Big Drum Thump

Drum and Drummer News and Photos

  • Drumming Joke of the Week

    A man goes to a Pacific island for vacation. As the boat nears, he notices the constant sound of drumming. As he gets off the boat, he asks a native how long the drumming will go on. The native casts about nervously and says, “Very bad when drumming stops.”

    Later that day, the drumming is still going and it is really starting to get to him. So he asks another native when the drumming will stop. The native looks as if he’s just been spooked. “Very bad when drumming stops,” he says, and hurries off.

    After a couple of days with little sleep, the man has had enough. He grabs the first native he sees, slams him up against a tree, and shouts, “What happens when the drumming stops?!”

    The native replies, “Bass solo.”

  • Surge Electronic Cymbals From Alesis

    Whoa. And double freakin’ whoa.

    If Alesis’s new e-cymbals play as good as they look…well, then at least one DC’er is officially getting plugged in. The Surge line features, so sayeth the press release, a “custom brass-alloy with a special, clear dampening layer to merge the look and feel of real cymbals with the flexibility of electronic cymbals.” The series comes in a 12″ single-zone hi-hat, a 13″ single-zone crash, and a 16″ dual-zone ride. All can be mounted on standard cymbal stands.

  • Yamaha Drums Gets Its Groove on Euro-Style

    Oh, people with passports and ready spending cash. This is good, good shit. Yamaha is taking its Groove All Stars (aka Groove Night) to Musikmesse this year (March 13). The drummers scheduled to appear include Tommy Aldridge, Claes Antonsen, Pedro Barcelo, Tom Brechtlein, Bruno Castellucci, Dmitris Chistodoukas, Michal Dabrowka, Ralf Gustke, Wolfgang Haffner, Arthur Hnatek, Akira Jimbo, Oscar Kraal, Rick Marotta, Christian Meyer, Andy Newmark, Loic Pontieux, Volkan Oektem, John “JR” Robinson, Andrew Small, Erik Smith and Martin Valihora.

    In case you’ve never swindled your way into a Groove Night during winter NAMM, here’s a recent clip of Antonio Sanchez playing Zep’s “Good Times, Bad Times.” You can safely expect this caliber of drumming all night long.

  • Drummer Roy Haynes on NPR

    On this NPR broadcast, the always dapper Roy Haynes sounds as smooth as he no doubt looked. The two-part episode features six songs (or about 40 minutes of music) from his current quartet, Fountain of Youth Band. The recording is impeccable, particularly for a webcast, so get an earful before the Public powers-that-be make it go bye-bye.

    By the way, BDT gives 25 bonus points to the show’s host, Dee Dee Bridgewater, for noting that Haynes plays “on drums…and cymbals.”

  • Pro-Mark Introduces New Drumstick Packaging

    All those different models and all those different numbers—7A, 5A, 5B, 2B, 707, 747, etc. How’s a young slammer, and even some of us crusty oldbies, supposed to quickly and easily understand the difference between each stick and find the one that feels best? Pro-Mark has got an idea: this summer, the drumstick company will begin packaging its 200+ models according to diameter. Model names and numbers will stay the same, but each pair will come bundled in a color-coded cardboard label that designates thickness, from Small (like a 7A) to Double Extra Large (like a 3S).

    So with worrisome width out of the way, you got only wood, taper, tip style, and finish to figure out. See ya in 20 years.

  • Julian Dorio Whigs Out…

    Er, not really. I just wanted to write that headline.

    Dorio, drummer for the Whigs (get it, get it?), gave a longish interview to a blog called Backbeat Online. He talks about how he got started playing drums and what his role in the band is:

    I think my job is to make the song as good as possible, and if that means I need to play something simple and staying out of the way, that’s what I need to do. And if it means I need to play something a little more intricate or complicated, I’m happy to do that, too. It’s never about the drums or putting on a show by myself. It’s always about enhancing the song.

    But don’t take his word for it. Check him out here:

  • Dave Grohl for President?

