On first sight, Gaelic Storm's drummer and percussionist Ryan Lacey strikes you as a human-sized hobbit wearing Jason London's clothes from the movie Dazed and Confused. That is to say he is approachable, he's laid back. Ryan defines the term "likeable." However, the more you talk to the LA Music Academy alumnus, you get the sense that along with his genial, polite-to-a-fault nature lies a restless energy that (when harnessed behind a drum set) could drive a band anywhere it might want to go - and back again - a few times.

You can easily imagine this guy sitting in the classroom and tapping his desk until it drove half of his fellow students to distraction while providing a rhythm the other half would groove to the rest of the day. Having replaced Gaelic Storm's longtime drummer Shep Lonsdale in January of this year, Ryan has been touring almost non-stop with the band and living his dream just six months after leaving the LA Music Academy. We spoke to him recently during a rare break in traveling and rehearsing.

We take traditional Irish tunes and Celtic music and add a world beat to it. We kind of give it a little kick in the ass. The guys have been doing it for about ten years. The big kick in the ass started, I think, with their old drummer (Shep Lonsdale). He added a whole other element to Irish music. He was great. He really added something special to it. He retired at the end of last year, so I just tried to steal everything he did (laughs).

It's just constant touring, you know. A lot of rehearsals. Getting tighter. We have a new fiddle player, Elerie Klein, who just joined the group, and she is amazing.

It's great. It takes some getting used to, of course, but once you do it, you just kinda jump into it. You get to play every night. Like this summer we played thirty-eight gigs in two months. And we all go out together after the shows. That's part of it. We're all friends.

Not being able to keep a steady relationship (laughs). No, it's hard work. There's not too much about it that sucks. Not being able to see your friends.

Well, Elerie is the newest now. So, I've got a tiny bit (of seniority).

Through the LA Music Academy, actually. I was a graduate, I had done a year long program in drum set and then moved to percussion for six months and had been out of school for about six months teaching and doing session work around town when I got a call from the school. I had lived in Ireland for about three years and played there, and they knew that. Anyway, they called me and said I should try for this because it would be perfect for me. I literally had to bug (the group) and bug them and bug them because when I called them on the phone (I was told later), they thought I sounded like I was twelve years old, so they didn't think I could do it. But finally I got an audition and worked for two hours a day for two weeks to prepare for it.

Honestly, it was one of the best moments of my life.

We're like brothers (and a sister now). But we do everything together. We see each other like every day. We spend a lot of time together. Even on our days off. Not all the time, of course, but a lot.

(Laughing) Well, it was a pretty big promo package for them.

People always ask about Titanic and to be honest, it's probably the biggest pet peeve of the band. I mean, they had a great experience on it. It's done wonders for them. (Steve) Twigger (the band's guitarist) says, "People come to the show to see the band from Titanic and they leave knowing they've seen Gaelic Storm".

I had been living in Ireland and was playing music like six nights a week with twelve different bands, and the one band that I wanted to succeed broke up. So I came back here, and I wanted to get to a better level, a higher level of drumming. I went on the internet and looked for "music school - Los Angeles" and there it was.

It was heavy, man. Constant pressure to perform better and live up to the standards of the teachers and what they want. I came here not being able to play a lick of jazz...and still have work to do there. They really accentuate what you do well. And what you don't do well they really push you. And it's heavy and it's good, and it's a good experience for anyone who is really serious about going to a music school.

Mike Shapiro kinda changed things musically for me. I don't agree with him on a lot of stuff, but he would make you think about music in different ways. And he'd try to get you to think about what's important in music and why you actually like it. And so I think I strengthened what I really liked.

Yeah. Exactly. And it forces you to think about what you're listening to. I actually love hip hop music. And he's not a fan of hip hop music. So we always went back and forth over that. But that's how I taught myself on the drums.

The funny thing was I had no expectations, you know? So everything was a surprise. I'm surprised how much I really cared about being here.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a "monster player." I have a lot of intensity on stage.

I guess, Gaelic Storm - because ours don't explode. I don't know...we just seem to go through them.

(Laughs) I don't know, man. He's an amazing person. I don't know if he thinks he's God, but at least he's using his powers for good. You know, he's like a Jedi. You gotta give him props for that.

Yes. No doubt about that. I'm finding that more and more. The options are endless.