Drummer's Girlfriend Thinks He Should Sing

National Funk Congress Deadlocked On Get Up/Get Down Issue

CHOCOLATE CITY-The bitter "get up/get down" battle has polarized the nation's funk community.

The Vines @ Bearsville Studios June 2003

I had the pleasure of being the drum tech on The Vines 2003 release "Winning Days" which was one of the last albums recorded at the legendary Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, NY. Producer Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Beck) helmed the project and Hamish Rosser played the many kit permutations we assembled (We used my 1930's 26" WFL kick drum {above} on a couple of tunes as well as a 1970's Gretsch kick) . A great time was had by all in the bucolic Catskill setting and the song "Ride" has shown up everywhere from an iPod commercial to a national ad campaign for Toyota.
That's singer Craig Nicholls on the bike.

The Incredible Flying Drummer

Back around 1974-75, when I was a lad in my mid teens, I saw Dutch rockmeisters Golden Earring perform live in Detroit's Cobo Hall in what I remember was an opening slot for Mountain. At the climax of his solo on "Radar Love", drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk's drum throne seemed to explode and he did a flying leap over his double bass drum kit and landed on his feet at the front of the stage. Now, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!!!!
The original video I found on YouTube had the exploding stool ;-) This video is from Top Of the Pops and has the pyro-free leap. Wait for it...

Drummer Movie Trailer

Don't know much about this movie other than what some of the participants have told me but it really looks good. Thanks to my buddy Jerry Deupree for the link.

Ferocious Drummers Movie

Drummers are natural intellectuals!!!

Click HERE to read confirmation of something many of us have suspected for years.


Then of course there is THIS.

Rock and Roll Supergroup with Chuck Berry

Here's some video I shot on April 14, 2008 of the Rock and Roll Supergroup with Chuck Berry at the Berklee Performance Center to benefit Right Turn, an organization that provides recovery services for creative people. Guests included Simon Kirke (Free, Bad Company), Chuck Leavell (Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Ricky Byrd (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts), Tim Ries (Rolling Stones), Mark Orrell (Dropkick Murphys), John Conte (Crown Jewels), Barry Goudreau (Boston), and one of the founding fathers of rock and roll, the legendary Chuck Berry. It was an amazing weekend with some great hangs and new friendships. Just seeing Simon Kirke play and sing on Bad Company's iconic "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" was worth the price of admission. The above photo (Courtesy of the lovely and talented Rebecca Gauchman) is of yours truly with Simon Kirke, Chad Smith, and Right Turn founder and good friend Woody Geissmann. More photos to follow..

John Aldridge - My unrelated twin drum brother

Had a rare chance to hang out with my good buddy John Aldridge, the Godfather of the Vintage Drum scene, when he came to Providence RI with REO Speedwagon this week. I've know John for probably close to twenty years. When my vintage drum obsession morphed into a a vintage drum business in the late 80's I tracked down John, who had a small newsletter/magazine called Not So Modern Drummer and was the foremost authority on such things. I called him and we ended up talking for two hours that first time and have been friends ever since (John still introduces me as his twin brother, which is humorous on many levels)


John is also the foremost drum engraver in the business, so when I started making the Galaxy custom snare drum a few years later, I decided to use real brass hoops (which almost no one was offering at the time) and as a tip of the hat to the great drums of the 20's and 30's, I asked John to engrave them. He did a masterful job, and although there are only about 40 or so of those drums around their value is enhanced by John's tremendous artistry. Later he engraved ten hand-hammered copper shell snare drums (see picture) I made as a limited edition run. John and I would room together at early trade shows and always have memorable times staying up until all hours yapping our heads off about Leedy Diamond lugs with the likes of Rob Cook, Chet Falzerano, and the late Liam Mulholland - vintage drum pioneers all.

While the first issues of NSMD were typewritten and Xeroxed, over the years John grew the magazine into THE bible for vintage and custom drum enthusiasts. Still editor of NSMD, he recently sold the business to William Ludwig III who now publishes it out of Chicago.

John has been drum teching for REO Speedwagon for over three years and when I saw him in Providence he showed me the fine set-up he put together for drummer Bryan Hitt. He assembled a custom rack system to suspend the two rack and two floor toms, along with a one legged (!) snare stand which is anchored to the throne.

Also on the tour are Styx (with drummer Todd Sucherman) and headliners Def Leppard. We had a great time catching up and John clued me in on a possible large scale engraving project he pitched to a major drum company. Stay tuned for more details...

