Holy damn. Metal legend Vinnie Paul is now a ddrum endorser and will be unveiling a whole line of signature products at winter NAMM 2009. Vinnie says in the press release:
I’m proud to announce that I am making the move to Ddrum. This opportunity is giving me the chance to expand beyond playing music and bring my own line of kick ass, affordable drums to skin bashers around the world. Simply put, these drums look and sound amazing. Hell yeah!
A drum maker from London is in the hospital after he inhaled anthrax spores while handling animal skins. That’s a fairly uncommon occupational hazard for drum builders, so if you’re in the business, don’t freak out (…at least don’t freak out completely). From the article:
It is important to stress that it is the making of animal skin drums that is the risk for coming into contact with anthrax rather than playing or handling drums.
The patient concerned makes drums using animal skins for a living. It is through making these drums that exposure to and inhalation of anthrax spores on an imported animal hide occurred. This is an extremely rare case and this type of anthrax cannot be passed from person to person.
Steve Smith just completed a North American tour with his band Jazz Legacy. For those of us who missed them, a 10-minuteish documentary has been posted to YouTube (and, of course, embedded in high quality below).
Most sobering revelation: even drumming royalty have to set up their own kits on jazz tours.
RockPages.gr just scored a nine-minute telephone interview with Tommy Lee. It’s fairly staid stuff, but Tommy’s thoughts on New Tattoo, the Motley album that was recorded with Randy Castillo on drums, are pretty amusing:
Man, that record sucks! [laughs] I might as well have not listened to it at all, at least all of it…I have listened to some of the songs on it and they are absolutely crap! Nikki took some demos of ours from the past, like “Hell On High Heels” that didn’t make it on the Dr. Feelgood album, and put them in there….[it was at that point that Tommy Lee’s assistant asked us politely to end the interview]
Stone Temple Pilots stickman Eric Kretz has to miss the final dates on the band’s North American tour because his father recently passed away. Perennial backup Ray Luzier will fill in.
Was he cut? Did he quit? We don’t really know yet, but Paddy Boom is apparently no longer the skin slapper (…eww) for the Scissor Sisters. The band has released this not-very-explainy statement:
We would like our fans and friends to know that we have amicably parted ways with the original Scissor drummer Paddy Boom. He will no longer be on stage with us but he will always be our sister.
Holy fuckin’ damn. Chinese Democracy, the long-awaited Guns ‘N Roses Axl Rose album, apparently has an actual release date of November 23…November 23 of this year. Brain broke out of the underground, sensory-deprivation cell that all Axl employees are held in to give a few tantalizing bits of info about the disc, namely that over $300,000 was spent to redo Josh Freese’s drum tracks note for note. He also had his kit set up for over five years at Village Recorders studio in Los Angeles. Click the link for a vid interview with Brain.
[Update 2022: Alas, the linked video is no longer active.]
Dixon’s “Drum Your Way to Hollywood” contest concluded last month, and a winner was recently announced: Lou Mars earned himself a Demon kit and the opportunity to play in Hollywood, CA for an A&R panel that includes Matt Messina and Mark Bistany. Lou’s session will even be filmed and aired on the A&R channel. Check out his winning performance below (…and dig on those leg spasms).
Don’t bother sending Ringo any fan mail after October 20, because he’ll just end up chucking it:
This is a serious message to everybody watching my update right now. Peace and love. Peace and love….I want to tell you after the 20th of October please do not send fan mail to any address you have. Nothing will be signed after the 20th of October. If that is the date on the envelope, it’s gonna be tossed. I’m warning you with peace and love I have too much to do. So no more fan mail. Thank you, thank you. And no objects to be signed. Nothing. Anyway, peace and love, peace and love.
Anyway, how about douche and bagy?
…if your bank account has bunches and bunches of zeros to spare. The Metallica drummer will be auctioning a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, “Untitled (Boxer)”, at Christie’s on November 12. The record for a Basquiat work is currently $14 million, but auctioneers are anticipating that “Boxer” will go for a whole lot more. Not that it’s all about the money, of course. Ulrich said:
As a collector I view myself as a caretaker of works of art, rather than simply an owner. I have been fortunate enough to have shared 10 great years with this truly iconic painting by Basquiat, and it is time to put it back into circulation, and let someone else enjoy it as much as I have over the last decade.
So very kind.
…goddamn unbelievably great. At least we hope so. Click on over for a peek at the introduction video featuring Terry Bozzio. From what we can gather, the site will have a strong social media focus (yay!), but there doesn’t appear to be an official, all-of-our-shit-is-live-so-you-can-play-with-it launch date yet (boo!). Stay stuck to the interwebospheres for updates soon.
…But not right away. He’ll first complete Nine Inch Nails’ North American tour, which kicks off October 23. No details yet on why Freese is vacating the NIN throne, but Trent Reznor recently posted this on the band’s website:
Josh Freese fans, be sure to check out a show on the upcoming North American leg of the tour, as sadly they will be the last ones he’s playing with us. He informed me he’s leaving the tour at the end of this year. Yes, we are still dear friends. No, I’m not sure what we are going to do.
Here is a list of dates announced so far (courtesy of Metal Underground):
10.23.08 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
10.25.08 New Orleans, LA Voodoo Festival, City Park
10.28.08 Orlando, FL UCF Arena
10.29.08 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
10.31.08 Nashville, TN Sommet Center
11.01.08 Greenville, SC Bi-Lo Center
11.03.08 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Complex
11.05.08 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena
11.08.08 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
11.09.08 Worchester, MA DCU Center (rescheduled from previous date)
11.11.08 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
11.12.08 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
11.14.08 Hamilton, ON Copps Coliseum
11.15.08 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
11.17.08 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
11.18.08 Fort Wayne, IN Memorial Coliseum
11.20.08 Cedar Rapids, IA US Cellular Center
11.21.08 Columbia, MO Mizzou Arena
11.22.08 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
11.25.08 Minneapolis, MN Target Center (rescheduled from previous date)
11.26.08 Council Bluffs, IA Mid-America Center
11.28.08 Rapid City, SD Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena
11.29.08 Billings, MT MetraPark Arena
12.01.08 Saskatoon, SK Credit Union Centre
12.04.08 Kelowna, BC Prospera Place
12.05.08 Victoria, BC Save On Foods Memorial Centre
12.07.08 Portland, OR Rose Garden Arena
12.08.08 Nampa, ID Idaho Center
12.09.08 Missoula, MT Adams Center
12.12.08 Sacramento, CA Arco Arena
12.13.08 Las Vegas, NV Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino
