BDK News - Top Ten Halifax Drummers Live on CKDU!

I will be a guest on the local radio show Halifax Is Burning on CKDU FM 88.1. Tune in Tuesday, October 3rd from 6:30 to 7:30.

I will be counting down my top ten local drummers, talking about this blog and drums in general.

And don't bother making submissions because I already have the list made.

You're going to hate it. So tune in.

The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium

I have always been pretty vocal about how much I love this record by The Mars Volta, and how much I dislike everything that came after. I could get into it, but basically it just amounts to the band not going in the direction I really wanted them to. This in no way discredits or lowers my opinion of this album, which I consider to be fucking incredible. You have a blend of musicians, some of them more technically inclined, some more artistically inclined. You put them in a room with Rick Rubin, one of the BEST producers in the last twenty years, and you let them go completely bonkers. This is what happens.

Drum wise this is probably one of the most impressive offerings to come out so far this decade. It's fast, its all over the board stylistically (Jazz, Latin, fusion, metal, punk, African, it's all there) and it's as melodic as it is noisy (and not stupid space noisy like their later records). Jon Theodore was the perfect drummer to play on this album. Not only did he have a bombastic, dynamic touch, he had the endurance to keep up with the rest of the band. There is a part in Roulette Dares (The House Of) where he starts to play a pattern on his toms. He's hitting two toms simultaneously (at a ridiculous speed) and he changes the patterns every four bars. I have always tried to play this part when I practice by myself. I can barely hear the variations in patterns (I can HEAR them, but It's hard to decipher them), and if I can, then I can't keep up with the tempo. My arms turn to jello after a couple measures.

I think that's why I love the drumming on this record so much. I always have a general idea of whats going on, but if I listen closely I'll just keep hearing more and more interesting parts, and I'm always more and more impressed (and confused). His snare work on the Latin infused Drunkship of Lanterns is impeccable (as well as his ride bell accents). Even at high speeds you get the sense that he is hitting the shit out of his drums, and it really ups the intensity. His drum rolls on this record are some of the fastest I've heard and when he holds back he doesn't lose his robotic like time. I've always actually wondered if he is a drug addict. Not street drugs though, I think that he got a hold of some secret government altered Meth originally invented so soldiers could run across landmines without setting them off. He takes it, straps himself to his drum stool, and the curtain opens and he's off. There is no other explanation. Jon Theodore is the Barry Bonds of drumming.

Jon Theodore has since left The Mars Volta (I guess I'm not the only one who thinks they came out swinging and went down in the second round),and has since beeen replaced by another great drummer, Thomas Pridgen. I'm actually pretty excited to see what Theodore will do next. I'd like to see him do some more work with Trans Am.

They never lost the fire, it was always burning since the world's been turning.

Audio/Visual Evidence: Roulette Dares, Drunkship Of Lanterns, Son + Lumiere/Inertiatic ESP

The Soft Machine - Volume One

Submitted By : AA Wallace

When The Soft Machine released their debut album in 1968, Robert Wyatt quickly became well respected as a talented drummer, vocalist, and a pioneer of the progressive rock genre.

By the time he drunkenly stumbled out of a third story window at a party in 1973, he had released 4 albums with The Soft Machine, played uncredited on Syd Barret's solo album The Madcap Laughs (not to mention countless other studio appearances), and was working on a third album with his new band Matching Mole. The incident left him paralyzed from the waist down, but with his talent and drive, he managed to continue playing percussion, but he would never use his feet again. Wyatt was one of those rare kinds of drummers who, on top of being extremely skilled at his instrument, always maintained an artistic and progressive focus in regard to his playing.

Volume One is where it all began and Wyatt's drumming is even more impressive when you consider the fact that he also sang lead. He blends 60's style psych drumming with jazz, which gives the songs a very textured but driving feel. Songs like We Did it Again have straight rock beats but with quick snare rolls leading into the one of every bar and scattered snare hits all over the place (hence the jazz influence). Hope For Happiness flies by at a quick 6/8 speed and Wyatt maintains really powerful attack and steady vocals.

Wyatt also does some cool stuff with Stereo recording, if you listen carefully the drums swirl around as he plays all over the kit, and in So Boot If At All there is an extended drum solo piece that takes advantage of this even more.

Wyatt began as an important figure in the drumming world, and you would think after losing the ability to move the lower half of his body he might of packed it in. Instead he went on to do more cool shit than your sorry ass ever did (He has collaborated with David Gilmour, Bjork, Billy Bragg etc.) and he managed to further the boundaries of his craft even by using less limbs than everyone else.

Think of that the next time you wish you had MORE to work with.

Audio/Visual Evidence: Hope For Happiness, Why Am I So Short?

BDK Update

I am super busy with work/shows this week so it will probably be a few days before I post another record.

In the meantime here is a video I uploaded to Youtube of some Two (three, four?) drummer action that went down when I played at the Evolve Festival this year.

Talking Heads - Remain In Light

I had two approaches I could have taken to discuss Chris Frantz*. I could have posted Talking Heads' first record, 77, one of my all time favorites, and I could have talked about his minimalist approach to rock drumming and how it changed a lot of the ways people thought of rock music. OR I could post Remain In Light and talk about Frantz going the complete other way, blending rock drumming with a more percussive African style and ending up with a developed, multi layered approach.

