Before he made a name playing drums in Alkaline Trio, Derek Grant went by the name of Reaper and sang for a band called Dead End. He says on his MySpace page:
For a period of about three years I answered only to the name Reaper. My hair style changed slightly, but I still retained all of the b-movie mentality of those early days (I ask myself now, has it ever gone away?) The tapes I had made found their way into the hands of some older musicians who wanted to start a band, and so Dead End was born….I continued to write new material and when we could, we would borrow devices to record. Thus, documenting the rise of Reaper—through puberty and beyond (you can actually here my voice change throughout these recordings.) After a few short years of playing parties, roller skating rinks, and punk clubs the band drifted apart.
He recently found some of those old Dead End tunes and has made them available for free download here. The MySpace entry also includes artwork and a short synopsis of each song.
[Update 2022: The MySpace page and download link are no longer active.]
MEDUCTIC, Canada (Sept. 24, 2008) – SABIAN announces it has teamed up with the Five-Star Drum Shops to bring together the largest gathering of drummers ever assembled for a simultaneous drumming experience. Nine Five-Star stores across North America will host “The Big Beat” on Sunday, Nov. 2, to celebrate the joy of drumming and raise money for the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. The Five-Star Drum Shops group is an organization of 37 independently owned specialty percussion stores in North America.
Each location is attempting to break the Guinness world record for the most drummers playing the same beat at one time (previously set by Donn Bennett Drum Studio, with 533) as well as set a record for drummers playing simultaneously in each location.
As an official sponsor of The Big Beat, SABIAN will contribute the equivalent of $2,500 to each participating store in the form of artist support and/or giveaways.
“It’s a privilege for SABIAN to be connected with ‘The Big Beat,’ this year,” said Stacey Montgomery-Clark, vice president of marketing at SABIAN. “We relish opportunities like this in which we can support the percussion industry and in particular the drummer consumer and independent retailer.”
The Big Beat is the first attempt to coordinate large scale drumming efforts across North America in the hope of expanding each year until drummers across the globe are locked in on one worldwide beat.
Each location will hold a raffle for participants with the overall winner getting an authentic autographed replica Beatles logo bass drum head. The first 200 participants in each city will receive a goody bag full of drum-related items and each location will also give away prizes donated by the biggest names in the drum industry.
Drummers of all skill levels and experience are encouraged to participate and contact one of these participating Five-Star member locations for details:
Need some protection for your drums but can’t afford heavy-duty pro cases? Kaces has unveiled a 4-piece set of drum bags that cost a totally reasonable $169.95. Available in three common configurations (two fusion, one standard), these new gig bags are made with a durable nylon exterior, are double-stitched and reinforced at all the stress points for long life on the road, and feature tough luggage-grade zippers and extra long handles for easy transport. A snare bag in one of seven options is also available for $43.95.
Fausto Cuevas, the percussionist in Stevie Wonder’s band, is giving an exclusive masterclass at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance on September 29, 2008. Want to go? Of course you do, but you’ll have to dust off your passport for this one: the ICMP is located in London. Cuevas has also played with Julio Iglesias, Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, Al Jarreau, Roy Hargrove, Britney Spears, Queen Latifah, and Sheila E, so dude will definitely put on a great show. Send us some bloody pics if you manage to make it.
Well, dammit. Another MD Fest has come and gone, and we still haven’t managed to swindle and scheme our way into one (next year we are totally getting all Mission Impossible about it). Thankfully, Hudson Music set up a preview site of the event and posted some frighteningly good teaser vids of each drummer’s performance. The complete DVD is scheduled to hit shelves sometime in 2009 (which is only around 10 million seconds from now).
It’s been a tough few days for all drummerkind. We almost lost Travis Barker this weekend, and sadly we did lose drumming legend Earl Palmer. After a “lengthy illness,” he died last Friday at his home in Los Angeles. Palmer is the guy you’ve heard a thousand times on hits by Little Richard, Fats Domino, B. B. King, and many others. Instead of reading any woefully inadequate eulogy we might cobble together, you should instead click over to Drummer Talk Dave’s four-part retrospective on Palmer. Along with providing a good bit of bio information, it traces Palmer’s musical legacy and in effect celebrates his life—an excellent tribute for a great drummer.
