ABC7 Chicago Interviews Third Coast Percussion
Published on March 12, 2021
by Hosea Sanders | Share this post! 
“they make daring and wondrous music like few artists can”
ABC7 journalist Hosea Sanders interviewed TCP members David Skidmore and Robert Dillon in advance of the GRAMMY® Awards. Read the highlights below, and click here to watch the interview.
CHICAGO (WLS) — The Grammy Awards are presented this weekend and we could see a local winner! Chicago’s own Third Coast Percussion, joined by composer Blood Orange, are among nominees. Some of the group talks about how they make daring and wondrous music like few artists can!
This mind-bending group has been together for 16 years, has three Grammy nominations and even won in 2017. “The thrill does not ever end,” said Robert Dillion with Third Coast Percussion. “Obviously this year we wish we could be in LA with everyone else.”
The ongoing pandemic means they will have to celebrate here in Chicago this year. “We’re getting together in our rehearsal studio, safely distanced from one another,” said David Skidmore, also with Third Coast Percussion.
The nominated album Fields was created in collaboration with composer Devonté Hynes, better known as Blood Orange.
The concept for their music is a bed of sound that creates a field to play in.
“We started when we were all studying at Northwestern University, that’s our Chicago tie originally,” Skidmore said. “We studied this music in school and loved it and thought this should be in front of audiences outside the University, so it’s fun for us to be at the vanguard of this new type of classical music.”
Third Coast Percussion is using its north side studio to stream performances until the group can get back on the road. “The priority for us, as best we can, is to continue to create something positive in a time when so much is difficult and challenging,” Skidmore added.
Part of what makes their sound unique is the instruments they use. “Sometimes we’re building our own instruments. We’re finding objects like bowls or glasses around our house that make cool and interesting sounds,” Dillion said. “Every single object in the entire world can be a percussion instrument if it makes a sound that you like, all you have to do is thump it,” Skidmore added.