But we aren’t exactly sure how much. Drummer Gorman sued his former Black Crowes bandmates back in April for unpaid royalties. Explaining the lawsuit, Gorman said:
“For more than five years, my attorneys and I have made repeated requests to review the Partnership’s books to confirm the accuracy of royalty payments and my share, but Chris and Rich have consistently ignored my rights [to do so].”
Now the two sides have apparently closed in on a settlement, but the ink isn’t dry yet. Whatever the amount, we hope it keeps him in sticks and shiny new bangables for all his days.
[via Ultimate Classic Rock. UCR is totally kick-ass by the way, so check them out if ’70s and ’80s and a smidge of ’90s rock is your thing.]
Bonham would have been 70 this year. To commemorate the birth of the gloriously-phat-footed one, a giant bronze statue has been erected in his hometown of Redditch, Worcestershire, in the UK. Cash for the statue was actually raised by Bonzo fans, so that makes it even better. Hopefully there shall be yearly pilgrimages. Who’s in?
Think you got what it takes to sit on Jimmy’s throne? Then sharpen your best pair of sticks and step on up: Billy Corgan is holding open auditions for a new Pumpkins drummer. Auditions will take place Friday, April 10, 2010, in Los Angeles. All requirements—including photograph/headshot, background info, and links to digital files—must be sent via e-mail to pumpkinsdrummer@gmail.com.
Our complete collection of drum photos from NAMM 2009 is now available on Flickr. Over 600 pictures made the cut (many more had to be abandoned, the unfortunate victims of whacked lighting or seriously stupid user error), and they all are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution agreement, which means you can essentially do anything you want with our images—share them, post them, adapt them—with no fear of copyright infringement. Just give us some link love in return. Some of the drum pics are also available in hi-res versions, so if you’d like any, send us a shout.
As soon as the doors opened on Thursday at NAMM 2009, Sabian kicked things off with an official press conference for us drumming journos. Along with announcing a spateof new cymbals and the very intriguing “One of 100” project, Sabian management talked about the struggling economy and how the company was prepared to tough it out. Founder Robert Zildjian even put in an appearance, acknowledging the layoffs that we reported on last month and finding for his company something of a silver lining in the current cash crunch: Sabian is set to survive the economic downturn, but many smaller cymbal manufacturers probably won’t.
While that Darwinian attrition may be good news for established businesses, it doesn’t exactly leave me with the warm fuzzies. I like that there are (or at least that there were) opportunities for new and creative cymbal companies to put interesting or less expensive products on the market. I like choice. I like options. And I definitely like that the little guys can bust out with big innovations.
But what do you think? Are there too many little companies causing “confusion in the cymbal market,” as Robert Zildjian implied, or are there not enough options out there for you? Do you play one of the big four—Zildjian, Sabian, Paiste, Meinl? Or do you prefer one of the smaller brands?
I, your humble SFL, drew the big straw at DC headquarters and packed all my niftiest electro-gadgets to go cover NAMM, the music industry’s largest and loudest trade show in America. I spent the day attending press events, snapping tons of pictures, eye humping all the great drum gear, and chatting with friends old and new. Over the next few days, I’ll post frequently about all the cool bangables that have been unveiled at the show. Be sure to check out our Flickr page for the complete stream of photos (it will be inundated once I get Flickr to play nice with an ailing—though venerable, dammit!—G4 iBook).
The economy is tanking, the music industry of yesteryear is finally gasping its last breath, and recording studios worldwide are on life support, but that doesn’t mean that enterprising drummers won’t find a way to keep working. Mix has published two great articles that detail how Dave Weckl and Russ Miller have each created a new-school business model for drummers by recording custom tracks from their home studios. If you’re at all interested in being a session drummer, be sure to read these pieces to learn what a “session” is fast becoming.
Remember Winger, that much derided eyeliner band from the ’80s who scored big with “Seventeen” and had the awesome Rod Morgenstein on drums? Well, Kip Winger, the band’s ballet-dancing front man, recently gave an interview to Metal Sludge in which he spoke quite candidly to a dude dressed in a banana suit. When asked the last time he threw darts at a photo of Lars Ulrich (a reference to Lars chucking pointy projectiles at a photo of Kip in a scene from A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica), the Kipster said:
I’ve never done that. I really never had anything against the guy. In fact, when I first heard Metallica’s Black Album, I thought it was a really cool record… and then they just started taking shots at me, for whatever reason. But it’s okay, Lars is not really that talented. He’s got a lot of fucking money, though, so I’m sure he’s happy. I actually felt sorry for him when I saw that Some Kind of Monster documentary. He was sitting there next to his dad, just seething with unmoved emotion over things that were still unresolved. It was really kind of sad to watch. But I do like Metallica, they’re a good band.
