Sit down, shut up, and click on this link. It’ll be the best thing you visit on the Web all day, a superb collection of photos taken by master drum maker Ronn Dunnett at Musikmesse 2008. He’s posted over 1,000 images (everything from great gear shots to even greater drummer pics), so turn off your cell phone and your IM before you begin voyeuring: such seriously hot drum porn deserves your undivided attention.
Month: April 2008
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Mikkey Dee Was Naked…
Oh, sweet lady Absinthe, wrecker of brains and livers, what did Mikkey Dee ever do to deserve the likes of you?
While in Prague, the Motorhead drummer took a couple shots of the toxic green booze, and by evening’s end he was naked in some other dude’s bathroom. His confession:
I woke up…with a man screaming at me. I had been sleepwalking, walked into someone else’s bathroom and fallen asleep. I ran out and discovered that I was naked and without my room key. I had to take the elevator, an elevator made out of glass, down to the hotel reception.
Awesomely good times. If your cable company happens to offer the show Extra Extra! on Sweden’s TV3, you can watch Dee tell the tale himself. Let us know if strapping metal drummers blush.
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Lars Ulrich Interview With Rolling Stone
Of course this would happen. We spend a few days unplugged in Seattle, and the whole friggin’ ‘Net explodes with great drumming news. Case in point: Rolling Stone‘s recently posted interview with Lars Ulrich. In it, the Metallica drummer talks about the future of brick-and-mortar record stores, why music video games are fucking awesome, and how the band may one day release and distribute music through the Web. Ulrich says:
We want to be as free a players as possible. We’ve been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we’ll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.
Really? Did Lars just hint at a name-your-price option for downloading a Metallica album?…Did the rulers of the recording industry just take a collective crap in their bohemian-chic designer pants?
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TRX’s LTD Cymbals
TRX crept onto the scene a few years ago with fistfuls of Turkish-influenced, acronym-laden cymbals—the BRT, ALT, DRK, and MDM series. Because having four forgettable three-letter designations is clearly not enough, the company has now introduced a fifth, the LTD line. It includes 20″ and 18″ crash-rides as well as a pair of 14″ hi-hats.
So far, so boring. But here is where TRX’s shite gets interesting: an LTD cymbal features three finishes, a different one for the outer edge, the bow, and the bell. According to the press release (more or less), this tri-finish process apparently produces a crash sound that is more crash-y and a ride sound that is more ride-y than ever before heard from a dual-purpose cymbal. Plus, they look pretty damn cool.
[via Music Radar]
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Ahmir Thompson Talks to the Wall Street Journal
You read that right—the bloody freakin’ Wall Street Journal. The publicity blitz for the upcoming Roots album, Rising Down, has clearly entered the take-no-prisoners phase if Questlove is chatting with Establishment press. But we’ll let that sleight pass because the piece is actually quite interesting, a list of the drummer’s favorite albums that have a unifying theme or message. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and (perennial Thompson favorite) Prince made the cut.
Who is on your list?
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Drummers Ain’t Stupid…
And now there’s a study that proves it. Swedish researchers played a rhythm for a group of 34 participants with no musical training. The 34 newbies were then asked to tap out the same rhythm with a drumstick. Those who best held a steady beat were also those who scored higher on intelligence tests. What gives? According to the article:
The study suggests a biological basis for intelligence related to the regularity of nerve cell activity in the brain….In addition, the researchers found a relationship between high intelligence, the ability to hold a rhythm, and the volume of white matter found in the frontal lobes of the subjects’ brains.
So take that, guitar players. We got science on our side.
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Sabian Fierce Hats
More Jojo-related stuff to drool over, and we ain’t complaining. To go along with Mayer’s Fierce Ride and Fierce Crashes, Sabian has unleashed the cleverly named Fierce Hats. The cymbals measure in at 13″, feature an unlathed surface with jumbo hammer marks, and are described by Jojo himself as having “a raw aspect and a complex darkness that works well in live and recorded contexts.” Yeah, well, just as long as they make us sound like this.
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Dom Famularo Clinic Review
The guys over at Drummer Connection have posted a longish, picture-replete review of two Famularo clinics. Dom apparently tore it up, and John Blackwell even put in a surprise guest appearance at one of the shows. The thing we really want to know, though, is this: did Dom manage not to knock off his glasses this time?
