Big Drum Thump

Drum and Drummer News and Photos

Month: August 2008

  • August Muxtape Update

    Two new tracks have been added to our August Muxtape. The first is Wally Schnalle’s “I Hear You,” a kind of post-bop duet between sax and drums. Many of you may know Schnalle as the music editor for DRUM! Magazine, but you might not have had the chance to hear him tear it up firsthand. He’s sticks down an amazing player. Also check out this vid of him soloing at Yoshi’s in Oakland.

    The second new song is “Bedroom Eyes” from the Josh Dion Band. Dion is the band’s leader, lead singer, and drummer. His groove is incredibly fat, and we love the fact his vocals channel a pretty good amount of soul for a white boy. Maybe there’s some hope.

    Here’s the complete Muxtape as of today:

    1. Wally Schnalle, “I Hear You”
    2. Josh Dion Band, “Bedroom Eyes”
    3. One Day As a Lion, “If You Fear Dying”
    4. Stanton Moore, “(Late Night at the) Maple Leaf”
    5. Sunlight Square, “From the Cosmos”
    6. M8, “Graveyard Girl”
    7. Pnuma Trio, “Improv Jam”
    8. Tower of Power, “Can’t You See (You Doin’ Me Wrong)”
    9. Buddy Miles Express, “Spot on the Wall”
    10. Keller Williams, “Restraint”

    [Update 2022: Muxtape was a great site that allowed bands and listeners to create “mixtapes” with a limited number of songs that could be streamed directly from Muxtape’s site. It was kind of like a custom Spotify way before Spotify existed.]

  • Stoned Temple Pilot

    This “story” about Scott Weiland taking a tumble into Eric Kretz’s kit has been circulating ferociously for about a week now, but it’s way, way overblown. Sure Weiland was drug and/or booze addled (big shock), but we were expecting something a little more Keith Moon-y, with cymbals and drums exploding all over the place. Instead, dude just backs into the drums a bit, and it doesn’t appear that Kretz ever missed a beat. Have a look at the vid below, starting around the 1:23 mark.

  • Travis Barker Drives in the Gumball 3000

    Participants ask that the Gumball be referred to as a “rally,” but it’s really pretty much a race—a 3,000-mile race on public roads. Sound dangerous? Don’t be such a wussy: only a couple of people have died so far.

    The race (er, rally) was founded in 1999 by former model Maximillion Cooper (awesome name, by the way), and the drivers are generally well-to-do car fanatics (e.g., just the entry fee for this year’s Gumball was about $120,000). Along with David Hasselhoff, Orlando Bloom, and Tara Reid, the celeb drivers in the 2008 race include Travis Barker, who we expect to burn some serious rubber as the representative for all thumperkind.
    We’ll be scouring the Web for pics of Trav in his vehicle, which we’re betting is a muscle car with Zildjian Pitch Black logos. Let us know if you got the goods.

  • Chat Live With Tommy Igoe

    Tommy Igoe will be answering questions in Zildjian’s Z-Club chat section tomorrow night at 8 p.m. (EST). He’s toured with name acts like Lauryn Hill, Art Garfunkle, and Blood Sweat & Tears, but most of us know him from the video Groove Essentials, which got many a beginning basher off to the right start.

    …Beginning basher? Shit, we still suck at playing this Mozambique groove.

  • Mighty Mike Terrana

    Man, a major YouTube find today.

    Though he’s not a super well-known thumper here in the States (mostly because he plays with lots of elevator prog musicians like Yngwie Malmsteen), Mike Terrana is pretty damn amazing. Check out this promo piece he did not long ago for ddrum.

  • A Big-Ass Mike Portnoy Interview

    Portnoytes, rejoice. Living Legends Music has posted an 8-part vid interview with Mike. It was recorded on May 31, 2008, at Hard Rock Live, and in it the drummer chats about the beginnings of Dream Theater, the band’s extraordinary success, and all kinds of extraneous miscellanea that is easy to listen to because Mike himself is so engaging.

    From the fourth vid comes our drumming quote of the week: “I’m not at all a technical gear guy….I just love to get up there and beat the crap out of stuff.”