We truly are an international community and Canada has produced some of the greatest authors we’ve ever seen. Last October I sat down to talk to an author who took care of some of the great classics in rock music and that to this day I love playing, a guy with a legendary drums setup but also a friend who has a story to tell for the first time to the whole community.
So, you've been an active author since when? Seems like forever. 
First chart posted in March '15.
Added Vox and Keys to clumsy_plumsy's Phantom Planet
First solo chart inApril.
Fastball – The Way, The Wallflowers – One Headlight, and Sixpence… – Kiss Me.
Still some of my top dowloads.
Because btw we know you from a couple of names around here, right? Not just Mr. Cellophane
I'm Dash Riprock on the forums. I really should change it some day.
If the players in our community wanted to discover you as an author or know you better, which one song would you recommend they try?
Tough one… I would probably choose one of the Yes multis. Top three group w/ Rush and Genesis, and probably most accurately charted. So, say Yes – Long Distance Runaround / The Fish.
We have worked together on some stuff, right?
Once or twice.
Man I love your No One Is To Blame. That's a great take on a song where you need to handle double tracked drums
Done very tastefully, you neve break immersion
Baby One More Time when you still did the C3 mentoring thing. And HJ. My drums were simpler. I believe you improved them. But it Has been a while.
I've never had a problem with charting or playing simpler songs. All part of being a musician. Sometimes, it's not about you.
I still have your original chart and I can testify it was already awesome
You are too kind.
I always tried my best to represent the music in the charts. Some efforts were just better than others.
As for everyone I think
One thing that disappointed me was a lack of feedback, but if it was because I did a good job in the first place, well… I can accept that.
Definitely, hard to touch something good 
You got to be a part of the original C3 run, which was really something. Did you have to do long nights too or did you manage to avoid the crazy stressful rush of the Friday deadlines? 
I don't remember too many overnights, but I did go through more than a few cycles of build, release, correct, build, release, correct, … I hate obvious mistakes as much as I hate an empty trigger input on a drum module. 
That was intense uh? Seriously, I personally delivered projects to my clients with less stress and more confidence than some releases we did. We really were a crazy bunch
Scheduled releases were always going to be a challenge, particularly in light of our geographical realities.
Absolutely
So, you're a great guy and author, but there is another reason on top of that why I wanted to have a spotlight on you. I think it's important for the community to understand that behind a custom song there are people with complicated lives, just so they can maybe appreciate them even more. And sometimes life makes you stop and take a deep breath. Three years ago you messaged me to tell me something you haven't told publicly here and I think it's time you open up about it.
Three years ago, October 9th, I suffered a heart attack. It was serious enough that it involved a full arrest, so I guess you could say I lucky to be here.
My perspective of the actual attack is very limited.
I was sitting at home and just felt unwell. Nothing in particular signaled a heart attack, so I called my wife to ask her to come home. She suggested I call 911, which I did.
Shortly after, the ambulance arrived and started treatment. The next thing I knew, I was in the ICU.
How long were you out, do you know?
I was told I'd been in an induced coma, an been in what amounts to an ice bath for the last few days.
I HATE being cold. Good thing I knew nothing about it.
Three days in ICU, followed by three more in CCU, and an additional stent placed in my heart, and I was discharged.
Now I have a daily regimen of prescriptions to follow, but for the most part, the event is in my past and my life is back to the way it was, except I eat more fish.
Which is good: kids eat less meat and more fish!
I'm a beef man. do do do do, do do do do
You said your life is back the way it was: is it true for your mind too? Are you over that incident for good or is it something that somehow still weighs on you?
I'll admit it still weighs on me occasionally. I think it's tough to be clinically dead and not have it affect you in some way, but it continues to diminish with time.
That is good
So, let's switch gears…
You are, and there is no way to overstate this, one of the coolest people in the community.
Like, just take out a picture of your drum kit.
My Drums: A Tribute to G.A.S.
I started with this.
An evolution. 
My God look at that
You do understand people would murder for that set, right?
