Artist Updates From Taye
October 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Damn, there’s a whole lot of drumming going on over at Taye. Here’s the latest from some of their artists:
Phil Wickham’s drummer, Dan Bailey , is about to embark on Phil’s first headlining tour starting on October 14th in Powder Springs, GA; with Fee.
New Orleans great and Charmaine Neville’s drummer, Gerald French, The Giant to the Taye Drums family. He is currently on the road around the world.
We have also partnered with metal drummer Mike Justian (pronounced “Justin”). He has held the seat with Unearth, The Red Chord, and is now slamming through Trap Them on an East Coast and European Tour. This guy is the real freaking deal, folks. Check out his Drum Nation #3 track, Weak Would. You will flip your stinking lid!!!!
Our other artists that are out and about this year are Darius Minaee who is playing with Rock En Espanol band Volumen Cero with a new record dropping October 2nd. If you are in Los Angeles, make sure you hit the Roxy that night.
Have I talked about Satnam Ramgotra enough yet? Well, he can be heard on quite a few soundtracks and he likes his GoKit. Check out the soundtracks of the Dark Knight, Madagascar 2, Kite Runner (2007 Oscar Nominee), Charlie Wilson’s War, Vantage Point, The Code (name to be changed), Babylon A.d., Duplicity, The Burning Plane, and many others. Finally, make sure you watch his myspace for dates with his band Alien Chatter.
Pete Maloney is getting ready for the Dancing With The Stars (38 cities, pick one, go see it), and will be appearing on Andrew Ripp’s debut album as well as a song on legendary rocker Edgar Winter’s newest release.
Keith Zebroski is on the road with Country Music phenom Miranda Lambert through the rest of this year.
New Performance Clip From Rush
October 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The new concert DVD from Neil Peart and the fellows won’t be released until November 25, but a sneak peak of the song “Far Cry” was shown on VH1 last night. Try not to slobber on your monitor.
[via Blabbermouth]
Protection Racket’s Drum Mat Bag
September 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Hmmm….What do you get for the drummer who already has everything? Maybe Protection Racket’s new Drum Mat Bag. From the press release:
Ask any drummer, “what is the first thing you do when setting up”, and they will tell you, “put down my drum mat”. The drum mat, the unsung hero of any drummers set up, like any piece of equipment, needs to be protected from the elements, easy to carry and store, quickly identified and secure when packed up.
The new Protection Racket Drum Mat Bag is 100% waterproof, super lightweight and comes with a draw string entry, keeping your mat secure and tightly rolled when packed away. The central carry handle makes it easy to move about, in comparison to the more usual “under the arm” carry job!
Made of tough abrasion resistant nylon, the Protection Racket Drum Mat Bag includes a clear white panel for name and contact details. It comes in two sizes, Single Bass (2m x 1.6m) at an unbelievable £12.99 [$26] RRP and Double bass version (2.75m x 1.6m) at an incredible £13.99 [$28] RRP.
Does the Sound Quality of Metallica’s New Album Suck?
September 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
A whole lot of fans think so (nearly 13,000 so far have petitioned to have Death Magnetic remastered…and you know how goddamn lazy people are about activism), but Lars predictably disagreed yesterday on Blender’s blog:
Listen, there’s nothing up with the audio quality. It’s 2008, and that’s how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin’s whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I’ve heard that there are a few people complaining. But I’ve been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin’ smokin’.
Somebody told me about [people complaining that the Guitar Hero version of Death Magnetic sounds better]. Listen, what are you going to do? A lot of people say [the CD] sounds great, and a few people say it doesn’t, and that’s OK. You gotta remember, when we put out …And Justice for All, people were going, ‘What happened to these guys, this record? There’s no bass on it. It sounds like it was recorded in a fuckin’ garage on an eight-track.’ And now …And Justice for All is sort of the seminal Metallica record that supposedly influenced a whole generation of death-metal bands. The difference between back then and now is the Internet.
The Internet gives everybody a voice, and the Internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice. Listen, I can’t keep up with this shit. Part of being in Metallica is that there’s always somebody who’s got a problem with something that you’re doing: ‘James Hetfield had something for breakfast that I don’t like.’ That’s part of the ride.
