more than I ever have in my life," he said. "I'm doing a lot of playing.

When you're in a touring group, you only play for one to two hours a night. I clock in at four or five hours on the kit each day."

Graham has earned his reputation as one of the best drummers on Vancouver Island. The expert timekeeper with two decades of experience fields a steady stream of job opportunities, a huge percentage of which he turns down. Graham said he began reversing the touring tide six years ago in order to make a more orderly life for himself and his wife.

"It was time for babies and seeing my wife more than six months a year," said Graham, the former drummer for hardtouring acts like David Gogo and Michael Kaeshammer. "I've had to say no to everything just to stay at home."

Though his days on the road are over for the time being, Graham remains very much in demand as a musician and drum instructor.

On a typical day, he will teach his students for six hours, followed by a three-hour gig. He balances dozens of regular concert appearances with his instructional duties at Larsen Music and the Victoria Conservatory of Music, a schedule that is not for the faint of heart.

Graham said in the coming weeks he'll play 25 gigs with 14 separate groups, a schedule that includes 10 shows over an eightday period. By the end of this week, Graham will have played every spot on the calendar except for Monday, at venues ranging from Pagliacci's restaurant to Hermann's Jazz Club.

"As I weaned out the road work, I started working more and more locally. I thoroughly enjoyed the travel, and there might be another phase of it in my life, but for now it's local gigs."

Not every gig is a walk in the park for Graham. He still struggles with the loss of his good friend and former mentor, drummer Josh Dixon, whose sudden death on Jan. 28 left a huge void in Graham's personal and professional life. "That was so rugged," Graham said, his voice trembling slightly. "Even now, it just breaks my heart."

Graham shared with Dixon a musical versatility that is considered rare around these parts; much like Dixon before him, there isn't a style of music that Graham can't drum his way around. "I can play in a blues group, I can play in a loud Top 40 group, I can play country music, blues, boogie woogie, jazz, funk. When I look back at it I think, 'Wow, look at my skillset. How did that happen?' "

The native New Zealander moved from Vancouver to the Nanoose Bay/Parksville area for elementary school, and remained in the area until his graduation from Ballenas Secondary.

Though he had been playing the drums for only four years, Graham was drafted at 17 ("The day after I wrote my high school English exam," he added) into popular Nanaimo band the Persuaders. He spent two years with the group as it travelled the world, opening for blues Hall of Famers such as Albert Collins, Buddy Guy and the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

"Playing in Chicago and London and Stockholm when you're still 18, that's good," he said with a laugh. "As far as building a foundation on the blues, that was really big for me. I look back on it now, and think, 'That was killing.' The drag was that it got me hooked on playing music. Now, I have no other skills."

Following the demise of the group, Graham continued to perform with its talented leader, Nanaimo bluesman David Gogo, before collaborating with another local phenom, boogie-woogie whiz Michael Kaeshammer.

Graham's seven-year stint with Kaeshammer remains one of his fondest memories as a musician. Despite being relatively young at the time, both Kaeshammer and Graham were on the same page when it came to most things, a kinship that carried over to the music they were creating, Graham said.

"It was great. At the time, we were just two young dudes working on some songs. As far as our musical repertoire goes, we worked so seamlessly together."

Graham has no shortage of favourite musical highlights, including the time established jazz stars John Pizzarelli and Wynton Marsalis sat in with him at Hermann's, to his days during the early '90s as the drummer for Dr. Tongue, an over the top Nanaimo funk band.

New memories are being made almost by the minute. To the surprise of no one - especially those who have seen him perform - Graham still loves what he does for a living.

"I've always known what I wanted to do at each point in my life, and I've been lucky enough to able to do it," he said. "Every time I sit down behind my drums, I'm so happy to see them. I'm filled with glee and excitement."

mdevlin@timescolonist.com