Jerry Granelli - 1313

A while back I posted about legendary jazz drummer Jerry Granelli recording a solo drum record for Divorce Records right here in Halifax. It's finally been released and given the material on it and it's limited run of 500 copies, this will be a hot item for drummers, collectors and music enthusiasts alike. Granelli's skill as a drummer is matched only by his imagination as an artist, and unlike other solo drum records (Hal Blaine's for instance) you never get the feeling that he is showing off.

In Mallets - Notes, Granelli travels around his kit in free time, but there is always the hint of a theme in his playing. His toms swell and change pitch as he adjusts pressure on the head, bringing out some semblance of a melody and juggling time along with it.

Other tracks have obvious themes that Granelli represents perfectly with his drums. The track Metal - Hail - Non-Stop is exactly what you think it would be, the sonic representation of a hail storm hitting a full drum kit. Granelli peppers his drums with fast 32nd and 64th notes altering speed and volume as the storm swells and recedes. The interesting part of Granelli's playing is not only the complete independence of his limbs, but the ability to lock certain parts of his playing in time and detach the rest of himself. On Walking On A Road With Some Bells Around Your Neck, his feet play a steady latin rhythm on the kick an high hat and his hands travel around his set of bells and chimes freely.

This record is the perfect representation of old-school chops combined with years exploring the artistic and fringe elements of percussion, along with all the style and technological advancements that have happened throughout his career. Granelli incorporates electronic drum pads into his playing on Wait For The Machine, plays variations of a classic jazz shuffle on What Can I Say - Drums, and plays various electronic tones and swells on Love Song For U.

The different approaches to the drum kit keep things from getting repetitive and when everything culminates into the last track, A Nice Bunch Of Guys, Granelli pulls out all of his tricks playing multi layered patterns all over the place. It sounds like he has six arms. This is not so much an album as it is a demonstration of the endless sounds you are able to create with a well tuned drum kit and a little imagination. Granelli's talent as a player shines through without seeming pretentious, and as his ideas and themes come to life you get a sense that Granelli has the ability to not only strip music down to its core parts, but the talent to manipulate and re-shape them into something absolute and indestructible.

You can order 1313 while supplies last from the Divorce Records website. You should buy it, it might just end up being the most interesting thing you own.

Here is the beginning of an interesting documentary on Jerry, the rest of it is available on youtube.

Monster Magnet - Dopes To Infinity

Along with Clutch and Kyuss, Monster Magnet were one of the best early 90's stoner rock bands around. While Spine Of God is one of the best early examples of the genre, Dopes to Infinity is where they had a lot more money to spend, and they spent it in the right places.

For one thing, Jon Kleimans drums sound incredible. Everything is nice and thick sounding, punchy and forceful without being too thuddy. The quality of the drum recordings really help bring out the subtleties of Jon's talent. He has a interesting way of playing mid-tempo patterns but making them feel urgent. The first track, Dopes To Infinity, is loud and powerful, but when you listen to the drums Jon is actually playing fairly slow. He's just sitting behind the beat, locked in and keeping things pushing forward. He never jumps ahead of the guitars or tries to take over the song. So many times he could have ruined everything by being too busy, but instead he lets the great guitar work take the lead.

He picks the speed up a little with Negasonic Teenage Warhead, but his patterns are still fairly minimal compared to other drummers from the genre at that time. Kleiman is like Dale Crover meets ?uestlove. He can trudge through the slop with the rest of 'em, like the sludged out Third Alternative, but he has such a deep rooted technique of playing the pocket that it makes everything feel so comfortable.

He gets to show off a little more in Theme From "Masterburner". Quick riff changes and timed hits keep him busy, but he manages to slip in some pretty epic rolls in throughout the song. Definitely a highlight.

This album was a minor success that helped Monster Magnet maybe dip it's toes into the industry pool before deciding to jump in. They had been making great records for years, it's nice that they were eventually able to sell some of them. If this album had come out five years before or five years after it did, it would have been huge, but alas, it sort of gets overlooked by those top ten lists people like to read so much. Luckily for stoner rock bands, there will always be stoners looking for those perfect albums to listen to. They'll eventually find this one.

Eventually.

BDK Interview - Ian Vanek

Meet Ian Vanek.

Ian is one half of Japanther.

Japanther like to put out records like crazy.

This is one.

And these are some other ones.

Most of all they like to tour as much as possible and play for people.

People like this.

And This.

And This.

Anyway, you get the point.

To play drums in a band with only one other instrument you have to be on the ball if you want anyone to pay attention.

If you want to play drums in a 2-piece band whose objective it is to give a room full of people one the most energetic experiences they've ever had, you'd better be fucking tight or everything will surely go to hell. And well, if you'll allow me to briefly sexualize our instrument, Ian Vanek plays drums the way you would hate-fuck your ex girlfriend after you find out she blew some guy while you were in Quebec (but before you tell her you know).

Ian let me interview him, and while I was hoping for a little more insight into the mind of a madman, what I got back was, well, I don't know what I got, but it's something.

1. How long have you been playing drums?

I've been drumming since roughly 1984'-85'

2. How long have you been touring?

On the road regularly since 1997 on.

3. Tell me about your newest record.

Our new record "Rock and Roll Ice Cream" is on Menlo Park recordings and came out Feb 26th 2010.

