JAKE Barnabas, a professional drummer for the local band ‘The Luka State’, has decided to give back to the community by offering a month of free drumming tutor sessions to open people’s eyes to the music world.

The 28-year-old drumming sensation from Winsford came up with the idea after witnessing the negative impact that the pandemic has had on the industry over the past couple of years.

Jake said: “The way most musicians and bands survive and make money is on the road and selling merch and not being able to do that basically took away our livelihood and that is why so many musicians had to go and do other things and get other jobs in lockdown.”

His band launched their debut album last February, and Jake explained how the support of the community meant that they were fortunate enough for the album to do well considering the circumstances.

He added: “Our band was lucky enough that we had a record label and obligations to survive so that when the country started to open up again, we rented a studio and began working on writing songs.

“We were also lucky enough to release our debut album and spend two months touring last year which many musicians coming out of lockdown didn’t get to do.”

The band was due to go on European tour dates this month but they got postponed due to the rising coronavirus cases in the UK, which is part of the reason Jake decided to do the free tutoring sessions.

“There isn’t a lot of positivity in the music industry at the moment and as I was supposed to be doing band related things this month anyway, I thought why not start this up as people around here don’t have a lot to do and it’s quite a musical town so I thought it would fit the area,” Jake added.

He has been praised for the gesture by many in the local and music community including applause from BBC presenter Owain Evans.

He begins the free tutoring session this weekend and they will be taking place at New Images Youth Centre in Winsford.

There are no criteria or limitations on who can attend but spaces are filling up fast and Jake even had to extend the days to ensure he gave everyone interested a chance.

This is the first time Jake has done a project like this but he explained how he may do it again in the future if it goes well.

If you want to find out more information about the free tutoring sessions then contact Jake Barnabas on 07540810925.