At just 9 years old, Gilbert resident Recker Eans has taken his love and talent for drumming to a level way beyond his years.
He belongs to a band, The Twits, that he helped create and has performed with heavy metal groups, including Pennywise and Authority Zero.
After being discovered through his Instagram account, Recker was asked to become the lead drummer for the band Silence the Voice, whose other members are all in their twenties.
“I was born to play the drums,” said Recker.
His parents, Justin and Laura Eans, said they knew he was destined to be a drummer from very early on.
“He was always tapping a rhythm,” said Laura. “We took him to a concert when he was little and he was using straws like drumsticks while listening to the music.”
On his 5th birthday, Recker asked her for a drum set and shortly after began taking lessons.
His parents stumbled across the School of Rock in Gilbert, Justin recalled.
“I was just driving around one day, saw the school and decided to go in,” he said.
Justin said he was told his son was too young.
“I asked if Recker could at least audition and after they heard him play, saw that he had a good attention span and was capable of learning, they decided to let him in,” said Justin. “He was the youngest student they ever had at the time.”
Since enrolling at The School of Rock, Recker has also learned how to play bass and acoustic guitar and receives vocal lessons.
Through the School of Rock, he met Camden Edie, who plays bass guitar and in 2018 decided to form a band.
“We met each other and just clicked,” said Recker.
The two began brainstorming a name for their band and said they decided on “The Twits” slightly based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl and also after learning the meaning of the word.
“Once we looked up and saw that the definition of a twit is a crazy kid, we felt like that was the perfect way to describe us,” said Recker.
The Twits added 2-year-old Aiden Ohm, who plays bass guitar and performs backup vocals.
They rehearse together two days a week and perform at different festivals and events throughout the state on weekends.
Recker also makes time for a rehearsal with Silence the Voice once a week and attends the School of Rock three to four days a week.
Recker is a fourth-grader at Coronado Elementary School and has been part of their Chinese Immersion Program since kindergarten. Like any student, he has homework and projects to complete and tests to study for.
“He misses a lot of school for performances or media opportunities,” said his mother. “Thankfully, his teachers have been understanding and he’s still able to keep up academically.”
Although Recker can be a typical 9-year-old who enjoys jumping on the trampoline, going to the park, playing with his bulldog Skully and climbing trees, he says he also feels different from most of his peers.
“I don’t really dress like the other kids at my schools,” he said. “Sometimes on a Friday someone in my class might ask what I’m doing this weekend and I’ll tell them I’m performing at a festival or something and they don’t really even know what that means.”
His parents say he’s more mature for his age.
“We’ve never really treated him like a baby, we just talk to him like a human-being,” said his father. “Plus, the dedication and regimen he has to have in order to fit everything into his schedule really takes maturity on his part.”
Despite the fact that Recker can juggle so much, his mother said she still does her best to protect him and make sure he gets to be a kid.
“We constantly ask him if he wants to do this,” said Laura. “If he stops having a smile on his face when he’s playing then we’ll know it’s too much.”
Recker’s love for drumming has not seemed to dwindle in the four years that he’s been playing, and his talent continues to attract both local and national attention.
He has been endorsed by several sponsors and had the opportunity to perform on stage in front of 20,000 people.
He’s also been featured in a Gap Kids Worldwide Ad Campaign that appeared in Times Square and participated in a documentary series titled “The Amazing Human Body,” which explored how Recker’s ability to play the drums at such a young age is impacting the structure of his brain.
To Recker, it’s not about the fame or even the money he makes from performing at various gigs but the connection with the crowd that fuels his passion for drums.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m in front of 300 people or 20,000,” he said. “They give me energy by rocking out and I give them energy back. I always want to be performing.”