Video I directed for Glenn Hughes latest record

The Korean Keith Moon

Click Five @ Q Division Feb/March 2007

Worked with the fine lads of Click Five back in 2007 with producer Mike Denneen (Fountains Of Wayne, Aimee Mann) at Q Division in Somerville, MA. The result is "Modern Minds and Pastimes" a pop pastiche that reflects the growing talents and tastes of this Boston-based combo. Drummer Joey Zehr was the beneficiary of much whip and nut cracking and as he bashed through basics in record time.

Famous @ House Of Loud 12/26/07

I'm catching up on some bloggin' and one of the most exciting recent projects I did was working again with the band Famous on a few new songs at House Of Loud in Elmwood Park, New Jersey between Xmas and New Years. I worked on the band's first CD "All The Wicked" back in 2005 and became good buds with singer/guitarist Ben Phillips and drummer Jamie Perkins and producer Kato Khandwala (Paramore, Hawthorne Heights, Breaking Benjamin)

House Of Loud is Whitney Houston's old studio that has been transformed by famed producer David Bendith (along with Kato and 2 other engineers/producers) into an amazing Rock and Roll clubhouse/social club that just happens to be a state of the art studio complex. We had a blast hanging out and laughing our asses off, and oh yeah, we got some incredible drum takes. Kato is good at pushing everyone to do their best work and he always makes great sounding records. If you click on the panorama you can see the size of the A room. In the top photo you can see the kick drum tunnel we used to get that big sound.

You Must Romance The Music Out Of The Tambourine

My lord, what are you doing? Your crude handling of that beautiful instrument borders on the obscene! You cannot carelessly strike a tambourine and expect it to sing its beautiful song. You must coax it out of her. You must romance the music out of the tambourine.

Drum Tuning 101

Here's a simple little tuning and head-changing primer I wrote for my good friends at Vater Percussion. Basics of Drumhead Changing and Tuning

Dropkick Setup

Dropkick Murphys at The Outpost May 13-17 2007

I think this was my fifth session in 8 or 9 years with the Dropkicks. We worked on 21 songs for the band's upcoming first release for their new label, Warner, tracking drums and rhythm guitars in 4 days. Matt Kelly is one of my favorite drummers to work with: he's always ready to play, has plenty of energy, a really original style of drumming, and is an all-around nice guy. The band is easygoing and they've forged an original sound over the years which has gained them fans the world over. Their song "Shipping Out To Boston" was featured prominently in Martin Scorcese's Oscar winning smash hit "The Departed" and the Red Sox adopted their cover of "Tessie"as the team's official anthem during the championship 2004 season.

For the session we used Matt's green DW kit plus an extra 16" silver sparkle floor tom. As per usual at The Outpost, we removed the front head from the 20" bass drum and used a damper against the batter head. My trusty 6.5x14" Pearl Steve Ferrone (now sadly discontinued) was the snare drum of choice for the whole record. I used a Remo coated Center Spot batter on the Ferrone, coated Emperors on the toms, and a clear Powerstroke 3 on Matt's 20" bass drum. I tuned the 12" rack tom to "A" and moved down in thirds for the floor toms. Interestingly, DW had marked the inside of the 12" shell as having a pitch of "Eb". I've seen this many times with DW's "Timbre Matched" shells, where the drum's optimal tuning range is a few steps off from what's noted inside the shell. I found that this particular drum began to choke up if I tuned much higer than "A".

DRUM TECH LESSON # 533.3:Every drum has a small latitude of tuning where it sounds best. Deviate from that latitude and you'll find that on the lower tension end the pitch is wobbly or too slack, and on the higher tension end it can choke up or have a short, false note. In a good environment, like a nice quiet recording studio, you can critically listen to the vibration of the note and tighten or loosen accordingly. In a bad environment, like a loud club, you're screwed. But I digress...

Matt's style of playing incorporates traditional fife and drum and marching band techniques like press rolls and ruffs, etc., and like that style of drumming, he doesn't hit a lot of rimshots. It's a very precise way of playing and not just any old snare drum will work in the studio. First of all you need some body and depth for it to stand up against the formidable guitar assault of James Lynch and Mark "The Kid" Orell. You could potentially go with a shallower snare drum and rely only on tight snare response and brittle attack, but you would lose the "ROCK" edge that is the hallmark of the Dropkicks' music. Secondly, the definition of each stroke needs to be heard without the benefit of rimshots, so good response is a must. But I like a little looseness in the snares to make them a little sloppier and fuller. (It's hard to explain, but as Popeye said: "I'se knows it whens I'se hears it!") The Ferrone drum is perfect for this application. It's got a beefiness to it's midrange while still having enough attack to not get lost in the mix. It's basically a knock-off of a Black Beauty with thicker tube lugs and some construction differences, but the sturdy brass shell coupled with Pearl Power Hoops give it a weight and tone that records very well. Cheers to Pearl for designing such a great workhorse of a drum. Jeers to Pearl for discontinuing the drum after Ferrone left the company for greener pastures.

