The sound of wood on metal reverberates through the night air over UCF in such steady intervals, one would think they could only come from a metronome.
The wooden sticks fly around the drum set in a blur on the top of Garage I in a flurry of jazz, pop, blues, or any other kind of music, depending on what night you catch Carl Hamilton preparing for his next gig.
“I’ve heard him before, he’s really good. I’d really like to hang around and just listen to him play one night,” Zach Gelinas, a mathematics major, said.
Hamilton is the man who has been heard by many from on top of the garage practicing for shows as a freelance drummer. He got a degree in management information systems from UCF in 2006, but continues to publicly pursue his musical passions as often as possible.
“The reason I like to practice on the parking garage at UCF is because if I’m gonna play the drums I can play as loud as I want and I’m not gonna really interrupt anyone versus if I play at home,” Hamilton said.
He credits much of his successes in music to the amount of time he has spent playing and the many relationships he built at UCF with other musicians by starting bands, playing gigs and remaining close with professors.
However, Hamilton said his connection with a fellow UCF student was the one that had set him up with one of his most impressive performances.
Hamilton had the opportunity to play the drums at President Obama’s first inauguration because of a former UCF trombonist named Abel Avalos. Hamilton said he helped Avalos get his first gig when he was a student at UCF, so Avalos returned the favor: when he was given the job to form a band for Obama’s inauguration, he called Hamilton straight away.
“It was probably something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton spends his days working as a software developer at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), off of Science Drive near UCF, and his nights at home with his wife of almost three years and his 8-year-old daughter Faith.
A sense of obligation to his family has kept Hamilton from wanting to pursue playing music full-time.
“I wanna continue to do what I love, which is music, but I need a job that’s going to give me time to spend with my family and also give me the financial means to provide for my family,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton has traveled the country playing for cruise ships, famous jazz musicians such as Sam Rivers, in churches, opening for the band Earth, Wind and Fire and playing in front of the president. All of the journeys first started when he became the first freshman in the history of his high school to play the snare in the marching band.
Despite the many places music has taken Hamilton, it always returns him to Garage I, only to prepare him to let the music take him somewhere else.
Story by Hunter Morgan
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