Questlove and the rest of the Roots survived a major bus crash last Wednesday in France. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. In fact, ‘Love was blogging about the accident only 30 minutes after it happened. Here is the entry from his MySpace blog:
“I used to live life, like there was no manana Now I’m treatin every breath, like it was “your honor” malik b, 1999 “the spark” from things fall apart
well…since we are sitting on the side of the road. what better way to pass the time while the ambulance comes then to….blog.
–actually i spoke too soon….the above was written an hour ago. now im in a roadside motel trying to make sense of this all. the last things i remember are eating 2 pieces of cold pizza and a bowl of rice krispies and watching will ferrel’s nuts dance on top of john c. riley’s drumset in step brothers. because it was the ghetto bootleg barbershop version i was more or less wondering when the guy in the theater was going to say “watch….this is the good part” to me as the movie went on.
as usual i fell asleep. now normally i woulda been working overtime in preparing my dj set for my paris afterparty on friday but something actually said “meh leave it alone”–
i don’t wanna get all deep like it was an omen but those that know me (look at my twit/facebook/myspace/okayplayer/blip history) know that when not onstage i am glued to my computer, doing some sort of activity like converting music or tv shows. but this was a rare occurrence in which i actually went to sleep.
next thing i knew was the most surreal feeling ever…. was i upside down? why am i covered in cereal? oh shit….that coffee pot is coming for my face!!! in reality the crash was all of about 7 seconds….but to do a 360 on the highway and end up ramped up (the van that crashed into ours was UNDER our double decker bus) in the air….is….well… a frigging miracle.
my first thought was not move a fucking inch. i always had fear that we would fall off a cliff while in high mountain traveling like denver or switzerland. i couldn’t tell where gravity began and ended. i felt like i did 3000 crunches so obviously my side of the bus was now on the ground (the only way i can describe the position was imagine yourself on a bus sitting down…..now postion yourself sitting on the left side of the bus….now overturn the bus so that it tips over and falls to the right side. now on top of all that position the front of the bus to stand smack dab in the middle of the air as if a ramp was holding it up 90 degrees.
now add in my drill sgt of a tour manager keith mcphee being keith (which is basically to say no one does intensity or UBER intensity like he does. i ….was……try….ing……to…..rea….ch….my ….ipod so i can channel him out. its like every word he yelled was making this situation much worse than it was…. “……effrom you alive?!?!?!? (yes)……….”frank are you alive!?!?!?”…….frank?!!?!?!!?!? FRANK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!…….—“
it was then i realized the severe nature of the accident and i was NOT in the mood to prep myself on whether or not the remaining 12 people upstairs (i know its a dumb reference but look up the Spiceworld movie on youtube and you can see the type of double decker bus that we were traveling on. i hold court downstairs cause noone can stomach the stench of the urine induced potty in the downstairs lounge. —after 15 mins you dont notice it all that much)—so i was holding court downstairs and the 12 of them were asleep in the bunks. i dont do bunks and this day proves why.
i just wanted someone to calmly tell me the weight of my body was NOT going to push us down a mountainside. then i wanted assurance that the bus was NOT going to explode.
my drum tech d was the first to make sure i was okay and since the Mcpheepanic mode was setting in…the way he was asking me was rather…..panicky (thanks palin) and based on the fact that he was walking on the ceiling indeed let me know that this wasn’t no fender bender i was in…..this shit might be the real deal based on how he managed to spiderman walk on the ceiling.
or….am i now on the ceiling? and why do i have to use every stomach muscle just to sit upright?….wait….. am i upside down? damnit…..im upside down……lemme just shift my body to…..oh shit….just…..wait if i can just….lift this….leg to…. damn. i need something to hold on to to hoist myself up in the air. i grabbed on to the table and somehow forgetting that i am NOT smedium (riiiiiiiiiiiip!) the entire table ripped from its foundation and was now on the ceiling….which is now the floor.
this is also when i noticed that i am covered in coffee and tea and bread and about 3 bags of cereal multiple water bottles and dvds and broken glass. and….oh god….did the bathroom fluid overturn too? (yes….and YUCK) hearing cars outside i now know that i am not going to fall down the mountain side…..were are on the highway. but i can see out the right side of window and i see trees and hills….but i hear car horns and yelling. and where the hell is the ambulance?!?!?
keith is yelling and im begging him “please don’t yell”—but keith dont know calm…..but now he got me thinking something is gonna happen is i DONT get off this bus. problem is the door that i would get out of is now the ground. and i am disillusioned and have no sense of direction. he is telling me i must make my way upstairs and crash my way through the window and escape. im yelling “where is everyone else?!?!” and i am informed that me and the driver are the only two trapped downstairs. now the problem is….im not the smallest person in the world and now i have to use uber arm strength to climb my way out of this bus and figure how to hoist myself without the aid of anything to hold on to.
hard shit indeed.
