Top tips for maintaining your career with Debbie Knox-Hewson
Our new online tutor for BIMM Berlin, Debbie Knox-Hewson is a professional session and touring drummer, educator and clinician whose career has taken her all around the world.
After graduating from BIMM Music Institute Brighton, she began to tour with Charli XCX and English rock band James, and appeared on major stages such as Glastonbury Festival, Reading & Leeds Festival and Lollapalooza.
She’s also involved in songwriting and production (notably with her band Nasty Cherry and Honeyblood), and works as a drum educator and clinician for major brands.
She brings this real-world industry experience straight into her teaching, meaning that students benefit not just from theory, but from a living, working practitioner who has lots of experience of international touring and session work.
Here are Debbie’s go-to tips for maintaining your career as a musician:
Professionalism always wins
“My top tip for maintaining a career is professionalism, always. In my experience, it’s not always the most technically proficient players who get gigs, it’s the people you actually want to be on a tour bus with for three months.”
For Debbie, being great at your craft is important, but reliability and attitude are what sustain a career. When you’re touring, working long hours, and spending weeks away from home, it’s the people who are easy to be around – the ones who show up on time, stay positive, and support the team – who keep getting the call back.
Be someone people want to work with
“The stories that get passed around about you as a player are about who you are – way more than your drum licks.”
Reputation travels fast in the music industry. Debbie emphasises that professionalism and kindness build trust that leads to more opportunities. Whether it’s being punctual, prepared, or just a good hang, those small details shape how people remember working with you.
Debbie’s advice is simple but powerful: be reliable, be respectful, and be someone others want to have around.
Thinking about studying in Berlin?
Visit us at an Open Day to chat with lecturers, meet current students, and experience BIMM Berlin firsthand.
