Gimme Danger @ The Outpost 6/23/08

Spent the day at The Outpost with former Dropkick Murphys guitarist Marc Orrell's new project Gimme Danger. Marc is playing everything (including drums) on the album, so I set him up with a basic 4 piece kit. Turns out the talented axeman is also an excellent drummer, a real pocket player along the lines of Stan Lynch or Kenny Aronoff. Who knew?! We got great sounds, thanks to the expertise of producer Jim Siegel. I also had some help from upcoming drum tech/good guy Jimmy Pemberton, who tagged along for the day. This promises to be a good record so keep an eye out...

The Genius Of Tony Williams

For my money Tony was the complete drummer.

Chad Szeliga / Forever Ouevre Continued ...

It was the second day of tracking with Chad Szeliga (Breaking Benjamin) for the Forever Oeuvre project. Chad is working from FO's founder Ronny Paige's demo's which had midi drums played on a keyboard by Ronny. To me they sounded almost impossible to replicate on the drum set, but that's exactly what Chad did. These are parts that would've made Danny Carey cross-eyed but Chad somehow made sense of them. He maintained a can do attitude and took it as his mission to make the parts work.
Been giving two new snares from Mapex a workout for a review in DRUM! magazine. We used the new 5.5x14" Black Panther SS Solid Steel snare drum on two songs today. It has a dry sound but tons of punch and never got out of control. The drum is made from a solid steel pipe then is routed out on the inside leaving "soundrings" on the top and bottom, not unlike glue hoops on a wood snare drum. Keep an eye out for my review.

Forever Oeuvre @ House Of Loud 5/22/08

Spent the afternoon getting drum sounds for drummer Chad Szeliga (Breaking Benjamin) for the new record by Forever Oeuvre. More tomorrow...

Smartbomb @ The Outpost 5/19/08

Worcester Ma punks Smartbomb exploded The Outpost and took no freaking prisoners, okay? Drummer Erik Perkins held down the fort on a DW kit with the rest of the band following his machine-gun fast tempos. Much ROCK was achieved.

More Morningwood...

Morningwood @ Water Music, Hoboken,NJ 5/15-16 2008

I'm at the George Augsburger-designed "Big Room" at Water Music in Hoboken, NJ with the band Morningwood , cutting drums on four songs for an upcoming EP on Capitol Records. MW's bassist, Pedro Yanowitz, is also an excellent drummer (having played for The Wallflowers among others) and did a fine job on the songs. Sam Koppelman (Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, Amy Winehouse) also played on the session.
I love the drum room at Water Music because it sounds great and you can track with a huge room sound but you also have the choice to tighten up the sound with gobo's and baffles. Producer Kato Khandwala had already tracked everything but drums because of scheduling issues, so the challenge was to fit the drums to existing tracks . We used the ubiquitous Eames 13" and 15" toms (which sounded huge in the room) and my one-of-a-kind 5x14" Drum Heaven Raw Brass snare drum, the Pearl Steve Ferrone, and Pedro's 1920s brass 7x14 Ludwig & Ludwig.

Drummer Fines - Updated List sent by Hal Blaine

Setup / Equipment Offenses-

Brings a 26" bass drum - $25
Has more than one bass drum - $100.
Brings an 8" deep snare (for a solid back beat) - $50.
Brings more than 2 mounted toms - $25.
Has a tubular chrome bar that holds all his mounted toms - $50.
Brings more than one floor tom - $25.
Uses extra floor tom for ashtray & drink holder - $75
Brings more than two crash cymbals - $25.
Doesn't bring a ride cymbal - $250.
Brings a 46" Chinese gong (for big endings) - $75.
Brings two timpa ni (for really big endings) - $100.
Brings extra splashes (Just in case) - $25 each
Doesn't own any brushes - $300.
Owns brushes but can't play them - $500
Has a hi-hat that is welded shut - $250.
Asks leader where he can plug in his headphones - $200.
Asks Guitarist for help with unloading drums - $150
Wears dirty white Nike sneakers on tux gig - $50.
Tunes snare drum during the benediction - $175.
Tunes snare drum - $10


-Miscellaneous Offenses-

Is first in line at the party's buffet -$50.
Asks where the "to-go bags" are at the buffet line -$100.
Asks the bartender for 3 "Purple Shooters" - $50.
Says to the bride "You've got a nice set of hooters" - $25.
Says to the brides mother "Hey this is a f#%*in' good party"- $150.
Is ten minutes late for the next set - $25.
Is twenty minutes late for the next set - $10.
Never shows up for the next set - $1.
Excessive Sweating - $5000
Hits on singer's girlfriend - $5
Hits on club owner’s wife - $1000