All in all a good time was had by all. Lovingly committed to tape and digits by recordist extraordinaire Jim Siegel, the drums pop right out of the speakers and even at this early stage it's easy to hear that this could be the best record of the Dropkick Murphys' career. Stay tuned...

Gnu Ears Resolution...

Dearest Diary,
I resolve to keep my log up to date with all the drum tech jobs I've been doing as of late. Why just in the last 3 months I've worked with Fall Out Boy , The Click Five , Kids In The Way, and The Unseen (3rd pic from top) - AND, the Red Hot Chili Peppers record I worked on, "Stadium Arcadium", won four (4) Grammys including Rock Album of The Year. And the DVD of the drum night at Berklee I produced for Right Turn (2nd pic from top) is finally available in stores and online, as is the cover story I wrote with Mike Portnoy (top right pic w/ Neil Peart) for Rhythm magazine. Oh golly diary, it's been a busy 90 days! I promise to update the blog with tasty little tidbits of info and insider gossip from all those sessions and articles. Gee diary, I guess blogging is more than just a self- promoting stroke-fest; it can be informative and fun as well.

The Tides at Sonalysts

Spent a few days with one of my favorite recording compadres, Kato, down at The Power Station New England in Waterford CT this week working with The Tides, a fun and talented bunch of young lads. Kato is ruling the record charts lately with something like four records in the top 50. He's most definitely a hi-fi rock guy, and his engineering and producing skills are top-notch, as are his musical instincts, which is one skill a lot of producers don't have. I'm really fortunate to work with the people I work with on a regular basis, especially the producers.
The Power Station NE is at a huge complex called Sonalysts and is an exact copy of the NYC Power Station (now called Avatar Studios) built by Tony Bongiovi back in the 70s and home to more hits than you can shake a stick at. What a great drum tracking room, totally old school with huge wood walls and traps and a great mic collection. There is a matched pair of Neumann U 47s that we use as overheads. The studio itself is one of the best kept secrets on the East Coast. It boasts an inexpensive day rate and is easy to get to from NYC, Boston, New Haven, Providence and Hartford.
Enuff about the studio and more about drums and mics! Here's a pic of the setup we used for the 6 songs The Tides tracked:
Gretsch drum kit: 22" BD, 12" tt, 14" floor, 6x14" Tama Bubinga SD "The Bubinganator".
Mics include: 2 U-47s as OH, SM57 on snare, SM7 HH, Senheiser 421's on toms, D112 inside kick, 47 FET outside kick, Royer 121 in front of kit, RCA 77 in front of kit,modified Aphex LD condensors for rooms, etc.... AND some really cool weird tube gear provided by Mad Tube scientist Charles Olsen. Needless to say, some badassssss drum sounds were put down on hard drives...

Curse Of The U2 Drum Riser

Back in the States again after a little stint in Europe... I was filling in as drum tech for Chad and the Chili Peppers in England. His longtime tech Chris had a horrible accident at the beginning of the tour and wasn't able to return for two months. It was certainly my first touring experience as a big time drum tech and I have a new appreciation for the road warriors who do this demanding work for a living. Leave it to the young-uns I say.
Everything the Pep's do is first class, and even though the schedule can be grueling, the band takes care of their crew. Saw some incredible shows - I spent every show onstage to the left of Chad. My job consisted of setting up the drums, changing heads, polishing cymbals, connecting the new drum light system (which being a prototype triggered by sound gates was a pain in the ass), playing a sound check to set levels in the mains and the in-ear monitors. There are so many great stories to tell and the crew themselves are some really fun and wonderful people, who were remarkably patient with me as I learned the ropes. The high point: playing soundcheck every day in an empty soccer stadium with the other instrument techs. We usually performed the Peppers' hit "Give it Away".
An old knee injury came back to haunt me and the offending joint popped loudly as I was coming off the drum riser after soundcheck one day. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital and treated by a very friendly staff of British doctors and nurses.I hobbled back to the show to enjoy my my status as the second drum tech to fall in the line of duty on the Euro tour. Chad chalked it off to the drum riser, bought second hand from U2. Damn your Irish drumsticks Larry Mullen! You gotta laff.

I'll go into more detail about the in's and out's of the tour in a future posting, but here's a low res onstage movie in the meantime.