i made leeway to the stairs when it hit me that all my ID and wallet and lifeline are in my personal bag….allllllllllllllll the way on the other side of the bus. i do the contemplate should i shouldn’t i (“i should” won) now it was “how?!”
the only way i can describe it is that scene in back to the future when doc is in the clock tower and had mere seconds to connect a broken plug that will power marty mcfly’s car with 1.8 jiggawatts of lightening power. and winds up using every body part to ensure this goes down the correct way. so my left arm is hoisting my body up and my right arm and left leg are…..trying ……to …..grab……within……inches….my……bag…..(accidents wind up giving you strength you never knew you had….i carried my bag with my legs while i crawled my way upstairs like i was joe the paraplegic on family guy—all the while keith is being keith
ahmir ARE YOU OK!?!?! AHMIR PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!!!! im like….wait…am i even alive? like what if i “think” im alive when in actually im not like the movies?—-the next 2 minutes proved how alive i was for i managed to crawl through spaces and holes and broken shattered glass like a contortionist blindfolded….
when i got outside…..and looked at what i crawled out of? man. i just couldn’t believe it. i mean….how in the hell did we experience this? how did we manage to….man….. dog we are soooo alive right now. and yes we went through all that shit people go through when they go through accidents. dazed. amazed. grateful. laughing?
of course as i type this its a whole nother story: i think the ambulance workers have caught wind of who we are (ze seed?) and there are about 20 ambulance workers and 10 cops. asking alot of questions in french (we so need tina faris right now)
as i type this we are waiting in line to get examined. (some of us have cuts and neck braces on)—keith is still at the bus trying to salvage what he can (amazingly the uhaul extension is still intact) im a ok. i called my mom and some loved ones. and i managed to twit in the ambulance with artless iphone (wanted to be the first celeb to twit from an ambulance)—i guess im just passing the time and taking advantage of the free “internets” and the worlds best bread (yes….the french bread is all that)
as for the future? if we make it to our slot on the glow in the dark tour in paris that too will be a miracle. til then just wanna let everyone know that we are happy to be alive. and not in that tv cliche way….but man……that was divine intervention. we are so grateful for this outcome.
Put your lowly cabasa player out of job with Meinl’s new foot bling. The clever little pedal allows you to play cabasa rhythms with your foot while your hands are free for conga, timbale, or kit thumping. It features a steel-chain drive, a stainless steel cylinder within a wooden cabasa body, and a black powder-coated pedal. The instrument can also be set to sound on downstrokes only or both upstrokes and downstrokes. It’s all yours for a $259 MSRP.
You see? Hot chicks not only dig drummers: they sometimes even want to be drummers. The delightful, delectable Dido discovered just how much fun skin bashing could be as she was recording her recently released third album:
Drumming made me listen to music differently—especially when I started playing along with things. I would do this thing of playing along with my iPod. I’d actually love to be in a band at some point. The thing that would excite me next, to learn more, would be to play for someone else while they’re singing. That would be really interesting.
According to E!, Barker’s attorneys have filed a negligence lawsuit against both the owner and the manufacturer of the Learjet that crashed on September 19. The court documents claim that “one or more of the tires failed, leaving tire debris and portions of airplane components along the 8,600 foot runway.” The pilot is accused of making a “negligent attempt to abort the takeoff,” and a number of the plane’s parts and components are alleged to have been “not airworthy.”
We’ll keep you updated—Perry Mason like—as details unfold.
It’s been only a couple of months since Travis Barker survived a plane crash and was seriously burned, but he’s already back in the studio and playing drums. He made the announcement today on MTV’s Total Request Live (which finally and mercifully has gone the way of the dodo). Barker said, “I’m already playing my drums again….It was like riding a bike. It was really exciting to know I still have my chops. It still felt good. I still can make it around the kit. Everything felt right, so I’m thankful to be able to play.”
Shit yeah! Check out the complete interview below.
[Update 2022: the original vid from 2008 on MTV appears to be out of circulation, but we’ve embedded to newer material below where Travis talks about his experience surviving the crash. Harrowing, life-altering stuff.]
Ain’t this a wretched bitch? Here I am about to catch a flight to testicle-freezing Seattle, and the Drummer Talk dudes are hanging at PASIC in Austin. Thankfully, Dave is live blogging as many clinics as he can squeeze into a day and uploading bunches of pics for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Click the PASIC tag on DT to follow along. And click again to read Dave’s post on the Erik Smith clinic.
The critically ill drum maker whom we posted about two days ago has died from inhaling anthrax spores. In this follow-up report, the BBC explores the potential dangers of handling animal skins that will be turned into drumheads. From the piece:
Drum makers are at risk, however low, during the preparation of the skin, which involves stretching it over the frame and scraping hair from the hide to give it a smooth finish. The danger lies in inhaling agitated spores or an open wound becoming infected.
