Big Drum Thump

Drum and Drummer News and Photos

  • Ramblings on The Rocker

    We’ve been anxiously twiddling our sticks since May to see Rainn Wilson play a has-been drummer in The Rocker. Mercifully, the movie finally opens next week nationwide, but a few bastards way luckier than us have already seen it. Links to some sneak-peek ramblings are below. Consensus seems to be generally positive, as is absolutely fitting for a movie that includes drumming and the comedy genius of Dwight K. Schrute, er, Rainn Wilson.

  • Spaun’s Edgevent Kits

    Forget about vintage gear. The contemporary drums that manufacturers are busting out with are infinitely more exciting and creative. Check out, for example, this Edgevent kit from Spaun. The drums feature a unique “shell within a shell” design that’s not just for crazy looks. The outer shell holds all the parts (lugs, spurs, strainer, butt, etc.) and also has outside holes for venting. The inner shell has no holes and no parts attached, so it resonates independently from the outer shell for a big, fat sound. Because all Edgevent sets are custom built, with a nearly unlimited choice in sizes, finishes, and options, we can’t tell you exactly how much a kit will pummel your bank account. But we’re pretty sure it will be worth it.

  • Blue Man Auditions

    You like whacking on all manner of stuff and slathering yourself with body paint? Well, your career options are going to be pretty limited, so you might as well try out for the Blue Man Group. These dudes did in New York yesterday. The process involves a drumming audition, an acting audition, and (if you make it this far), a final two-day vetting procedure during which things sundry and mysterious occur. If you’ve been through the process, drop us some details in a comment. Until then, the next open audition is in Boston on October 20, 2008. Check here for more casting info.

  • August Muxtape Update

    Two new tracks have been added to our August Muxtape. The first is Wally Schnalle’s “I Hear You,” a kind of post-bop duet between sax and drums. Many of you may know Schnalle as the music editor for DRUM! Magazine, but you might not have had the chance to hear him tear it up firsthand. He’s sticks down an amazing player. Also check out this vid of him soloing at Yoshi’s in Oakland.

    The second new song is “Bedroom Eyes” from the Josh Dion Band. Dion is the band’s leader, lead singer, and drummer. His groove is incredibly fat, and we love the fact his vocals channel a pretty good amount of soul for a white boy. Maybe there’s some hope.

    Here’s the complete Muxtape as of today:

    1. Wally Schnalle, “I Hear You”
    2. Josh Dion Band, “Bedroom Eyes”
    3. One Day As a Lion, “If You Fear Dying”
    4. Stanton Moore, “(Late Night at the) Maple Leaf”
    5. Sunlight Square, “From the Cosmos”
    6. M8, “Graveyard Girl”
    7. Pnuma Trio, “Improv Jam”
    8. Tower of Power, “Can’t You See (You Doin’ Me Wrong)”
    9. Buddy Miles Express, “Spot on the Wall”
    10. Keller Williams, “Restraint”

    [Update 2022: Muxtape was a great site that allowed bands and listeners to create “mixtapes” with a limited number of songs that could be streamed directly from Muxtape’s site. It was kind of like a custom Spotify way before Spotify existed.]

  • Stoned Temple Pilot

    This “story” about Scott Weiland taking a tumble into Eric Kretz’s kit has been circulating ferociously for about a week now, but it’s way, way overblown. Sure Weiland was drug and/or booze addled (big shock), but we were expecting something a little more Keith Moon-y, with cymbals and drums exploding all over the place. Instead, dude just backs into the drums a bit, and it doesn’t appear that Kretz ever missed a beat. Have a look at the vid below, starting around the 1:23 mark.

  • Travis Barker Drives in the Gumball 3000

    Participants ask that the Gumball be referred to as a “rally,” but it’s really pretty much a race—a 3,000-mile race on public roads. Sound dangerous? Don’t be such a wussy: only a couple of people have died so far.

    The race (er, rally) was founded in 1999 by former model Maximillion Cooper (awesome name, by the way), and the drivers are generally well-to-do car fanatics (e.g., just the entry fee for this year’s Gumball was about $120,000). Along with David Hasselhoff, Orlando Bloom, and Tara Reid, the celeb drivers in the 2008 race include Travis Barker, who we expect to burn some serious rubber as the representative for all thumperkind.
    We’ll be scouring the Web for pics of Trav in his vehicle, which we’re betting is a muscle car with Zildjian Pitch Black logos. Let us know if you got the goods.

  • Chat Live With Tommy Igoe

    Tommy Igoe will be answering questions in Zildjian’s Z-Club chat section tomorrow night at 8 p.m. (EST). He’s toured with name acts like Lauryn Hill, Art Garfunkle, and Blood Sweat & Tears, but most of us know him from the video Groove Essentials, which got many a beginning basher off to the right start.

    …Beginning basher? Shit, we still suck at playing this Mozambique groove.

  • Mighty Mike Terrana

    Man, a major YouTube find today.

