Aw yeah, Hudson Music is about to unleash a new Jason Bittner DVD, What Drives the Beat. It’ll clock in at three hours and feature Bittner demonstrating enough concepts to fill a six-hour DVD:
Check the vid below for a sneak peek.
Music Towers sat down with drummer John Dolmayan to chat about the stuff that’s really important: Warcraft, comic books, and not having to pay state income tax.
Our only gripe? It appears that John is (sigh) a PC, not a Mac.
[Update 2022: Agh, it appears that Music Towers is now defunct and the videos have disappeared. Lesson learned: we need to steal these awesome videos and host them ourselves.]
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[Update 2022: Alas, the linked video is no longer active.]
We’ve been playing around with the various camera views available for the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert that will be streamed today at the Drum Channel. The drum cam view and video interface are pictured below. Image quality is very good so far, but we haven’t been able to get an audio sample yet. Sticks crossed for auditory fabulousness.
[Update 2022: the vid screenshot has alas been lost to time.]
The show stars at 4:30 p.m. (PST). The concert schedule is as follows:
Update: Click Channel 5, called “Backstage,” for pre-show chatter with Bozzio et al. Audio seems quite good—a little out of sync every now and then with the video, but quite watchable. This will likely be affected by your connection speed, of course, and how many folks are logged on.
Update: Terry Bozzio is performing songs from Cowboy Bebop!
Don’t forget to tune in for the Drum Channel‘s live stream of the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert tomorrow. It starts at 7:30 p.m. EST (4:30 p.m. PST), and with Neil Peart, Chad Smith, Terry Bozzio, and lots of other greats performing, it’s not a show you’ll want to miss. We don’t want to hear any excuses: the live stream is freakin’ free!
Corey Miller is a star tattoo artist who has lent his inking eye to help create Ludwig’s latest limited-edition kit. The set features a 22″ x 22″ bass drum, 14″ x 7″ snare, 12″ x 8″ rack, 16″ x 14″ floor tom, and of course Miller’s tattoo art on a White Marine Pearloid wrap. No word yet on the price or exactly how limited a “limited-edition” set it is, but we’re betting the drums are not the most wallet friendly on the market today. If you’re tough enough to play these things, though, you’re probably tough enough to steal them. Let us know how the thievery goes.
By the way, the cool pic of Corey below was taken by Robert Downs, music photographer extraordinaire. We recently sat down for a lengthy chat with Robert about his time behind the camera and what it’s like photographing some of the world’s greatest drummers. Keep your eyes peeled for the interview.
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.
Limited-edition T-shirts honoring Chris Baker and Charles “Che” Still will be sold by Travis Barker’s clothing site, Famous Stars and Straps, starting October 13. The shirt was designed by pro skateboarder and Famous Stars manager Felix Arguelles and artist Maxx “maxx242″ Gramajo. All proceeds will go to Baker’s and Still’s families.
…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
According to Rhythm magazine, Joey Jordison and his broken ankle are now in drum-slaying shape and scaring the hell out of the Japanese. The band released the following statement today:
After numerous flights we arrived in Nagoya, Japan two days ago. Joey is on fire and we had a killer rehearsal with the full band. Tonight is the first—it’s on! We just shot a video for “Dead Memories” that we’ll be unleashing to the world in the next couple weeks. This one is psychological—you’re in for a journey. We’re just starting a world tour—so we hope to see all of you.
