Petr Cech’s love of the drums is well known - after all, he occasionally posts footage of himself covering classic songs on his YouTube channel.
In fact, our goalkeeper’s version of Foo Fighters’ 2011 hit, Walk, is closing in on a million views, all the more impressive given that seven years ago, Cech had never held a drumstick.
He took it up after playing Guitar Hero with former Chelsea team-mate, Carlo Cudicini, and he tells the full story below:
on when he gets time to play the drums…
I have to confess that in my bag, I always carry a pair of drumsticks because you never know where you find the time to do a little bit. Usually, when we go to an away game, I have a little practice pad and drumsticks with me. If you sit three hours in your hotel room somewhere before you have another activity, you can use it in plenty of different ways. I practice a little bit but the main fun is when you can practice and play along to your favourite music which I like to do.
on why he started playing...
I started playing when I was almost 30 years old. Actually, I bought a drum kit in March 2011. That was when I started Since then I have been playing drums. But I have to say it happened by accident because I enjoyed music and always listened to it but Carlo Cudicini plays piano. Once, we went out for dinner and we ended up back at his flat with Hilario. He had this Guitar Hero, Playstation setup with a little drum and two guitars. We ended up playing the game just for fun. This was the first time I started playing the drums, just like that. That’s when it got my attention and I really enjoyed it. Then I bought a digital drum kit just for fun and as the time went on, I decided that I wanted to do it properly.
on his YouTube videos going viral…
I was lucky but the original thought for putting videos out is to show people that if you enjoy something, no matter what you can do it. At the start, when I put the first video out, it was never perfect. It was never at the level. It was not about that, it was about if you love something and enjoy it, you can do it.
on why he is teaching himself Spanish…
We live in a world of so many different cultures and obviously Spanish is one even at Chelsea and Arsenal now, it was a big part of the dressing room. And if you see how big a part of the world speaks Spanish as well, I will learn French, German and English and I thought ‘you know what? I’ll give it a go’. Sometimes we spend hours and hours travelling and in hotels before games so I use the time in a slightly different way. What helps is you have players around you who can help you practice every day. I don’t see a big difference between the languages. Once I am on it, on the subject of learning the language, I just do it.
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