    Though he’s not a super well-known thumper here in the States (mostly because he plays with lots of elevator prog musicians like Yngwie Malmsteen), Mike Terrana is pretty damn amazing. Check out this promo piece he did not long ago for ddrum.

  • A Big-Ass Mike Portnoy Interview

    Portnoytes, rejoice. Living Legends Music has posted an 8-part vid interview with Mike. It was recorded on May 31, 2008, at Hard Rock Live, and in it the drummer chats about the beginnings of Dream Theater, the band’s extraordinary success, and all kinds of extraneous miscellanea that is easy to listen to because Mike himself is so engaging.

    From the fourth vid comes our drumming quote of the week: “I’m not at all a technical gear guy….I just love to get up there and beat the crap out of stuff.”

  • Abe Cunningham Fills Us In…

    Well, not us specifically, but anyone who peruses The Deftones’s blog. Here’s the straight poop about the band’s upcoming album:

    Hey all, we’re almost finished tracking our record up here at The Spot and we’ll head up to Terry’s studio in Seattle next month to add the final touches and begin mixing. We’re all excited about how this record is taking shape, and can’t wait to share it with all of you! In the meantime, we want to let our friends in the Phoenix area know that we’ll be headlining KUPD’s End of Summer Scorcher Sept 20th in Peoria, AZ with our good friends Alice In Chains. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, AUG 2nd at all local AZ Club Tattoo locations. They’ll also be available online beginning Monday, AUG 4th via Tickets.com. Check it out at KUPD.com.

  • Vadrum vs. Tenacious D

    Aww yeah, a new Vadrum video! And this time it’s doubly freakin’ sweet because Jack Black is in it.

  • Travis Barker Talks X Games

    We promise this isn’t a site devoted solely to his Travness, but dude is constantly in the news lately. He recently spoke with Metromix Los Angeles about the X Games and his future drumming plans. Surprise, surprise: Blink-182 ain’t much in the cards.

    You know, to be honest with you, I haven’t spoken to Tom [DeLonge] in five years. I speak to Mark [Hoppus] every day, he’s one of my greatest friends, so…that’s the status of that. I think everyone would have to be friends, and I think we’d all have to want to do it in order for it to happen.

  • Travis Barker in The Game’s “Dope Boys” Video

    We posted a studio vid of this song a month ago, but now the real deal is out. And, yep, Barker is definitely banging Zildjian’s Pitch Blacks.

  • Muxtape of the Month: August 2008

    It’s not quite August yet, but we couldn’t wait to get up our new Muxtape for your listening pleasure. It includes some of the best drumtastic tunes we’ve been jamming lately, as well as some miscellaneous songs that simply make us want to run naked through laundromats (always the litmus test for aural pleasure, eh?). A Muxtape is FREE to make or listen to, but it’s limited to 12 tracks, so we’ll be changing them throughout the month to feature new music. Here’s what’s playing now:

    August Muxtape

    1. Our favorite new drum song is “If You Fear Dying” from Jon Theodore’s new band, One Day As a Lion.
    2. Stanton Moore’s “(Late Night at the) Maple Leaf”. The groove is ridiculously great, and the drum breaks starting around 3:55 are HOT.
    3. Steve Gadd doing downtempo with Sunlightsquare. Very chill.
    4. “Graveyard Girl” from M83. We love the rawness of the drumming.
    5. “Improv Jam” from Pnuma Trio features great live electronica drumming. Stupid good.
    6. Tower of Power…don’t got to say anything else.
    7. When Buddy Miles played his last paradiddle a few months ago, we were shamefully unfamiliar with his work. That’s no longer the case because Brandi has been playing “Spot on the Wall” nonstop.
    8. This Keller Williams tune doesn’t have a lick of drums, but his guitar playing is wonderfully percussive. Plus the lyrics are funny as fuck.

    Updated Muxtape as of 8/10/08:

    1. Wally Schnalle, “I Hear You”
    2. Josh Dion Band, “Bedroom Eyes”
    3. One Day As a Lion, “If You Fear Dying”
    4. Stanton Moore, “(Late Night at the) Maple Leaf”
    5. Sunlight Square, “From the Cosmos”
    6. M8, “Graveyard Girl”
    7. Pnuma Trio, “Improv Jam”
    8. Tower of Power, “Can’t You See (You Doin’ Me Wrong)”
    9. Buddy Miles Express, “Spot on the Wall”
    10. Keller Williams, “Restraint”

  • Lenny White’s Signature Stick

    Every Tom, Dick, and Travis has a signature stick these days, so it’s about time living-legend Lenny White got one too. With an appropriately white shaft, his Vic Firth signature whacker is 16″ long and has a .580″ diameter, which is somewhere between a 5A and a 5B for those of us who don’t speak metric too well.

    Vic Firth has also posted some really interesting vids of Lenny jawing about drums and drumming here. There’s even a classic live clip of Return to Forever from 1976.

    [Update 2022: Damn it, the vids are no longer active on Vic Firth’s site.]