I chose the latter because it's easier to talk about a guy doing a bunch of stuff than consciously not doing much at all (I also have a couple other albums I could use to talk about minimalism, but there is only one Remain In Light).

While Frantz was the drummer, everyone contributed percussion to this album, so excuse me if logistically it is incorrect. I am sort of assuming that Frantz was at the helm (or at least had a larger say) in how the drums were arranged, but in reality I don't know. I am also not going to run through each song and analyze his playing (like I usually do) partly because there is a lot going on and partly because Remain In Light to me isn't an album of songs, it's one large piece of music split into tracks.

What's interesting is hearing how Frantz plays drums and seems to weave in between all the other percussive instruments, congos, cowbells, wood blocks, etc.. There is usually three or four things going on at once but they don't get in the way, as one instrument drops out others come in to take their place. The patterns are disjointed but it all feels very well connected.

Along with actual percussion instruments, the guitars, keyboards and vocals also maintain a very percussive quality, which instead of making Frantzs job easier makes it even more difficult to play the drums and have everything come across without feeling muddied.

Hell, he deserves credit just for finding a place within this album to be heard. He had to hold back on the kit and compliment his patterns in other ways, sometimes a light high hat trill or off time snare hit is the only thing driving the song. It's a hell of a piece of music and it came out at a time when rock bands were still allowed to be weird and wacky without taking too much flack from the mainstream.

Those must have been the days.


*It should also be noted that Frantz is 1/2 of Tom Tom Club, and that some of the things he does with them are equal to some of the things he has done with Talking Heads.


Audio/Visual Evidence : Born Under Punches, The Great Curve

Battles - Mirrored

After Helmet broke up Jon Stainer didn't jump into playing drums with just any band, he waited until he found the right fit. It was worth the wait, with Battles he found like minded musicians who were interested in pushing boundaries technically and sonically. They could all show off their skills as musicians as well as composers, and they sure as hell show off. After releasing a few EP's to gain some underground buzz, Mirrored came out and they were held in high esteem by the musical elite. Hipsters everywhere also started to practice their instruments again.

It's pretty much been agreed upon that Battles have taken music a step ahead of everyone else. I got to open for Battles at last year's Evolve Festival, but I was too wasted to even think of approaching them. I spent their set laying in the grass listening to them with my eyes closed to keep the world from spinning, and also because every time I opened my eyes I just saw too much weird shit (guys in Gorilla suits setting off fireworks, fire dancers, a juggler dressed as The Joker, etc..). It was still a hell of an experience, they played everything picture perfect live, and it was one intense evening.

Mirrored kicks in with one of the best opening tracks I have ever heard, Race: in, and Stainer doesn't wait long to start kicking ass. After an odd time count on his snare rim he kicks in with a beat that seems like he is trying to fit as many ghost notes into a measure as possible. He trained as an orchestral drummer, and it shows. His rhythm sounds like rudiments being played lightning fast between the high hats and snare, and he throws in these crazy triplet fills in between. If you are a drummer and have never heard this track, make sure no one is around when you hear it for the first time, because it will probably give you a boner.

When Atlas comes in Stainer plays a tom beat that sounds like The Beautiful People, but he lets it grow within the song and it takes on a different feel by the end of it. Throw in some triplets with a powerful snare/cymbal hit on the one, and you have an interesting piece of music. Ddiamond has some odd time goodness, along with some crazy snare rolls thrown in. Tonto has a disco type beat you can dance to, and is probably the most laid back song on the record.
Each song has it's own flavor. Leyendecker sort of feels like a hard hip hop groove, Prismism is sort of a short, lo-fi song, but everything comes to fruition in the 8 minute epic, Rainbow.

Rainbow has some speedy tom rolls, snare work that hardly even makes sense, and there is even a point where it sounds like he is maintaining both hands on the snare and somehow playing a pattern on his high hat. I don't fucking know what the hell is going on half of the time with the drums on this record, and I'm an analyzing freak.

While I do love Battles, I would like to not be lumped in as the typical Battles fan, because most strict Battles fans can be arrogant and elitist (not all, but some). While I recognize their importance I don't think they are the sole purveyors of important, impressive music. I find myself getting in discussions about Battles more than I would like to, so I like to piss people off sometimes and say that I don't see the difference between a band like Battles and say, a band like Dream Theater. Basically, the intention of both bands is the same, they try to make technically difficult music, and they are constantly trying to one up themselves and others around them. Just because Battles is considered "cool" by critics and Dream Theater isn't doesn't make this statement less true. Sure, they make completely different kinds of music, but in both of their circles they are held to the same standard. Some people might argue that DT's vocals are cheesy in which case I just point out that most of the vocals on Mirrored sound like Elmo singing through a Vocoder.

So if ever you find yourself with a half hour to kill, find a Battles fan and throw that at them to see how they react.

Hell, what's the point of being a drummer if you can't entertain yourself?


Audio/Visual Evidence : Race: in, Atlas, Race: Out