Youth in Focus: Zac Hughes
Last weekend saw the launch of Wirral’s new Youth Spaces offer celebrating with a launch party in Birkenhead Park. The event included a range of activities and performances. Showcasing his amazing talent on the main stage was 13 year old Zac Hughes who lit up the whole place with his incredible drumming talent.
We sat down with Zac to chat about how he got started drumming, what inspired him and the future.
ZILLO: How did you get involved in drumming?
Zac: I am 13 years old and have been playing the drums since I was 3 so that’s 10 years now and I’ve learnt from copying YouTube videos although I still have drum lessons but my drum skills come from YouTube.
ZILLO: So are there tutorials and stuff on YouTube then?
Zach: Yeah, I’ve watched so many videos and then I’ve copied them and all and that’s what inspired me to do the drums.
ZILLO: so can you remember back when you were a kid why you chose the drums?
Zac: I was diagnosed with deafness when I was 4 and people never knew I was deaf when I was a baby till then, so for 4 years they never knew I was deaf. That’s why I never heard a toilet flush or anyone talking and then I was diagnosed with loss of hearing. The first time I heard a noise was a bee in the garden.
ZILLO: Can you remember what it sounded like?
Zac: No because I was 4 years old and I ran up to my Dad and was like, “ Dad, dad I heard a noise what’s going on?” And that’s when my dad realised that’s the first thing I’ve ever heard. And the first time I heard a toilet flush was at 4 years old.
ZILLO: You’ve mentioned a toilet flush quite a bit so is this a noise that was particularly memorable?
Zac: yeah and I love music as well, I always used to dance to it.
ZILLO: So the drums then, have they been able to be something you could hear or feel?
Zac: Yeah, I felt the vibrations and I just liked the beat
ZILLO: What was your first drum kit like?
Zac: My first drum kit was a plastic one that was from Argos or something and then my second one was like, £120 and it was a second hand one and my other drum kit was a blue one that was £200.
ZILLO: I’m really interested into what you were saying about YouTube
Zac: I want to promote myself because I see YouTube drummers and they’ve got 100k subscribers and stuff like that and want a camera person to film me so I can actually promote and put it on YouTube.
ZILLO: right, so you mentioned YouTube before and I’m really interested about how you learnt form it for other young people who might read your article or watch your video. So like, what advice do you have for them?
Zac: keep going and just never give up, so for me when I’m playing the drums and I have my first customer today where I’m giving lessons and this man came up to me today and was saying, “I’m sure I’ve seen you on YouTube and Instagram.”
ZILLO: Wow, so a little bit of a fame thing going on today. So you’re gonna start teaching then?
Zac: Yeah
ZILLO: So what your plan for the future then? What’s your ambition? I know you said you want to put yourself out there so do you want to join band?
Zac: I’m not in a band, no not yet I’m just 13