While pounding on his mom’s pots and pans, a voice called out from the living room, “Ryan you have a drum set now, you should start playing it.” Since that Christmas, it has been nothing but drums for Ryan Lepine.

Lepine is the touring drummer for the Canadian country band Rick Stavely and Western Front.

Born in Brandon, he grew up as an only child in a musical family. His dad Martin Lepine and his mom Helen Lepine both have their own bands. Mom sings and plays rhythm guitar and dad plays bass.

Lepine was only 12 years old when he played his first gig with his dad’s band. It was for a New Year’s dance and “I’ll never ever forget it because it was one of the happiest moments in my life,” he said. “That really got me thinking I can do something in the music biz.”

That early spark led to Lepine’s current career with Rick Stavely and Western Front. “Every day something new and exciting happens. We always laugh and joke and have a great time, and pick on our guitar players, that’s always fun.”

He became part of the band three years ago after moving to Prince George, B.C. Stavely asked him to be his full-time touring drummer, having met earlier while Lepine was playing with the country band, The Prairie Dogs.

“I said yes and never looked back since,” said 24-year-old Lepine. “I am having so much fun with the band, and Rick has opened up the doors for me to be a song writer and demo drummer.”

Stavely is a hard worker in the music industry, Lepine said. And he is a “huge influence on me. I owe him a lot.”

“I’m still learning the ropes,” he said. “And I know I always will be learning as a song writer and drummer and musician.

“The day you stop learning your craft is the day you stop being a musician.”

Ryan is an outgoing person, which works well in this industry, said Stavely. Being able to go out and talk to anyone is a “gift that is muchly appreciated by fans.”

“He is also someone who will take on any challenge,” he said. He has stepped up to the plate as a drummer and now as a songwriter.

Lepine and Stavely co-wrote a song on the new CD called Taking to the Crowd with Bill Renfrew out of Nashville.

Ryan is going places, said Evelyn George, who is a fan of Stavely and Western Front. “I know when he does a drum solo it just makes people stop and look.”

He is so easy to talk to and he is not stuck up and does not think he is too good for himself, she said. “He smiles when he is on stage and when he is off and it is a genuine smile.”

By the age of 17, Lepine was playing in two Brandon rock bands — one called FUGR, which stood for Fat Ugly Guys Rock, and Black Lite Buddah. He was also doing fill-in work with other bands, and dabbling in marching, jazz, blues, and concert bands when he met Tim and Sheila Gibbs from The Prairie Dogs.

Staying in touch with the couple, two years later they asked him to play with their band but he said no. Worried he had blown his chance, he was surprised when a month and a half later they sent him an email asking him if he would play the Calgary Stampede with them. He said yes. Lepine played with The Prairie Dogs for three and a half years.

He gives credit to his family and the people who have given him the opportunity and drive to follow his musical dreams.

“I would not give this life up for anything in the world,” he said. “It’s my life and I’m proud of playing and creating music for a living.”