In June 2023, Chastity Ashley messaged me to ask if I was free on the 24th. When we got on the phone, she asked if I wanted to play drums with her for Kygo in the Hamptons.
A fairly significant detail to leave out of the first message.
Chastity, also known as Neon Pony, is a drummer and artist I had admired for years. She’s a badass, and I love how that confidence extends to bringing other musicians into the picture. This time, I got to be one of them.
Our first show at Palm Tree Music Festival was in Westhampton. We played as a drum team alongside a string quartet, bringing live percussion and strings into Kygo’s music. It felt epic to be part of that sound.
In my solo performances, I have a lot of freedom to decide where the rhythm goes. Playing with a drum team asks for another kind of attention. Your part belongs to a larger arrangement. You listen, stay precise, and find the pleasure in hitting together. Sometimes the most satisfying thing you can do as a musician is land one beat with everyone else.
The following spring, Chastity reached out again. Kygo wanted the drummers back.
On June 22, 2024, we returned for a second year, this time on Shinnecock Nation territory in Southampton. Most of the drummers that year were women. The string quartet returned too, and there were both familiar faces and new musicians to meet.
I had been there before with RitmoFit XP, leading a workout at a wellness expo with members of the Shinnecock community. It was good to return in another capacity, still with rhythm at the center of it.
Then it rained.
The audience apparently had no intention of letting the weather make their plans. People kept dancing, and we kept playing.
That is the image that stays with me: the rain, the crowd, the drums and strings, everyone still in it. A performance takes preparation and precision, but part of its life comes from whatever happens once you’re there. You rehearse the music. The weather does not attend rehearsal.
Across those two summers, I shared the stage with musicians I admired and made new friends. I also got to experience what happens when someone whose work has inspired you invites you into theirs.
That part matters to me. An invitation can do more than put someone on a stage. It introduces them to people, gives them a new experience, and sometimes changes what they imagine doing next. It makes me want to keep doing the same when I bring artists together.
Thank you, Chastity, for thinking of me and bringing me into the drum team both years. I’m glad that “Are you free on the 24th?” turned into all of this.
Explore Chastity Ashley’s music as Neon Pony.