Good news for all Neil Peart groupies (…yes, we do enthusiastically include ourselves in that category): a new Rush DVD, Snakes & Arrows Live, will be released on November 25. The three-disc set was filmed with 21 high-def cameras in a wide-screen format (!), and it clocks in at 221 minutes (!!).
Here’s the awesome amount of content listed by disc:
Disc 1 “Limelight” “Digital Man” “Entre Nous” “Mission” “Freewill” “The Main Monkey Business” “The Larger Bowl” “Secret Touch” “Circumstances” “Between The Wheels” “Dreamline”
Disc 1 Extras What’s That Smell 2007 tour outtakes What’s That Smell outtakes “Far Cry” (alternate cut featuring rear screen footage) “The Way The Wind Blows” (alternate cut featuring rear screen footage) “Red Sector A” from the R30 Tour
Disc 2 “Far Cry” “Workin’ Them Angels” “Armor And Sword” “Spindrift” “The Way The Wind Blows” “Subdivisions” “Natural Science” “Witch Hunt” “Malignant Narcissism — De Slagwerker” “Hope” “Distant Early Warning” “The Spirit Of Radio” “Tom Sawyer” “One Little Victory” “A Passage To Bangkok” “YYZ”
Disc 3 Oh, Atlanta – The Authorized Bootlegs “Ghost Of A Chance” “Red Barchetta” “The Trees” “2112/The Temples Of Syrinx”
Travis Barker and current music-making partner DJ AM were seriously injured in a plane crash last night. The pair had just performed a free show for South Carolina college students and were flying back to Van Nuys, California.
Officials said the plane carrying six people was departing shortly before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reporting seeing sparks. The plane hurtled off the end of a runway and crashed through antennas and a fence. It came to rest on an embankment across a five-lane highway and was engulfed in flames….
The four other people aboard— the pilot, the copilot, Barker’s personal assistant, and his security guard—did not survive the crash. Both Travis and DJ AM are currently in critical condition at a burn center the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia. We’ll keep you updated as more details are released. Below are other links related to the accident:
AP report and photos. [Update 2022: unfortunately, many of these links are no longer active.]
CNN report.
MSNBC video report with photos of the crash [ad alert].
MTV report with reactions from Barker’s and DJ AM’s families.
Update [from the MSNBC report]: One witness reported seeing “two men thrown from the plane, dumped on the highway, on fire.” The witness then reported that the men were “patting each other down and stripping off their clothes because they were burning.” The men may have been were Travis and DJ AM.
Update [from the WIS News 10 report]: Eyewitness William Owens said, “I didn’t know what I had seen—it was maybe 800 feet in front of me, but as I approached it closer though I made out a fire. By then I was able to see the tail of the jet and I recognized it as a jet….It’s in flames and the fuel is running across the road and I had to cross the fuel to get to the two guys that seemed to have been dumped on the highway….” According to the report, “the two men were in the road trying to extinguish themselves. He [Owens] then asked the men if there was anyone else on board the plane and they said four more were with them.”
Update [from TMZ]: “Sources tell us Travis Barker and DJ AM saved their own lives after their plane crashed by jumping out the door of the burning plane, almost immediately after the small jet came to a halt.”
Update [from Stupid Celebrities]: “Travis Barker is said to be severely burned from the waist down, but expected to survive. DJ AM has severe burns on his face, which are being tended to currently. Sad news, Chris Baker, Travis Barker’s assistant died in the plane crash. To make this bad news worse, Chris Baker, 29, had recently married and has a new baby.” This information appears to have originated from TMZ.
Update [again from TMZ]: A publicist for Barker and DJ AM released the following statement: “Both Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) are in critical but stable condition and are being treated at Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia after surviving a plane crash late last night in Columbia, South Carolina. The hospital will issue a statement with an update on their condition at 9:00 am eastern time tomorrow. Due to the nature of the injuries and the evolving course of treatment no further information on their condition is available at this time.”
Update 9/21/08 [from MTV]: Doctors treating Travis and DJ AM stated today that both men are expected to make a full recovery. Travis has second- and third-degree burns on his torso; DJ AM has second- and third-degree burns on his head and arms. Well-wishers can show their support by going to Doctors-Hospital.net, clicking on “Visitors,” and then “Email a Patient.”
Update 9/21/08 [from Perez Hilton]: PH is quoting insiders as saying that Travis’s fighting spirit was intact after the crash and that he was “defiant after the accident and didn’t want to be lifted in a helicopter, but rather an ambulance, so they had to knock him out.”
