Boston Drum Center has posted a little clip of a 17″ Zildjian Rezo in action. Fast-forward to the 0:12 mark.
Month: July 2008
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Rikki Rockett Bitch Slaps Joe Elliott…
Verbally bitch slaps, that is.
It seems that all is not well in the Land of Old Rocker Dudes. During a June 6 press conference at the Sweden Rock Festival, Def Lep vocalist Joe Elliott made a kinda snippy comment about ’80s glam bands:
…[W]e were never driven to do the mascara thing or whatever these bands did. They didn’t have any substance musically, I don’t think, in comparison to us, so we didn’t feel we needed to do it. Bands that do that are doing it to cover up the fact that there is no substance in their music. The only band—and I’m not saying it because we’re here—the only band that did pull it off was [Finland’s] Hanoi Rocks. I thought Hanoi Rocks were a good band, and they looked….Michael Monroe [Hanoi’s vocalist] was one of the best….I would have shagged him. [Laughs] I like Michael, I think he’s sexy, and I’m not gay. And I think Andy McCoy [Hanoi’s guitarist] does the best kind of Keith Richards…so much better than Motley Crue or Poison or any of those bands. They [Hanoi Rocks] were real: the rest of the guys, it was all a bit fake for me.”
Poison frontman Bret Michaels politely responded the next day by essentially saying, “Look who the fuck is talking,” and Rikki Rockett, fresh from his exoneration megafete, added this on his MySpace page yesterday:
I know, it’s kinda old news at this point, but I must say a few words about Joe Elliot (Def Leppard) talkin’ some smack about Poison and Motley. Mainly because he is continuing to talk smack in other interviews as well.
Now, I’m sure Motley can defend themselves, so I’ll leave that alone and Bret did cover it rather well. However, I was talkin’ with some friends last night and we were shaking our heads wondering when Joe became a rock historian. Well, Joe, when did ya? Do you think saying bad things about another band makes people like your band more? Oh, no. Can’t be it. Let me guess, “You were JUST being honest.” Look, I have always enjoyed Def Leppard. But, as of late that pre-programmed, Mutt Lang live record you guys are doing out there on tour is anything but “substance”. JUST being honest.Joe! I’d be hurt if this were coming from John Lennon. Listen up, you are not quite that important there fella! Ya know, just like you I put my pants on one leg at a time, but when I put mine on Joe, they are cooler than yours! But, does it really matter? So it takes about 1 minute and 45 seconds to put on eyeliner. I suppose during that same time you were writing the next “Imagine”. In the words of the great Aerosmith, “Get a grip!” Oh, and by the way, just to add to your royal information pool of rock history, Sir Joe, in the 70’s it was “Glitter Rock”, in the 80’s it was Glam Rock.
We shall await Joe’s retort, which will probably at least sound clever because he’s got that awesome English accent.
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Zildjian K Custom Dry Complex II Rides
Man, Zildjian is seriously busting out with the new gear lately. First Pitch Blacks, then Rezos, and now Dry Complex II rides in the K Custom line. They were designed in consultation with jazz guru Bill Stewart and feature a wider bell design with a lower profile that helps to control metallic overtones, hence the “dry” in the cymbals’ moniker. Three sizes are available: 20″, 22″, and a big old 24″.
Check out the promo vid, again not capable of being embedded, here.
Sigh.[Update 2022: the promo vid is down of course, but we’ve embedded a demo vid from our fav cymbal-demo-channel, Memphis Drum Shop.]
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Rainn Wilson Talks Drums…
And some other stuff in this interview about The Rocker, but it’s really only the drums that matter, of course. He says:
How tough was it to learn drumming? I took drum lessons with this guy named Stuart Johnson who’s been in a lot of bands and we got to work for a couple of weeks before I went up to Toronto and really, he was just playing me like Zeppelin and White Stripes and a lot of real basic drum beats. So we worked on a lot of basic drumming, but then he also really coached me on the specifics of heavy metal drumming which is a whole art form to itself.
Cool. Almost cool enough that we can overlook the misspelling of Neil Peart’s name:
Yeah, we went to see Rush. There weren’t any really metal bands playing at the time when we were shooting in Toronto. We certainly didn’t have time. We were shooting 6 days a week, but we went to play with Rush and got to hang out with Neil Pierce and got to actually play his drum set. That was a pretty rare privilege.
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Rockstar Mayhem Tour Dates
Here are 25 opportunities to see Joey Jordison and Brann Dailor live. What you waitin’ for, maggots?
7/16 San Diego, CA (Coors Amphitheatre)
7/18 Phoenix, AZ (Cricket Wireless Pavilion)
7/19 Albuquerque, NM (Journal Pavilion)
7/20 Denver, CO (Coors Amphitheatre at Fiddler’s Green)
7/22 Kansas City, MO (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
7/23 St. Louis, MO (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)
7/25 Dallas, TX (Smirnoff Music Centre)
7/26 San Antonio, TX (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)
7/27 Houston, TX (Sam Houston Race Park)
7/29 Tampa, FL (Ford Amphitheatre)
7/30 West Palm Beach, FL (Cruzan Amphitheater)
8/1 Virginia Beach, VA (Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater)
8/2 Pittsburgh, PA (Post-Gazette Pavilion)
8/3 Scranton, PA (Toyota Pavilion)
8/5 Boston, MA (Tweeter Center for Performing Arts)
8/6 Uniondale, NY (Nassau Coliseum)
8/8 Toronto, ON (Downsview Park)
8/9 Detroit, MI (DTE Energy Music Theatre)
8/10 Chicacgo, IL (First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre)
8/12 Atlanta, GA (Lakewood Amphitheatre)
8/13 Indianapolis, IN (Verizon Wireless Music Center Indianapolis)
8/15 Camden, NJ (Tweeter Center At The Waterfront)
8/16 Hartford, CT (New England Dodge Music Center)
8/17 Washington, DC (Nissan Pavilion)
8/19 Buffalo, NY (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)
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Zildjian’s Pitch Black Promo Vid
Today is the day that Zildjian officially unveils its Pitch Black line (even though pics and prices and actual purchasable product leaked weeks ago). The promo vid, irritatingly unembeddable, is available here on the Zildjian site and features Diecast drummer Dennis Pavia bashing the new cymbals.