4. What are some of your favorite albums?

My favorite albums are "Dump The Body In Rikki Lake", "Tut Tut Now Shake Yer Butt" and "Skuffed Up My Huffy". The new album is pretty amazing too. Michael Blum who produced "Like a Prayer" produced it and made it sound great. It's that wall of sound, sixties shit that we have always been after.

5. When did you first get the inkling to play drums and what was the musical climate like when you started?

I was born into a race of drummers in Washington State in 1980. My father had a snare drum in the rafters from the time I was born. He also gave me a nameless, sparkly blue trap kit from a thrift store for my fifth birthday. When I was an adolescent I watched great bands in Seattle bars with a fake ID.

6. How did you end up in NYC from Washington?

Oh shit, real talk. Hadda bail on the jakes before I caught a F. Moved to DC first for a summer then went to art school in Brooklyn. Oly and NYC are night and day. I still rep Oly hard though. We have friends, family, and fans out there. I live in New York for the time being... Capitol of the untidy states of amerikkka. Brooklyn Borough.

7. You guys hit the road like madmen early on. Were audiences fairly responsive initially?

We had a Germs-esque feel then. Very wild, short, fun shows that mostly art school girls would attend. Our first show was opening for Lightning Bolt and Pink & Brown. From then on things just got more exciting.

8. People always talk about the incredible things that happen on tour, but I've been on tour and I've always been interested in how shitty things can get. What's one of the more terrible moments you've had on the road?

Chipley, Florida. Engine catches on fire whilst fueling. We all handled it like champs though. I ran in the gas station and got the extinguisher then Mikey & Alex stayed behind to get it fixed and The Pharmacy drove us to Pensacola, Florida. The show must go on.

9. By hiring Michael Blum are you fulfilling some sort of secret Japanther goal of mirroring Madonna's career? If so, when can we expect your Justify My Love phase?

No, I'm not really sure, that's the exciting part. Matt and I have been lucky enough to play together for going on 9 years. Maybe "Rock and Roll Ice Cream" is "Justify My Love" and we ARE in the phase now. DEEEP>

10. I've always found your playing pretty unique in the way that it takes the powerful and spastic qualities of early DC hardcore bands but it's sort of held together by a deep rooted technique (if that makes any sense). Did you ever have any formal training?

My father showed me some things but I never really had formal training. "Parra-Diddle Parra-Diddle". I guess I've read about it a lil' over the years, but mainly just "rest transparent".

11. What kind of drum gear do you use currently and how loyal are you to it?

Sticks that are natural and uncoated do me well. I like riveted cymbals but we play it all. Not going to name drop products because we play what sounds good. Keep experimenting your whole life.

12. Finally, if you could punch one drummer in the face, who would it be?

I need these hands to drum. Would rather take it to the skins...

Note: All of the photos I used are from Google images. I know that with some searching and internet detectivery I could come up with a photo credit for each one and probably a website too, but most of them had nothing on them from the source page and I don't have time to start rifling through old web content trying to find everything. If you took one of the photos I used and want credit just leave a comment. If you want it taken down, then leave a comment as well, no hard feelings. If you don't care, awesome. thanks.

Yes - Relayer

Relayer for me has always been the pinnacle of excessive, pretentious 70's prog rock. Long-winded songs, complicated arrangements and epic solos were the food of the gods at the time and Yes always served up the perfect three-course meal. When it was released, Relayer was a hot discussion item for many stuffy long haired musical elitists. Now, instead of blowing minds, it probably gets most of its plays from fat guys in sweat pants playing WOW in their mom's basement and eating cheese from a tube. The modern musical ideas of what's "cool" might have shifted over the years, but that doesn't make Alan White any less of a great drummer. The fact that he can follow what's going on during most Yes songs is proof enough.

I could of put any of Yes' early prog albums here and basically achieved the same objective. They all had 20+ minute songs (hell, Tales from Topographic Oceans has FOUR of them) and they all had a ridiculous amount of parts and loads of awesome drumming. However, Relayer has Sound Chaser, which is not only my favorite Yes song, it's quite possibly the best thing Alan White has ever done.

Sound Chaser is one of the best examples of Jazz Fusion in existence, its got rock patterns blazing by at be-bop speed and its the only song I'm going to talk about because the other two are pretty much everything you would expect from Yes.

From the start Alan White follows the keyboards with quick tom rolls and accents the hits with fast cymbal smashes. By the time the main part comes in everyone seems to be going crazy. Chris Squire can play the bass faster than anyone, and White is right there with him catching every note. I don't think his hands stop playing sixteenth notes for the first two minutes. This song is like a guitar solo sandwich, everyone backs off in the middle to let Steve Howe do his thing and then comes back to slap some rock bread on that shit. They close it off with a more solid rock base, but it starts to gain momentum again and soon enough they're off again and things just get weirder.

If you were to record Sound Chaser in your basement and send it off to record labels as a demo you would get it back three weeks later with a letter saying "I have no idea what this is, it's kinda good, but it's fucking weird". You might have some luck with Mike Patton's label but that's it. The fact that someone gave Yes thousands of dollars to make this makes me happy. The fact that it sold well commercially and went to #5 on the Billboard charts makes me even happier, because that would NEVER happen today.

Those were different times, but I can't figure out if they were better or not.