Playing for the song? Keeping it Peel.

Throughout my drumming "career" and more importantly the learning aspect of it, I've been told countless times to play for the song. I'm going to present to you the other side of this perspective...

Now I'm not hinting that playing for the song is a bad thing and I completely agree with all my past teachers who have drummed this into me. Some of my favourite and highly regarded drummers do this and make fantastic music and have amazing careers.

But...

What if this wasn't the case? What if we thought more about making exciting drum parts that the guitar or song should follow? Why should we be dictated to by the song? If more mainstream drummers took the reins and said no to the basic pop beats that we know now, what would our beloved pop beat be?

It hasn't always been like this, in the drum kit's earlier incarnation Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich were at the forefront of the stage and were really pushing musical boundaries and being loved for it. So much so, they were celebrities in their own right, they were celebrated for their musical knowledge, diversity and risk taking.

Off the top of my head, genres which encompass this mentality today are jazz and metal. So does this mean the more adventurous drummers are genre specific, again dictated by the song? Or is it something wider, like the public openness to new ideas? In a world where X-Factor et al is the epitome of music to some (most?), this is probably the sad truth.

Some of the greatest drum parts ever written would not exist if the drummer stuck rigidly to playing for the song. Jelly Belly by the Smashing Pumpkins for example could be a lot simpler, but instead Jimmy Chamberlin took the risk and created an amazingly complex jazz influenced drum part that leads the song beautifully.

I could go on with examples, and maybe I do have a dated view on what music should be, but have a think, maybe next time don't play for the song, but play for yourself.

On that note, seven years ago today music lost one of it's great adventurers; John Peel. I first heard John Peel one night when I heard a complete live set from Melt Banana... in under half an hour. The subsequent mix of music was one of the turning points in my musical life. A few years later while performing in one of my first bands, we met John Peel en route to a London show. I told him how we were playing that night to which he asked the bands name. I repeated it around five times before he got it. (my tone was set to; "You don't know who we are???") Later on that night when we were driving home he gave us a mention. That alone was worth playing to a quarter full London venue...

London Drum Show 2011

A write this with a drum induced headache...

London Drum Show 2011 was, like previous years, a resounding success. With all the big company names present such as; Zildjian, Remo, Pearl etc and a plethora of fantastic smaller custom builders such as the ever-growing SJC, Gatton drums and TIKI.

To keep this short and concise here is my top 5 round up of the weekend.

5. Percussity.

Percussity imports the Garrahand, PRK and Duende custom cajons. As one of the more niche stalls, it was great to see people interested in different percussion instruments. As the popularity of the Cajon continues to grow it would be great for people to give this company a chance as their products are of the highest quality.

4. Matt Nolan cymbals.

As I stood and watched Matt Nolan's video of how he makes his cymbal's, many drummers came in had a smash on his many varied, handmade cymbals. I quickly came to the conclusion (*my future Zildjian endorsement is at risk here) that the cymbals had the same clarity and tonal qualities of the bigger more popular cymbal companies. For something different in your cymbal collection, go check them out.

*In defence, I said "they're great as they sound like my K special dry ride..."

3. Yamaha and Roland silent demos.

London drum show is obviously about drums... It's not going to be a quiet affair is it? But Roland and Yamaha had the ingenious idea of holding "silent" clinics, lessons and demos. The audience on the Yamaha stand could here the clinician on stage with a set of headphones and cut out the other stands. Roland on the other hand had Craig Blundell and Steve White giving lessons throughout the day with the students and the audience again hearing it all through headphones. Genius.

2. Protection Racket.

I've always had a fondness for Protection Racket ever since my cat sat inside the fluffy interior of my cymbal bag. But meeting the guys and girls on the stand only endeared me more to them. They're really pushing the boundaries in terms of product, product development and moving with the times. For anyone that hasn't seen it, issue 96 of Drummer magazine offers a brilliant insight into a company that works damn hard to keep on top of its game.

1. TIKI.

TIKI drums are a Sussex based drum company that specialises in bespoke custom drums, drum restoration and drum building workshops. (The latter something I believe no other drum company offers) The ever amiable Preston Prince was on hand all day to answer questions about the drums and demonstrate the building process. For an event that was peppered with so many drums it's hard to pick out a favourite but the attention to detail on these drums really marks them out from the crowd.

Alternatives to Moongel...

Moongel silencing pads, although reasonable at £6.00 are fairly expensive for 5 strips of flubber™...

Here are my top 5 alternatives;

1.Cola bottles

2.Steak

3.Sticky wall walker
4.Playdough

5."Chicken fillets"


On that note if you see my grizzly mug at London Drum Show on the Sunday, then come say "hi!".

***Moongel I love you by the way, don't worry your Flubbery™ self...***

Lars Ulrich VS Balloon.

Lars Ulrich VS Balloon.



Though in hindsight Lars Ulrich VS Baboon would of been better...

Goodbye PC my old friend...