[Update 2022: Alas, Drummer Connection is no longer active. The site was very cool, especially for the time, so hopefully the owners will revive it at some point. Also, the amazing video of Dom accidentally knocking his glasses off while ripping a drum solo is no longer available, and that sucks because anyone who plays with that much energy always gets mad props from us. It needs to be witnessed. If anyone locates it, please drop a link in the comments.]
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Paiste’s New Heavy Full Crashes
Designed for hard-swingin’ rock and metal drummers, Paiste’s Heavy Full crashes are new additions to the company’s venerable Signature series. The cymbals come with a Reflector finish and in a variety of sizes—16″, 17″, 18″, 19″, 20″, and a whopping 22″. Because Nicko McBrain and Hena Habegger had a hand in the design, you also know the Heavy Fulls can survive a serious whacking. Check out their sound here. [Update 2022: The sound files have been removed from Paiste’s site. Boo.]
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Loudness Drummer Diagnosed With Cancer
Whoa, remember Loudness, Japan’s contribution to ’80s crotch rock? We’d completely forgotten the group even existed until Blabbermouth reported yesterday that drummer Munetaka Higuchi is fighting liver cancer. After finishing up a few gigs this week with a replacement drummer, the band will go on hiatus until Higuchi gets back to stick-wielding shape. We wish him a speedy recovery…and send him and all the Loudness guys a hearty thanks for this side-splitting trip down leather-studded lane:
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Ted Nugent Drummer Found Dead
Clifford Davies, the drummer who played on Nuge’s “Cat Scratch Fever,” was discovered dead Sunday in his Atlanta home. Cause of demise looks to be suicide—a gunshot wound to the head. As always, details are sketchy at this point, but Davies may have been “extremely distraught over money for medical bills.” We’ll keep you updated.
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Jimmy Chamberlin Will Get His Hands Dirty…
But it’s for an awesome reason: The Smashing Pumpkins are going to be inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk. Chamberlin and Billy Corgan will be on hand April 23, 2008, to stick their hands in cement outside the Guitar Center on Sunset. They’ll then perform for the lucky bastards who get inside the store. We’re trying to be one of those lucky bastards, but no one is returning our emails. And we even pretended to be from Modern Drummer. Might just have to settle for this.
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Mandala High-Def Drum Pad Released
What exactly is a high-def drum pad? Beats the piss out of us, but we do know that Danny Carey has been playing a Mandala pad forever. That, thumpers, is endorsement enough.
…But if you insist on the details, here are some easy-to-follow bullet points:
- The Mandala plugs into a PC or Mac with a USB cable.
- One pad can accommodate up to seven different sound zones.
- The surface detects 128 strike positions from center to edge.
- There are 128 strike velocities (from soft to hard) with no false triggers.
- Each pad is handcrafted and thoroughly tested before it is shipped.
- The Mandala will set you back $349.
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Keith Moon’s Greatest TV Hits
Well, it’s actually The Who’s greatest TV hits, but Moonie features in most of them. Our favorite is definitely the band’s legendary appearance on the Smothers Brothers Show in 1967:
Unbeknown to anyone, Keith Moon had bribed a stage-hand with alcohol to pack his bass drum with a surfeit of explosives. As the band ended My Generation with their trademark stage-destruction, the cameras were momentarily blinded by the blast. As the smoke cleared, Moon lay on the floor, his arm sliced open by cymbal shrapnel, Townshend’s hair was on fire and, it is said, his hearing damaged for ever. Waiting in the studio’s wings, Bette Davis fainted in Mickey Rooney’s arms. Naturally, the band was banned from further US shows.
Now, that is rock and fuckin’ roll.
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Neil Peart Drum Kit Replicas
Didn’t have an extra $30,000 to buy Peart’s 30th-anniversary kit from DW? Yeah, we didn’t either, but if you still got a hankering to have some Neil-like gear, don’t give up. AndrewOlson.com has been collecting photos of Peart-inspired setups for almost two years. Some of them might even cost less than a pair of lungs. A sample of some of the cooler kits:
Created by AccuSoft Corp. 
