Independent Arts News Reporting 
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling photographed by @adameseana posted by @thingthething on Instagram
Emerging Artist to Watch: Lucas Ebeling Moves Between Jazz and Rock
By: Devon Beacham & Edited by Nick Oz
Arts News Now contributor Devon Beacham—New Hope native, Emerson College film graduate, and former WECB FM arts & culture host—returns with a new “Emerging Artist to Watch” profile and interview with Lucas Ebeling, a New York City-based drummer and composer raised in Bucks County. Through Ebeling’s own words, the piece follows him across his jazz work and his role behind the kit for Brooklyn rock band The Thing, tracing the experiences and instincts that continue to shape his playing.
“The drummers role is to be felt, rather than heard” – Hal Blaine
An old drummers idea, the philosophy holds, the real job is not always to announce himself, but to change the temperature of the room.
The first time you see Lucas Ebeling perform, that idea comes to mind. What registers first is not genre or technique, but the way his playing fills the space. Not disappearing behind the kit, not overplaying, never passive. Listening, reacting, and adjusting to the music as it moves.
Raised in Bucks County, now based in New York City, Ebeling has built a career shifting between two thriving worlds between his jazz lane as a performer and composer and the high volume momentum of New York rock band, The Thing. On paper, these genres seem to be polar opposites, but his skills are effortlessly transferred. Jazz asking for a lighter, more elastic touch, as opposed to the heavier attack of The Thing. But Ebeling carries a recognizable command into both.
His sound is unmistakable, his pocket is deep. All which draws from his commitment to feeling fully present in the music.
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling. Photo Credit: @maretrail
A LOUDER EDUCATION
Before drumming became the center of Ebeling’s world, he attempted to master guitar and bass. Neither of which had stuck in the same way, and it was a short lived endeavor
“This really became apparent early on,” he says. “I had just picked up the drums after giving up pursuing guitar and bass, and 6 months later, I went to a sleep away camp called Long Lake Camp for the Arts.”
At camp, the drums became more than just a new instrument to learn.
“I found drumming came naturally to me,” he says. “It was camp where I had my first band,” which he formed with his older brother Max as singer and guitarist. “We got to play in front of the entire camp, record an EP and make a music video. I was pretty much hooked after that on the whole music thing, it was a euphoric feeling I felt that never left me and I continue to feel playing music.”
Years later, that thread looped back when Ebeling found himself on stage in New York City with Eli Sokolow, the same bass player from that first band when he was 11.
The shows he attended as a kid gave him another kind of musical education … a much louder one.
Pictured Above: The Macks studio in Portland. Photo Credit: Josef Windheim.
“My parents were cool enough to let my brothers and I go to hardcore metal concerts in Philly where we would crowd surf, stage dive, and go into the mosh pits,” he says. “We were like 10-15 years old, and that kept the fire burning for me to experience that energy and excitement from live music.”
The way it registered physically was what stayed with him the most.
“My favorite thing was feeling the kick drum in my chest when it was loud and mic’d up.”
Those early scenes make Ebeling’s presence behind the kit feel less sudden, playing like someone who still remembers why the feeling mattered in the first place.
Growing up around New Hope, Pennsylvania gave Ebeling space to develop, but not an endless pool of collaborators. He describes the area as supportive, shaped by nature, community, and a musical family. With the area being as small as it is, by high school there were only “2-3 of us who took the music thing seriously.”
This limitation became the thing that pushed him outward. Once he was old enough to drive, jazz sessions in Doylestown and Philadelphia revealed new opportunities for Lucas to showcase his talent.
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling playing his first NYC gig with @quintinzoto from @lucas_ebeling on instagram
“It was the jazz community that really took my playing to the next level and got me to New York City,” he says.
For Ebeling, the turning point came when he first sat in at Larry Tamanini’s jazz jam in Doylestown at 15, playing with Ween keyboardist Glenn McClelland and Philly bass legend Mike Boone.
