After Darren Poindexter graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2017, he spent some time playing with general business bands — ensembles for hire that perform live music at events. The Virginia native’s career took him out of Boston and out west to Los Angeles. Now, he’s due back east, this time as the touring drummer for Shaboozey and a gig on “Saturday Night Live.”
It’s the result of several degrees of alumni networking. Poindexter said the call to join the chart-topping country artist came after he played with Forrest Frank, one half of the pop duo Surfaces. But that Frank gig came from a college friend from those Berklee days, John Perry.
“It was a friend of mine from college … who called me for Forrest and kind of initiated it all,” Poindexter recalled.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” spent 19 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 — the longest reign of a song by a solo musician, with no features. It has held the top spot on the country charts for at least 24 weeks — the longest ever of any song by any artist.
“A lot of the drummers that I have studied and kind of based myself on and built myself up on have been in that same spot,” said Poindexter of the upcoming performance. “There’s no there’s no other way to put it other than it’s an honor to be here.”
However, Poindexter is no stranger to the physical space — he’s brought his talent to the studio a number of times, including gigs on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Still, he marvels at what he calls the look “behind the veil” of live television production; such a feat is accomplished by dozens of individuals working in concert on a shared project.
“SNL is one of the most well-oiled machines I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Everybody there is so passionate and intent on making sure that each show goes well. And it’s [a] really refreshing space to be in.”
Poindexter and Shaboozey’s SNL performance comes during the show’s celebrated 50th season.