You'll notice a lack of geo info in those pics…
And the story behind the hockey mask probably deserves its own interview.
Halloween
Listen, give me a rundown of how all that works. MIDI brains? How are you mapping everything?
It's just using MIDI thru. The (4) brains are set to pass info rather than play it.
Explain the pedals, do you also control like a sewing machine or a small city car with those?
Left to right: TD-6V hihat, TD-30 hihat (center mount), TD-20X hihat, TD-30 double kick, TD20X kick. The switches are for kit up/down, hihat clutch, and snare throwoff.
Amazing. I can confidently say that's the most impressive kit to have ever been connected to play Rock Band
Have I mentioned how much I love my wife?
Glad you mentioned that
So let's say people are saying "Ok, cool drums bro, but is he a real rebel? Does he own, like, a bike?"
So, are you a REAL rebel or just a drummer?
This one was a bucket list thingy. A buddy of mine has ridden for years and I always wanted to try. Seeing an image of the Indian that I eventually bought was the impetus to get off the pot and learn to ride. Rebel? Probably not with a fullface helmet, but I'm having fun, regardless.
Boy Scout. Not a rebel.
Bucket list things are good
So, we talked about how cool you are and that drum kit + the bike puts you way ahead of all of us nerds. We let our community know why you're special, for many reasons. I'd like to give you a moment, if you want, to tell us why, if it is, you think the community is special
That's a tough one. To sum it up is few words is challenging. But…
There is a sanity here that is not at all easy to find. Congrats go to the mods for maintaining it, but it's you that cultivated it, in the forums.
I think our community does the heavy work Filled with great people really.
Filled with great people really.
I came for the customs. I stay for the community.
Definitely. The C3 legacy run was amazing like that, people were really emotional when it ended
I'm not a musician, I've never been on stage, I think authors can taste some of that through their work and this community
Me neither. Tried a few times, but could never manage the commitment.
But I programmed MIDI with Cakewalk on my Apple ][+.
Nice! And I think like me you made friends here, which is pretty great
I'm a little too reserved to be popular, but I have no known enemies. That's a good thing.
Indeed
So, quick fire round…
Favourite song or artist to play
Yes – Alan White on drums. Anything Genesis to sing.
Favourite non-C3 legacy author
Hhhmmm. I so wanted to put down that Genesis author, but under those conditions I'd prolly go for nsw.
Hard songs or simple songs?
I'm not good enough for the really hard stuff on anything but vox. Simple instruments, insane vox.
But prfer the ballads.
MOstly…
Love Complexity of Light, for ex.
No more customs or no more official releases on your console?
official. I have not bought much since 4.
Lately, I find myself in the 'Is that the band, or the song?' club.
Finally, are you in the crowded club of people who need to thank their wives really hard?
I believe I'm the Grand Poobah of that fine organization. 
Awesome
Listen, thank you so much for this. I loved it and I think it's good for us to present the human side of what players only know from an avatar and their work.
Thank you my friend for allowing me to have this wonderful chat with you, you are an inspiration and a gift to this community.
wow! welcome back to this crazy life Dash/Cello (remember you as Dash first, so that sticks). unbelievable story and really gives you humility when experiencing such an intense moment (in context to an entire life). glad to hear it had a happy ending and you get to still play drums (not sure what i’d do if i couldn’t; when phil collins suffered his back issues and literally taped the sticks to his hands since he couldn’t grip them any longer, i knew there will always be hope when there is true love).
love the bike! have one myself and just can’t imagine life without it anymore. an indescribable freedom and definitely makes sense that needed feeling given your circumstance. thanks for sharing the story, dash, and for the interview farrotone. i’ve not been part of this community that long, but i still am thankful every time i turn on my 360 with my customs stick plugged in. =-)
Great story and exchange from two of my favorite authors. It’s awesome to understand a little more about the people behind the work that has injected so much joy into our lives. So grateful for your efforts and your recovery, Dash. Still not sold on the fish, though.