***28/09/2011*** 20:30 GOT MAC
***28/09/2011*** 20:45 REALISE IT DOESN'T HAVE A DEL KEY
***28/09/2011*** 20:46 REALISE IT DOESN'T HAVE A HASH KEY
***28/09/2011*** 20:47 FIND # KEY
***28/09/2011*** 21:00 CANT RIGHT CLICK! WTF I THINK THE PHRASE IS...
***28/09/2011*** 21:05 FINGERS TOO FAT TO RIGHT CLICK
***28/09/2011*** 21:06 MASTERED RIGHT CLICKING...
***28/09/2011*** 21:08 MACS ARE FAST :)
***29/09/2011*** 11.00 MAKE ITUNES LIBRARY A HOMAGE TO 90'S GRUNGE
***29/09/2011*** 11.20 USE DROP BOX ON MY PC AND MAC TO MIGRATE FILES
***29/09/2011*** 11.21 USING BOTH A MAC AN PC AT THE SAME TIME MADE THE WORLD STOP FOR A SECOND
***29/09/2011*** 11.30 MAIL APP AT THE BOTTOM IS SHOWING ME EMAILS FROM 2007?
***29/09/2011*** 11.40 JUST USING HOTMAIL NOW
***29/09/2011*** 20.30 INSTALL LOGIC
***29/09/2011*** 21.30 TRY AGAIN TO INSTALL LOGIC
***29/09/2011*** 22.00 TRY YET AGAIN TO INSTALL LOGIC
***30/09/2011*** 08.30 GOOGLING LOGIC
***01/10/2011*** 09.00 REVERTING TO CUBASE...
***01/10/2011*** 09.30 REALISE ONLY SO MUCH GRUNGE CAN FIT ON AN IPOD
***01/10/2011*** 09.45 SLEEP MODE ACTUALLY WORKS...
***01/10/2011*** 09.50 WHERES MICROSOFT OFFICE?
***01/10/2011*** 09.51 BACK IN SLEEP MODE...
***02/10/2011*** 10.00 LOGIC WORKS!
***02/10/2011*** 23.06 LOGIC'S DRUM SOUNDS ARE MIGHTY IMPRESSIVE LETS PUNK IT UP
***02/10/2011*** 23.40 I HAVE INDEED PUNKED IT UP
***02/10/2011*** 23.41 SLEEP LIL MAC... SLEEP...
***03/10/2011*** 09.00 NOT ENOUGH TIME TO LEARN EVERYTHING THAT IS DIFFERENT TO A PC IN ONE DAY!
***03/10/2011*** 09.00 ENOUGH TIME FOR;
***04/10/2011*** 10.00 HYPER EDITOR! IT'S LIKE CUBASE AGAIN
***04/10/2011*** 10.23 HYPER EDITOR, THE NAME IS MORE EXCITING THAN THE REALITY
***04/10/2011*** 10.25 GOOGLING "adding distortion to logic tracs"
***04/10/2011*** 19.00 GOOGLING "mac book pro battle armour"
***05/10/2011*** 11.00 HEY SPOTIFY I DON'T WANT EVERYONE TO SEE THAT ALL I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO IS MASTODON AND DAVE BRUBECK
***05/10/2011*** 12.00 REALLY STOP ASKING!
***05/10/2011*** 20.23 CHOIR VST OR "SOFTWARE INSTRUMENT" IS JUST WHAT I WANTED!
***06/10/2011*** 09.00 http://www.pelican.com/case_group_search.php?CaseGroup=Laptop
***06/10/2011*** 09.38 RIGHT CLICK SPEECH! NEVER WILL I PROOF READ AN EMAIL OR BLOG AGAIN!
***06/10/2011*** 23.50 IS MAIL ACTUALLY ANY GOOD? IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING?!? GOING TO DELETE YOU! IF ONLY I HAD A DEL KEY...
***07/10/2011*** 06.40 MAC MASTERED! IF ONLY I HAD A MOUSE...
***07/10/2011*** 15.25 TOO SHORT TO REACH THE MOUSE ON THE MAC STORE SHELF...
***07/10/2011*** 15.30 GOOGLING THE PRICE FROM THE MAC STORE AS I REALLY CAN'T REACH THE SHELF...
***07/10/2011*** 15.30 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-MB829Z-A-Magic-Mouse/dp/B002NX0M8C
***07/10/2011*** £50??? FML

Worst gig ever.

*Gig is a very loose term*

As with a lot of gigging drummers I too have the infamous tale of woe, that is my worst gigging experience...

Followers of my Twitter account will have seen that I've started teaching regularly at a Primary school, teaching the ways of the drum. However, before I started this endeavour, I was to introduce my self at a school assembly. Plagued by cold (or man flu) I started wracking my brains as to what I would say to these very small humans. I haphazardly strung a few sentences together which I thought would be “fun”, a fact or two about how drummers burn just as many calories as a professional footballer and name some labels. Just as that hilarious meerkat would say; SIMPLES!

Feeling slightly perkier and happy that I had done some preparation, (though still full of cold) I set off with an optimistic stride. Along with four other music teachers I sat in front of what could only be described as one million tiny eyes, more akin to frog spawn... My nerves kicked in.

Without a drum kit in front of me I was in a very unfamiliar place and I quickly became very nervous indeed. Standing up to speak I decided to throw my speech behind me and "wing" it. I won't go into details, but the A-team phrase of "I love it when a plan comes together!" didn't spring to mind.

I finished sweatier and much more relieved than any public performance I had ever done, BUT it was my worst.

In conclusion; stick to the plan!