“That one night changed me forever musically,” he says. “I felt this feeling and power from that music I hadn’t felt playing any other style. So I knew I had to keep pursuing that.”
He did exactly that. About “50 jam sessions later,” and a year after that first night (in Doylestown at 15) , Ebeling started gigging with those same musicians.
By 16, those sessions had turned into professional gigs in Philadelphia. He later received a scholarship to NYU, where he studied with figures including Lenny White, Billy Drummond, John Scofield, and Alan Broadbent.
MAKING ‘THE INTERIM’
Playing Above: Lucas Ebeling-The Interim (Live from Paris) – YOUTUBE @LucasEbeling
That pursuit eventually led to The Interim, Ebeling’s debut jazz album and first project as a bandleader.
“This album is important to me because it has my first compositions that I really put myself and life into,” he says.
“It contains an entire phase of my life in it, and that story is told through the music.”
Ebeling had moved to New York to build a life in music, anticipating momentum that had not arrived yet.
“The inspiration came from a place of frustration,” he says. “I was in NYC to pursue this career in music and nothing was happening so I needed to make something happen myself.”
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling. Photo Credit: Phoenix Logan
Before recording his first project as a bandleader, Ebeling had to trust the compositions, the players, and the room.
“It was a huge relief,” he says, “as we only had one rehearsal before the record date. I’m grateful for Xavier Belin (piano), Cole Palensky(tenor saxophone) and Warren Louie (bass) for embracing the music and playing it with full honesty and intensity.”
“I wanted to make jazz music, music that is improvised over a form but that doesn’t have any elements of stiffness or sound sterile,” he says. “I feel a lot of records these days are too polished or lack risk-taking. We really went for it on these songs.”
For him, success comes down to whether that risk survives the recording.
“You just know when the take was the one,” he says. “It’s undeniable, and everyone knows it.”
THE THING!
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling with ‘The Thing’ bandmates (Zane Acord, Michael Carter, Jack Bradley). Photo Credit: by Nicole Miller.
The New York rock band The Thing (Zane Acord on bass/vocals, Michael Carter and Jack Bradley on guitar/back vocals, and Lucas Ebeling on drums) have built a world around themselves.
Across three albums, hundreds of shows, U.S. and European tours, and a visual identity closely tied to their sound, the group carries an authentic analog looseness that feels lived-in, not styled.
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling with ‘The Thing’ bandmates (Zane Acord, Michael Carter, Jack Bradley) in Europe photographed by @jobin.clark on instagram
It comes through in the in-house recordings, artwork, stage presence, photography, videos, and merch. Full of inspiration from westerns, retro rock, concert footage, and classic films, their music videos are genuinely fun.
Playing Above: The Thing – You’re The One (Official Video) – YOUTUBE @thingthething
For Ebeling, The Thing gives his early metal instincts somewhere to go. “Playing with The Thing requires a ton of energy and hard hitting,” he says. “I do think I still carry that with me from those days.”
“The music allows for an extremely high level of energy to be put forth,” he says, “so in order to make the music feel alive you kinda need to go insane and put it all out there. The show is 1 hour of loud, fast, concentrated energy.”
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling playing with ‘The Thing.’ Photo Credit: Noah Hammett.
That kind of playing takes a toll. Ebeling says he generally breaks at least one drumstick per night. He jokes that he “really need[s] a drumstick endorsement” because there are “too many broken sticks to count.” He used to give them to his parents as kindling over the holidays.
The broken sticks are the literal evidence, but for a touring musician, the more demanding part is quieter… returning to the set night after night with enough attention to keep it from turning mechanical.
“Lately I try to play some new things every night to keep pushing myself and staying creative,” he says. “Otherwise the autopilot can start to set in and the energy of the show sinks.”
The band has scale and a growing fanbase, and for Ebeling it’s not just about hitting harder every night. But to keep the set responsive, to bring the force the music asks for.
DIFFERENT STICKS, SAME CORE.
