Whether with stick or pen, Peart never fails to entertain the shit out of us. So with very empty bowels, we’re happy to report that the Prof’s latest travel rumination has posted to his site here. It’s the product of more than 7,000 motorcycling miles, and as usual, the prose is pleasant and engaging. Our favorite parts? The parenthetical asides, of course. Peart busts out with references to Ponce de Léon, horned larks, Joseph Smith, and Blaise Pascal.
Who could not love this guy?…
The Guardian’s review of Brian Blade’s latest album, Season of Changes, is one long adjectival orgasm:
[Blade’s] rich tapestry of cymbal variations, swelling snare-rolls and asymmetrical accents, coupled with an unfaltering heartbeat of a pulse, marks out an unusually emotional drummer.
Don’t speak music-critic? Check this out to see (and hear) what the reviewer means.
Well, Zak Starkey is definitely not manning the Oasis throne any longer (though we still don’t know if he was booted or jumped off), and the brothers Gallagher have wasted no time in announcing a replacement—Chris Sharrock.
…Who the hell is he? Sharrock is none other than the drummer who until a few days ago had spent over a decade backing up Robbie Williams.
And just who the hell is Robbie Williams? He’s that Brit dude who did “Angels” way back in 1997 and still makes a good number of 30-something Continental hotties swoon.
Because Oasis still makes only a small number of 30-something music geeks swoon, we’re not terribly sure Sharrock made the right decision.
(A side note more interesting than the actual news item: swiping Sharrock is apparently quite a catty coup for Noel Gallagher, who once called Williams “the fat dancer from Take That.”)
This isn’t officially confirmed yet, but Zak Starkey’s tenure as thumper-in-residence for Oasis might be over. According to a “source”:
There have been arguments with Noel Gallagher and general disagreements. It looks like the album will be [Starkey’s] last involvement with the band.
Good. That leaves Starkey more time for his second—and altogether cooler—gig with The Who.
We’re sorry to report that Lit drummer Allen Shellenberger has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Test results and his prognosis are all pending at this time. The band has released the following statement on its MySpace page:
We are sad to have to be writing you all this letter. Our brother, Allen Shellenberger, is currently in the hospital undergoing testing and treatment for a brain tumor that was just discovered. We are still not sure what his prognosis is and we are all standing by and waiting for test results to come in. Please say a prayer and keep him in your thoughts.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to make the shows this week in the UK and Europe. We were all so excited to come. At this point we have to just stay put and be by Allen while he goes through this difficult time. We will make it up to you as soon as we can. We know some fans who made travel plans from other countries to see us and we apologize for the inconvenience.
Our West Coast dates right now are on hold until we know what is going on.
We will post another update soon. Allen sends his thanks for the well wishes and he’s sorry we had to cancel these shows. We’ll be showing Allen the Lit myspace page with your comments of support.
All of us here at the BDT have our sticks crossed for Allen, and we’d like to thank the Lit guys for the song that made listening to mainstream radio in 1999 possible:
Two surprises today regarding Zac Hanson: the little drummer dude is now a not-at-all-little 22 years old, and he seems like a pretty thoughtful fellow. In this interview with Second Supper, he chats about the history of his band and the future direction of the music industry. He also gives the second negative comment about Def Jam records we’ve read this week from a drummer. Zac recounts:
We ended up on Island/Def Jam. The fact that Def Jam was involved made it not a good home for us. The way they run their business—and you see this more and more—is based on a quarterly model. Records take more than three months to make and promote, and you can’t be successful in a setup that demands immediate payoff. So we were in a terrible home, with people from legal backgrounds instead of creative. This isn’t an industry that is looking to build careers. Labels are starting to do a 360 Deal, where they want to own your Web site, merchandising, touring, not just your recording. We don’t want to be in a dying industry. It was time to go, so we forged our own label….To me, the future is in building partnerships with passionate fan bases. The quality we offer needs to be what brings the fan back. The business of selling music is still alive and well, but the industry is dying. We want to create a new model, using tools like the Internet to level the playing field.
Nicely put. And now for the obligatory “MMMBop” video.
The Roots released Rising Down this week, so drummer Questlove has been making the publicity rounds with characteristic forthrightness. First up is an interview in which he lambastes the band’s record label, Def Jam, for failing to promote the new album successfully:
They don’t know we shot the Rising Down video. They just know they approved an [electronic press kit] budget.