-Drummer Crimes-

Bringing a mega kit to a multiband gig. - $100
Breaking that kit down on stage after set. - $250
Asks bassist to move rig so third floor tom will fit onstage - $50 (per Sq. Ft.)
Extra logo stickers on bass drum head - $75 each.
Stick holders - $10
Drumming Shoes - $100
Drumming gloves - Dismissal
Double pedals - $500
USING the double pedals. - Dismissal
Wearing Zildjian T-shirt onstage. - $50
Roto toms. - $50 each
Extra deep kicks and toms. - $50 each
Glow in the dark drumsticks - $500

No Harm Done @ The Outpost, Stoughton, MA 5/7/08

I worked with Orlando, FL's own No Harm Done at The Outpost yesterday and really enjoyed their fast-paced melodic punk songs. Producer Jim Siegel who owns and operates the Outpost decided to track the band live and wanted a tighter drum sound so we moved the kit from it's usual front and center position in the room to the left corner. He put up a couple of baffles and mic'ed accordingly. Jim is one of the fastest and best engineers I've worked with and I learn so much from him at every session we do. The main tracking room at The Outpost is, for my money, the best drum room in New England. The room is very live all the way around without having any nasty standing waves or distortion. I've done more records there (Dropkick Murphys, Death Before Dishonor, Unseen, etc.) than any other studio and Jim and I always have some good laughs.
We used the house 22x16" Yamaha Recording Custom bass drum, my Eames 13x9" and 15x15" toms and the ubiquitous Pearl Steve Ferrone snare drum.
Drummer Tommy Cantwell and the band were completely prepared and knocked off about 19 tunes in a couple of days. Tommy looks like the kid next door but hits the drums with the authority of a seasoned player. Keep an eye out for these guys on their next tour.

3 Year Old Drummer Is Badddddddasss!

Check out this article from the Detroit News. His website has some excellent clips. The kid looks like a natural. Watch out Dennis Chambers... Thanks to Tom Donati for the heads-up!

Thanks to Hal Blaine for sending this one.

Kids In The Way @ Water Music, Hoboken 12/06

I had worked with the young lads from Kids In The Way on a single in 2005 at Threshold Music and was drafted again by producer Kato Khandwala to tech for their full-length release "Love Hate Masquerade" which we recorded at Water Music Studios in Frank Sinatra's hometown of Hoboken, NJ, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. KITW's drummer Eric Carter had improved greatly since our first session and attacked each take with energy and power. Sadly, as is more often the case than not, the band broke up recently. Too bad, they were a nice bunch of guys.

And You Think Your Kit Is Big

Here's a pic I took of Mike Portnoy's monster drum set at Avatar Studios in NYC in September 2006. Nuff said!

Badges?!? We don't need no stinking badges!!

Call me a drum geek (go ahead, I dare you) but one of the things I like to collect are the badges from various vintage and custom drums. So in the spirit of drumspotting, here's some for your viewing pleasure.

Fall Out Boy at Chung King Studios 12/15/06

Back at the end of 2006, my friend producer/engineer/pizza chef Scott Riebling asked me to drum tech on a session for Fall Out Boy at Chung King studios in NYC. Scott had been working for producer Butch Walker on various sessions and Butch was producing some songs for FOB's new record. We used Carl Plaster's 22" DW kick drum, my 9x13 and 15x15 custom Eames and went back and forth between a 6.5x14" Drum Heaven Galaxy snare drum (the first one I ever built!) and the Pearl Steve Ferrone. It was exciting to watch lead singer/composer Pat Stump write and demo an entire song and then see the band record it. The result "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?" can be heard on FOB's 2007 album Infinity On High. The video is of Patrick Stump and Butch Walker laying down guitars.

Bernard "Pretty" Purdie spotted in NYC

I was in NYC last week and stopped by Smash Studios for a private party thrown by my friends at Sabian. Lots of great drummers like Will Calhoun and Horacee Arnold were in attendance, but stealing the show yet again was the legendary Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. If you don't know who Purdie is, you owe it to yourself to check out his career and listen to some of the classic records he's played on including Aretha's "Rock Steady", Steely Dan's "Home At Last", and many others by Donny Hathaway, Joe Cocker, Hall and Oates, and of course the great King Curtis (see below YouTube imbed).

Bernard is the originator of the "Purdie Shuffle" best illustrated on "Home At Last" and copied by none other than John Bonham on Led Zeppelin's "Fool In The Rain" and Jeff Porcaro on "Roseanna".


Never the shrinking violet, Purdie hopped on the drumset at the party and gave a brief (and poorly recorded by me) but funky dissertation on his patented groove.

Primitive Drum Machine

Archaeologists in New York have uncovered an early primitive analog drum machine dating back to the pre-Disco era...

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.