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling photographed by @adameseana posted by @thingthething on Instagram
Ebeling’s jazz work and his role in The Thing may resonate at different volumes, but they do not feel like separate versions of him. More like two sides of the same musical instinct.
“In the beginning it was a bit awkward for me as I felt I had to hide my rock side from the jazz ‘purists,’” he says, “but in the end I’ve always been both since I started playing.”
The way he talks about it now is less about switching identities and more about adjusting his touch. Different room, different sticks, different volume, same person behind the kit.
“I’ve discovered it’s more about the instruments you’re using, the drumsticks, dynamics and touch, and less of a completely different thing,” he says. “I try to play rock with a jazz attitude and jazz sometimes with a rock attitude, both music needs a little bit of both to keep things exciting.”
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling at Brooklyn Steel. Photo Credit: Matt Licari.
The Thing gives him visceral release. Jazz offers something closer to “mental or emotional liberation.”
The stage has a way of testing you.
“The biggest thing is that being on stage shows you what is true or real” he says.
“You can play so many things in practice, but when it comes to the bandstand, not all of those things really work or make sense.”
It’s not just where music is presented. It is where ideas either endure or fall apart
“You kinda have to be a bit naive and silly to choose this path,” he says, “a lot of optimism and a mindset of ‘it will and has to work out.’”
Still, there is a reason he keeps coming back. Ebeling talks about art as a way into something more open, curious, and alive than routine allows.
“I want the world to know that there is more to life than our jobs and daily routines,” he says, “and that everyone should take some time to explore themselves. Art is a perfect avenue for this, whatever the medium.”
Pictured Above: Lucas Ebeling. Photo Credit: Phoenix Logan
A CYMBAL STRIKES THE CLARINET
Ebeling’s newest jazz project, A Cymbal Strikes the Clarinet, resists the usual streaming-era rollout: a live-recorded album with a limited run of 100 vinyl and CD pressings. With only one track available digitally, the full album exists primarily as a hard copy, issued through Sonic Press.
That release choice changes the pace of listening. In an era where access can make music feel almost frictionless, the album asks the listener to slow down and meet the record on its own terms, as sound meant to be kept, not skimmed.
This album came after a rare pause. Emerging from a run of playing more than 100 worldwide tour dates yearly over the past three years, Ebeling found himself facing his longest stretch of time off the road in the winter. That space turned into writing something new.
“Finding myself with a deep artistic longing, I wrote this music to help me process my experiences from living on the road,” he says.
Pictured Above: A cymbal striking a clarinet. Photo Credit: Phoenix Logan.
Recorded in a single take before a live audience in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the album features Hina Oikawa (alto and tenor saxophones), Nick Panoutsos (bass), Julius Chen on piano, and Ebeling, of course, on drums.
The only song from the album on streaming platforms is “Insistence,” paired with a music video from the recording filmed and edited by Phoenix Logan. Ebeling describes “Insistence” as a composition about “speaking and acting in love and truth, even at the risk of losing one’s comfort, security and standing in life.”
Anyone who gets the physical media also gets an exclusive link to the live video session for the album, adding another layer to the release beyond the record itself.
Playing Above: Lucas Ebeling, A Cymbal Strikes the Clarinet-Insistence (Official Music Video) shot and edited by Phoenix Logan.
KEEP UP WITH LUCAS!
Whether he is working through his own jazz compositions, pushing a set with The Thing, jamming with other musicians, or releasing a tangible album, Ebeling continues to find new places for the drums to take him.
Lucas Ebeling’s momentum is building in multiple directions, but none of it feels scattered.
For more of Ebeling’s releases, jazz sessions, concerts, lessons, and upcoming projects, explore the links below.
LUCASES CURRENT REC:
Joe Henderson’s Power to the People. “The title holds the feeling of the album, being liberated and in one’s power,” he says, calling it something he has been pursuing “personally and musically lately.” He also points to the record as one that “broke free of the standard jazz formula from the time.”