And then he chats with the New York Post about the problem with hip-hop in general:
Hip-hop is like a 34-year-old single woman with two children right now….The excitement is totally missing. Plus, there isn’t anyone really talking about anything relevant.
What, apple bottoms aren’t relevant anymore?
It was a sad day indeed when System of a Down called it quits went on indefinite hiatus, but drummer John Dolmayan didn’t sit around sobbing into his stick bag. Instead, he joined forces with guitarist Daron Malakian (the big brains behind System) to form a new, hopefully way bitchin’ band—Scars on Broadway. They are currently pitching the group’s debut disc to labels and aiming for a late summer release.
Oh, sweet lady Absinthe, wrecker of brains and livers, what did Mikkey Dee ever do to deserve the likes of you?
While in Prague, the Motorhead drummer took a couple shots of the toxic green booze, and by evening’s end he was naked in some other dude’s bathroom. His confession:
I woke up…with a man screaming at me. I had been sleepwalking, walked into someone else’s bathroom and fallen asleep. I ran out and discovered that I was naked and without my room key. I had to take the elevator, an elevator made out of glass, down to the hotel reception.
Awesomely good times. If your cable company happens to offer the show Extra Extra! on Sweden’s TV3, you can watch Dee tell the tale himself. Let us know if strapping metal drummers blush.
Of course this would happen. We spend a few days unplugged in Seattle, and the whole friggin’ ‘Net explodes with great drumming news. Case in point: Rolling Stone‘s recently posted interview with Lars Ulrich. In it, the Metallica drummer talks about the future of brick-and-mortar record stores, why music video games are fucking awesome, and how the band may one day release and distribute music through the Web. Ulrich says:
We want to be as free a players as possible. We’ve been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we’ll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.
Really? Did Lars just hint at a name-your-price option for downloading a Metallica album?…Did the rulers of the recording industry just take a collective crap in their bohemian-chic designer pants?
You read that right—the bloody freakin’ Wall Street Journal. The publicity blitz for the upcoming Roots album, Rising Down, has clearly entered the take-no-prisoners phase if Questlove is chatting with Establishment press. But we’ll let that sleight pass because the piece is actually quite interesting, a list of the drummer’s favorite albums that have a unifying theme or message. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and (perennial Thompson favorite) Prince made the cut.
Who is on your list?
The guys over at Drummer Connection have posted a longish, picture-replete review of two Famularo clinics. Dom apparently tore it up, and John Blackwell even put in a surprise guest appearance at one of the shows. The thing we really want to know, though, is this: did Dom manage not to knock off his glasses this time?
[Update 2022: Alas, Drummer Connection is no longer active. The site was very cool, especially for the time, so hopefully the owners will revive it at some point. Also, the amazing video of Dom accidentally knocking his glasses off while ripping a drum solo is no longer available, and that sucks because anyone who plays with that much energy always gets mad props from us. It needs to be witnessed. If anyone locates it, please drop a link in the comments.]
Whoa, remember Loudness, Japan’s contribution to ’80s crotch rock? We’d completely forgotten the group even existed until Blabbermouth reported yesterday that drummer Munetaka Higuchi is fighting liver cancer. After finishing up a few gigs this week with a replacement drummer, the band will go on hiatus until Higuchi gets back to stick-wielding shape. We wish him a speedy recovery…and send him and all the Loudness guys a hearty thanks for this side-splitting trip down leather-studded lane:
But it’s for an awesome reason: The Smashing Pumpkins are going to be inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk. Chamberlin and Billy Corgan will be on hand April 23, 2008, to stick their hands in cement outside the Guitar Center on Sunset. They’ll then perform for the lucky bastards who get inside the store. We’re trying to be one of those lucky bastards, but no one is returning our emails. And we even pretended to be from Modern Drummer. Might just have to settle for this.
Well, it’s actually The Who’s greatest TV hits, but Moonie features in most of them. Our favorite is definitely the band’s legendary appearance on the Smothers Brothers Show in 1967:
Unbeknown to anyone, Keith Moon had bribed a stage-hand with alcohol to pack his bass drum with a surfeit of explosives. As the band ended My Generation with their trademark stage-destruction, the cameras were momentarily blinded by the blast. As the smoke cleared, Moon lay on the floor, his arm sliced open by cymbal shrapnel, Townshend’s hair was on fire and, it is said, his hearing damaged for ever. Waiting in the studio’s wings, Bette Davis fainted in Mickey Rooney’s arms. Naturally, the band was banned from further US shows.
Now, that is rock and fuckin’ roll.