    Former Nirvana bassist and current blogging renegade Krist Novoselic makes the case in this post from the Seattle Weekly. Grohl’s relevant qualifications and experience:

    • “His ability to lead is without question.”
    • “The Foo Fighters have rocked the world with their message of compassion and hope.”
    • “He’s a straight shooter both with drum fills and policy proposals.”

    Hell yeah! Send us a form to sign, and we’ll make sure the i’s are dotted, the t’s are crossed, and there ain’t a hanging chad in sight. Of course, we’re not quite sure how Grohl is going to survive this video, but if Bush can get away with being a rank jackass for eight years, anything is possible.

  • Steve Gorman Back on the Road With the Black Crowes

    The Black Crowes’ new album might be pretty mediocre (or at least the four songs that Maxim heard were), but the band has always been a great live act. Long-time drummer Steve Gorman will be throning up again for the tour that starts this Sunday.

  • The Hammerax Whipcrash

    Cymbal maker (or rather “sound maker”) Hammerax produces some way creative instruments—the Boomywang, the Dustbowl, and the Meanie, just to name a few. The latest member of the funky family is the Whipcrash, a heavy crash cymbal branded with an “S-shaped array of hammered microcups” that can be raked with a stick for various sound effects. You can check out how it and Hammerax’s other products sound here [2022 update: alas, Hammerax’s site is down or kaput].

    You just know Terry Bozzio is creaming his jeans over these things….Wonder when that Sabian endorsement is up?….

  • Chad Smith Is Taking a Break

    But only from the Chili Peppers. After getting a fistful of Grammy nominations for Stadium Arcadium and touring over 18 months to support the album, the Pepper guys decided to take a well-deserved year off. Smith, though, is keeping busy by jamming with Chickenfoot, recording with Glenn Hughes, and hanging with Dick Van Dyke.

    Presumably he’ll also have some time now to learn his cymbal setup before doing another promo video.

  • Lenny White Returns With Return to Forever

    Return to Forever—one of fusion’s iconic, most influential groups—is getting back together for a U.S. tour this summer. Mid-’70s lineup, dudes! Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, and drummer Lenny White. All four musicians have kept ridiculously busy since RTF disbanded in 1978, and it never quite seemed like they would play together as that band again. White says:

    We had gone through so many questions…of people asking, “When is it going to happen?” and it would get to a certain point and it wouldn’t go any further. Then things began to change, and people started listening to different kinds of music—to the point where I just said, Man, I just don’t think it is going to happen.” But then we started talking. And I felt that maybe the time had finally become right musically for something like this to happen.

    Hey, musically “right” or not, we are jazzed (and fusioned) and are getting in line now to be ass raped by Ticketmaster. Until then:

  • Morgan Rose Lost His iPhone…

    And almost leaked his band’s new album. He had loaded Sevendust’s soon-to-be-released disc on his iPhone to play for a select few at the recent NAMM show in Los Angeles. All was going well until he forgot the sexy little Apple in a cab. But instead of falling into the claws of some BitTorrent junkie, the phone was found by a Randall employee who got it back to Rose with nary a note missing. Looks like we’ll have to wait until April 1st after all.

  • John Bonham Outtakes

    We don’t know where the bloody hell these Bonham outtakes came from or how this guy got his hands on them, but download all 23 while you can. They are from Zep’s In Through the Out Door sessions. Also check out the cool Bonham-related links, especially the list of cymbals he received from Paiste.

  • Travis Barker Meets Questlove

    Man, you gotta love the technological times we are living in. A fellow caught this improv drum jam between Trav and Questlove during rehearsals for the Grammys. Barker is his usual shredding self, but ‘Love manages to groove even while soloing. Super great stuff.

  • Get Stewart Copeland’s Drum Set…

    For, oh, $15,500. Stewart’s Tama signature set is a 14-piece Starclassic maple kit in a “Police Blue Sparkle” finish. Only 50 kits will be made available worldwide…and Stewart’s grandmother is buying 49 of them, so get in line.