That's really interesting dude. You don't hear about a lot of people learning to play drums in that order haha. Almost all the drummers I know went by ear first. That's awesome though!

Reading music is definitely useful, for sure. And truthfully every time I have this conversation, that's usually the point I have to reiterate and defend lol. Not that I don't think it's useful/good to know, but just that we emphasize it too heavily in your run-of-the-mill music curriculum (while licensing, business, ear training, making simple chord progressions, etc. are often overlooked until much later). In my opinion, you should just learn anything you can get your hands on!