Update 9/21/08 [from E!]: The investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing, but a member of the National Transportation Safety Board has stated that the plane’s crew members thought a tire burst as they started down the runway.
Update 9/21/08 [from WIS 10 News]: “Barker and Goldstein [DJ AM] remain in critical, but stable condition. Doctors say both men should be able to return to performing after they have healed from their burns in a year.”
Update 9/22/08 [via Stupid Celebrities]: Video and audio recorded at the crash site have been released. It’s believed that Travis is the man pleading for an ambulance. Very unpleasant to hear, so listener beware.
Update 9/22/08 [from Us]: Shanna Moakler, Barker’s ex-wife, released the following statement today: “There are not enough words to express how thankful we are for the outpouring of love and support we have received during this very difficult time. We can only ask for prayers as we heal and mourn the loss of our dear friends who we considered part of our family. Our lives will be changed forever.” Rapper Jermaine Dupri visited Barker over the weekend and said, “He’s doing good…but I really hate to see my friends go through this.”
Update 9/22/08 [again from Us]: It appears that authorities are still focusing on a faulty tire as the cause of the crash. Goodyear, the manufacturer of the tire, released the following statement: “We have been contacted by the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] and will cooperate fully with its investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this accident.”
Update 9/23/08 [from MTV]: Travis Barker is trying to remain upbeat after multiple surgeries for the second- and third-degree burns on his torso and lower body. Lieutenant Josh Shumpert of the South Congaree, South Carolina, police department provided the following information about the post-crash events: “[Barker and AM] told me that they slid down the wing on the right side of the plane. They said they were on fire and that they tackled each other and put each other out. When I got there they were on the side of the road. They were pacing and in shock. Travis was very shaken up.”
Update 9/24/08: Video from the first police officer at the crash site.
Update 9/24/08 [from Extra]: Copy of the 911 call placed at the crash site.
Update 9/24/08 [from Yahoo!]: This report provides more information from the first police officer, Lt. Jason Shumpert, who first arrived on the scene. “Travis, you could tell he was in pain,” Shumpert said. “He just kept saying: ‘That’s my friends in the plane, that’s my friends in the plane.’”
Update 9/25/08: The following quote is making the rounds on various rumor sites but should at this time be considered unconfirmed info: “From what we’re hearing, Travis Barker is a hero. When the doomed plane started hurtling about, Travis and DJ AM were sitting in the front seats. They turned around and saw a ball of fire roaring in the back of the plane and watched in horror as it engulfed their friends seated in the back. Travis realized what was coming and he pushed the door open and grabbed DJ AM and pulled him out of the moving plane. They were both on fire and ran screaming as fast and as far from the fiery plane as they could. DJ AM can’t sleep and somehow is able to text friends in spite of his hand burns. He’s worried about his scalp being burned off. Travis is quiet—he’s on more painkillers.”
Update 9/25/08 [from Contact Music]: DJ AM returned to Los Angeles today by bus. No word yet on when Barker will be released.
Update 9/26/08 [from SPIN]: Travis’s friend and business partner Jermaine Dupri said that the drummer would most likely be released from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in “about two weeks.” DJ AM returned to LA yesterday.
Update 9/29/08 [from Yahoo!]: Travis was released today from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center. One source also told People, “He’s on a bus headed to L.A. Trust me, he will never fly again—ever.”
Update 9/30/08: The New York Post has incurred some wrath (and, predictably, a whole lot of pageviews) for its recent headline about Barker taking the bus back to LA: “Fear of Frying.”
Update 10/3/08: The latest rumors (beware of extremely irritating floaty ad if you click on the link) suggest Travis may have been admitted to the burn center at USC and is suffering from serious burns on over 50% of his body.
Update 10/6/08 [from MTV]: Tom DeLonge speaks about Barker’s accident: “Just like you guys, I was freaked out about the entire thing….Everyone wanted to know what I think, but it’s not about me. It’s not about Tom at all, and it’s not about Blink at all. It’s about Travis and his family, so stop worrying about what I think, and what I feel, and what I’m going to say, because it doesn’t matter.”
