Big Drum Thump

Reunion Blues, a longtime maker of instrument bags, has launched a promising site that can help all you gigging thumpers and your bands book an independent tour. Called appropriately enough the Touring Band’s Guide, the site showcases club names and booking personnel’s contact info for 27 (and growing!) of the largest US cities. The site is also a way for musicians to find venues to perform at. If your band submits a venue or hangout to the guide, an entry is created that includes your band’s name, sound clips, photo, and URL—definitely a great way to get exposure. Best of all, of course, all the information is submitted by touring musicians for touring musicians like you. Click on over to the site, and be sure to let us know how the Touring Band’s Guide works out for you.

[Press Release]

Taye Drums is excited to introduce a place that drummers from all over the world can call their own!

MyTaye gives you (yes, you!) your own voice. Post video, pictures, blog (if you already have one, create another—why not have your opinion out there more than once?). You can even post audio files so we can hear your band and hear its progress. This is a place for you to write about your day, your experiences at a show, how your lessons are going or when you get a brand new drum set (even if it’s not a Taye!).

Come let us know who your favorite drummer is and what drumheads you use. Also ask for help, or find a sub or a teacher. It can all be done at one place…MyTaye.com.

Your questions can be answered at http://www.mytaye.com, http://www.tayedrums.com, http://twitter.com/tayedrums, or http://www.myspace.com/usatayedrums.

Come one, come all, join the newest drumming community!

My, my, my. The already swank website Drummer Connection just got even swanker. Check out the new design here, and while you’re there, be sure to watch the FREE drum lessons. Long live the funk chicken!

Click on over and check out Taye’s new site. Product info is easier to find now, and at the bottom of the homepage are some sweet audio files that demonstrate Taye’s drum lines. We have the GoKit groove on permanent repeat.

[Press Release]

Brain, drummer for Guns N’ Roses, launches his official website, Brainbeatz.com, and a video instructional called Brain Has Made The Worst Drum Instructional DVD Ever. Beatz played by Brain are available for download at CD quality. Concert footage, short films, music, and downloads can be viewed at the new website along with a newsletter signup. Wiki aficionados world wide should update their pages with the new official website url.

San Francisco, CA (Billboard Publicity Wire) December 7, 2008 — Drummer extraordinaire, Brain, has toured and recorded with Primus, Tom Waits, Buckethead, Guns N’ Roses and Godflesh, to name a few. Today he debuts his new official website, http://BrainBeatz.com, and a drum instruction video titled “Brain Has Made The Worst Drum Instructional DVD Ever” (or Dogens Irrefutable House of Chop Chop). Wiki aficionados, sponsors and fans worldwide will want to make note of the new website and update their “Brain” links. The new DVD, “Worst”, features Brain’s drumming with the assistance of musical guests Buckethead and DJ Disk, as well as educational segments, inevitable comic relief and “the thirty-six ‘pairs of opposites’ in the activity of the Heart-Mind.”

Brainbeatz.com is a collection of photos, music, and videos from his live performances, short films and instructionals. New drum Beatz are promised every month at http://brainbeatz.com/beatz.php. The Beatz were perfected for songwriters looking for real drum sounds played by Brain. YouTube videos featuring Les Claypool, Bernie Worrell, and Buckethead are rotated with fresh concert footage. One short film, “Brain Buys a Crappy Drumset” is deserving of a reality TV show in itself.

This new DVD follows the success of his cult-favorite “Brain’s Lessons: Shredding Repis on the Gnar Gnar Rad.” Developed in partnership with DW Drums, the new video further illuminates Brain’s inimitable drumming philosophy. When asked why he made the Worst Drum Instructional Ever, Brain said, “I perceived a void in the Heart-Mind and the apparitional voice of Shobogenzo urging me to preach the path of the Nyger Sanction.”

Brain is no stranger to the music industry. Being the featured drummer on the release of “Chinese Democracy” (the long awaited album by Guns N’ Roses), brings another dimension to Brain’s long list of credits. Prior to the record’s release, Brain toured extensively with Primus, recorded several records with Bill Laswell and Praxis, and performed on the “Monster” soundtrack composed by BT. As a composer and producer, he has contributed his talent for TV soundtracks, major release movie trailers and company logos, such as Apple Computer.

The DVD and Beatz are now available at Brainbeatz.com.

Brain can be seen playing with SociaLibrium with Bernie Worrell, Blackbyrd McNight, and TM Stevens at these upcoming concerts:

Where: Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Doors:7:30 PM
Show: 8:00 PM
Tickets: On Sale Now
Tickets available online at gamhtickets.com.

Where: Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO
Date: Friday, January 9, 2009
Doors: 8:30 PM
Show: 9:00 PM
Tickets: On Sale Now
Tickets available online at http://www.foxtheatre.com/Store/ChooseTicket.aspx?sid=15333

at the official Led Zeppelin YouTube channel. The band (or rather its management minions) have uploaded a buttload of bootleg and rare videos, including some shot on spectacularly grainy 8mm. Start off with this performance of “Achilles Last Stand” from a concert in Seattle in 1977:

[via Music Radar]