Surprisingly, they don’t seem completely horrible…but there ain’t no way we’re trading in our A Customs. Sound quality, after all, is still the new black.
[Update 2022: the official promo video is no longer available, but there is a different version in French below as well as some other vid tidbits.]
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Budget Bashing With Rogers
Once a celebrated manufacturer, the Rogers drum company fell on hard times and was almost relegated to the history books before Yamaha stepped up and bought the name last year. Of course, it might have been better to let Rogers die with a little dignity instead of becoming a budget brand aimed squarely at beginning players. But what can you do? We live in some ruthless times.
Yamaha is, however, at least expanding the Rogers line with new sizes and finishes in the Trailblazer and Prospector series. The first new Trailblazer kit features a 20″ kick, 10″ and 12″racks, a 14″ floor tom, and a matching 14″ wood snare. The second Trailblazer set boasts a 24″ bass drum, 12″ rack, 16″ floor, and a 14″ x 6.5″ steel snare drum. The latest Prospector configuration sports a wee 18″ kick, a 12″ tom, 14″ floor tom, and a matching 14″ wood snare. No mention of what wood the drums are made of, but it’s probably some poplar or poplar-like mix, the standard for entry-level drums now.
The new finishes include this not-too-shabby Brushed Copper in the Trailblazer series. Definitely better than a bunch of cardboard boxes anyway.
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Sgt. Pepper Drum Sells at Auction…
And for a shitload more than we were led to believe a few weeks ago. The iconic Pepper drum was expected to fetch $195,000, but it actually raked in over $1 million. Not even the lyrics to John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” sold for that much.
We drummers finally get our due?
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Zildjian Rezo Crashes
Not content to unveil only one much-talked-about line of cymbals (can you say Pitch Black?), Zildjian is showing off some sweet-looking new crashes called Rezos. They are part of the A Custom line and feature alternating bands of spiral and full lathing techniques in traditional and brilliant finishes. You can grab ’em up in six sizes: 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″, 19″, and 20″.
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Chad Sexton Loves It Live
Chad Sexton and his 311 mates may be in the thick of writing and recording a new album with Bob Rock, but the drummer knows what is ultimately important to his band’s longevity:
I think we have the same appeal as a band like the Grateful Dead….We have some Deadheads in the band, and when they stopped touring, Phish kind of took over for them, and maybe Dave Matthews Band has some of that same appeal as well. We can jam on our [songs] like those bands, but I’d say we’re kind of a band between—and I’m not comparing us to these bands, but just in the level of status and accomplishment, and that they’re still together—U2 and Phish. It’s somewhere in the middle of that, and we’re hoping to define that a little better over the next couple of years. It’s a weird phenomenon: We keep playing, and kids are having a great time every summer….We wanted to make sure we tour every summer, regardless of our records, because we’re here to play live music. We don’t want to spend a summer getting away from the people.
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Lars Ulrich Talks About Covering Iron Maiden
If you’re anything like Web-worshiping us, you probably let your U.K. magazine subscriptions expire long ago. Who needs the overseas shipping charges, not to mention all that extra paper?
Well, dear thumpers, that was a big, stupid-ass mistake because the upcoming issue of Kerrang! will include a CD of Iron Maiden cover tunes performed by Metallica, Machine Head, Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, Dream Theater, and lots of shreddin’ others. How cool is that? According to Lars Ulrich, about 10% cooler than you first thought:
Iron Maiden are 10 percent cooler than every other band….From their relationship with their fans, to their album covers to their stages, to their live presentation, to their photos—whatever they did was always cooler than what everyone else did! I have always had an incredible amount of respect and admiration for them and obviously getting a chance to be part of this CD feels like that has come a full circle. We played “Remember Tomorrow” as it was basically the blueprint for songs like “Fade To Black” and “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”, and some of the more epic ballady type of songs that Metallica had done later. We had so much fun jamming with this! We put a bit of an intro on it, to give it a bit of a Metallica stamp, and we are super pleased with how it has turned out.
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Drummer Mike Malinin on Tour With Goo Goo Dolls
The Goos are putting in a little road time before returning to the studio:
July 2008
19 – Cadott, WI (Rock Fest)
26 – Indianapolis, IN (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)August 2008
22 – Syracuse, NY (New York State Fair)
23 – Salamanca, NY (Seneca Allegany Casino)December 2008
31 – Atlantic City, NJ (House of Blues)
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Matt Cameron’s New Band
It’s called Harrybu McCage, it’s a jazz trio, and it’s pretty close to AWESOME. Check out the band’s MySpace page for a two-song sample. The self-titled debut goes on sale tomorrow in stores, but you can order it now if you manage to successfully navigate the labyrinth of Pearl Jam’s online store.