Update 10/7/08 [from AP]: Barker gave an interview to US Weekly: “I hate planes….My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened … well, I’m just thankful to be alive! I’m just grateful to be here at all.” He then continued, “I am doing the best I can possibly be….I’m so anxious to get out of here. … I’ve just been in surgery after surgery. I have third-degree burns basically from my feet up to my waist and both hands. One of my hands has second-degree burns and one has third-degree burns.”
Sucks big stinky ass, doesn’t it? Unfortunately we can’t go either, but Hudson Music is hooking all of us up with updates starting September 19. Hudson’s MD Fest site promises “photos, blog reports, and…video” straight from the show. In case you’ve been living under your guitarist’s rock for the last few months, the lineup includes these dudes you might have heard before:
Thomas Pridgen (The Mars Volta) Billy Ward (Joan Osborne/Ace Frehley/B. B. King) Will Calhoun (Living Color) Ndugu Chancler (Michael Jackson/Santana/Weather Report) Simon Phillips & Protocol (Toto/The Who/Jeff Beck) Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree/King Crimson) Todd Sucherman (Styx/Brian Wilson) Dafnis Prieto (Michel Camilo) Derek Roddy (Serpents Rise/Traumedy)
Because game drumming simply isn’t silly enough (and that’s coming from someone who totally digs it), you can now wield a pair of illuminated sticks, The Ant Commandos. They’re made of plastic, come with AA batteries, and will set you back 19 bucks. Best of all, the LEDs actually get brighter as you play harder.
Rock Band 2 is officially out today, and the lucky thumpers over at IGN got their sticks all over an Ion premium kit. It’ll cost you over $200 more than the standard Rock Band drums, but if you’re even remotely interested in having the most realistic drumming experience possible, the Ion appears to be the best off-the-shelf bet. From the review:
At the end of the day, the Ion Drum Kit is a fun peripheral to play with. It almost never misses a note when played properly (even when the pad is completely missed and only the rim of the pad is struck), and the cymbals certainly add a dynamic feature on its own. Even the pads themselves are leaps and bounds ahead of Rock Band’s standard kit. Not only are they incredibly quiet (great for those of us who live in an apartment), but they have the feel of practice drum pads that snare players and drummers learning their rudiments will be familiar with. This allows real rolls to be executed (although they are seldom used in Rock Band 2), giving the set a much more realistic feel than the standard Rock Band 2 kit.
John Blackwell will be joining Hudson’s Master Series DVDs. So sayeth the press release:
The three-hour DVD is divided into two main sections. In the first section, Blackwell performs with an all-star band and then explains and demonstrates the drum parts. Not only does the master drummer discuss the way the song and groove evolved along with the specific techniques that are involved in the performance, he demonstrates the patterns at normal and slow speeds to provide students with a deeper, fuller understanding of the parts and their musical context.
The second part of the program covers topics such as playing musically, grooving and embellishing the groove without over-playing, fills and solos, showmanship and independence as well as Blackwell’s Jazz, R&B and Hip-Hop roots. A bonus chapter on bass drum pedal technique featuring a rare appearance by Blackwell’s friend and mentor Marcus Williams is also included.
No word on a release date or when our review copy will be arriving.
We wrote about Alesis’s new Surge cymbals way back in March, and now it looks they’re finally shipping….with a DM5 Pro no less. Or maybe it’s the other way around….
Whatever the case, Alesis’s flagship electronic kit comes outfitted with the venerable DM5 sound module, which features more than 500 studio-grade sounds and 21 programmable drum sets recorded at 48kHz in stereo with ambient effects.
800 bucks also gets you a dual-zone snare pad, three tom pads, and a kick pad with 8″ mylar, tension-adjustable drumheads and 2.3mm triple-flanged counterhoops. Surge cymbals are made of brass cymbal alloy and feature built-in triggers; a 12″ hi-hat, 13″ crash, and a 16″ dual-zone ride are included. Pretty damn sweet.
Couldn’t make it to Germany for the Meinl Drum Festival that starts tomorrow? No, we couldn’t either, but thankfully the fine folks at Meinl have set up four webcams that snap a live picture every minute (no vid stream, alas). The drummer lineup includes Benny Greb (yes!) and Johnny Rabb.
The drums that started it all for Taye now come outfitted in a new Brushed Copper finish…but they don’t just look hot. RockPros feature premium birch-basswood shells and are available in a wide range of configurations that won’t bust your bank account. A 5-piece kit with hardware starts at an MSRP of $1,249.