I will say that the overwhelming response to this new record has exceeded even our expectations as far as how positive it is. So I’m not gonna sit here and get caught up in whether [the sound] ‘clips’ or it doesn’t ‘clip.’ I don’t know what kind of stereos these people listen on. Me and James [Hetfield] made a deal that we would hang back a little and not get in the way of whatever Rick’s vision was. That’s not to put it on him - it’s our record, I’ll take the hit, but we wanted to roll with Rick’s vision of how Metallica would sound.
RealFeel Bass Drum Practice Pad
September 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Looking out for all of us drummers-on-the-go (not to mention all of us drummers-living-in-small-apartment-buildings), HQ Percussion has unveiled the RealFeel Bass Drum Practice Pad. It’s designed to work with both single and double pedals, and it can fold flat to fit in any travel bag or even a backpack. The foam rubber beater pad was selected for its resistance to wear, soft and unobtrusive sound, and its realistic rebound that will allow drummers to practice foot technique without compromising the feel they’d obtain from a real drum. Hell yeah! It retails for $79.99.
Performance Percussion Goes Electronic
September 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Primarily known for its line of budget acoustic drums, Performance Percussion has entered the sub-$1,000 electronic market with the new PP900E. The kit features five drum pads, a kick pedal, and three cymbal pads (including a hi-hat pad and control pedal). The drum module comes with 215 high-quality voices and 20 preset kit sounds. The entire package retails for about 800 bucks, but we did find one U.K. store selling it for $662.13. At that price point, you’re going to be sacrificing a whole lot of sound quality and feel…but it beats the hell out of playing on telephone books.
Derek Grant Gives MP3s
September 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Before he made a name playing drums in Alkaline Trio, Derek Grant went by the name of Reaper and sang for a band called Dead End. He says on his MySpace page:
For a period of about three years I answered only to the name Reaper. My hair style changed slightly, but I still retained all of the b-movie mentality of those early days (I ask myself now, has it ever gone away?) The tapes I had made found their way into the hands of some older musicians who wanted to start a band, and so Dead End was born….I continued to write new material and when we could, we would borrow devices to record. Thus, documenting the rise of Reaper—through puberty and beyond (you can actually here my voice change throughout these recordings.) After a few short years of playing parties, roller skating rinks, and punk clubs the band drifted apart.
He recently found some of those old Dead End tunes and has made them available for free download here. The MySpace entry also includes artwork and a short synopsis of each song.
[via Buzznet]
Greg Alsop and Tokyo Police Club
September 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Our dude in the trenches caught some surreptitious iPhone pics of Tokyo Police Club’s gig at the Fonda. Drummer Greg Alsop was a little too busy to stop and smile.
77 Boadrum Documentary Film Premiere
September 25, 2008 | 1 Comment
Remember the awesomeness of 88 Boadrum? Well, last year’s equally awesome event, 77 Boadrum, was caught on film and will have its international premiere in New York on October 13. The documentary clocks in at 89 minutes and is in Japanese with English subtitles (we’re assuming the drumming itself doesn’t need any translating). Check out the press release below:
On July 7th, 2007 at 7:07pm, Japan’s musical innovators THE BOREDOMS orchestrated a performance by 77 drummers in New York City. This momentous event was documented by artist Jun Kawaguchi, showing the raw musical force of the instrument and the unique vision of THE BOREDOMS as they brought their experiment to fruition. 77 BOADRUM is the result, and a captivating one at that.
77 BOADRUM, Jun’s first feature film, was chosen by enthusiastic Boredoms admires and music fans, making it one of the top 10 popular films at the New York - Tokyo Film Grand Prix 2008 early on. The film will be premiered at NYTFGP2008 FESTIVAL, with a special guest appearance by Jun and a gathering of drummers who participated in the event.
Oct. 13 (Mon)
Screening 1: Doors open at 6:00pm, Film starts at 7:00pm
Screening 2: Doors open at 8:15pm, Film starts at 9:15pmAnthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue, NYC77 BOADRUM and NYTFGP2008 FESTIVAL Info :
http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/nytfgp2008-festival/
Jun Kawaguchi Interview:
http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/nytfgp2008-interview/General Tickets: $10
online:
http://www.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=28450
http://www.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=28452
Phone: 1-866-55-TICKETS
Travis Barker in Complete VMA Videos
September 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Because we’re all still reeling from the Travis Barker news, MTV has kindly posted the full-length videos of Trav and DJ AM performing at this year’s VMA show. The duo played with Katy Perry, Lupe Fiasco, The Ting Tings, Kid Cudi, and (our sticks-down favorite) LL Cool J. Check out their version of “Going Back to Cali”:
