m a g a z i n eT h e O f f i c i a l P u b l i c aT i O n O f D r u m W O r ks h O P • 7 . 0

peter erskine & alex acuña

on cloud 9tales from weather report

prince’s cora coleman-dunham + GinGer Baker in the time machine + the drummers of veGas

plus live! with yellowcard’s lonGineu parsons, dw & pacific’s latest Gear & more!

EDGE Magazine is a publication of Drum Workshop, Inc. ©2006 drum workshop, inc. all rights reserved. #prcaedGe-v7 for promotional use only. NOT FOR SALE.

ARTIST FEATURES02 Peter Erskinethis so-cal-based session master and educator continues to forge new territory in the jazz world and beyond

46 Bobby JarzombekBacking metal gods like rob halford and sebastian Bach, this chops-inspired speed demon pulls out all of the tricks

56 Alex Acuñaraised on a healthy diet of traditional be-bop and latin rhythms, alex is one of drumming’s true multi-taskers

68 Cora Coleman-Dunhamit’s every drummer’s dream to get a gig that catapults them into the spotlight, and there’s no doubt this savvy newcomer has found it

EDGE 7.0

09

24

46

71

IN EVERY ISSUE09 time machine: Ginger Baker15 tech tips with yard16 pro-file: new Blood20 on the rise: omar Gongoria24 road stories: Journey & def leppard34 live! with yellowcard40 Backstage pass: madonna44 DW drum clinic with tommy igoe62 PDP spotlight: Jonah david 72 new artistsPRODUCT NEWS36 dw drum news 50 pacific drum newsSPECIAL TO THIS ISSUE30 the drummers of vegas54 the making of Drum Duets Vol. 1

EDGE: So you started playing drums at a very early age. What sparked you to play, and when did you first notice you had a passion for playing drums?

Peter Erskine: My parents had a photo of me playing, or air drumming I guess, on a table-top when I was just an infant. My father had fashioned a drum set of sorts out of a conga drum that came from Havana, Cuba. I still

have it. It also had a Chi-nese tom

tom and one little cymbal with some rivets in it. And I would play along with some of the albums he had at home. By the time I was 5 years old, I was already taking les-sons. At that point I knew that I wanted to be a drummer and was pretty certain that I would be a drummer.

EDGE: Why did your father steer you in that direction?

PE: I think he always hoped that one of his kids would want to be a musician. He was

a psychiatrist by the time I was born, but he paid for his

medical school educa-

tion by working as a musician. He was a bass player, and he had a band called Fred Erskine And His Music For Moderns. So we had jazz around the house all of the time. Some of the earliest recordings I can remem-ber are a couple of Art Blakey albums and a Tito Puente record. It’s kind of funny being here with Alex (Acuña) today, because that was the kind of music that I knew ever since I was an infant. When I first heard Alex play, it was the evening that I met Jaco Pastori-us, and he played us a cassette of “Heavy Weather.” I was 23, and I said to Jaco, “This is the version of Weather Report I’ve been waiting to hear.” I was just so thrilled be-cause I’d never heard anyone play like Alex. He really has his own way of playing. It’s funny now, because when I look back, I was waiting for someone like Alex.

Set-up SpecS:Jazz Series Red Gum Drums with Natural Lacquer over Custom Redwood Burl Exotic and Chrome Hardware16x18” Bass Drum5x14” Snare Drum8x12”, 14x14” Tom-Toms9000 Single Pedal6500 Hi-Hat Stand6300 Snare Drum Stand6710 Straight Cymbal Stand (x4)6100 Case/Drum Throne

Jazz timesthiS Southern california-baSed SeSSion maSter and educator continueS to forge new territory in the jazz world and beyond

[ e D G e 7 . 0 ] 3

peter erskine

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

[ e D G e 7 . 0 ] 5

>on the record:

EDGE: So there was that kind of fusion between the Latin world and jazz?

PE: Back then, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton were already making these record-ings of Cuban rhythms and mixing it with American jazz. I was also very interested in African drumming. My father had some field recordings, and I had some albums from drummers from Ghana and Nigeria. So, between my father, my drum teacher and my sisters, who were always dating jazz musicians at the time, I had plenty to absorb early on.

EDGE: So you mentioned you began formal in-struction at around age five?

PE: Yes, from a drum teacher named Johnny Cevera. He was a drummer who played in Atlantic City and was from a town very close to there. He worked with singers like Patty Page, and played a little bit with the Billy May Big Band. I took a detour playing trumpet for a little bit, and for a hot min-ute I thought I might want to be a classical percussionist. But then I realized that it was kind of a drag, just standing around count-ing. So many measures in music, it was more fun just to be playing in a rhythm sec-tion. I went to my first music camp when I was seven years old. I met Stan Kenton, who I would eventually wind up working for. I

also met Joe Zawinul when I was seven. So at a very young age, I was hanging around jazz musicians.

EDGE: When did you make the transition from being a drum student to the Stan Kenton gig?

PE: At a young age, I could play fairly well, and had some sense of musical savvy. I don’t think I was any kind of prodigy, but I have some recordings that were made when I was 8, 9 and 10 years old, and when I listen to those, it sounds like me. I was already devel-oping a sense of musical style. The acorn def-initely becomes the oak. The musical die was cast, and I don’t know how much of that had to do with my teacher exposing me to Art Blakey, Joe Morello and Max Roach. I’m sure that was a lot of it. Anyway, I learned the lan-guage. So to answer the question, I went to my final Kenton camp when I was 12 years old. It was out here in California, and I was getting a little confused because I was go-ing to classical camps and jazz camps at the same time, and that was the transition year for me. I remember that the audition went so badly. I used to always make the top bands in school. I was too young to even be at these camps really, but that’s because I would al-ways be assigned to the top band. And then all of a sudden at 12 years old I looked up and one of the drum instructors just put his head in his hands and was like “Oh my God,

what happened to this kid?” They assigned me to the lowest band at the camp. So it was a real shock to the system. And it was just what I needed. Guys like Stan and Ed Soph, who is now teaching at North Texas these days, would spend a whole day on a rhythm section workshop. They’d put me on a drum set, take me apart, and then put me back together again. And that’s where I got my first inkling of “OK, you just can’t imitate what you hear other drummers do, you really have to know how to play time.” So, I was lucky enough to begin the process of seriously learning more about music at age 12. I went to a place called Interlochen Arts Academy. They have a summer camp there, but I went to the winter high school. They had a symphony orchestra, and they had a great jazz band there. I think that’s where I really got serious. From there, I left high school a year early, went to Indiana University and spent a year studying the difference between match grip and tradi-tional. I had never formally studied match grip. I was really curious about it. Musically, I was playing in the jazz band at school and had a fusion group. This was 1971-72, and music was very exciting back then. Every new record that came out seemed like it was a postcard from the future. It was like, “This is what’s possible.” Anyway, I’m play-ing with the jazz band, and word gets out to Stan Kenton. He already knew my fam-

ily because my family always brought me to these camps. At that age, I was always too young to come on my own. So he called, and my father answered the phone, and said “Fred, this is Stan, is Peter ready for the band?” My dad said, “Yeah.” And Stan said, “OK, well then, we’d like him to come on up and audition.” So my audition was at Lin-coln Center, and I had just turned 18. They were rehearsing for the Newport Jazz Festi-val that night, and part of the program was an appearance by June Christy, a vocalist that had been with the band back in the ‘40s. She was going to sing with the band and only the rhythm section knew I was audi-tioning, so the rest of the band didn’t know that there was going to be a change. So they all assumed that I was June Christy’s hip-pie drummer. Got the gig, and a week later, I’m out riding in this bus. Funny thing was that I’d been with the band for a few days, and after a gig somewhere in Iowa, I’m rid-ing the elevator up with Stan. We’re going to our respective floors, and he said, “Peter, we haven’t discussed money yet.” And I said, “OK, how much do you want?” I think that was good for an extra $25 a week. He was charmed by that response. Imagine, you’re 18 years old, and you get to go on the road and play. It wasn’t about the money; it was about getting to play.

EDGE: Was going on the road at such a young age a shock to the system?

PE: It just seemed natural. I knew I was do-ing my learning in public, and I sensed that a lot of drummers were thinking, “Who’s this guy, and why did he get the gig?” At the time, that was a pretty plump gig. If you wanted to play big band, that was a good gig. And I experienced a lot of the same thing in Weather Report. “Who’s this guy? He played big band. What qualifies him to play with Weather Report?” Even in Steely Dan in ’93, I kinda got that. I’m finally at that stage of my life where if that question comes up, it doesn’t bother me.

EDGE: So then it was Maynard Ferguson, and then on to Weather Report?

PE: After three years with Kenton, I went back to college and my professor George Gabber. He just took one look at my hands and said, “We’ve got a lot of work to do.” I had gained a ton of bad habits out on the road. I was playing so heavy. So I spent the year trying to unlearn some of the bad hab-its. During that time, Maynard called three times, and I turned him down every time. Finally they called and they said, “Look will you just do the summer tour?” And I said, “OK,” but I really wasn’t looking to go out again. Then I spent two years with Maynard, and during that time I met Jaco

Pastorius. He came out to see the band. I didn’t know it at the time, but they were looking ahead to when Alex might be splitting the group. So Jaco filed me away. Ini-tially they had called me to come and work on this new album, and I only had a couple of days off with Maynard. It was just too much pressure for me. They wanted me to go out there for only one day. My recording experience wasn’t that good, and I didn’t want to risk missing a Maynard gig. Plus, the weather was bad, and I didn’t really want to fly, and I didn’t have the confidence at the time, so I turned it down. Luckily, they called a second time, and I had enough sense to not turn it down. Then, they asked if I could do a tour of Japan. So, I said yes, and I told Maynard I would be leaving, but the band still wasn’t quite sure. Zawinul didn’t know that much about me. All he knew is that Jaco had recommended me. So he had management call me up. I was 23, and the guy says, “Peter this is so-and-so from Weather Report management. Joe Za-winul wanted us to ask you one final ques-tion.” I said, “Sure, what is it?” “Joe wants to know if you can play the beat to ‘Nubian Sundance.’” That’s a tune from the Mysteri-ous Traveler album. It’s a cool beat. We used to play it in Maynard’s band at sound checks just because I liked it. So, with the brashness of a young 23-year-old, I just blurted out, “Yeah, you tell Joe I can play the sh*t out of it.” And the guy said, “OK, thank you.” Of course that was the kind of answer that Zawinul loved because they wanted a guy to come in with attitude. At the time, they made a new kit for this Weather Report tour, with cases and the whole nine yards. So I flew out to Hollywood for the rehearsal. I’m at S.I.R. and we’re supposed to start at like 1:00, so I’m there at like 10 in the morning, and I’m setting up this new drum set. The road manager comes over and says, “The guys called, they’re going to be a couple of hours late.” “Okay.” A couple hours later, he comes up again: “Um, they’re going to be a couple more hours.” I don’t know what they were doing. I never found out. But about six hours later, these guys come strolling in. Wayne Shorter, Joe and Jaco. Joe looks at me very wearily, and shakes my hand. Wayne shakes my hand friendlier. Jaco waves Hi and runs out the door again. He went to go get a six-pack of Heineken. So, now I’m wondering what’s going on. Normally, I would have waited until I was asked, “OK, Peter, do you want to play this song?” As far as I knew, it wasn’t an audition, it was just a rehearsal, but thinking back, I’m sure this

alex acuña:EDGE: Talk about Peter’s playing with Weather Report. How did you feel about him being in the band after you?

Alex Acuña: I left the band be-cause family has always been a high priority, and I wanted to

be with my children and my wife. The band was taking off, so I said “Oh I can’t go on the road for three or four months without seeing my family. I can’t do that. I have to be here.” They under-stood, and we split on great terms. I still continued to play with Wayne and Joe on some of their solo records, and I even toured with Joe a bit here and there. So right after that, the band came to play here live at Santa Monica Civic. I came to see them. I got a ticket, and I went by myself. Wow, it was weird because I was so used to being part of the mu-sic, and now I was just in the audience. After the show, Joe gave me the new re-cord with Peter playing. Man! I drove so fast to my house to play it. I wanted to see how the record sounded, you know? So I read who was playing on the album. Guys like Steve Gadd, Tony Williams and Peter. When I heard this track called “Pinocchio,” I said, “Wow! I admire Peter.” I hadn’t heard a record-ing of Peter before that. I heard him live, but it’s a different thing when you hear a record; you hear the entire nuance. Later on, I became friends with Peter, and I still listen to all of the music that he recorded with Weather Report. I also listen to Steps Ahead and other record-ings he’s done with Vince Mendoza and the big bands in Europe. Amazing stuff! Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of movies together. I respect Peter for many rea-sons. As a human being, he’s amazing! As a musician and drummer, also tre-mendous! I think he’s one of the leading drummers in the style of music that he’s playing. He can play anything. I saw him playing Latin jazz, and he plays pop, too. I loved him with Steely Dan. He has incredible taste, time, technique, and his cymbal work is impeccable. He’s one of a kind, and we’ve always been great friends. Weather Report was our link, but we have so much in com-mon beyond that.

“i went to my firSt muSic camp when i waS Seven yearS old. i met Stan Kenton, who i would eventually wind up worKing for.”

clinician. How do you balance your life as an educator and instructor with the professional musician?

PE: It’s kind of the same. When I was grow-ing up, these great jazz musicians were very generous with their time and knowledge. So it felt natural to do the same thing. And you always learn when you teach. It reinforces certain things.

EDGE: Let’s talk gear. Tell us about your recent experience with DW. PE: Well, my first experience was with the 6000 Series cymbal stands, the flush-based stands. I was playing in Europe at an event, Drums du Jour. The cymbal stands were all DW flush-based, and I was thrilled. Why? Because my cymbals sounded better. I heard the difference immediately. The cymbals seemed to vibrate more freely, and there was more connection between the cymbal and stage and the rest of the drum set. Af-ter all, the beauty of a drum set is how ev-erything just mixes together. And I remem-ber lamenting with some other drummers about why today’s drums don’t sound like the old drums. Well, something happened in the ’80s and ’90s when the trend was to achieve more isolation from each drum. So drum design and hardware improved to the point where you were able to get a re-ally great sound from each element of the kit. But the sense of the whole was not quite there. Then here comes DW with the old-style banana arm mount. What if we put one of those on the 18”? Of course you guys had already thought of that. So, the transition to DW was running into Don Lombardi at the trade show and wanting to show my wife these flush-based cymbal stands. “Honey, here are the stands that made my cymbals sound so good.” Don explained how the 6000 Series has lightweight aluminum legs, and how the tilter has a cymbal space ad-justment that locks in place. Wow, and no rattling, and they’re light-weight. Holy cow, it’s really great! This led me to a trip to the factory because I wanted to know more about DW. I started playing on the drums, started tuning them up, and I was flipped by the sound, how much the drums sang and how open they were. Now when I’m teach-ing, I have students playing on my new DW drum set, and I can hear the difference. I hear how much more sound the toms are offering. And I played Yamaha for 25 years. I knew Yamaha drums very well, so this is a new relationship for me with DW. I’m learning more about how the drums tune. The threading is different. It’s a more finely tuned instrument. The really cool thing is that this is the most fun I’ve ever had play-ing a kit. I feel like a kid again. Here I am, almost 52 years old, and I find myself going

out to my studio and jamming by myself on the drum set, just playing the drums for the sheer pleasure of it. It’s been years since I’ve done that.

EDGE: And that’s just because there’s some-thing inspiring you?

PE: Yeah. A great instrument will do that. It’s a more generous sounding instrument. It just gives more. I can’t put my finger on it.

EDGE: How about pedals?

PE: I like the old 5000 single-chain pedals. I’m also crazy about the 9000 pedal.

EDGE: And those are two very different feeling pedals.

PE: They are. The 9000 you can do anything with; it’s the state-of-the-art pedal. This has just been a tremendously great surprise for me. Aside from the pedals and hardware, the drums are just so great. I mean, aestheti-cally, they are absolutely beautiful. I’ve nev-

er seen any instrument like it: the attention and commitment to detail. To have that kind of quality is a beautiful thing. And what’s re-ally cool about it is that the drum you make for Peter Erskine or Alex Acuña or Sheila E. or Gary Novak is the exact same drum that you’re going to make for the next guy that orders it. That’s rare. That’s the success of the company. People speak of DW in a re-vered way, which I didn’t really get until I’d seen how it was done. Every time I’ve read about DW, I see the words “passion” and “commitment.” There’s intelligence there. When I’ve been up to do research and devel-opment, a lot of different guys come in, guys that work in various parts in the factory, and that’s what intrigued me. This is vital for people from all parts of the company. They wanted to see what was going on. And Don and John are directly involved, and I can bounce things off of guys like Gary Novak, who took the time to come up with his kit so we could A/B with mine. Then Sheila E. shows up and is giving her two cents. It’s really fun.

[ e D G e 7 . 0 ] 7

Selected diScography

1960 Facets Doc Severinsen1974 Fire, Fury and Fun Stan Kenton1977 Conquistador Maynard Ferguson1977 New Vintage Maynard Ferguson1978 Mr. Gone Weather Report1979 8:30 Weather Report1979 Cables’ Vision George Cables1979 Mingus Joni Mitchell1980 Night Passage Weather Report1980 To Chi Ka Kazumi Watanabe1981 Word of Mouth Jaco Pastorius1982 Peter Erskine Peter Erskine1982 Record Weather Report1983 Invitation Jaco Pastorius1985 This is This! Weather Report1985 Magic Touch Stanley Jordan1986 Camouflage Bob Mintzer Big Band1987 Getting There John Abercrombie1989 Waiting for Spring David Benoit1990 Sketchbook John Patitucci1991 Sweet Soul Peter Erskine1992 Manteca Manhattan Jazz Quintet1992 November John Abercrombie1992 Street of Dreams Stan Kenton1993 Dream Come True Arturo Sandoval1993 Night with Strings Sadao Watanabe1993 Sketches Vince Mendoza1993 Under the Influence Eddie Daniels1994 Summertime Scofield/Metheny1995 Alive in America Steely Dan1995 Five Seasons Eddie Daniels1995 History of the Drum Peter Erskine1995 Sweetest Days Vanessa Williams1996 Memory Lane Chuck Loeb1996 This is Jazz, Vol. 16

Maynard Ferguson1996 This is Jazz, Vol. 19

Wayne Shorter1998 Lava Jazz

Peter Erskine & Lounge Art Ensemble1999 Live at Newport Jazz Fest

Stan Kenton1999 Slowing Down the World

Chris Botti2000 Both Sides Now

Joni Mitchell2000 Incontournables

Chick Corea2000 Portrait

Wayne Shorter2001 Look of Love

Diana Krall2001 Majestic

Original Soundtrack2002 Best of Weather Report

Weather Report2002 December

Chris Botti2002 Rit’s House

Lee Ritenour2003 North

Elvis Costello2004 Accentuate the Positive

Al Jarreau2004 Dana Owens Album

Queen Latifah2004 Dreamland

Joni Mitchell2004 Girl in the Other Room

Diana Krall2004 Il Sogno

Elvis Costello2005 To Love Again: The Duets

Chris Botti

was sort of an audition. At this point, they all just kind of ignore me. I’m really bored because I’ve just been sitting around all day. Zawinul goes up to his board and starts checking out the sound, and I just jumped up on the drum set and started playing. He turned around and shot me a real surprised look. He started playing, then Wayne started playing. A few minutes later, Jaco comes in with a six-pack of beer. He sees what’s go-ing on, and there’s a big smile on his face. It’s almost like it was choreographed. He sets the beer down, jumps up on stage and turns to his left. In perfect choreography, they throw him his bass. He catches it, puts the strap on, and we just did this impromptu jam/med-ley of all the tunes. I’d done my homework so I knew the changes. It was exciting, and I could tell it was going well. Anyway, we fin-ish and the guys are all laughing and high-fiving each other. The next day CBS sends over a photographer. We were posing, and I say, “Hey, Joe.” He says, “What?” I say, “Can I tell my friends that I’m in the band?” He goes, “You can tell your friends that you’re going to Japan.”

EDGE: So how was Japan?

PE: Here’s a good one: Before the very first concert there, they were dumping baby powder on the floor of the stage. So I say, “What are you doing that for?” And the guy

was about to tell me, and Jaco came out of nowhere and said, “Shhh, check it out, you’ll see.” So we started playing this tune that Alex had recorded called “Elegant People.” We did this big intro, and the adrenaline is pumping, and I’m a little bit freaked, nervous, excited and happy. Then it gets to this funky thing, and I look over, and Jaco’s doing this James Brown skate on the stage. That’s what the tal-cum powder was for. He’s like moonwalking, but hipper. He’s doing the James Brown, on one leg shimmying, and he’s looking at me like “check it out.” I just started laughing my ass off. After that, there was no fear for the rest of the night. It was like, “Okay, I’m with friends here. We’re hav-ing fun.” And with Jaco, it was always about that, just having fun. And during that first year, it was very easy to play. It was hard work, but it was easy.

EDGE: Throughout your career, you’ve played with a lot of big names: Chick Corea to Freddie Hub-bard, Steely Dan, Pat Metheny; the list goes on. How do you switch

gears from one gig to another and adapt?

PE: I just try to approach every project with an open mind. Ultimately, you’re there as a drummer to enable the artist’s dream or vi-sion to become a reality. So, oftentimes that means burying your ego for the musical good, which should always be the goal anyway. A lot of drummers will impose their thing on the project, no matter what it is. I’m very sat-isfied to clear the path musically and rhyth-mically. I realize that my signature doesn’t depend on a particular rhythm or thing; it’s there in the sound. It’s just in the way I touch a drum or play a cymbal. For better or worse, it’s going to come out sounding like me.

EDGE: That’s obviously why people hire you.

PE: Usually, yeah. One time I was doing a record, and the producer said, “It’s getting good, it’s getting good, it’s starting to sound like Omar (Hakim).” I just said, “You know what? Can you do me a favor? Don’t say that the rest of the day.” He said, “Oh, okay.” It was just confusing because Omar is a great drummer. I don’t know his vocabulary, and if I try to second-guess that, it’s just not go-ing to work. And that’s not meant as a de-fensive. I’ve always admired the things I’ve read about Jeff Porcaro. He would just say, “Hey, I’m not the right guy for this.” Jeff was a prince among drummers.

EDGE: Tell us about your foray into composing live theatre. It seems like you’ve been doing more of that.

PE: Still doing it. This band I play with now, The Lounge Art Ensemble, is an area where I can write in an absolute sense. I don’t need the literary inspiration. But writing for the-atre is kind of fun because it’s just like play-ing music. There are defined parameters, and there’s a stated goal. In the case of theatre, there’s a dramatic goal, and the underscoring is just another element, just like the lighting or set design. It has to help the artistic whole, so to speak. But that’s a great influence for drumming, because if you approach all mu-sic that way, then you’re oftentimes much happier in the end. It works that way for me. A lot of times I’m happier when less is more. The great pop drummers like Jim Keltner fig-ured that out a long time ago. The drummers that tended to overplay, like me, take longer to figure it out. That’s really the beauty of playing now. As a drummer, my greatest joy comes from being able to nudge the music in a direction, sometimes in an unexpected way. So as a composer, I’m still very much a student. I like tuneful melodies and I like writing things for a jazz band that will spark improvisation. I’m not a control freak.

EDGE: You’re also a well-known educator and

“A lot of times i’m hAppier when less iS more. the great pop drummerS liKe jim Keltner figured that out a long time ago.”

[ e D G e 7 . 0 ] 9

>Time machineg i n g e r B a k e r : a C a r e e r r et r o s p e C t i v e

B y B i l ly W a r d

When DW asked me if I would be willing to inter-view Ginger Baker for EDGE Maga-zine, my response was automatic: “Heck yeah! I love Ginger Baker.” I first heard Gin-ger in ’66 when

Cream’s album, Fresh Cream, hit the shores of America. He has always been immediately recog-nizable because his drumming has such a person-al touch. Nobody plays eighth notes like Ginger. There’s a certain swing to his rhythms. His tone and feel are equally unique, since for one thing, Ginger seems never to hurry through a section of music. He is always the rock. Through Cream’s success, his notoriety skyrocketed, and he became somewhat of a pop-culture victim. As critics were trying to make a fuss out of whether rock music was as “valid” as jazz, Ginger and the band were caught in the crossfire. There is no doubt in my mind that part of the price of Ginger’s popularity and subsequent fame resulted in his being asked a multitude of incredibly silly questions about rock music versus jazz. It is no wonder that he seems to loathe interviews. I suspect his relation-ship with his trusty drum company brought this rare interview to fruition. As for my experience with the interview, you will soon see what kind of “shot across my bow” I received within the first 10 seconds of our chat...Billy Ward: Your drum tech, Yard, recently

mentioned one of your longtime heroes, an Eng-lish drummer named Phil Seaman. Tell us more about him and how he influenced you.Ginger Baker: You don’t know who Phil Sea-man is?!BW: No.GB: Oh, what a f’in woolly!BW: [nervous laughter]GB: Phil Seaman is up there— he’s one of the best drummers in the world, bar none! He was a jazz player, not rock ‘n’ roll but jazz! He played with Kenny Graham’s Afro Cubists, Joe Harriet and Jack Parnell’s Big Band. Phil never got to America. BW: Why didn’t he get to America?GB: Why? He was a junkie! The first time I met Phil Seaman, I was playing in the Fla-mingo, and saxophonist Tubby Hayes heard my playing and ran out to get Phil, who was in Ronnie Scott’s club. I didn’t know he was there, so I got off stage at my gig to be con-fronted by God!BW and GB: [laughter] GB: We then went back to Phil’s place at half past three in the morning and listened to music until half past nine in the morning. He had a huge collection of African drum records. He played them for me all through the night. He was saying things to me like, “Okay, now where’s the beat?” It was like a huge door opening up! BW: Did you study with a teacher?GB: No. I’ve never had a lesson in my life. I did share a flat with Phil for a while, though, and that was quite an experience! We used

to practice together, and if I forgot some-thing, he would whack me on the arm with his stick.BW: Ouch! So most of your playing is by ear more than from method books and such?GB: Yeah. Max (Roach) was also a huge in-fluence and is a great friend of mine now. I was listening to Max and Phil when I first started playing, and I got a gig with a trad band.BW: What’s a trad band?GB: Traditional jazz—what you call Dix-ieland. This trad band was playing New Orleans music, and there was this clarinet player named Johnny Dodds.BW: Any relation to (drummer great) Baby Dodds?GB: Yeah, Johnny Dodds was Baby Dodds’ brother. They gave me all the Baby Dodds Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya records and they said: “This is what we want you to play like!” (Hear Me Talkin... is one of an incredible se-ries of records from the early days of record-ing by Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five—or with the Hot Seven). Those records really blew me away. They were probably the big-gest influence of all, apart from Phil. I really learned a lot from Baby Dodds because he was mostly listening to the other guys. My main goal is to make the other guys sound good. Of course, Art Blakey, who I had the pleasure of doing a drum thing with, and Elvin Jones... Philly Joe Jones... these guys were all influences. They also all became good friends of mine, as well.

Until now, many of the most precious and visually stunning exotic woods

on earth couldn’t be utilized as drum finshes. This harsh reality was due to the fact that these exotic horizontal veneers were simply not wide enough to cover most larger drum sizes. After countless hours of experimentation in our custom shell shop, we’ve changed all of that. Introducing Collector’s Series Vertical Grain Exotics. The secret is a special process that allows us to artfully book-match each piece of veneer according to its unique visual characteristics. The result is something we think Mother Nature

herself would be proud to call her own. The ultimate custom kit— each drum a unique creation. Five breathtaking new exotics are available: Cocobolo, Koa, Macassar Ebony, Movingue and Red Gum. And all can be customized with a virtually endless variety of custom laquer finishes and any of four available drum hardware color options. Experience Vertical Grain Exotics at an authorized DW Drums retailer near you or online at www.dwdrums.com.

New Collector’s Vertical Grain Exotics— as unique as nature herself.

www.dwdrums.comshown: Collector’s Series Maple VLT in Natural Lacquer over Macassar Ebony Vertical Grain

Exotic and 24k Gold Hardware

©2006 Drum Workshop, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Nature provides the inspiration— we take it from there.

DW VGE Ad (EDGE).indd 1 7/21/06 11:14:07 AM

photos by Jill Furmanovsky/rockarchive.com

Billy Ward

> t i m e m a C h i n e : g i n g e r B a k e r

BW: There are a lot of really nice people in that list.GB: All drummers are nice people. That’s why they always get ripped off, you know?BW: Max Roach was a huge influence on all of us with his melodic drum-ming.GB: Yeah, when I was 14, I heard The Quintet of the Year with Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gil-lespie, my pals Charlie Mingus and Max Roach. It was the (now famous) Massey Hall Concerts. I hadn’t even started play-ing the drums yet.BW: John Bonham?GB: I didn’t like John Bon-ham at all. He really pissed me off one day when he said, “There’s only two drummers in British rock; there’s only me and Ginger Baker.” I thought he was a cheeky old (ex-pletive).BW: Your feel always leaves such a personal fin-gerprint. I feel like I can always tell when it is you. For one thing, your cymbals sound the same on all of these different records you’ve made... so many different styles.GB: That’s because they’re the same cym-bals! I’ve had those ride cymbal and hi-hats

since 1966. The youngest cymbal on my kit is, I think, 1973. That’s how good Zildjian cymbals are.BW: That splash cymbal in my favorite Blind

Faith song, “Had To Cry Today,” is so amaz-ing. It’s so loud in the mix and feels so violent falling down over the mix. Has anyone in your bands ever given you a hard time because you are playing something more original than they are used to?GB: Not nowadays.BW: Hah! Nobody is going to mess with you now, man. But in the early days?

GB: Not in the early days of Cream. I mean, there were problems with Jack (Bruce—bass-ist with Cream) but there have always been problems with Jack all the way through to (our last show in) New York, which is why Cream will never, ever play together again! BW: I’m so sorry.GB: Bass players—there aren’t really many bass players that I can get along with at all.BW: Yeah. I don’t get it. They’re playing four strings and one note at a time. What’s so hard about that? Do you have to make adjustments

when you play rock versus jazz?GB: I’ve never played rock. When have I played rock?BW: Well, most people think of Cream as rock, for one thing.GB: Well they are totally wrong. Cream was never a rock band!BW: But in jazz, the cymbals carry more of the sonic imprint, and the drums are the chatter be-neath and within the cymbals and...GB: Well, that’s the fault of those horrible engineers in that case. Any band you see, you’ll see the drummer banging away on his cymbals and hi-hat, and you can never hear them. Because of the engineers, the only thing you can hear is the kick and the snare! Very seldom do you hear the tom-toms and almost never can hear the cymbals! This hap-pens in so-called pop music more than jazz. That’s one reason I like jazz records more.BW: When I first saw you, you had a Ludwig kit: Silver Sparkle.GB: I played Ludwig from 1966 up until 1997 or so, 31 years. I moved over to Drum Workshop not only because they were nicer people to work with, but also because Lud-wig fell apart. I knew all the Ludwig family, but they sold the company to Boosey and Hawkes, and it all went downhill. I had a gig in New York at Iridium (jazz club), and Ludwig wouldn’t send a kit. DW sent a kit within five minutes, and then they made a

kit to my specifications. BW: What are those specifications?GB: Do you mean the sizes?BW: Yeah.GB: The bass drums are 11” deep. With Lud-wig, I had to get them to cut them down!BW: Wow. Your bass drums are 11” deep?GB: Yeah. My right bass drum is a 20”x11”, and my left is 22”x11”.BW: How do you tune them?GB: I tune all my drums pretty loose.BW: Your drums always sound in tune with the song.GB: Well, I do attempt to tune the drums for each song! I used to get in big trouble for that in the old days, you see. The band is tuning up, and I’m joining in and they yell, “Hey! We’re trying to tune up!” And I say: “What the (expletive) do you think I’m trying to do?!” [laughter] They couldn’t understand that a drummer might want to be in tune with the band. That’s the thing with Drum Workshop, you know? Their shells are in tune on my kit. They tune the shells before they do anything else, so there is a good pitch scale to the drum kit.BW: Yeah: Timbre Matching. Some folks think the old days of drum making are the best years, but apparently you don’t feel that way.GB: No, I love my DWs.BW: Were some of your bands more fun for you than others?GB: Blind Faith was one of the most enjoy-able. Playing with Stevie (Winwood) is a joy. You know, Stevie plays the drums pretty well, too. Playing with Ron Miles in Denver was also super enjoyable. It’s probably the best jazz record I’ve ever made! He plays the trumpet and writes the most incredible mu-sic! It was a quartet and would go to an oc-tet, going to four pieces to eight pieces. You should get the record! There’s some incred-ible time stuff on there!BW: Now for the stupid question: on “Sunshine of Your Love”...GB: No.BW: You don’t want to go there?GB: I don’t want to talk about it.BW: Well, I read in a Mix magazine that Tom Dowd (engineer great) said it was his idea to turn the beat around to the downbeats and then you guys got the take.GB: Tom Dowd said it was his idea?! Now we’ve got even Tom Dowd trying to say it was his idea? Totally

f’in amazing! I mean, I thought he was a bril-liant engineer! Absolute rubbish! Absolute utter nonsense! There’s so much crap written or said about “Sunshine!” Some people have been telling lies for so long about it, they

actually now believe it! Jack (Bruce) brought “Sunshine” in and it was “dada-duda-du-du-du-duda-du” and it was that speed. [Ginger sang this more than twice as fast as the original!]BW: Oh my!GB: I said, “Why don’t we slow it down, and I’ll put the backwards beat on it?” So it went: “Bhu Da Da Da (Hu) Da Da (Hu) Da Da Bua Da.” I

never got credit for it and I never will, you see? This is why I didn’t want to talk about “Sunshine,” because how it came about had a huge influence upon the song, and I got no credit whatsoever for it. Drummers get taken advantage of all the time!BW: What are your most influential records? GB: Well, I’ve told you about one, The Quin-tet of The Year record. Duke Elling-ton at Newport ‘56, titled, Diminu-endo and Crescendo in Blue, is another. There really aren’t many. John Col-trane’s A Love Supreme, with Elvin (Jones), is another. Of the stuff I’ve done, I think the Blind Faith record is great. Also, the Ron Miles record, Coward of the County, may be my best jazz record. BW: Any advice for a younger drum-mer?GB: Yeah. Get a day job! [laughter] I mean one of the best things I got from Phil is that, whatever you are trying to play, you should be able to play at any tempo. This means what you are playing

you have to be able to play it really slowly so that all the beats are even. You know, it’s very easy to play things fast. It’s a lot more difficult to play them slowly. Another thing I got from Phil was to use your left [weaker] hand more. Not just when you are playing the drums. Do everything the other way around. I used to be quite a good dance player, and I used to practice playing my left hand against my right hand [syncopation]. Also, when I was writing music, I would write with my left hand. I can still write pretty well with my left hand, but I’m not really too active anymore with the writing. My point is the more you use the left hand, it equalizes the right hand, and that is ideal for a drummer. You will notice that when I play, I lead with either hand. Technique should be there, not to play the technique, but to be able to play what you hear. If you can lead with any hand, then it doesn’t matter where you finish. At the end of your fill, you can come off with any hand!

In addition to the obviously great Cream record-ings, Ginger’s playing on the Masters Of Re-ality album has won my ears and heart for the last two weeks as I write this. He is a master of

s e l e C t e d d i s C o g r a p h y :1965 Sound of ‘65 Graham Bond1965 There’s a Bond Between Us Graham Bond1966 Fresh Cream Cream1966 Full Cream Cream1967 Disraeli Gears Cream1968 Wheels of Fire Cream1969 Best of Cream Cream1969 Blind Faith Blind Faith1969 Goodbye Cream1969 I Feel Free Cream1969 Rock Sensation Cream1970 All Things Must Pass George Harrison1970 Free Kings Ginger Baker1970 Ginger Baker’s Air Force Ginger Baker’s Air Force1970 Swlabr Cream1971 Winwood Steve Winwood1972 Heavy Cream Cream1974 Baker Gurvitz Army Baker Gurvitz Army1975 Cream Cream1975 Portrait of Cream Cream1975 Kick Off Your Muddy Boots Graeme Edge Band1976 Hearts on Fire Baker Gurvitz Army1980 Levitation Hawkwind1984 Backtrackin’ Eric Clapton1984 Graham Bond Organization Graham Bond1987 Ginger Baker’s African Force Ginger Baker’s African Force1988 Crossroads Eric Clapton1991 Storyville Robbie Robertson1993 Stages of Clapton Eric Clapton1994 Cities of the Heart Jack Bruce1995 Finer Things Steve Winwood1996 Keep on Running Steve Winwood1997 Sitting on Top of the World Jack Bruce2001 African Force Ginger Baker2003 BBC Sessions Cream2003 Flying In & Out of Stardom Baker Gurvitz Army2005 Farewell Concert Cream2005 Live Baker Gurvitz Army

“I really learned a lot from Baby Dodds because he was mostly listen-ing to the other guys. My main goal is to make the other guys sound good.”

[ e D G e 7 . 0 ] 1 1

“Whatever you are trying to play, you should be able to play at any tempo. You know, it’s very easy to play things fast. It’s a lot more dif f icult to play them slowly.”

dynamics and space. Who else can play such an aggressive fill with so few notes, and with no extra muscle? The taste and the musical-ity are always there with this cat. I realize this is a difficult record to find, but it would be a perfect first record for a young drummer want-ing to get into jazz. That is, assum-ing they are already listening and playing along to Louis Armstrong with Baby Dodds! The rest of his recommended listening is all first class: Blue Chip. By far, my favorite single performance is his treatment of “Had To Cry Today” with Blind Faith. I look forward to buying that new DVD simply in the hopes of seeing him play that song and whack that little splash cymbal! As a drummer, he has accomplished so much with such a steady arsenal of fundamental drum-ming skill, while still becoming a true seeker of all things creative and diverse.

g i n g e r ’ s d r u m t e C h ya r d g av r i lo v i C o n t u n i n g g i n g e r ’ s k i t :It’s very simple, really. I tune from the floor tom up to the rack toms, as Gin-ger’s instructions are to let the drums sing with no damping on the toms at all. The pitch of the tuning comes from the snare, so that the drums are in tune with each other. The bass drums have a DW muffler and an intact head, with no hole cut out. The snare is tuned to a fairly low pitch. It’s all determined by the sound and stick response.

technique should be there, not to play the technique, but to be able to play what you hear.

the reverend | avenged sevenfoldwww.pacificdrums.com

< FEATURES

©2006 Drum Workshop, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

6000 Series Cymbal Stands

DW 6000 SERIES CYMBAL STANDS feature tube joint memory locks, low-profi le fl ush-base design with aluminum legs. Both stands also feature an infi nite toothless tilter with TechLock®, making DW 6000 Series cymbal stands nothing less than professional grade.

“Light and reliable.”—Billy Ward

6700>6710>

LE

T’S

TA

LK

HA

RD

WA

RE

Tell us about your 6000 Series Cymbal Stands:

Billy Ward: All these stands have a small footprint on the stage AND in the trap case! The hi-hat stand is very smooth and solid. Most all of my work could happen with these stands and it does if I’m the one carrying them!

It’s light-weight, but is it heavy-duty enough for the road?

Billy Ward: Yes. These seem to be modeled after the old vintage lightweight stands, but they easily handle the heavier cymbals we play today. They have stronger locks and better felt washers than the old stuff. DW is always improving the smallest details, like the rubber feet.

6700>6710>

DW 6000 (EDGE).indd 1 7/26/06 9:44:17 AM

J o h n g o o d ta l ks a B o u t g i n -g e r ’ s k i t W i t h e d g e :EDGE: Tell us about Ginger’s kit.

John Good: Ginger really spent a good amount of time describing to me what his drums from the past really sounded like, and it really made me feel like it was up our alley. He wanted big, fat round drums, but smaller drums really. When I think about Ginger Baker and his playing, I just think of bombastic drumming and bigger sounds, but in real-ity, the drum set was 8x10”,

9x12”, 11x13” and 12x14”. Then, his main kick drum was 12x20”, and then the left side was 12x22”.

EDGE: I believe he mentioned his 11”-deep bass drums.

JG: Well, he says it was 11” deep, but in reality, it was a 12”. He also plays a small-er 13” snare, and you just wouldn’t think that’s the kind of sound that he would have wanted...

EDGE: Is that what he used to play? I didn’t think they made 13” snares back then.

JG: No he didn’t, but he was using this to do a lot of his jazz gigs. He had this thing where he would play polo during the day and then play with his

jazz band at night for all the people that were playing polo. So he kind of incorpo-rated what he knows and what he used to play into this jazz thing that he was doing. And this was the kit that he used on that big DVD with Cream when they played at Royal Albert Hall.

EDGE: How about the pitch of the drums?

JG: In this respect, he just wanted them Timbre-Matched in sort of medium tones because he was going to use this for some higher jazz tunings, and he was also go-ing to use it for some heavy stuff. To my delight, these shallow bass drums really punched hard. Remember, the longer the bass drum, the boom-ier it is, and when you shorten up the bass drum, you re-ally get this nice fat, but punchy, sound. It really exemplified that kind of construc-tion.

EDGE: Were the shorter bass drums Ginger’s idea?

JG: He said, “I’ve always had shallow bass drums in the past.” Because he wasn’t used to dealing with a custom drum maker, he said, “Well I don’t have to cut them?” I said, “No, no, we make the drums to the size that you’re requesting, or the sound that you’re hear-ing in your head, just tell me about it.” I was very happy when we made these sizes, because Jim Keltner and I had just made a 12x20” that just roared! So, I knew that it would work really well. So, the 12x22” really surprised me, as well. It was a very nice drum. This was a few years back, when the shells were 6- and 7-ply with 3-ply hoops. Smaller drums are thinner, and thicker drums are larger. So pretty much, that’s Ginger’s kit.

Yard Gavrilovic

John Good

> t i m e m a C h i n e : g i n g e r B a k e r

g et t h e l at e s t :• T e c h T i P s• O n l i n e c l i n i c s• c l i n i c s c h e D u l e• c l i n i c h i G h l i G h T s

t h e d W e d u C at i o n d e pa r t m e n t @ W W W. D W D r u m s . c O m

>Tech Tipss e l e C t i n g t h e r i g h t s n a r e f o r

t h e J o B B y ya r d g av r i lo v i C

EDGE: Metal or wood?

Yard Gavrilovic: I love metal snares, espe-cially 6.5x14”.

EDGE: How do you decide what’s right for a particular venue or recording situation?

YG: It’s not my call unless I am asked. In most cases, the producer/engineer and drummer will usually decide on this in advance. Ulti-mately, my job is to realize the sound that’s in their heads. I’ll even play the kit for the engineer until the sound is achieved, so the drummer is still fresh for the track.

EDGE: What’s the best way to decide on the right head combination?

YG: For most drummers, this tends to be all trial and error. From a very early age, drum-mers discover a combination of sounds that they mimic from their favorite records and drummers. For that reason, every drummer wants to hear something different. I like to show up at a session with a 40-foot trailer full of snares and hand-pick the right sound for the room. Now, to answer the question at hand, for most 5x14” snares, a combina-tion of Remo Coated Powerstroke3 or Am-bassador batter on top and a Diplomat snare bottom will suffice for studios. That’s Steve Gadd’s favorite choice. On Vintage kits we use Aquarian Amer-ican Vintage top and bottom or Remo Coat-

ed Ambassadors. For live work, I steal all the great work Mick Hinton did for John Bonham. That’s a CS Smooth White Reverse Dot with 40-strand wires—you’ll never ever beat that sound.

EDGE: Is a drop-style throw-off or side-to-side better?

YG: It depends upon the drum, but I do like the drop-style for most applications.

EDGE: How about miking?

YG: I am the village idiot when it comes to technology, so I leave it to the sound crew to decide. After all those years of reading manuals on the bus, they need an outlet to relieve the pressure on their brains. Gener-ally, I try not to meddle too much in other people’s specialties.

EDGE: How often do you use vintage snares?

YG: We use vintage snares for all of our stu-dio work. We’ve found that they’re easy to tune and are pretty consistent in recreating the sound required for any session. We have a huge selection of snares, but our standard studio selection is a mix of both metal and wood standards from some of the better-known American drum companies of the day. Tuned high or low, they all sound great.

EDGE: How much does size matter?

YG: In the studio, a 5.5x14” should suffice with a piccolo for the odd whack!

EDGE: What’s your take on bearing edges and snare beds?

YG: Now this is the most important area of any drum, because if these are badly ma-chined, you may as well record the box that your take-out came in! We strip and over-haul all of our snares and check them for “true” on our cast iron saw bed in our very own woodshop. This ensures that the snare

is flat, and that the bearing edges are true. Also, we don’t want any flat spots prior to re-heading and tuning. That would be a ter-rible waste of time. As for bearing edges, I prefer a 35-degree cut for a drier sound. The snare bed should suit the snares that you are using, or you will choke the drum. If you prefer, use a metal drum for more ring.

EDGE: What do you think of flanged hoops vs. die-cast?

YG: Flanged hoops for me!

Yard Gavrilovic is the owner of The Vintage Drum Yard (www.vintagedrumyard.co.uk) in the United Kingdom, and, along with his five sons has been a regular crew member for Eric Clapton, The Who, Cream, Annie Lennox, Eu-rythmics, Paul Simon, George Michael and Nat-alie Imbruglia. He also has maintained a long association with drummers such as Zak Starkey, Steve Gadd, Ginger Baker, Jim Keltner, Henry Spinetti, Steve Barney, Steve Ferrone, Paulinho da Costa, Ricky Lawson, Jodie Linscott, Danny Cummings, Carlos Hercules, Jerry Brown, Thomas Dyani and many more. His family is currently covering tours with The Who, George Michael and Orson.

e v e r y d r u m m e r k n o W s t h at p i C k i n g t h e r i g h t s n a r e f O r T h e j O b c a n b e a c O n f u s i n G , a n D O f T e n T i m e s , T i m e - c O n s u m i n G Ta s k . T O T h e c O n T r a r y, a s e a s O n e D D r u m T e c h k n O W s e x a c T ly W h aT W O r ks i n e v e r y s i T u aT i O n . i n T h i s i n s Ta l l m e n T o f t e C h t i p s , v et e r a n C r e W m e m B e r t o t h e s ta r s , ya r d , e x p l a i n s W h at i t ta k e s t o m a k e T h aT a l l - i m P O r Ta n T c h O i c e , T h e n m a k e i T s i n G .

Yard Gavrilovic

[ e D G e 7 . 0 ] 1 5

PICCOLO TOMS ARE THE PERFECT WAY TO ADD NEW TONAL POSSIBILITIES TO YOUR KIT WITHOUT THE NEED FOR EXPENSIVE ADD-ON COMPONENTS OR

COMPLICATED MOUNTING HARDWARE. AVAILABLE IN 8”, 10” AND 12” DIAMETERS, THESE CHROME-PLATED, SOLID-STEEL DRUMS COME COMPLETE WITH TB12 MOUNTING BRACKETS TO MOUNT TO ANY EXISTING DW TOM STAND OR ACCESSORY TOM CLAMP. JUST ONE OF A FULL LINE OF AUTHORIZED DW FACTORY ACCESSORIES TO HELP YOU CUSTOMIZE YOUR KIT.

DW PICCOLO TOMS

BIG SOUND IN A LITTLE PACKAGE. JUST ASK TERRY.

Visit www.dwdrums.com to see the full line of genuine DW Factory Accessories and Replacement Parts

“PICCOLO TOMS ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF MY SET-UP.”

FA Piccolo Ad (EDGE).indd 1 7/25/06 4:16:00 PM

Meet Alexei Ro-driguez from 3 Inches of Blood. You may have heard of Alexei be-fore, or you might even have wit-nessed his furious display of inten-sity and relentless

power on the drum kit during his years with Catharsis, Trial or Walls of Jericho. Currently,

he’s recording and tour-ing with 3 Inches of Blood and has recently joined the DW/PDP family of artists. When I spoke to him, he was showing off his brand new LX Cherry to Black Fade PDP kit with the PDP rack system. We had the oppor-tunity to catch a few shows and catch up with Alexei. Here’s what we learned:

Yael: How would you describe the state of metal today?

Alexei Rodriguez: When I stop for a moment to pon-der the state of metal and the state of the music industry in general, I become acutely aware of a sense of déjà vu. I notice the ebb and flow and the emergence of innovators, the explosion of imitators, the underground determin-ing what will be mainstream, then a collapsing on itself as the market saturates. There’s also the question of what is underground versus what is commercial these days.

Yael: How does that pertain to your current band?

AR: The only difference now is that I’ve finally started to see myself in that grand scheme. Hopefully, I get to add my two cents to the mix. I remember back in 1985, when my best friend first turned me on to metal, and like so many others, my life would never be the same. At the time, it

was too new to me to differentiate between this or that sub-genre, but I knew immediately that I had found my new religion. Finally, here was music that insisted on being heard, while at the same time, it didn’t seem to care about be-ing accepted. Now this was something I could relate to!

Yael: How did you arrive on the scene?

AR: As I became more deeply involved in the music, I also became aware of the vari-ous sub-genres and developed a healthy adolescent contempt for all things “glam” or commercial. My conscious refusal to let the industry dictate what was good music inevitably led me down the path of punk. At the time, we all believed punk was corrupt-ed, with its totally irreverent abrasiveness, not fully realizing how easily any shtick can be chewed up by the industry and then be spat out as a watered-down shadow of its original intent. It was somewhere during my metal-to-punk evolution that I began playing drums. The two genres probably got equal playtime in my ghetto blaster, but my main inspiration will always be rooted in Black Sabbath, Slayer, Led Zeppelin, Me-tallica and Iron Maiden.

Yael: How does your musical evolution translate to your playing?

AR: I think my musical ear took over and let me know that, however much I liked metal, the only thing my skill level would currently allow me to get away with was three-chord punk rock. My evolution from there is a long, gradual blur as I moved both into darker spaces in my head and sought

to constantly challenge myself. I tried to em-brace the intensity of whatever music I was playing from punk to hardcore, and when my chops and precision finally allowed, I re-turned to metal.

Yael: Do you participate in the song writing pro-cess, and do you play any other instruments?

AR: Needless to say, when I switched from alto sax to drums in the school band, I must have driven the poor band di-rector out of his mind. Throughout my journey, I’ve discovered the im-portance of good song writing, and it’s become clear to me that I could have just as easily ended up a music critic in some other reality. So I try to have input in the song-writing process as much as possible. Aside from the song itself, I’ve also learned that one true thing that separates all good music in the world from great music is the sincer-ity with which it is executed.

Yael: When did you first realize that drumming was your passion? AR: It was only in the last couple of years that I became conscious that my life literally revolves around my instrument. It has noth-ing to do with earning a living, so much as it does with just living every moment. You know, not getting caught up in superficial social dramas, not playing for the labels, for the paychecks or for the “market,” but for the soul. I play for all of the people who express their most inner selves vicariously through my music.

Yael: How did you come to find bandmates that shared your passion for the music?

AR: Anything less has never lasted more than a hot minute in my world. That’s exact-ly what happened to my beloved bandmates in 3 Inches of Blood. I needed a group whose music was as fun to play as it was challeng-ing, whose attitude was fiercely indepen-dent, but didn’t take itself so seriously. I was seeking that perfect combination for myself, but also for the good of metal and the state of music in general. I wanted to avoid “new-metal” and the pitfalls of a band that takes on only the elements of what they think cer-tain people want to hear, hoping for the tour buses and rock star fantasy life.

Yael: So how do you fight the system these days?

AR: Any artist knows that you can only plagiarize for so long before it reaches total stagnation. I feel I’ve found a band willing to join me in facing off against such insincerity,

all the while enjoying a few good laughs. Any-thing else that one gets from 3IOB is up to their unique perspective, and I’d never presume to tell someone else what my music means to them. Maybe in some alternate reality, my band is some-how the savior of metal, but regardless of such pompous notions, it’s saved me. It’s helped me see a bigger picture. It’s restored my faith in the art form.

Yael: You seem to be very much on top of your game, respected by your peers and fans alike. How does that feel?

AR: I’ve gone from a kid who just needed to vent and bang on stuff, to punk rock ide-alist would-be revolutionary, to artist and then back again. Only now, I actually feel I might have the tools to be exactly where I need to be in the grand scheme of things. Today, the day after my 32nd birthday, the idea of perhaps living in a tiny studio apart-ment forever isn’t the most ap-pealing idea in the world, but as long as I have my music, my instrument, my art, things could be a lot worse. I’ve had the opportunity to do a few other projects along the way, and I love to keep my pallet varied. For the time being, 3 Inches of Blood is my vehicle to artistic Zen. Melodramatic as that may sound, the other day while playing a surprise performance on my new PDP kit at a friend’s tattoo shop, I had a completely religious experience. I experienced a moment of transcendence, knowing I was doing exactly what I was meant to be doing, playing exactly what I was supposed to be playing, with all of the energy and sincerity

that a body could hold. Those are the mo-ments that make everything worth it. As I’m recalling this, I can’t help but practically leap out of my seat with child-like anticipa-tion for tomorrow’s show, where I get to do it again. Next, we sat down with Chris “Seven” Anto-nopoulos, who also joined the PDP family this year. Chris combines showmanship with solid groove. He’s most recently been touring with Ministry side project RevCo, and his own band, Opiate for the Masses, is also making a lot of noise these days. Chris took a little time out to talk about his gear and his influences.

Yael: Tell us about your new PDP set-up.

Chris “Seven” Antonopoulos: I couldn’t be happier to have you here and to have this amazing company behind me for this tour and my upcoming recordings with my band.

Yael: Tell us about the drums you’re using on your current tour and the kit you’ll be record-ing with?

CA: I’m using PDP all-maple drums with a custom Exotic Tiger Ash finish. They’re amazing! I can’t even tell you how many

> P r o - f i l e : n e w b lo o d

“I grew up as a drum geek and have been play-ing drums most of my life. My style is inspired by the drummers I fol-lowed when I was growing up.”

—Chris “Seven” Antonopolous

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 1 7

>Pro-File: new bloodM eta l ’ s y o u n G G u n s : C h r i s “ s e v e n ” A n t o n o p o lo u s • D A n l A m A g n A • A l e x e i r o D r i g u e zb y ya e l

t o d ay ’ s n e w c r o P o f M eta l d r u M M e r s i s a s s e r i o u s a b o u t t h e i r c r a f t a s o n e M i G h t e x p e C t. a f t e r a l l , t h e y ’ v e b e e n r e a r e d o n d e c a d e s o f e s ta b l i s h e d M eta l b a n d s t h at h av e h e l P e d s h a P e t h e M o s t r e c e n t G e n e r at i o n o f h e av y - f r i e n d ly M eta l M a s t e r s . o n s p e C i A l A s s i g n m e n t, m etA l D r u m m e r e x t r A o r D i n A i r e YA e l m e et s w i t h t h r e e o f t h e s e s o - c a l l e d n e w b lo o d s t o G i v e u s t h e i r ta k e o n t h e s tat e o f t h e M eta l u n i o n a n d w h at r e v s t h e i r M eta l e n G i n e s .

A l e x e i r o D r i g u e zP h o t o b y ya e l

d a n l a M a G n aP h o t o b y w ay n e / h e a d l a M P

“My conscious re-fusal to let the in-dustry dictate what was good music inevitably led me down the path of punk.”—Alexei Rodriguez

Yael

compliments I get with these drums. I’ll be using this kit when I’m in the studio because I feel each tom totally sings.

Yael: What pedals and hardware do you use? CA: I’m about 12 days into a two-month tour at this point, and my new gear is so solid. If I didn’t have my new set-up, I’d be worrying that something would collapse on a nightly basis and that my rig wasn’t going to make it through the whole tour. I hit pretty hard, so I need my gear to stand up on the road. Now, it’s the last thing on my mind. I use the 9000s on the kicks. Amazing! I’m playing the 5000 hi-hat pedal because I like the feel, and my new PDP rack is all around me.

Yael: What sizes are you into?

CA: I’m using two 24” kicks, a 14” rack tom and 16” and 18” floor toms. It’s kind of fun-ny because when I was putting this kit to-gether, I was talking to Marc Lewis who also plays PDP, and he told me how much I was going to love it. I couldn’t ask for more from a drum company. You beat the hell out of it and the very next night, it’s still giving back. I can’t say the same for my sticks and heads on a tour, but this kit is simply amazing.

Yael: How did you land the tour with RevCo?

CA: I grew up as a drum geek and have been playing drums most of my life. My style is inspired by the drummers I followed when I was growing up. Some of my main influences include Shannon Lar-kin, Tommy Lee and Roy Mayorga.

Yael: How do you feel about the metal scene today?

CA: I have been play-ing with Opiate for a while now, and we’ve been on a few great tours with bands that don’t normally get radio airplay. These tours are sponsored by companies like Vans and Jägermeister, so it seems like there are more doors opening up for the underground met-al scene today. You just have to work harder. Get your band in a van and go. I just see my-self playing and continuing to play drums for a very long time. I’ve been lucky enough to cross bridges and meet all kinds of people, and I get to play the kit of my dreams.

Finally, we met up with the drummer for New York-based metal outfit Suicide City. Dan La-magna is the PDP vet-eran of the three and has been with Drum Work-shop for almost two years now. He also chimed in about the metal biz and how he initially joined DW’s rock roster.

Yael: What’s your take on the state of metal?

Dan Lamagna: Anyone who listens to metal can tell you that it is a style that thrives with-out much help from the outside world. What that enables us to do as a band is make a name for ourselves by touring and selling our CD by ourselves, with-out a lot of help from radio or other media. It’s almost expected to be that way these days. Metal was the style of

music I learned to play first, as a drummer. A lot of the music I listened to in the early ‘90s became a blueprint for the drummer I’ve become today. I soaked up a lot from those drummers.

Yael: How do you feel about where your career is head-ed? DL: I feel like things have been moving along for me. Every year it seems like I am making advances. Hopefully all of these little steps will add up to something big. I’ve got DW, Vater and Sabian behind me, a band with the four best

players I’ve had the chance to work with, and we’re out there together spreading our music to the masses. I’d say that I’m where I’d like to be, and I’m headed in the right direction. I also have a drum teaching busi-ness that I’m growing when I’m home. I’m starting to get to a point where I’m happy with my playing, and Suicide City has really opened up some new doors for me. It’s re-ally an amazing feeling. Yael: How did you reach your goal?

DL: I practice every day; that’s how I got here. I stay on top of my game because you never know who is listening. I have this opportunity because of the people I have worked with, and I’ve done my best to make a positive impression on people all along the way. I’ve been recommended for other gigs, too, because I try to be as professional as I can. I’m learning that it’s a small business, and everyone knows each other. Yael: What brought you to Drum Workshop?

DL: Originally, I was looking for help get-ting pedals from DW because I’m loyal to that gear; it’s been loyal to me all these years. You introduced me to the DW Artist Team a while back, and I had the opportunity to ex-plain my situation to them. They offered me access to the full line of DW and PDP gear, and I decided to play the drums and hard-ware, too. It’s really great having a company like that behind you. I never have to be wor-ried that something will break down, but if it does, these guys are there for me. I think they treat me better than any other company because we’re not an established band yet. We’re a band that’s on the rise, but they still take great care of me.c h r i s “ s e v e n ” a n t o n o P o lo u s

P h o t o b y h a d a s

> P r o - f i l e : n e w b lo o d

at right: Stephen perkinS: A Drummer’s Life, tony roySter, Jr.: Pure energy, terry Bozzio and Chad WaCkerman: D2: Duets VoLume two AnD soLos & Duets, marCo minnemann: LiVe in L.A.

CheCk out these other titLes from Dw DVD:

AvAilAble in the US from worLD musiC 4ALL – 866-89-musiC (68742)in CAnAdA from CAnADiAn Print musiC Distributors – 800-668-5767

eDutAinment.the biggest nAmes in Drumming brought to Life.

more thAn A LeArning exPerienCe, more thAn mere entertAinment,it’s A whoLe new wAy to exPerienCe your fAVorite Drummers.“I practice every-

day, that’s how I got here. I stay on top of my game be-cause you never know who is listen-ing.”

—Dan Lamagna

©2006 drUm WorkShop, inC.

>on the riseo M a r G o n G o r i a : k i n k yphotos by Hadas

EDGE: When did you get started playing?

Omar Gongoria: I started playing when I was 11 or 12 because I saw this drummer at a wedding. It was in El Carmen, a little town like two hours from my home town of Monterrey, Mexico. They were a “Norteño” band, playing the traditional style from the

region. I was inspired watching him play and decided that I would also become a drummer.

EDGE: How did you come to join Kinky?

OG: I was studying music in Texas, and I de-cided to take a break and go to Monterrey to

play with different people. Then Ulises, who would become the keyboard player in Kinky, invited me to this music lab project that he had with Carlos, who is now the guitar play-er in the band. It was at Ulises’ house, and most of it was about recording ideas in an old computer. He had put some music pro-grams in there, and we were playing with loops and samples just to have fun.

EDGE: Tell us about your unique set-up and how you developed your rig.

OG: From the beginning, all I knew was that I was into playing different styles of music. From electronica to Latin to rock, I knew I loved it all, but I hadn’t yet decided if I was going to play drum set or percussion. At that time, I was learning hand drumming technique with Roy Galvan, a friend of mine from Mexico. One day I woke up with this idea of combining both things. I spent some time developing the set and was adding things to it as the music required. Little by little, it started to turn into what it is now. Even from the start, I felt really natural play-ing standing up and combining percussion, drums and electronics. I found it more excit-ing than any one of the three, and fun every time I played. After we recorded our first album, I had to add some more electronic el-ements, like the TD10 Roland brain and the Boss 505 sampler. I trigger everything with pads because I found it interesting and chal-lenging trying to recreate exactly what we had recorded in the studio. It’s so funny that I end up sampling myself.

EDGE: Does the set-up differ live vs. studio?

OG: I don’t really have a studio set. I use whatever I have around, and I work a lot on the computer, making loops and program-ming drum machines. The studio is always about experimenting. I like to create new sounds. For example, I have a set of pans, spoons and cans that I don’t use in my live set, but I use them in the studio. Then, I like to tweak them with processors or effects.

[ e d G e 6 . 0 ] 2 1

> o n t h e r i s e : o M a r G o n G o r i aYou can get great things from throwing away all of the rules. During the recording process, I also like to separate all of my per-cussion parts. I don’t really have a formula for doing this, but I separate it all in sec-tions, like for drum set. Then, I do the same for the congas, timbales, bongos and every other hand drum that the song requires. Af-ter that, I add the colors, such as cowbells, shakers, cascaras, bells, pans, cans and any extra sounds I can think up, but there’s no defined “studio set.” I never really consider how I’m going to play the parts live when I am recording. That’s how the idea of combining percus-sion and drum set continues to evolve.

EDGE: Do you consider yourself more of a drum set player or a percussionist?

OG: I don’t know. I think maybe a percus-sionist, because once you start to involve hand percussion, it takes over. I think that in the future, both things are going to be combined more often. I think the Internet has opened a window to the world, and cul-tures, ideas, even styles of drumming, will be shared. Now you can go and see what’s happening on the other side of the world, and music is developing faster than ever. New generations are growing up with so many choices of music, that it’s really chang-ing things.

EDGE: You’ve been playing Gon Bops percus-sion instruments for a while now. Talk about your experience with them.

OG: I heard about the congas through a friend of mine, but I’d never really played them before. Now I’ve been playing them more than a year, and I think the sound and the tone that you can get from them is differ-ent from all other drums out there. I’m using a California Series quinto, conga and tumba in a Regal Blue. My kick and snare are matching, and they look great. I also use Gon Bops bongos. They are very bright and sharp sounding. The thing that I really notice is the at-tention that the compa-ny pays to its products. It’s a very special thing, because every drum is treated as its own instru-ment. I also think the new DW percussion hardware

works great for people like me, because you can set everything very easily, and it’s solid. I use Gon Bops cowbells too. They have this new kind of clamp that attaches very easily and fits all of my other stands. I’ll never go back to my old bells.

EDGE: Kinky is a blend of so many musical genres. How do you create your drum parts?

OG: I mentioned I like to work with ma-chines. I spend a lot of time programming while we are traveling. I make beats on planes, in hotels, on the bus and anywhere I can set up my laptop. Laptops are great because you can take them anywhere, then you can layer the other instruments later. This entire process is without even lifting a drumstick. After that, I go into the studio and start recording and combining other sounds. I never think about a specific drum

part for a song until the song is coming together. In some songs I might not even play at all. In other songs, I might just play a tambourine or congas. I respect the music, and just want to make the song work. The process is very spontaneous. I am very influenced by electronic music, so I always like to leave some electronic elements in there. For example, I’ll leave some parts in there that I had programmed previous-ly and let the band play along with the parts. Then, I can add my fla-

vor over the top.

The live show is incredibly high energy. How do you get ready for a show? Do you have a particu-lar warm-up routine?

OG: I definitely have a warm-up routine. I warm up for 30 to 45 minutes before the show, playing single strokes, then double strokes, then triplets and so on. I also do some stretching and warm-up movements for my legs and arms.

EDGE: What are your major influences?

OG: I listen to lots of different music, from jazz to electronica and beyond. With the band, we are very lucky to have the oppor-tunity to travel and find new music wher-ever we go around the world. We also have the chance to play in live music festivals where we can give and receive many musi-cal influences from different musicians and fans. These days I’m listening to lots of Af-rican music like Mamady Keita. I really en-joy the improvisation and the phrasing. My influences range from Trilok Gurtu to Elvin Jones to Tito Puente, Stewart Copeland, Bill Bruford and so many of the old Cuban play-ers like Chano Poso, Changuito and Patato Valez.

EDGE: What’s in store for Kinky and Omar in the next year?

OG: We’re releasing a new album this year, so we’re about to head out on tour. The al-bum is going to be released in the U.S., Can-ada, Europe and Latin American countries, so we’ll be covering all of those places. After it’s over, we’ll go back home for Christmas dinner and some tamales. [laughs]

“I think that in the future, both drum set and hand per-cussion are going t o b e c o m b i n e d more often. Music is developing fast-er than ever. New generations are growing up with so many choices of music that it’s real ly changing things.”

t h e w o r l D o f l At i n A lt e r n At i v e m u s i C C o n t i n u e s t o e x p lo D e .A n e w g e n e r At i o n o f s pA n i s h - s p e A k i n g m u s i C fA n s i s b e i n g e x p o s e D t o A n e w g e n e r At i o n o f i n n o v At i v e l At i n b A n D s . o m A r A n D k i n k Y A r e b l A z i n g n e w t r A i l s A n D t h e fA n s A r e r e s P o n d i n G . f o r t h at r e a s o n a lo n e , t h e y a r e o n t h e r i s e . > > >

LET’S TALK PEDALS

< FEATURES

9000 Series Pedals

DW 9000 SERIES PEDALS are packed with state-of-the-art innovative features that provide a smooth, fl uid and quick response. They’re also built to last. The world’s top players insist on 9000 pedals because they know they can count on DW’s reputation for road-worthy reliability. Pro features and pro performance make professional grade pedals.

When did you start playing 9000 series pedals?

Stanton Moore: I’ve played these pedals as long as they’ve been around.

“Smooth, sturdy,

reliable, killer!”—Stanton Moore

9000>9000>

9002>THE FREE-FLOATING ROTOR DRIVE SYSTEM allows the shaft to turn independently of the rotor, directing energy from the pedal board straight to the beater. The design also uses friction-reducing ball bearings to optimize the already incredibly smooth, gravity-defying action.

Infi nite Adjustable

Cam >

DW 9000 SERIES PEDALS feature an infi nite adjustable cam, allowing the pedal to be easily set from Accelerator™ to Turbo™ Drive or anywhere in between. ©2006 Drum Workshop, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How’s the feel compared to other pedals you’ve played?

Stanton Moore: The pedal feels super smooth and sturdy. It feels like it’s not going tobreak on the gig. It’s the best pedal I’ve played, and my techs agree.

DW 9000 DPS (EDGE).indd 1-2 6/16/06 10:14:43 AM

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 2 5

Road StoRieS:Journey’s Deen Castronovo &Def LepparD’s riCk aLLenphotos by Rob Shanahan

Def Leppard hails from Sheffield, England and brought the Union Jack flag to American pop culture with their brand of heavy gui-tar-laced anthems. Journey, on the other hand, is as American as apple pie. A Bay Area fixture, Journey was a hit-making machine for three decades. Together, both bands are making their way through the summer months playing a nostalgic mix of top-ten hits from a selection of multi-platinum albums, and fans are pack-ing arenas and sheds with lighters ablaze.

This was a duo we didn’t want to miss, so we packed our bags and headed to Las Vegas, where both bands headlined a sold-out Mandalay Bay Event Center. Journey’s high-energy stickman (and now lead vocalist for three songs), Deen Castronovo, and Def Leppard’s Rick Allen shared a unique experience on the tour that cemented a close bond between the two, but was also a per-fect entrée to our new feature, Road Stories.

the touring marriage between these two iConiC roCk banDs is Just that, iConiC.

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 2 7

deen CaStRonovoMan, do I have a road story. Just hap-pened on this tour, in fact. We were just at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, and I got a nasty case of al-titude sickness. I wasn’t able to play at all, period. And they were like, “Are you going to do this?” And I said, “I can’t, I can’t play.” I couldn’t even get off the couch. Jim, my tech, ended up playing four songs into the set. Basically, Rick Al-len came up and said, “I’m going to do something here. I’m going to help you out here.” He put his hand on my head and he just started calming me down. He

got me to where I could actually stand up. Then got me to where I could walk up on the stage. He walked me all the way up to my drum riser and helped me through the whole thing. I didn’t think I was go-ing to end up playing. I don’t know if you’ve had altitude sickness, but man, it’s a scary thing. You really can’t function. In the end, I played the set perfectly, which was great. It really scared the crap out of me, though. I’ve never been sick like that in my life and that was pretty frightening. He’s my brother now. I’d take a bullet for him.

miLe-high miLestone (as toLD by Deen Castronovo)

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 2 9

RiCk allen

buiLDing a brotherhooD (as toLD by riCk aLLen)There are so many stories, but not many clean enough for human consumption [laughs]. I guess the one that’s most fresh was me bringing Deen back to life in Denver. It was like he was half way up Everest, you know, but he was re-ally suffering— worse than I’ve ever seen any-body from altitude sickness. I actually think it was the fact that we’d all been at home for two weeks prior, and it was the first show back. At 6000 feet, just going straight up there and ex-pecting to play a show, like you’ve never been away. It really got to him. So 45 minutes be-fore the show, I went down to see him and just helped him get back into his breathing again. He was getting all guilty because he thought he was letting the band down, and I just had to say, “Hey, this is something that can’t be helped. Let go of the wheel you know what I mean?” And he did. I stayed with him for about half an hour, came back about 10 minutes later, and he was standing up. He’s like, “Dude, I’m going on, I’m going on.” It was a very special moment. It was really special for both of us, cause I really felt at that point that Deen and I connected. It was like we were brothers. It was really, really cool. I’m just very fortunate that I was in that situation where I could help him. It’s a two-way street when someone’s vulnerable like that. It really made me look at my own situation, and it gave me a sense of gratitude.

ment bone-yard. The reality is now everybody plays here. It used to be, ‘Oh, you’re playing in a casino?’—like it had a bad connotation. It’s not like that anymore at all. Those days are way over.” Russ explained, “I started working in Vegas 20 years ago. In the ‘80s and early ‘90s, the town was pretty dead. But when the Cirque du Soleil shows and the big name artist contracts started rolling in, all of a sudden you could work with the best mu-sicians around, make a good living and sleep in your own bed every night.” Immediately I recalled Vegas entertainment history, the old Rat Pack days, the golden era of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Russ had an interesting take, “Elvis played over 800 shows on the stage I play on at the Vegas Hilton. The vibe there is incredible.” Eric’s been here a while, so he’s seen it all. He comments, “I’ve worked in a lot of casi-nos that don’t exist anymore. The Sands, the Dunes, the Landmark, they’re all gone, imploded. The original dressing rooms at the Sands were really cool. There, you could feel the vibe of the Rat Pack, like it was yesterday.” Everyone can easily agree on one thing: the town has been undergoing a renaissance of sorts for over a decade and shows no signs of slowing. So what does it mean for drummers and the drumming com-munity as a whole? How has all of this changed the drum-ming landscape in Vegas? I asked that, as well. Ja-mie replied, “The scene has definitely changed. I played the Las Vegas PAS [Percussion Arts Society] Day of Percus-sion this year and on the bill were two of my biggest inspirations in my career: Raul Pineda and Danny de los Reyes. So, guys of this caliber are coming here, not just to play, but to educate.” Herman added, “I see so many guys just being in Vegas for a couple of weeks at a time, be it you, Larry, Char-lie Watts, Charley Drayton, Gene Lake, Zac

Alford, Omar or Sterling Campbell. They’re all com-ing through Vegas with dif-ferent bands, and we get to hang out.” Tris laughed and commented, “It definitely wasn’t like that in the early ‘90s. Back then, we would

basically have Siegfried and Roy come by, but that was about it! But man, if you sit here long enough, you’re gonna see just about everybody, all of your friends, all of your he-roes. Either they’re playing a big arena like the MGM Gar-dens, Aladdin or a venue like House of Blues.” In recent years, I can’t help

but notice the transition back to entertain-ment geared toward adults. The “What hap-pens in Vegas stays in Vegas” tag line is all too true these days. But during the ‘90s, the city took a different approach. Vegas billed itself as a place to bring the entire family—not anymore. François explained, “Now the town is built around adults. There’s not a lot to do with the kids. They don’t want to see

kids. The theme park at MGM shut down. Wet and Wild is closed. Treasure Island had a pirate show outside and now it’s sexy girls. They just want adults playing and drinking. They’re the ones spending the money.” Her-man added, “When I was first coming here, it was very family-oriented. Now it’s basi-cally become more like its name, ‘Sin City.’ You can come here and get as nasty as you wanna be.” So what does a drummer do in “Sin City” during his down time? My day usu-ally goes something like this: between 10 a.m. when I get up, until my artist call at 6 p.m., I’m free to do what I like. I spend a lot of time in my studio. With the Internet, I’m able to do a lot of session work for people that live hundreds, even thousands, of miles from me. I also do a lot of composing. I like

I’ve been here in Las Vegas for three years playing with the show “Zumanity – Anoth-er Side of Cirque du Soleil” at the New York New York Hotel and Casino. In those three short years, I’ve witnessed a lot of change in this town. New concert venues are open-ing all the time, and with all of the new ca-sinos come new shows. New houses, con-dos, parks, malls, roads, even music stores are popping up all over the place. There’s a reason why some say it’s fast becoming the entertainment capital of the world. Because there are more shows than ever here in Las Vegas, there are also more mu-sicians here than ever before. In fact, some of the most recognized drummers around either live here, or are here for extended pe-riods of time gigging. Herman Matthews is in Las Vegas 10 to 12 weeks a year with Tom Jones. Russ McKinnon is here 30 weeks this year with Barry Manilow. Tris Imboden is here about

six weeks with Chicago, and Nigel Olsson is with Elton John over at Caesar’s Palace. François Jutras just finished an eight-year run with Cirque du Soleil’s incredibly suc-cessful show, “O,” and is staying in town as a session drummer. Eric Scribner with “Leg-ends in Concert,” a Vegas mainstay, is here year-round and has been for 22 years, while Jamie Borden is LV “born and raised.” Jamie performs at the Rio and is an educator with several instructional DVDs to his credit: a pretty accomplished bunch of guys and a great support system. After all, drumming is a brotherhood, and we all tend to stick to-gether. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time hanging with my peeps here in LV. No co-incidence, many of them play DW drums. There really is quite a scene developing. After reading about Nigel in the last is-sue of EDGE magazine, I thought it might be interesting to talk to the drummers of Las

Vegas as one of their own and try to share some insight into the drumming lifestyle here and how it’s rapidly evolving. DW agreed. I decided the best way to get the in-put I was looking for was to hit the street. I wanted to talk to my drumming compadres around town to see if they could shed some light on what it’s like to be a working drum-mer on (and off) the strip. The first question was fairly straight-forward: what’s your impression of Vegas? Herman remarked, ”Vegas is the place to be. You can tell just by the growth of the city it-self. You can’t even get a flight in or out on the weekends. Seems like when I tell people I’m going to Vegas, they’re either coming here or going back.” Tris added, “Vegas has gone through a metamorphosis. Chicago’s been playing here regularly for at least 12 years now. In the ‘80s I think most perform-ers perceived Vegas as the great entertain-

Story and photos by Larry Aberman

> t h e d r u M M e r s o f v e G a s

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 3 1

“I think most per-formers perceived Vegas as the great entertainment bone-yard. The re-ality is now every-body plays here.”

—Tris Imboden

>the drummers oF Vegasl A r r Y A b e r m A n • “ z u m A n i t Y ”J A m i e b o r D e n • “ p h o e n i x ”t r i s i m b o D e n • C h i C A g of r A n C o i s J u t r A s • “ o ” h e r m A n m At t h e w s • t o m J o n e sr u s s m C k i n n o n • b A r r Y m A n i lo we r i C s C r i b n e r • “ k A ”

Herman Matthews

Tris Imboden

to hike in nearby Red Rock Canyon; it’s one of the more beautiful places I’ve seen. Af-ter the show, I might go to a club to see a band, hang out or go eat. I definitely have to make sure I get enough sleep! So what do my counterparts do in their off-time? When Jamie’s not playing with his band, Phoenix, he’s crazy busy. He noted, “I just signed to do a seven-title DVD series. I have exclusive license to use 22 Rush tunes for these upcoming proj-ects. I’ve been working closely with Neil Peart on this whole thing and have his blessing. So ba-sically, I’m in hardcore creation mode. I mean, I’ve got seven DVD titles to script!” For Tris and Herman, their vis-its to LV are limited to two weeks at a time. But they do enjoy the break from the con-stant travel that’s inherent in a busy touring schedule. Tris said, “What’s cool is you get to actually unpack your suitcase. You get to hang up your shirts and use the drawers in the hotel room. I like to get into a routine here. Get a little breakfast, hit the gym every day, and hit the pool. It’s nice.” Herman has a similar experience, “When I get to Vegas, I settle in. I like to read and catch up with my website. It’s like a vacation. Also the Tom Jones organization looks at Vegas as our home base. We do any rehears-ing while w e ’ r e h e r e .

Also, here I try out new stuff, new gear.” For Russ lately, things seem to be a bit of a whirlwind. “Barry Manilow is riding an incredible wave. We recently performed on American Idol in L.A. and had to fly back

to Vegas in Barry’s jet to do the show here that night. I’m so glad to be here. Pretty soon we start recording the follow-up disc to his number one music of the ‘50s disc with a music of the ‘60s disc. We’re booked until 2009.” On his down time, Eric likes to spend a lot of time with his family. “Music is something that I do, but I’m also a father and a husband. Family always comes first.” Finally, I couldn’t let the opportunity go by without talking about

gear. After all, we’re all DW aficionados. For “Zumanity,” I use a custom all-Built-In Bottom drum set. I’d put VLTs in there, but I’m scared they might shatter the plexi-glass booth I’m in! I do use VLTs in my studio. The sound is just amazing! With all the playing I’m doing, I’m especially grateful for the Air Lift tractor seat with the backrest. Comfy! I also love the 9000 pedals something aw-ful. I’m not alone. Tris enjoys his 9000s and VLTs. “Well, how do you improve upon per-fection? Yet they manage to do it again and again. Their 9000 pedals are incredibly silky

smooth. I never thought they could top the 5000s, but somehow they did. And

with the VLT drums, all I know is when I first heard them, I couldn’t

believe the low end, and the sus-

tain was just stupid.” François happily plays an Edge snare with his Pacific kit. “The shell, the bearing edge, it’s all quality. I use a 7x12” Edge snare. I love it—it’s an amazing drum.” Russ uses Collector’s Series drums that are Timbre Matched a bit higher than usual. “When the drums are Timbre Matched low, I tend to overdrive them. I hit them too hard. But I want the 16” to have the bottom of an 18”, so we used VLT technology on the floor toms to get that.” Herman says, “If John Good and Don Lombardi say this new thing is good, I trust them. I just use it. They know what they’re doing.” Tris went on about DW, “Man if something doesn’t exist, it will in about five seconds. They’re so on it.” I can recall an interesting observation about DW drums that came after I played each one of these guy’s drum sets. Most of us have a very similar set up—VLT drums with coated Ambassador heads. I have to say, I was amazed how each set had its own per-sonality. My conclusion was that DW drums allow every artist to have their own voice, their own expression. The drums don’t tell me how to sound. Tris also commented on the subject, “That’s so true, but it’s all within the DW color of sound, though. Isn’t that amazing? The sound is unique, and I defi-nitely feel part of a special family with DW. They’re a great company.” Herman closes with these words of wisdom, “DW drums and hardware adapt to your personality all the way around. My set-up sounds like me. So in the end, DW is always true to what you do.” So on your next trip to Las Vegas, keep an eye out for the LV drummers. The DW-Pacific-Vegas connection is growing as fast as Vegas itself; you’ll hear us in the shows, arenas, clubs, by the pool, everywhere you go in the real “city that never sleeps.” One

day, you might even join the club.

> t h e d r u M M e r s o f v e G a s

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 3 3

> t h e d r u M M e r s o f v e G a s

“Barry Manilow is riding an incred-ible wave. We re-cently performed on American Idol in L.A. and had to fly back to Vegas in Barry’s jet to do the show here that night. We’re booked until 2009.”

—Russ McKinnon

Larry Aberman

François Jutras

Russ McKinnon

Jamie Borden

Eric Scribner

liVe!

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 3 5

w i t h t h e f o l lo w - u P t o t h e i r P l at i n u M -s e l l i n G d e b u t, o c e a n av e n u e , l P a n d t h e b o y s i n y e l lo w c a r d h av e h i t t h e r o a d o n c e a G a i n t o s u P P o r t t h e i r s o P h o M o r e r e l e a s e , l i G h t s a n d s o u n d s . t h e b a n d i s n o t o n ly s e l l i n G r e c o r d s , t h e y ’ r e s e l l i n G o u t l i v e v e n u e s a s t h e y c e M e n t t h e i r r e P u tat i o n a s o n e o f t h e M o s t h i G h - e n e r G y b a n d s A r o u n D . t o s e e m o r e e x C l u s i v e P h o t o s o f l P a n d y e l lo w c a r d i n

phot

os b

y H

adas

>dw drum newsn e w P r o d u c t s a n d i n n o vat i o n s

D w e x o t i C s g et v e r t i c a l G r o u n d b r e a k i n G n e w G r a i n - M at c h i n G P r o c e s s M a k e s i t a l l P o s s i b l eThe latest Exotic offering from DW is a new way of looking at rare wood finishes, literally. The idea was born from the desire to use exot-ic woods that were just not large enough to wrap larger drums such as bass drums and floor toms. “The issue has always been the seams,” com-ments Executive Vice President and Drum Designer, John Good. He adds, “We knew if we could just find a way to artistically book-match the vertical seams, we would be able to create our own version of what Mother Nature might have intended.” In 2005, after much experimenting in DW’s own custom shell shop, the process was perfected. The drums were officially launched at the win-ter NAMM show and have been the talk of many trade shows since their release early this year. The new Collector’s Series® Vertical Grain Exotics drums are available in five distinct Exotics, including: Cocobolo, Koa, Macassar Ebony, Movingue and Red Gum.

Each can be customized by combining it with any of DW’s virtually limitless array of lacquer color choices. Then pick from any of four drum hardware colors to create a completely personal look. The Exotic fin-ishes are added to either DW maple or birch shells to ensure the sonic clarity and consis-tency DW is famous for providing. All Col-lector’s Series drums are crafted utilizing

DW’s exclusive Timbre-Matching® process and include the unique True-Pitch® tuning system, S.T.M.® (Suspension Tom Mounts), Built-in Bottom™ with VLT™ technology and a choice of DW Coated Clear or Clear Edge drumheads by Remo USA. “With Vertical Grain Exotics, we’ve found a way to take what nature has already made beautiful and turn it into a work of

> d r u M n e w s

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 3 7Red GumMovingueMacassar EbonyKoaCocobolo

Collector’s Series® Maple Drums with Natural Lacquer finish over Red Gum Vertical Grain Exotic

n e w d w r a c k s y s t e M r a i s e s t h e b a rt o u r i n G d r u M M e r s w i l l a P P r e c i at e t h e f e at u r e -Pa c k e d 9 0 0 0 r a c kOver the years, Drum Workshop hardware has become synonymous with professional quality, reliability and heavy-duty road-proven performance, but if drummers pre-ferred a rack system, they would have to look elsewhere. That is, until now. This year DW unveiled its new 9000 rack system and gained immediate praise from those drummers who had always wanted a more thought-out, drummer-friendly design. The 9000 rack features heavy-duty stainless steel tubing, matching hinged rack clamps and a wide variety of accessories to accommodate virtually any set-up. DW Founder and R&D Specialist Don Lombardi explains, “We wanted to utilize a tubular system that drummers were used to seeing, but we also wanted to add a few bells and whistles to make their life easier.” Some of the “bells and whistles” Lombardi refers to include a nameplate with a cleverly inte-

grated level for accurate set-up, and rub-ber feet with integrated spikes to eliminate creep on carpeted surfaces. “We knew what drummers would expect from DW, and we wanted to come to the table with some in-novative ideas that wouldn’t disappoint,” Lombardi explains. DW 9000 rack systems are avail-able anywhere DW hardware is sold, and a full selection of rack parts and accessories can be found online at www.dwdrums.com.

h o t n e w G l a s s f i n i s h P ly ™ c o lo r s M a k e t h e c u td w a d d s s e v e r a l n e w G l a s s f i n i s h e s a f t e r t h e r u n aw ay s u c c e s s o f “ b r o k e n G l a s s ”When Executive Vice President and Drum Designer John Good launched Broken Glass in early 2004, he had no idea how wildly popular the finish would become. More than two years and hundreds of Broken Glass kits

later, Good reflects, “We received the sample and immediately thought it outshined the sparkle finishes we all grew up loving. But we had no idea it would become the new standard.” He continues, “If an artist wants something showy for stage, the first thing we’ll suggest is glass because when the light hits it, it puts on a show all its own.” Available in Blue, Champagne, Green, Gold, Ruby, Super Tangerine and the origi-nal that started it all, Broken Glass, each glass laminate is applied to the shell using DW’s proprietary manufacturing process that bonds the entire surface of the material to the shell. In addition, overlap seams are employed to ensure that drumheads always seat firmly against the bearing edge surface. The result, Good says, is a drum that looks as good as it sounds. Like all Collector’s Series drums, the new Glass FinishPly colors can be ordered in combination with any shell configuration or drum hardware color option. The Glass finishes are also integrated into DW’s on-line Kitbuilder® kit configurator that can be found at www.dwdrums.com/kitbuilder.

The new 9000 Series rack system easily complements any set-up.

Above: Gold Glass

Ruby GlassGreen GlassChampagne GlassBroken GlassBlue Glass Super Tangerine Glass

The Real Low Down.The Real Low Down.

©2006 Drum Workshop, Inc. The DW logo is a registered trademark of Drum Workshop, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

DW, The Drummer’s Choice.®

Sheila E.

Shown above: Collector’s Series® Natural Satin Oil over Curly Maple Exotic with Satin Chrome Hardware.

The DW Bass Drum WooferCreated to act as a sub-woofer for the drum set, this specialty drum is designed to utilize the sympathetic frequencies from the bass drum to further enhance the roundness and low-end punch many drummers are looking for. Use it live or in the studio to build a bigger, beefi er bass drum sound. The 8”-deep drum comes in 18” to 28” diameters and can be customized to match any Collector’s Series® kit. A May-ATM25BD is factory installed (internal miking for the bass drum is also recommended). Woofers can be mounted directly to the bass drum or on a cradle.

Billy Ward

Tony Royster, Jr.

Get a Woofer and discover what the pros already know.Whether you’re playing stadiums, doing studio gigs or just playing around town, the Woofer is the way to make your bass drum come alive. Front-of-house engineers and producers have raved about the results— all of the low-end attack you normally get from your bass drum combined with a thicker, fatter body. Pros like Sheila E., Billy Ward, Tony Royster, Jr., Terry Bozzio, Stephen Perkins and others demand Woofers— and so should you.

Visit your favorite pro drum shop and get the low down on a Woofer for your kit. You’ll be happy you did.

Your entertainment system has a sub-woofer. Shouldn’t your drum set?

DW Woofer Ad (EDGE).indd 1 9/29/06 2:44:44 PM

9550 Universal Linkage Remote Hi-Hat

D W ’ s L at e s t h at t r i c k i s a W i n n e r9 5 5 0 a n D 9 57 7 s p e c i a Lt y h i - h at s r e p r e s e n t t h e L at e s t i n h a r D W a r e t e c h n o Lo g yThe 9550 Universal Remote Hi-Hat uses DW’s famous universal linkage assembly to increase response and virtually eliminate the drag associated with many cable remote hi-hat systems. The smooth, effortless feel of the 9550 makes it a perfect candidate for a primary offset hi-hat or for a same-side re-mote. All of the heavy-duty features associ-ated with the 9000 Series line of hardware, like heavy-gauge steel tubing, integrated vise memory lock and lateral cymbal seat ad-justment, all come standard. The 9550 comes complete with auxiliary pedal, DWSMMG1 and DWSMMG2 mounting clamps and uni-versal linkage with tow extension options. With the 9577 hi-hat accessory, drum-mers can add a unique tandem hi-hat to their bag of tricks. The 9577 is an upper hi-hat attachment that fits any DW hi-hat stand that accommodates a 1” tube. It allows two sets of hats to be controlled from the same stand. DW Founder and R&D Specialist Don Lombardi comments, “It’s perfect for drummers who want to add a smaller set of hi-hat or effect cymbals, but don’t want to deal with a massive amount of hardware to pull it off. Plus, you can play patterns by alternating between the two sets of cymbals. It really is a revolutionary way to approach playing hi-hats.”

9577 Tandem Hi-Hat

e a s t m e et s W e s tcoLLector’s series BamBoo snare comBines the Warmth of WooD With a Bright crack usuaLLy asso-ciateD With metaL snare DrumsDW has long been known for its wide va-riety of metal and wood snare drum shell options, so what could offer something so unique as to get the attention of Executive Vice President and Drum Designer John Good? “We had toyed with so many shell ideas in the past and felt like there was re-ally nothing new out there that we hadn’t seen. That, and the snare drum is an interest-ing instrument. Its tonal qualities are differ-ent than every other drum on the kit, yet it’s the sonic signature for every drummer. In a nutshell, it has to sound like a good snare drum should sound,” Good explains.

The new Bamboo Collector’s Series snare comes in 5x13” and 5x14”, and is craft-ed using horizontal bamboo stave construc-tion. The drum has no reinforcement hoops for added projection and DW’s 45-degree bearing edge for resonance and attack. The drum also features DW crimped Coated heads by Remo USA and DW’s Delta ball-bearing throw-off. The drum also can be customized in any available finish to match any new or existing drum kit. “This drum has surprised some of our most discerning artists. I think they’re so familiar with the sound of brass and maple that they are skeptical about anything that might replace their favorite drum. With bamboo, we might have found a new favor-ite,” Good concludes.

Collector’s Series® Bamboo Snare

[ e D g e 7 . 0 ] 4 1

One of the most enduring and prolific artists in music history has just hit the road for another sold-out world tour. Make no mistake, being knighted by the Queen of Pop is an honor reserved for only a few elite drummers. Madonna’s Steve Sidelnyk has held the drum now for quite some time, and when we asked him to document life on the road with the Material Girl, he jumped at the chance. Private jets, five-star hotels and throngs of adoring fans... tough gig, Steve! To see more of your favorite artists backstage, check out

www.dwdrums.com/artists

Abe Laboriel, Jr.’s Choicesince 1991.

DW, The Drummer’s Choice.®

D E C A D E S

©20

06 D

rum

Wor

ksho

p, In

c. A

ll Ri

ghts

Res

erve

d.

Abe’s drumming style embodies his passion, feel and true love for the music. He’s first call with rock’s biggest names,

and for more than a decade and a half, he’s played DW.

DW 10s Abe (EDGE).indd 1-2 3/30/06 9:55:41 AM

>DW Drum CliniCg r o o v e e s s e n t i a L sB y t o m m y i g o e

The word “groove” doesn’t simply mean it’s perfectly in time—if it did, drum machines and com-puters would have the best grooves in the universe, and we know that’s not the case. Rather, “groove” means how

you play the time. A little on top, a little bit behind, intentionally phrasing in front of the bass or behind the guitar, or perhaps right down the center to let other instru-ments play in front or behind. These are just some of the possibilities when you have full command of your groove. Every drummer has different tenden-cies. A few common ones, for example, are to simply rush or drag, play faster when you get louder, slower when softer, speed up coming out of a fill, slow down when switching grooves and a thousand more. We all have some of these tendencies and the sooner you discover what your tendencies are, the sooner you can eliminate them from your groove, because they truly are groove destroyers. While great grooves are often organic and very human, sloppy playing will ruin any hope of getting a deep pocket. My “Groove Essentials” series is designed for all players, of all skill levels, to discover those tendencies and take the action needed to conquer anything standing between you and your groove, and expand your groove vocabulary. We’re going to look at a basic groove, a few variations for each groove and, best of all, a chart and play-along track for you to explore. Let’s get to work... The groove essentials universe is bro-ken into five families that all grooves can fit in: rock, funk, jazz, world and, the groove we’ll discuss here is from the hip-hop/R&B family. It is the 15th groove of the 47 ex-plored in “Groove Essentials.” Let’s take a look. (See Fig. 1) Can you see the “connective tissue” of this groove? Before I tell you where it is, try to visualize it yourself. See it? This groove is

an example of a more “open” construction, where multiple limbs work together to form the connective tissue that binds it together. The eighth-notes in this groove are formed by the ride cymbal and hi-hat working to-gether on the downbeats and upbeats to form a continuous line of eighths. Coordi-nation is naturally an issue with this groove and should be approached with caution. Take it slow and steady, practicing with a metronome at all times while learning the coordination. As with all grooves, what counts is how you play it. To give this groove a hip-hop flair, try giving it a little bit of a swing. All the sixteenths need to sit back in the pocket a little bit to give a rounder feel that is one of the hip-hop genre’s calling cards. You can play this groove straight, too, of course, and it works great like that, too. For you budding session players out there, in terms of authenticity, this groove is definitely too “wet” to use on a hip-hop re-cording. One thing that most R&B and hip-hop producers insist on is a very dry drum track. So, the ride cymbal part you see here would have to go. You can just move the right hand to something that doesn’t ring so much or do what I did on a session, throw some tape on your ride cymbal so it barely rings. The artist loved it! Then again, I saw ?uestlove last week, and he was playing his ride the entire time, and it sounded great, so maybe things are changing yet again. The moral of the story: be open to any possibili-ties. It’s variation time once again. Let’s take a look at what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into by creating two variations of the main groove. These variations are related to the main groove but skewed just enough to make a powerful difference. First up: Variation A. (See Var. A) Looks pretty easy, right? Well, as usual, looks can be deceiving. This uses one of my favorite hi-hat techniques: using the open hi-hat sound on the downbeat (instead of the upbeat, which is more common). The open hi-hat must be a perfect eighth-note in length, no shorter, no longer. Why? Good

va r . B

va r . a

f i g . 1

>DW Drum CliniCe x e r c i s e s

a r e y o u r e a D y t o g et y o u r g r o o v e o n ? g o o D , B e c a u s e n o m at t e r W h at k i n D o f m u s i c y o u p L ay, W h et h e r i t ’ s s i m p L e o r c o m p L e x , i t h a s t o B e i n t h e g r o o v e .

[ e D g e 6 . 0 ] 4 5

Go Anywhere™ Practice KitWarm up backstage or practice your chops without waking up the neighborhood. The lightweight, portable Go Anywhere™ kit makes it easy to practice anytime, anywhere.

Part of the complete line of Smart Practice™ pads and accessories available wherever Smart Practice™ products are sold.

©2006 Drum Workshop, Inc.

Don’t just practice hard, practice smart.

SP Go Anywhere Ad (EDGE).indd 1 7/25/06 5:05:51 PM

c h a r t

question. It’s because the length of the open hat sound is the consistent “glue” that holds this variation together. Any shorter or longer than a perfect eighth-note and it will start to clash the snare/bass drum interplay going on under-neath. It is so easy to play this groove badly, so be careful. (See Var. B) Here’s a different approach to this feel that I recommend you play at letter A on the upcoming chart. As far as the con-nective tissue, we have the eighth-notes being played by the foot on the hi-hat and

the upbeats on the ride cymbal. Please, please, please, don’t flam! Unintended flams are groove killers. They create clut-ter and confuse the ear of the listener. To be sure, you must record yourself and lis-ten back with a critical ear to see if your groove is as accurate as you want it to be.

And finally, the chart (see chart). Whoa, there’s a lot going on here, wouldn’t you say? Don’t worry if you can’t read, just listen to the song a few times first. For advanced play-ers, you’ll notice letter A is repeated the last time through the form. I’ve constructed the arrange-ment this way so you have some solo space to ex-plore. Perhaps “fill” space may be a better word here, since the song doesn’t stop and there are little accents from the other musicians popping around you as you make your contribution at letter A. It’ll be obvious when you get to this point in the chart that there is a lot more space, so musically fill it up a bit and take charge. Too bad the chart doesn’t tell you all that stuff, right? Ah, yes, the joys of chart reading; get used to it. The fun of this chart is taking a hip-hop in-spired groove and then throwing it into a decid-edly un-hip-hop musical situation! I’m a firm be-liever that all music cross-pollinates and doesn’t live in a vacuum; we all borrow from, and influ-ence, each other. This is one of my favorite tracks in “Groove Essentials” and I hope you have a ball with it. Go to tommyigoe.com and download the MP3 file “groove 15-FAST.” I’ll leave you with one thing to think about as you head down to the practice room: you are never as accurate as you think you are when play-ing in real time. You must record yourself play-ing with these songs and then listen back with a critical ear to truly judge your performance and groove contribution. Record yourself with the lat-est computer gizmo or a cheapo vintage cassette, doesn’t matter, just record yourself somehow, some way. When you do, you’ll hear things you never thought were happening as you were actu-ally playing, and you’ll be in a great position to fix them and concentrate on the stuff that’s really important: the music. Tommy Igoe is the leader of New York’s Friday Night Big Band at the famous Birdland Jazz Club. He is the principal drummer, assistant conductor and cre-ator of the drum set book for the “Lion King” on Broad-way and is the author of the “Groove Essentials” series of products published by Hudson Music. More info on Tommy can be found at Tommyigoe.com. For more “Groove Essentials,” visit www.dwdrums.com/eddept

Tommy Igoe

key

EDGE: You’re new to DW. What made you de-cide to switch?

Bobby Jarzombek: Well, I’ve always been intrigued with drums and the innovative stuff that’s been coming out of DW. I’ve also noticed that a lot of guys have been head-ing over to DW, and I’ve been wondering why. In looking a little further and checking out some of the products, I thought that ev-erything was cool, and the finest drums for sure. I was a little bit dissatisfied with my former company, and that’s what led to me checking things out. So I went out to Oxnard and checked out the whole factory and the making of the drums. I was definitely sold on it, you know, when I saw everything go-ing down. I saw the entire operation at work, with everybody involved all the way from the guys in the paint area with the masks over their faces to Don Lombardi at the top. I was just impressed with the whole opera-tion, so I had to make the change.

EDGE: So as a hard rock/metal drummer, you have to have some pretty serious stamina obvi-ously to make it through a show. Talk a little bit about how you stay in shape and your practice routine.

BJ: Well, I think it’s important to always to be in shape to play metal drums. I mean, ob-viously when I go into a rehearsal situation, I make sure I know the songs really well. I run through the set on my own, just with a click track, multiple times on each song. Then, I’ll do the whole set again and again, just keeping up double bass chops, keep-ing up speed chops. So when you’re doing a 45-minute show, it’s like a breeze. The idea is to be relaxed up there, but intense. So I just make sure that I’m in shape to play the shows.

EDGE: Do you also have a workout routine that involves physical training or cardio?

BJ: I used to run years ago. For like two years, I would run steadily about three or four times a week, you know, a few miles at a time. I did that on and off for many years. And I think it was right around the Rob Hal-ford (lead singer for Judas Priest) “Crucible” time in 2002. We were doing rehearsals and pre-production, then were in the studio for a long time. That was such an intense time, and right around that time I quit running, I never went back to it. Maybe it’s not a good thing that I never did, but I still try to stay in the same frame of mind as if I was running a few times a week, just with my practice routines.

EDGE: Do you have certain rudiments or foot exercises you focus on when you practice?

BJ: I work on what I call “concepts,” where I have particular patterns that tend to evolve and become more complex patterns. You can take it as far as your ability and your drumming vocabulary allows. I have these concepts that I work on, and they’re intense. It might be a hand exercise or a foot exer-cise, but if you work on it diligently in the rehearsal room for three or four hours a day, then you’re going to get a pretty good workout. These concepts are not anything specific, just something that I happen to stumble upon, or something that I think is a cool exercise or rudiment. Sometimes it’s a stamina kind of thing or a polyrhythmic thing; it always changes.

EDGE: What other styles of music have you studied, and what other types of music have in-fluenced your playing?

BJ: Oh, you’re going to open up a can of

worms if I go there. I grew up playing in South Texas, where I’m from, San Antonio, and if you want to make a living in that area of the country, then you have to know a lot of different styles. Obviously I grew up with a lot of heavy metal drumming and heavy metal drummers. I’m a fan of drumming, and being a working musician, I learned to play a variety of styles. There was a lot of country music and there was Tejano music, for example. I’ve done CDs and live shows for years and years doing country music and Tejano music. I’m a hell of a country drum-mer, too, by the way. I don’t know if you knew that. I’ve done quite a bit of that kind of stuff. But it’s kind of a weird mixture be-cause it’s country music mixed with heavy metal music. I was part of the regular “A” team of studio players down in San Anto-nio, which isn’t saying a whole lot when you consider where San Antonio is on the musi-cal map, but it was still cool. I’d also play a lot of classic rock, whatever San Antonio allowed me to do in order to make a living. I really stayed true to my heavy metal roots, though. That’s where my passion comes from when it comes to drumming, and that’s what I grew up listening to. Even then, I go through days where I listen to nothing but Cuban stuff, or bebop ‘50s jazz, like older Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. I owned a lot of that stuff.

EDGE: So do you feel that any of those styles of music influence your rock playing?

BJ: Yeah, like on this new Sebastian Bach CD, there’s a few ballads. I mean, unless you can really competently play a ballad, you’re in trouble. It’s something that you can learn, just listening to records and learning feel, not the technical side, but the feel. I mean you really have to feel that music in order to play like that. You have to be in those situ-

metalHammerHe’s tHe tHinking man’s metal drummer, backing metal gods like rob Halford and sebastian bacH. tHis cHops-inspired speed demon pulls out all of tHe tricks, wHile years of experience Have taugHt Him to still lay it down like a metal Hammer.

[ e D g e 7 . 0 ] 4 7

BoBBy JarzomBek

photos by Matthew Fried

set-up specs:DW Collector’s Series Birch Drums in Regal Blue to Black Burst Lacquer Specialty with Black Hardware20x22” Bass Drum (x2)6.5x14” Solid Shell Snare Drum9x10”, 10x12”, 12x14” Tom-Toms16x16” Floor Tom5000TD3 Delta3 Turbo Single Bass Drum Pedal (x2)9500 Hi-Hat Stand9900 Double Tom Stand9999 Single Tom/Cymbal Stand9700 Straight/Boom Cymbal Stand (x8)9100M Standard Drum Throne

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

[ e D g e 7 . 0 ] 4 9

you talk about that a little bit? Also, talk about the cymbal behind you, because that’s kind of an unusual thing, too.

BJ: Well, the left-handed thing, I speak about it briefly on my DVD. It just kind of evolved. I guess it came about in the early ‘90s. For a few years, I played a conventional, right hand on the hi-hat crossover. I was playing a few patterns, one of these concepts that I was working on, and I was trying to get my right hand to move around the toms and my left hand was stuck underneath my right hand. It was becoming difficult, so I pulled the left hand and said, “Well, maybe I can put the left hand on the hi-hat and the right hand on the toms.” You know, try it open-handed. Need-less to say, I ended up getting the pattern that way. I thought, “Man, you know I’ve always wanted to do this switch-over thing, I’m gonna go for it.” And I just started prac-ticing everything open-handed. So I would play gigs, and I would play right-handed, and my set at home would still be set up left-handed. I would practice left-handed, then go off and play gigs right-handed. I kept do-ing that for about six months. Then I had a tour with Riot. I told myself, “I’m going to learn all these Riot songs left-handed. And I’m going to play them that way.” I started learning everything at the time, playing things left-handed. So I just went into it full force and ended up sticking with it. That was how I initially got over the hump, by just forcing myself to learn all of the mate-rial left-handed. So it wasn’t so much like I was doing particular exercises or anything. It was more like I was learning material and playing that way.

EDGE: How about the cymbals behind you?

BJ: Yeah, that’s a crazy story. A friend of mine was a guitar player for Dokken. Don Dokken split from Dokken and formed his own band. So my friend was talking to me about auditions they were having for drum-mers, and he said, “Yeah, we had this one

drummer that auditioned for the gig, and he had this one cymbal, it was almost like it was behind him or something.” And I was like, “What? Cymbal behind him?” And he was like, “Well not really behind him. It was like when he played around the kit, did a roll around the kit, the guy had to reach really far toward the back of him to hit the cymbal.” I was like, “Wow, that’s kind of dif-ferent.” I thought about it, and I went out to my practice room, and I thought what it might be like to put a cymbal behind me and play. So I set up a cymbal on my right side and played around with it and kinda took a back swing at it, and it was pretty easy. I thought, “Well, this is cool,” so I fooled with that for a few days and then set one up on the left side and did the same thing. On the left, I ended up having to have it a bit high-er; it just felt more comfortable with the left one a little higher than on the right side. So, I ended up with those two cymbals behind me. I started doing that in the early ‘90s live when I was with Riot. Then, it got to be sort of a trademark thing where people started to notice it.

EDGE: Do you consciously work on being a “showy” or visual player?

BJ: There was a time when Tommy Lee and everybody started to do the stick twirling stuff, and I told myself, “I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to be a part of that whole stick twirling, throwing sticks thing.” For a while I thought that, then I changed my mind. I thought it’s only going to make it more visually appealing if I do it, so I start-ed to twirl the sticks again. You know, that technique between the middle finger and the index finger. I started to work on that when I was playing, and I thought, “This is pretty cool. You can do a lot of stuff with this.” I was already playing open-handed, so there was never a crossover prob-lem, and I was able to do it with both hands. Then I thought, “There are endless pos-

sibilities with this,” so I just started getting into twirling with both hands, and then started throwing tosses and whatever else I could think up. The cymbals behind me added a whole new dimension to that. It’s not something that I practice all the time. I’ll go sometimes weeks or months with-out even twirling a stick if I’m recording or whatever.

EDGE: There must be a lot of work that goes into all of those tricks.

BJ: There is, but I really only have about three or four different moves. If you do them in the right places, in certain ways, you learn to make the most of them. You can hit a drum and come back with a twirl, or hit a cymbal and do kind of this upstroke cymbal twirl. That’s where you can hit the cymbal from underneath and then follow with a twirl. There’s a lot of different tricks you can use to make it a little bit more unique.

EDGE: Do you have any final thoughts or any advice that you’d give younger players?

BJ: I’d say that the main thing is to stay in school and to take lessons. Learn as much as you can and widen your drumming vo-cabulary and your musicality. Say, if you’re 18 years old and you’re anxious to get out on the road, you can wait a few years. You don’t have to go out there and go crazy. Take a few years to learn what you can, go to a music school and take a few lessons. The road will always be there, all that stuff will be there, and you’ll be that much more pre-pared for it.

i don’t know if tHere’s a dream gig. i’ve always been a side man and never really been a band member, so tHat would be a dream for me: to be an equal partner in a successful band.

ations where you’re able to play that music and express yourself within that music. I think that playing different styles of music has really helped my timing and control. If you’re just a metal drummer, you’re just go-ing to play the same fills that everybody else has played in that particular genre. And if you think about the guys who are well edu-cated in metal drumming and rock drum-ming, they pulled from so many different genres of drumming.

EDGE: What was the last tour you were on?

BJ: Lately I’m back and forth with Sebastian Bach. At the moment, we’re not on the road steadily, but we’ve been doing a ton of fly-ins. We just came off doing some dates with Guns ‘n’ Roses, and we were in Japan play-ing with KISS, Alice in Chains, Godsmack, Steve Vai and a whole bunch of bands. It was awesome! We just did some headlining shows in Europe, too. I’m back for a little break, and then we’ll go back out do some more stuff, then who knows?

EDGE: Do you have a tech that you normally work with on the road?

BJ: There’s been a few different guys over the years. When I was with Halford, we went through a few different guys. Sadly, one of the guys, Clint Leteiur, died about a year ago. He was teching for us for a couple of years, and he’d also worked with a lot of different people like Racer X and Godsmack.

For a little while I was using Jose Baracio who was the tech for Mike Portnoy, and he’s on the road with Joe Satriani. Lately with Sebastian, we’ve been doing so many fly-ins that the promoter will provide a guy to kind of help me. It’s hard to use a tech when you do fly-ins because they don’t know the set-up and how you want everything set. If I’m there, and there’s a guy that speaks Eng-lish in whatever country I’m in, and he can just hand me stuff, I’m cool. So that seems to be the way we’re doing it lately, until we get steady dates where we’re on a tour with routing, then we’ll hook that up. But yeah, if there are any of you guys out there that want to tech for me, give me a call.

EDGE: What do you think your dream gig would be? I know that’s kind of a loaded, question but let me rephrase that—are there any artists that you haven’t worked with that you think might be fun to work with in the future?

BJ: When I was growing up, I was really into Zappa. I was hoping that one day I would play with Zappa, but obviously, that’s never going to happen. I don’t know if there’s a dream gig. I’ve always been a side man and never really been a band member, so that would be a dream for me: to be an equal partner in a successful band. Tool is a great band. Opeth is a great band. I really like the fact that those guys are heavy, and they play heavy music, but their songs are great songs.

EDGE: We talked a little bit earlier about other styles of music, and you mentioned some art-ists, but are there any rock or metal drummers who influenced you when you were learning the ropes?

BJ: I guess my biggest influence when I started playing was Neil Peart. He’s still a great drummer. If you ever have any doubts about Neil, just because of the way drum-ming has evolved, you know, there are guys out there that are doing really crazy poly-rhythmic four-way coordination things, but if you go back to the Rush records and re-ally try to listen to the parts that were played and learn the parts, you’ll realize how mu-sical his drumming is. I loved Simon Phil-lips and his whole approach to the drum kit. I’m still playing the whole left-handed thing, partly because Simon Phillips plays open-handed. Terry Bozzio, the stuff he did with UK, Zappa, Missing Persons, that was really big for me early on. Then later on, Deen Castronovo, just his fire and the way he played, the power in his drumming was totally amazing. Deen, I guess, was prob-ably the only player I ever heard on a record and 30 seconds later was like, “Who is this? This is the most amazing drummer I’ve ever heard.” You know? I listen to a lot of guys like Thomas Lang, Marco Minnemann and Virgil Donati for ideas as well. These guys do crazy things with a drum set.

EDGE: You just mentioned Simon Phillips and having the ride cymbal over on the left side. Can

>PaCifiC Drum neWsn e W p r o D u c t s a n D i n n o vat i o n s

pa c i f i c g o e s B i g W i t h m x rr o c k s i z e s a n D 8 - p Ly a L L -m a p L e s h e L L s m a k e t h i s k i t a t r u e r o c k e rRock drummers rejoice: your wait is over. With an eye for detail and desire to outfit se-rious rock players with a kit that’s ready for the stage or studio at a price they can actu-ally afford, Pacific has recently unveiled its new MXR Series. Pacific artist and drummer for Motion City Soundtrack, Tony Thaxton, comments, “I fell in love with my Pacific kit immediately. The drums sound and look amazing.” MXR comes with Pacific’s first ever 24” bass drum. In fact, the 18x24” kick comes non-drilled. Instead, the 9x12” rack tom can be mounted to any existing cymbal stand via a PDAC991 tom clamp that comes with the kit. Both the 12x14” and 14x16” floor toms come on DW-style resonant floor tom legs for maximum projection. A matching 6x14” snare drum completes the package and helps to make MXR a hard kit to pass up. DRUMMER Magazine, one of the United Kingdom’s premier drum publications, pro-claimed, “When you want it hard and loud,

but with plenty of scope for finesse, then you really have to check this baby out.” Available in an Ebony Matte finish and Cherry to Black Fade Matte finish, MXR has looks, too. And if that wasn’t enough, Pacific has added a host of impressive pro features usually reserved for more expensive custom kits. The set also comes with an 8.155 hard-

ware pack that includes a CB800 straight/boom cymbal stand, CS800 straight cymbal stand, HH800 hi-hat, SS800 snare stand and SP450 single bass drum pedal. For more information on the MXR and the full line of PDP drums, pedals and hardware, visit www.pacificdrums.com.

MXR Ebony with optional 8x10” add-on tom

[ e D g e 7 . 0 ] 5 1

Chrome-over-steel 805 Series snare drums

s t e e L 8 0 5 s a r e a r e a L s t e a Lpa c i f i c a D D s c h r o m e - o v e r -s t e e L 8 0 5 s n a r e D r u m s t o t h e m i xSo you want a side snare that has plenty of attack, or a main snare that’s loud enough to cut through the Marshalls? Pacific has the snares for you. These chrome-over-steel beauties are available in 6x10” and 6x14” sizes and come in three different drum hardware colors for a totally custom look. Choose from Chrome with Chrome, Chrome with Black or Chrome with Red, each with matching throw-off and butt plate. The 6x10” “popcorn” snares even come with an included 10.5 mm tom bracket for easy set-up. Just add a PDAC991 tom clamp, and you can put the 10” 805 anywhere you want using any existing stand. No need for ad-ditional snare baskets or heavy mounting hardware. With a retail price tag of $217.99 for the 6x10” and $254.99 for the 6x14”, ev-ery drummer can add this firecracker to

their arsenal.

Tony Thaxton and his MXR Cherry Fade (photo by Hadas)

pa c i f i c e x -pa n D s f s a L L -B i r c h k i t s W i t h n e W a D D -o n t o m sD r u m m e r s c a n n o W a D D 8 ” a n D 1 6 ” t o m s t o t h e i r 5 - p i e c e f s o u t f i t sIn additional to two brand-spanking-new color options for 2006, Natural to Charcoal Burst and Cherry to Black Fade, Pacific is

now offering 7x8” and 14x16” add-on toms to the line. The 8” tom comes complete with an S.T.M. (suspension tom mount) and can be mounted via a PDAC991 tom clamp or TS900 tom stand. The 16” floor tom comes with legs and is the perfect addition for those drummers looking for a double floor tom set-up or an option to the 12x14” that comes with the 5-piece package. Drum Workshop Executive Vice Presi-dent and Drum Designer John Good ex-plains, “The entire kit, including the new add-ons, are F.A.S.T. sizes. It’s a term we coined for Fundamentally Accurate Sized Toms. This means that the depths are de-

p D p ’ s L at e s t e x o t i c i s a n e y e f u L Lpa c i f i c a D D s B i r D s e y e m a p L e t o i t s L x e L i n e Following the success of last year’s LXE launch, Pacific has added a stunning new wood to its Exotic LXE Series. The new highly figured Birdseye Maple kits are fin-ished in Tobacco Burst lacquer and join the already popular Charcoal Fade Kurillian

kits being offered. Executive Vice President and Drum Designer John Good comments, “When we released LXE, we were really proud of the way they looked and sounded, but we didn’t know if Pacific was ready for an Exotic. It’s a slightly different sound than DW, more open sounding with that 8-ply maple shell. And with the high-end Exotic finish, people really got what we were try-ing to do.” LXE comes in standard 5-piece configu-rations that include an 18x22” bass drum, 8x10” tom, 9x12” tom, 11x14” floor tom

and matching 5x14” snare drum. 7x8” and 14x16” add-on toms are also avail-able, and drummers can also upgrade to a match-ing SXE solid shell snare if they so choose. The basic configuration comes with a heavy-duty 9.155 hardware pack, and that includes an HH900 hi-hat stand, CB900 straight/boom cym-bal stand, CS900 straight cymbal stand, SS 900 snare stand and SP500 pedal. “It’s great to be able to use years of custom drum mak-ing experience to create a kit that more drummers can afford to own,” Good

adds. Birdseye Maple LXE kits are avail-able through any authorized Pacific Drums retailer. To find the dealer nearest you, visit www.pacificdrums.com.

n e W s x e s n a r e D r u m s a r e a s o L i D c h o i c ep D p ’ s f i r s t e v e r s o L i D s h e L L s n a r e D r u m D e L i v e r s p r o p e r f o r m a n c e Pacific is following up on the success of its line up of SXE snare drums with the launch of two new SXE Solid Shell snare drums. The 5x14” drum features an all-maple steam-bent solid shell for warmth and sonic clarity. Its exterior is finished in a choice of exotic Kurillian with a Charcoal Fade lacquer or new Birdseye Maple with a traditional Tobacco Burst lacquer. Both have a recently upgraded drop-style throw–off, crimped-coated DW heads by REMO USA and heavy-gauge steel flanged hoops. SXE Solid Shell snare drums match the two available LXE Series colors for those drummers who want to upgrade to a solid shell or simply prefer the added projection that a one-piece shell can provide. The full line of SXE Snare Drums is available for view at www.pacificdrums.comSXE Solid Maple Snare Drums with Exotic Finishes

DW Golf ToWel (PR60TOWEL)

DW WristbanDs (PR60BAND)

All DW DrumWeAr AnD DW DVD Items cAn be orDereD At WWW.DWDrums.com. select Items Are AVAIlAble through AuthorIzeD DW DeAlers.

Above: DW Trucker HaT WiTH PaTcH (PR10HAT05), PDP camo HaT (PR10PDPHAT06), DW reTro Ball caP (PR10WNHAT06), DW WHiTe logo HaT (PR10WHAT06), DW corPoraTe logo HaT (PR10HAT01), DW Flex-FiT HaT (PR10HAT04)

DW classic logo Tee (PR20SSbL)

DW Bottle opener (PR60BOPENER)

DW DVD TraVel Mug (PR60TUMBLER)

Above: DW coloreD Tees (NAvy/WHiTe, oLive/oRANge, mARooN/yeLLoW, yeLLoW/bLAck AND WHiTe/NAvy)

Above: DW HooDie (PR20bkHooD06), DW Dickies sHirT (PR20DickieS06), DW collecTor’s series® BaDge Tee (PR20bADge)

Birdseye Maple LXE in Natural to Tobacco Burst lacquer

S t e v e S m i t h My old friend, and legendary drum tech and drum designer, Jeff Ochletree set me up with Steve. Jeff has been teching for Steve as of late and has also teched for John Bonham, Billy Cobham and many other great drum-mers. We recorded the track up in Oregon, where Steve owns a home. He’s also living in New York these days and is part of the NYC jazz scene. Steve is a great guy. He’s very meticulous about his playing and gives 110 percent. It’s obvious that he loves to play drums and loves to record. He has a reputa-tion as a serious player, but he also comes up with some great ideas. He added many cre-ative fills against the odd time measures and made the duet come alive. It’s interesting to note that he’s into Eastern Indian rhythms and incorporates them into the drum set flawlessly. Not only a great drummer, Steve was also a great host.

J o S h F r e e S e I’ve known Josh and his family since we were kids, and it’s been fun to watch his drum-ming career really explode over the past several years. He’s worked hard to get where he is and now is a first-call drummer. When I de-cided to do a drum duet version of Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” I instantly thought of Josh. Josh had just finished up a tour with Sting, and we pulled an early morning ses-sion. He played on one of my DW sets and felt right at home. There’s no question that one of the reasons for his busy work sched-ule is that he plays with great intensity and

really lays into the drums. That, combined with his feel and ability to “play through,” means he has great pocket and gets a great sound out of the kit. Josh was so easy to work with and added a great flair to the track. Another great thing about Josh is that he’s willing to try anything and is open to suggestions. He really cares about how the composition is evolving and wants to capture the best performance possible for that particular track.

A l e x A c u ñ A I’ve been a huge fan of Alex’s playing my entire life. He has the unique talent of be-ing both a master drum set player and per-cussionist. His career is a testament to his natural ability. From his days with Weather Report to the countless movie and televi-son soundtracks on his résumé, he’s a true drummer’s drummer and an all-around great guy. For Alex, I wanted to do a piece that would feature him in a fusion setting. It was important to keep him in his element and play off of his strengths. The result was a duet that shows off Alex’s prowess. His feel is second to none, and he has Latin roots that influence every style of music he plays. When he sits behind the drums, he really comes alive. He was open to collaborating on the tune, and it took the piece in some interesting new directions. Alex is another seasoned drummer with some amazing sto-ries to tell. It was a blast to work with him, and I hope the opportunity presents itself in the future.

This project demonstrated that as unique and different as each drummer can be, they all have a commonality; they’re talented, meticulous, serious and extremely creative musicians. They all have impeccable tech-nique—and they know when to use it! They all take direction and never let their egos get in the way of the recording, and they all think musically. To reach such heights as a professional drummer is no easy task, and these players proved that it takes more than luck to build a long-standing career in the business. This project also proved that drumming is a common language. No mat-ter which style of music we were perform-ing, we always had a common understand-ing. This CD is a dream come true for me, so why stop here? Look for Drum Duets Vol. 2 coming soon, and always realize your own musical dreams. No one will do it for you.

As a child, I was surrounded by drummers and always wanted to do a project that fo-cused solely on the instrument. The idea was to play these musical drum duets with drummers that I had always admired and that had inspired me to be a drummer. I had also wanted the players to be extraordinarily diverse, with styles ranging from rock, jazz, fusion, punk and ska to progressive, R&B and bebop. Many different genres, one com-mon denominator: they’re all great drum-mers! And with help from my wife Linda, we began to plan the logistics of how we would record these noted drummers. It goes without saying that working with some of the world’s best drummers was an amazing experience, and the resulting project was a true labor of love. Here’s an artist-by-artist look inside the making of my new CD, John Wackerman: Drum Duets Volume 1.

S t e v e G A d d Linda and I flew into Rochester, New York, and headed to The Studios at Lin-den Oaks. It’s a world-class facil-ity, and Steve’s drums were set up in front of the stu-dio’s acoustically designed brick wall. Steve says it’s one of the best rooms for drum sounds. The engi-

neer and drum tech got sounds up before Steve arrived. Steve came to the session early, which gave us a little time to hang out in the control room and talk for a bit; he’s extremely cool and easy to talk with. For my duet with Steve, I chose a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression.” I wanted it to be a classic rock song, and I knew Steve would play some amazing stuff on it. It’s also in three-quarter time, so I thought it would make an inter-esting drum duet. Be-cause it had been a while since he’d heard it, Steve asked to hear the original Hendrix track to get the vibe of the song. After that, we looked at the chart, and he headed into the tracking room for some fine-tuning and last minute tweaks. It was interesting to note that Steve plays his hi-hats with the heavier cymbal on the top. We recorded the first take, and Steve played amazing! He nailed everything we discussed on the chart. The exceptional thing about Steve is his musicality. When he solos, you can hear melodies that take the duet to new heights. Not only does he

have incredible technique, but also an infectious groove; when he plays it’s truly soulful. After that first take, he came into the control room, and we listened. Steve had a couple of ideas and did one more take. He took the second take in a slightly different direction, and it was also amazing! After listening to the playback, Steve made some excellent arrangement suggestions for the piece that we ended up us-ing in the final mix. Steve Gadd is one of the most professional and gracious people I have ever met and is deservingly a drum icon.

P et e r e r S k i n e I first met Peter when I was a kid. My dad would take my brothers

and I to the Stan Kenton Jazz Camps. Later, I was influenced by Peter’s playing with Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson and Weather Report. Having the opportunity to work with Peter on this project was amazing. Peter’s piece is an original composition, and I wanted it to be contemporary jazz with an edge. He picked up on that immediately and captured the essence of what I was trying to achieve. On Peter’s duet, I used a DW Classics Series prototype set. This is DW’s new vin-tage-inspired series that utilizes a specially designed shell configuration to mimic the vintage drum sounds we sometimes look for in certain recording situations. I thought it was a good “old school” choice for the piece, and it sounded amazing! The session took place at Peter’s home studio in Santa Mon-ica, California, and it was a really relaxed vibe. Peter’s wife Mutsuko was a gracious host and made us feel right at home. Once we began, Peter played through the chart and nailed all of the odd-time measures and solo sections. His playing is so musical, and I love his phrasing. Peter is one of the nicest people I know and is deservingly known as one of the purest of jazz drummers today.

> t h e m A k i n G o F d r u m d u et S v o l . 1

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 5 5

>The Making Of DruM DueTs VOl. 1B y J o h n W A c k e r m A n

What the artists have to say:“I think that John’s recording, with all of the different guest drummers, will prove to be a very important documentation of drum set percussion in this new millennium.”—Peter Erskine

“He has a lot of spirit in his music, and his playing reflects that of his soul.”—Gary Novak

“We need more of this kind of music because drum or solo instrumental projects now are so predictable.”—Ricky Lawson

“He’s got many of the world’s best drummers playing on this, and he gets to show what he’s about as a unique player and writer.” —Chad Wackerman

“It took a lot of foresight and backbone to tackle this project.” —Ron Tutt

“Basically, John wanted me to really go for it and play to my peak, which is always fun and exciting to do.” —Steve Smith

h e A r A u d i o c l i P S A n d B u y t h e c d

At W W W. d W d r u m S . c o m

F o r m o r e o n t h e m A k i n G o F d r u m d u et S v o l . 1 , G o t o W W W. d W -

EDGE: You come from a very musical family. How did that influence your drumming?

Alex Acuña: From the very beginning, my brothers took lessons from my father. My fa-ther was a music teacher, and I observed the nuances and different ways he taught my brothers. He never used the same method because he was able to understand that ev-erybody was different and had a different understanding. So he treated them different-ly, and he taught them differently. I thought, “Wow, that’s a great thing.”

EDGE: Were you all playing music?

AA: Yeah, all six brothers.

EDGE: And were you all playing percussion?

AA: No, my father was a high school mu-sic teacher, so he was able to teach them guitar, saxophone and trumpet. He played every instrument including percussion, but he didn’t want to teach me because my mother told him not to teach me music. She didn’t want me to be a musician. I was the youngest of six, and she wanted to me to be a mechanic or carpenter, something differ-ent than my brothers, so I’d always have a job. Ironically, I’m the one who became the musician in the family. I really learned from my brothers and how they approached my father’s lessons. Some of them were very perseverant about studying and being pre-pared for my father. The ones with more tal-ent didn’t need to study as much. They just thought, “Oh, I can get it, no problem.” And my father was serious about that. He said, “You have to respect this. You wanted to be a musician, I’m going to teach you, and you better practice.” So I learned those things from the family, especially how to read mu-sic and how to formally play music. At a very early age, I got a sense of that from my brothers. They loved music and they played for the love of the music, not just for money. I learned that from them.

EDGE: Did you get formal musical training from your father, too?

AA: No, I played on my own. My brothers were the ones who were teaching me. I also used to play trumpet when I was a kid, but my brothers taught me, not my father. Not to mention, I always had an incredible love for listening to music, and my passion is still listening to music. I choose percussion be-cause rhythm was, and still is, a mystery. I don’t say a mystery in that it’s difficult or mysterious. I say mystery because it’s still being discovered: more and more and more rhythms. Plus, the sound of the congas and the bongos and timbales, the drums, the cymbals and cowbells all fascinate me. Since day one, I’ve enjoyed playing both per-cussion and drums. I don’t know if I have mastered both, but I truly love it.

EDGE: Didn’t you have formal musical train-ing at some point?

AA: Later on, when I came to San Juan, Puerto Rico, I got married, and my daughter was born. At that time, I was already work-ing and playing in big bands. I already knew how to read trumpet and follow the chart. Then, when my oldest daughter was born, I said, “I’d better take this seri-ously,” so I went to the conservatory. As it turns out, I only

went to 5th grade because at a very early age, I also needed to support my mother. My father was there, but he was like a single father. So when I was 12 years old, I had to quit school to be the head of the house. Even though I was the youngest one of the whole family, my brothers got married at a very early age, so they left to the city. So I was taking care of family. I have always taken care of family. That helped me musically because I always had to gig a lot to pay the bills. When I was 10, I had to make money. Even though I was pursuing the money or pursuing the job, the music was never left out.

set-up specs:Collector’s Series® Maple Drums with Natural Lacquer over Redwood Burl Exotic and Chrome Hardware18x20” Bass Drum5x14” Snare Drum9x12”, 14x16” Tom-Toms9000 Single Pedal6500 Hi-Hat Stand6300 Snare Drum Stand6710 Straight Cymbal Stand9100 Standard Drum Throne

Latin StyLeBorn in peru and raised on a healthy diet of traditional BeBop and latin rhythms, he’s one of drumming’s true multi-taskers

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 5 7

aLex acuña

1

2

3

4

5

67

8

9

10

6

9

photos by Tony Barbera

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 5 9

>on the record:

EDGE: So what led you to go to music school in Puerto Rico? At that point, you had already been gigging for a long time.

AA: Right. Well, I wanted to go to the next level. My daughters inspired me to be home and to get to another level. And I was discovering other styles of playing, seeing other great musicians and admiring them. I’d ask, “How did you learn this? Oh man! You study multiple percussion and study a little harmony, and that’s how to play ballads and this and that?” So I went

to conservatory with my basic 5th grade music education. I knew the only way I would be accepted was to lie, so I told them I graduated from high school. They gave me a reading exam and a recital and they said, “Oh, so you can read...you’re in.” To this day, I still like to read and still read a ton of books in my free time. They put me in the ensemble playing percussion, and I started with little ballads and a little timpani. Then came the entire spectrum of classical percussion. It was a great thing. It’s such a won-derful thing, because now when I do movie dates, I’m one of the few Latin percussionists in Los Angeles that can follow a conductor.

EDGE: So what led you to be a studio musician before you came to the United States?

AA: Well, even in Peru, I was already do-ing a lot of sessions in the little town where I was born and raised until I was 16. I mentioned that my brothers started get-ting married and going to Lima, the main city of Peru, but I stayed in my little town to raise my sisters and my nephews, and take care of my mom. I was just gigging with little bands around town, just trying to survive, but my brothers started recom-mending me for gigs in Lima. They’d say, “You know my little brother can really play drums, and he reads really well.” So they used to call me to do some gigs in the city. Finally I said, “Oh yeah, maybe I should move to the city.” So I moved to the city and immediately I started working on tele-vision and radio. I was 16 years old and re-cording and working from 9 a.m. to about 3 p.m., five to six days a week. So anyhow,

I first came to the United States on a con-tract with Perez Prado. He was the original Mambo king. When he saw me playing in Peru, he said, “I have a nine-month tour in the United States. I want you to play with me.” I laughed at him. I was only 18. I said, “Come on man, the Americans are the ones who invented the drums,” meaning, there are plenty of drummers over there, you don’t need me. He said, “No, no, no, the feel that you have for the music is what I want for my music.” So I came here with a nice contract and a residence card. Now they call it a green card. When I finished the contract, he left for Mexico, and that’s when I went to Puerto Rico.

EDGE: What made you come to the United States to stay?

AA: When I was in Puerto Rico, I was just preparing myself. Then, when I discovered Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, The Jackson Five, Ray Baretto and Tito Puente, you know all that great music from the ‘60s, it changed me, and I said, “I’d better go around there.” But let me tell you something, I think every hu-man being has an inside mirror where you look at yourself and say, “I don’t think I’m ready. I don’t think I’m ready to go there, but I’m going to test it out.” Then, people started calling me from Puerto Rico to come to record in Miami and New York; the word gets around. So I came to New York and said, “Man, this city’s too big for me! I don’t think I’m ready for this place.” So I kept going back to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Then, when I discovered Weather Report in 1970, I said, “That’s the band I wanna play with.” Then I got a contract to come to Las Vegas and worked there for three months. My passion for Latin mu-sic, jazz and all kinds of good music kept growing, and I knew I’d be coming back to the United States to play jazz. Really, that was my vision, my goal.

EDGE: So mid-’70s you hit Las Vegas, right? You played with the likes of Diana Ross and El-vis Presley in what many consider Vegas’ hey-day. Describe that scene in Vegas at the time.

AA: Believe it or not, every time I made a move, it’d be with the band. Every season, I’d make the trek from Peru to the United

States to Puerto Rico, and back to the United States again. I was ready to come back to the United States now, but I wasn’t ready to come to New York or Los Angeles. I said, “I’m not ready for Los Angeles, either. It’s way too big.” When I say it’s too big, I don’t mean the physical distance; it was more the musicianship in Los Angeles at the time. I was still intimidated, and the concept of Los Angeles was just way too heavy. I was work-ing at the Playboy Club in Century City, [laughs] and I already had my family. Then I said, “No, I can’t stay in L.A. I’m going to Las Vegas. Pack everybody up!” So we all drove to Las Vegas. I think I had about $2,500 in my pocket. In those days, Vegas was only $300 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. I thought, “I can survive here.” I started at the Hilton as the house drummer. There were like 25 drummers lined up for the gig, but they kept me employed. They took good care of me for reasons I don’t know. Maybe it was because I was able to double on percus-sion, and it saved them some money. A lot of the big acts that came to the hotel had their own rhythm sections, so they’d say, “Can you play percussion?” I said, “Sure!” Back then, I was playing with Ike and Tina Turner, the Temptations, Paul Anka, Gladys Knight and the Pips and even Elvis. I was playing percussion because they’d have their own drummers on tour with them. My first gig in Las Vegas was Olivia Newton John. She was opening for Charlie Rich. Charlie Rich was a country western singer. [laughs] So I stayed there for about a year, and I’d get my steady check every week. So, I bought a house, and my kids were going to school. Everything was very comfortable. Then this percussion-ist from New York named Don Alias came through town and saw me perform with the Temptations. That’s when he said, “Man, we have to play together.” He invited me to play with his band, and we played with

Willy Bobo and just gigged around Los An-geles and San Francisco.

EDGE: So, when did Weather Report come into the picture, and how did that impact your career at the time?

AA: Everything changed. Oh yeah! Joe (Za-winul) came to Las Vegas to hire me. He’d heard about me, but he wanted to see how I looked. He said, “Hey, Alex!” And he’d look at me. I would say, “What are you looking at?” Every time we walked together in the lobby of the hotel, he’d look at me, the way I walk. Then he’d say, “Stop! You can play, man, I can tell you can play!” Later he told me he could tell I was a serious musician, just by the way I walked. That’s the kind of guy Joe is, very insightful. Next thing he said was, “I’ll give you a list of instruments that you’ll need for the gig.” The very next week, we’re rehearsing at Frank Zappa’s stu-dio in L.A. Before me, they had been play-ing Chester Thompson on drums. On bass was Alfonso Johnson, Joe on keyboards and Wayne (Shorter). I really didn’t understand what they were playing. It was way over my head. Sometimes I was able to get the beat, and sometimes I didn’t get it. Harmonically, I couldn’t follow them at all. That’s because I was a little self-conscious, and I was making it more difficult for myself by over-thinking things. I thought, “Music isn’t supposed to be intellectual; jazz isn’t supposed to be intel-lectual.” These guys were just improvising. [laughs] So another voice said in my head, “So why are you just standing there, jump on it!” So I jumped up on the percussion that was there. We jammed, and it all sounded so modern, for lack of a better term. Wayne got up from the table and he came to me. He said, “Alejandro, nice to meet you.” I said, “Man, you’re my idol. The music that you wrote for Miles Davis...” Then Wayne said,

“If I were a percussionist, I would play the way you play.” I said, “Wow, man, really? Am I hired?” He said, “Oh, no, no, no, we are not auditioning you. I just wanted to tell you that if I were a percussionist, I would in-terpret music the way that you interpret it.”

EDGE: So they never told you that you were ac-tually hired?

AA: No, they never told me anything. We spent a week here in L.A. rehearsing, and then I went back to Las Vegas to pack my luggage. They were already working on my visa and my first tour to Europe. We started in Amsterdam, and we were there for two whole months.

EDGE: And that was before Jaco Pastorius?

AA: That was before Jaco. This is 1975.

EDGE: That was a legendary rhythm section. How did that come to be?

AA: I was still playing percussion at the time. Chester was on drums. Man, beautiful! I have some live Weather Report recordings that are amazing. I learned so much with those guys.

EDGE: You’re known not only as a hand percus-sionist, but also as a world-class drum set player. You’re equally respected on each. Not many people can claim that. How did you develop that skill?

AA: Man, interesting! From the very begin-ning, I loved to play anything percussive. To me, it’s all the same, whether I’m playing with a stick or my hands. When I hit a conga or a bongo, my hands—it just feels amazing. It’s a transforming feeling. Also, translat-ing rhythm to the drum set through your

peter erskine:EDGE: Tell us about your earliest experiences listening to Alex play in Weather Report and the influence that he had on your playing with the group.

Peter Erskine: I really discovered Alex on Heavy Weather, and I didn’t have to wait for the album to be released. I got a cassette from Jaco the night I met Jaco. They had just finished the album, so I got a sneak peak, and I said to Jaco, “This is the ver-sion of Weather Report that I’ve been wait-ing for” and I absolutely fell in love with Alex’s drumming. It was perfect. Those were perfect drum performances on that

album. After getting to know Alex and work-ing with him over the years, I knew that if I was ever in a position where I was the pro-ducer of an album, Alex is the first percus-sionist I’d call. And I love playing with him. It’s a luxury to work with a percus-sionist who’s also a drummer. They really understand the choices that the drummer is going to make and the elbow room that the drummer wants and needs. I never feel like we have to discuss anything when we

play. I think the admiration is mu-tual. We really like each other.

EDGE: In the context of Weather Re-port, did his prior performances influ-ence the way you played certain tracks?

PE: Sure. I didn’t have a lot of that vocabulary, and I had to respond to

the musical challenges the best way I knew how. Ultimately, it would come out sound-ing quite a bit different because Alex is Alex, and I’m me. But it wasn’t for my lack of trying. Some things were almost out of respect to him. It was the way he did it. I wouldn’t even try to imitate that.

“one of the main reasons i play is Because i love people. When you love people, you love cultures. When you love cultures, you love their music. and When you love the music, you just love the World.”

limbs—equally as amazing. They’re so different, but at the same time, they influence each other so much. But one of the main reasons why I play both is because I love people. When you love people, you love cultures. When you love cultures, you love their music. And when you love the music, you just love the world. I’ve been blessed, trav-eling to Cuba and going to Puerto Rico, coming to the United States, going to Brazil, going to Africa, going to Japan, going to Europe and so many parts of this world. All those places have in-credible music. Seeing those cultures and people first-hand has given me a passion that continues to grow in me, and is still growing. When I was living in Puerto Rico, I’d play in the streets and become friends with people. When I came to the United States, it was the same thing. I saw the rock drummers, and I said, “Wow, man, amazing stam-ina.” When I saw the jazz drummers like Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams, Gadd, Erskine, I said, “Man! I wanna play like these guys.” If there’s ever an opportunity to be inspired or further my understanding of the drums, I’m there. When I’m not working, I practice at home. For example, tomorrow I have a Latin per-cussion session at 2 p.m. By 10 a.m., I’ll be playing with a couple of Latin CDs so I can get warmed up to go and perform. Day after tomorrow, I have a pop session on drums, so in the morning I’ll play R&B or whatever for a couple of hours. Sometimes I just play with a click, and try to grab that style, that groove.

EDGE: You have such an energetic vibe when you play live. Is that just Alex being in the mo-ment, or is it something you consciously do to be a performer?

AA: It’s not so much being a performer, it’s just that the music really takes you to another place. We can define it in many different ways, but I have a word to de-fine this: it’s like “worship.” It’s like giv-ing thanks. It’s like being thankful and en-joying the moment, not only because I’ve

had a good career, but just being thankful that I’m alive, healthy and still playing and making music. I really admire people like Roy Haynes. When I saw him last year at the Modern Drummer Festival, he was 80, and I said, “That’s how I want to be.” So, I take care of my health. I exercise, eat prop-erly and try to avoid bad times. The idea is to play as long as I can.

EDGE: You’ve worked with so many artists in so many genres of music. You talked about do-ing a Latin session one day and a pop session the next. How do you adapt from gig to gig and mold yourself to play with such a wide variety of musicians?

AA: One example is when I was hired to do a session with U2, the first day I sent all of my percussion gear, everything that I owned. Bono and Edge were there, along with the producers and engineer. I thought, “Man! What can I play to complement this band? They have a sound, they have a style.”

selected discography

1971 This is Jazz, Vol. 10 Weather Report1973 Best of Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald1976 Black Market Weather Report1977 Arabesque John Klemmer1977 Captain Fingers Lee Ritenour1977 Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter Joni Mitchell1977 Heavy Weather Weather Report1978 Black Forest Luis Conte1978 Captain’s Journey Lee Ritenour1979 Collection Lee Ritenour1979 Extensions The Manhattan Transfer1980 Autoamerican Blondie1980 Ella Abraca Jobim Ella Fitzgerald1981 Mecca for Moderns The Manhattan Transfer1982 Heartlight Neil Diamond1982 Touchstone Chick Corea1984 How Will the Wolf Survive? Los Lobos1985 Rit Lee Ritenour1985 Atlantis Wayne Shorter1985 Dog Eat Dog Joni Mitchell1986 Brasil ‘88 Sergio Mendes1987 All Systems Go Donna Summer1987 Richard Marx Richard Marx1988 Rattle and Hum U21988 Urban Daydreams David Benoit1989 No Woman, No Cry Joan Baez1989 Selected Sadao Watanabe1989 World in Motion Jackson Browne1990 Neighborhood Los Lobos1990 Tiempo de Vals Chayanne1991 Ceremony The Cult1991 Heart of the Bass John Patitucci1991 Mambo Kings Original Soundtrack1991 Storyville Robbie Robertson1991 Woodface Crowded House1992 Fat City Shawn Colvin1992 King of Hearts Roy Orbison1992 Matters of the Heart Tracy Chapman1992 Night Calls Joe Cocker1993 Native Land Don Grusin1994 De Mi Alma Latina Placido Domingo1995 Vanessa Rubin Sings Vanessa Rubin1996 Hits Joni Mitchell1996 This is Jazz, Vol. 19 Wayne Shorter1997 Cookin’ For You Eddie Marshall1997 Loving You Shirley Horn1998 Human Being Seal1998 Priceless Jazz The Yellowjackets1998 Todos Los Romances Luis Miguel1999 Looking Forward Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young1999 Slowing Down the World Chris Botti2000 Telling Stories Tracy Chapman2002 Best of Weather Report Weather Report2002 Faces & Places Joe Zawinul2002 Silver Lining Bonnie Raitt2003 Alegria Wayne Shorter2003 Escapology Robbie Williams2004 Dreamland Joni Mitchell2004 Only You Harry Connick, Jr.2005 Good Night and Good Luck Original Soundtrack2005 The Long Road Home John Fogerty2005 Songs of a Prarie Girl Joni Mitchell2005 Rio/On The Line Lee Ritenour2006 Forecast: Tomorrow Weather Report

EDGE: And you don’t want to mess with it.

AA: I don’t want to mess with it! [laughs] Right there, the honesty has to come out. You have to tell them, “You really want me to play this tune?” They said, “Oh no, we want you to contribute.” I replied, “OK, play me the track.” They played the track over and over for me, and I just relaxed and listened along. Not thinking, just listening. Listening is what it was all about. All of a sudden, I heard an overtone in the music. That over-tone gave me an idea to use this drum that I hadn’t used in a while. They didn’t hear the overtone, but I did. I said, “You don’t hear that?” They said, “What?” “That tone!” “No we don’t hear that.” “Well I’m going to try that, OK?” So I went and I got one of my huge frame drums and started playing. They liked the fact that it was a complemen-tary bass tone that was rhythmic, but not clashing with the bass or bass drum. It was an open door, you know. Now we had com-mon ground. I was more relaxed, they were

more relaxed, and we could just be creative. EDGE: So that’s how you approach

all these different artists, you listen?

AA: Yeah, listen and see what you can do with the track.

EDGE: How does working with an artist in a recording situation differ from doing a movie session?

AA: Well, with a film session, everything is written down for you. You kinda have to read what is there. Oftentimes, they call me in to be the utility man, you know, if they need an extra snare player, or an extra gong player, cymbal player or bass drum part. With the timpani or mallets, no-body’s going to touch that; Emil Richards has a lock on that. Those guys are hired to play that stuff. Just like they hire me to play the congas, timbales, bongos and shakers. That’s my territory and nobody’s gonna touch that. There are other special drums, other sounds, effects and every-

thing is written, and right there is when you have to also listen. The utility stuff is also written down, but it’s up a for a little more interpretation. For film, the important thing is to follow the click, follow the conductor, and play with the ensemble. With a movie, it’s also more like a perfection situation. You’re following a recipe. It always has to be perfect. It’s orchestrated, and you have to respect that situation.

EDGE: You’ve very recently made the move here to DW. Talk a little bit about why you’ve made the change and how you feel about your new kit. AA: Sure! First of all, I was made aware of Gon Bops. I had played Gon Bops drums for years, and most of my friends still have and cherish their Gon Bops congas. When I found out I could be a big part of re-releas-ing Gon Bops to the masses, I thought it was a very special opportunity. It made me emo-tional and I said, “Wow, man!” It’s not about money or becoming famous or being in the

magazines. You know, we all had that. Been there, done that. It was about respect and the respect that Drum Workshop has for me as an artist. They also value my input as a player that has experienced many situations. I’m a part of the design team, and that’s something I’ve always wanted. So, I was in-troduced to DW drums after being up at the factory for Gon Bops. They make their cus-tom drums up there, too, and it’s just amaz-ing! I had already tried the pedals and was sold. Once I got my first taste of the drums, I also knew this was the sound for me. I wanted a full tom sound, but with plenty of attack. John Good made me a special VLT kit with 6-ply hoops, and that was it! To tell you the truth, I wasn’t so interested in the drums at first because I’d been with Yamaha for almost 25 years. I was in the NAMM show and was tapping a lot of the drums in the DW booth. In the past, everyone said, “No, those drums are rock ‘n’ roll.” In fact, they probably still say that, but I said to myself, “I’m not going to be influenced by anyone else.” Once I gave them a chance, I realized how versatile they were and how this had been a sound I had been searching to find for a very long time. Everyone at DW told me to take my time and think it over. They said, “Alex, take your time with the drums. There’s no rush.” Then one day I went to the factory, and John Good started explain-ing the philosophy about shells and wood. He physically played some toms and some bass drums, and then I was able to under-stand, not that I was trying to be convinced. It hit me. I said, “I’m going to improve my sound.” I wasn’t changing my sound; I was making it better. EDGE: So what is the sonic difference between your DWs and what you had been used to?

AA: My new kit has depth, it has tone, it’s so easy to tune. It also has color—or timbre, as it is referred to—that I had never experi-enced. They’re also incredibly versatile and, in my case, the drum set has to be versatile. I can record it in the jazz studio, on a pop gig, record it with rock or R&B projects. I can get that Latin sound, and that’s the drum set I’ve always had in my heart and in my head.

“they played the track over and over for me, and i just relaxed and lis-tened along. all of a sud-den, i heard an overtone in the music. it gave me an idea to use this drum that i hadn’t used in a while.”

“i can get that latin sound, and that’s the drum set i’ve always had in my heart and in my head.”

>PDP sPOTlighTJ o n a h D av i D • M at i s ya h u

EDGE: You’ve been on tour for a bit supporting this latest release. How’s the road treating you?

Jonah David: It’s treating me well and changing me, that’s for sure. I’m becoming more and more used to living out of my suitcase and depending on the tour man-ager to schedule my life. I was more used to staying at home and hustling my sched-ule months in advance. It’s a weird feeling to come home off tour and sleep in my own bed. Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and get scared because I feel like I’ve for-gotten to play or I’ve missed sound check. I also noticed that I’ve started asking ques-tions like, “What day is it?” or “Where am I?” There’s also the all-important, “Hey, do you have that European adapter I lent you?” I remember waking up one morning in the middle of the last run incredibly jetlagged and calling the front desk asking a hotel re-ceptionist, “What country am I in?” Other than that, I’m seeing so much of the world and meeting so many people. I’m learning more now than I ever have before.

EDGE: Have you always played reggae or have you had to adapt to that particular style of mu-sic?

JD: I can’t remember exactly when I was first exposed to reggae, but I’d definitely say that I was pretty taken back by it. I just remem-

ber falling in love with that sound. It was a groove that I was able to grasp and develop fairly quickly. I didn’t think that I was going to really play reggae at the time. I was a jazz-head. Then I got a call from a buddy of mine named Mike Heady, who wanted to stop playing with a reggae band to focus his stud-ies on jazz. I needed the work to pay the rent, and he knew I could play, so it all worked out. Within a couple of years, I was playing in four Top 40 reggae bands and touring New Jer-sey. We’d go up and down the Garden State Parkway during the summer. It was the busiest time of year for me. Sometimes I’d play 13 shows a week. Playing “Margaritaville” and “The Electric Slide” paid my college fees for quite a few semesters. I had no idea that I was paving the way for the gig with Matisyahu. I feel that I still have a lot to learn in terms of the style, and I don’t always play it traditionally,

but we’re not playing strictly traditional reg-gae anyway.

EDGE: You have some pretty serious chops. How do you stay in shape while on the tour?

JD: Wow, thanks for the compliment! Ideally, I try to keep sticks mov-ing in my hands for at least four to seven hours per day. We’ve been playing one- to two-hour sound checks where we run through grooves and new material. After that, I’ll usually prac-tice for another two to three hours before the show. The set is anoth-

er one to two hours on top of that. I carry my books, pad and metronome around with me almost all the time. I’m actually kicking my-self right now because I just left everything backstage at the Chiemsee Reggae Festival in Germany. It’s getting mailed back to me, but I won’t see it for a couple months be-cause I’m still on tour. I have to stop at the Guitar Center when I get home. Sometimes

the practicing just doesn’t happen, but I really try to keep that goal if at all possible. I also stretch every day and do my best to hit the car-dio. If I can get in 30 minutes of cardio three days a week, I feel great. I’ve been slacking on my regular workout routine this last run— just too jetlagged.

EDGE: What have been some of your favorite gigs recently?

JD: Playing in Japan was a blast! The shows themselves were nothing spectacular, but I had never been there before. I also brought my fiancée with me and proposed on the steps of the Seen Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo. The coun-try was so incredibly beautiful. I really fell in love with it. I want to visit again for a longer period of time and really soak in the culture. I wouldn’t mind living there and studying Tai-ko drumming and karate for a year or so.

EDGE: Talk a little bit about your new kit and how you got hooked up with Drum Workshop.

JD: Man, my new kit is really beautiful. 8” and 10” mounted toms, 12” and 14” floor toms, 22” kick and 14” snare. I’m seriously digging the Kurillian finish. It’s one of the new PDP exotic kits. It’s a Charcoal to Natural Fade, and it looks and sounds amazing! I have another DW kit being built with the same finish, but with a Blue to Natural finish and with Gold hard-ware. To answer the question, I got into DW because of the pedals. When I was just starting out, I had a DW 5000 single pedal, and it was amazing. I wound up trading it for some cym-bals when I bought a double kick pedal, but I wasn’t ready to lose the DW 5000, so I wound up trading the double with someone else just to get that exact 5000 back! At the time, I knew nothing about the honesty and integrity of the company; I just wanted to get through the first couple pages of “Realistic Rock” and “Synco-pation” with a metronome. When I got older, and my career started blossoming, my good friend Yael made a call to Steve Vega over at DW. We talked, and everything just felt right. It’s good to work with people who you could consider to be family.

EDGE: What’s your idea of the ultimate drum sound?

JD: Honestly, it all depends on what style I’m playing. I like a lot of overtones on the high-pitched toms when I’m playing jazz. The add-ed response of the heads makes it easier to ar-ticulate at lower dynamics more clearly. When I’m playing with Matisyahu or Roots Tonic, I love a clear, warm sound. I never tune my toms very low. I use Evans drumheads. In my opinion, the EMAD is the greatest bass drum head on the market.

EDGE: Which drummers have influenced you most, and have you met any of them?

JD: I’d have to say that most of my influenc-es have been Jazz drummers. Many of them passed away or retired before I even picked up sticks. Let’s see: Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Tony Williams, Billy Higgins and Max Roach are all big influences. Elvin Jones is a major influence on my playing, and I got to meet him through my teacher Ralph Peterson at the Blue Note a few years before he passed. I met Roy Haynes too and he is still killing it! Lenny White is also a massive influence. There are too many to name; it all depends on what style we’re talking about. I got to really hang with Sly Dunbar while he was working on Matisya-hu’s new single, “Jerusalem,” and Desi Jones who works with Jimmy Cliff. He’s crucial. He wrote one of the first and only good books out there on reggae drumming. I also listen to some of the Philly guys too, Questlove from The Roots and Chuck Treece.

EDGE: Where do you see yourself in a few years?

JD: Well, married for starters! I do have a long-term goal of finishing college. It’s something that I’m going to do when the time is right. The next few years are not completely clear because nothing is cut in stone in the music business. A safe assumption would be that I’m still playing with Matis, but I’ve also appeared on a number of other recordings with Roots Tonic and some other artists. I’ve also released one of my own recordings. I’m really just con-tinuing to get a foot-hold in the entertainment industry. Who knows: maybe I’ll start my own label, maybe I’ll try acting or fashion. Maybe I’ll be teaching English in Japan while I study Karate, or living in Ohio with my wife. You never know where life takes you.

B r e A k i n G t h e B o u n d A r i e S o F P o P, r o c k A n d r e G G A e i S n o e A S y F e At. d e S P i t e t h e P i t FA l l S , r i S i n G S tA r J o n A h d Av i d i S r e A d y F o r t h e c h A l l e n G e . i n t h i S l At e S t i n S tA l l m e n t o F P d P S P o t l i G h t, J o n A h S P e A kS o u t A B o u t PAy i n G h i S d u e S , l i F e o n t h e r o A d A n d l A n d i n G t h At B i G G i G .

6 2 [ e d G e 7 . 0 ]

Introducing new PDP SXE Solid Maple Shell Snare Drums with custom-inspired exotic finishes. Check them out at www.pacificdrums.com

PDP SXE Solids Ad (EDGE).indd 1 7/25/06 5:59:19 PM

“We’d go up and down t h e G a r d e n S t a t e Parkway during the summer. It was the busiest time of year for me. Sometimes I’d play 13 shows a week.Playing “Margarita-ville” and “The Elec-tric Slide” paid my college fees for quite a few semesters. I had no idea that I was paving the way for the gig with Matisyahu.”

©2006 Pacific Drums and Percussion. All Rights Reserved. The PDP logo is a registered trademark of Drum Workshop, Inc.

PDP Meggers (EDGE).indd 1-2 9/21/06 10:57:43 AM

< FEATURES

5000 Series Delta3 Pedals

DW 5000 SERIES DELTA3 PEDALS are loaded with industry standard features like Delta ball bearing hinges, dual-adjustable toe clamps and heavy-duty twin-sprocket cams. Available in Accelerator™, Turbo™ and nylon strap drive systems in both single and double models, DW 5000 Series Delta3 Pedals are nothing less than professional grade.

Tell us about the feel:

Greg Upchurch: Well, it’s powerful without having to put too much power into it.You don’t have to fi ght it. It becomes almost like that extra limb. It’s very honest to what you’re playing without feeling overly mechanical.

5000AD3>

“Accurate, comfortable, solid!”—Greg Upchurch

©2006 Drum Workshop, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

<5002AD3

LET’S TALK PEDALS

Why does the 5000AD3 work for you?

Greg Upchurch: I’ve never really used another pedal, and when I’ve tried other pedals, they never react the same. It’s the only pedal that’s really quick and consistent.

DELTA TRI-BEARING SYSTEM >

Spring Rocker

DW’S DELTA TRI-BEARING SYSTEM employs ball bearings in three critical areas: the hinge, spring rocker and both sides of the post casting. DW’s patented Delta ball-bearing hinge is a state-of-the-art lightweight aluminum design that incorporates ball bearings at both sides. The adjustable spring rocker and post casting also utilize ball bearings for smoother movement at the hex shaft, completing the Tri-Bearing System.

DW 5000AD3 DPS (EDGE).indd 1-2 7/27/06 3:18:31 PM

EDGE: What drew you to play drums?

Cora Coleman-Dunham: I actually started beating on buckets, and in middle school, just playing around in the backyard. Then, in high school, I joined the marching band.

EDGE: So how did you make the transition from playing on buckets and being in the marching band to drum set?

CC: Well, I actually got some congas from a pawn shop to travel with the jazz band in high school. In 11th grade, the drummer that had been the primary drummer for the jazz band graduated, and my teacher noticed that I was a pretty quick study, and he said, “Hey, why don’t you just try the kit.” It just sort of went from there.

EDGE: So, were you self-taught or did you take formal lessons?

CC: I started taking formal lessons in college at Howard. I had played drum set for about two years before college. My drum teacher was a trumpet player, actually. He was a great communicator, I mean, he played key-board, too, but he could communicate what I needed to be a drummer. He’d say, “Hey, you know you have to practice rudiments.” You know, just fundamental stuff.

EDGE: But that’s interesting, coming from someone who’s more melodic than rhythmic.

CC: Yeah, it was funny because in elemen-tary school, I tap danced, which is another rhythmic aspect, I guess. I did tap dance, ballet and jazz dance. It all helped me hear things a little differently, but it’s really the same approach as drum set. My drum teach-er at Howard would say, “If you can dance to it, then everyone else can.” That made

sense, considering my dance experience.

EDGE: For people that don’t know, a few years ago you won Guitar Center’s Drum Off competi-tion. How did you get involved with that?

CC: Actually, I was staying with family friends at the time, and I couldn’t really play drums at their house. So, I would always go down to the Guitar Center in Hollywood. The manager of the store and I became friends, and he encouraged me, “Hey, you’re always in here playing, you should do the Drum Off.” Plus, I had done it before when I lived in DC, and, man, did I need a new car. That was the grand prize that year. I’m still driving the car I won at Drum Off.

EDGE: So you won the Drum Off, and that’s how you were noticed by the drum industry. Be-fore that time, had you ever thought about en-dorsements?

CC: I was looking at Remo and definitely looking at DW, but figured there was a tim-ing thing about it, you know. I was inter-ested, but I didn’t really know the process. I knew people who were endorsed, and I was like, “Man, that must be pretty cool.” I al-ways saw Sheila E. with DW, for example.

EDGE: Now that you’ve transformed from as-piring drummer to a professional player, what recommendation would you give to players start-ing out who maybe don’t have a big gig yet, but are looking to get there?

CC: I would definitely encourage them to play as many styles of music as possible and learn to read, I mean, as much versatility as you can create for yourself. It just makes you that much more marketable and gives you a wider vocabulary.

Prince’S truStit’s every drummer’s dream to get a career-altering gig that catapults them into the spotlight. there’s no douBt this savvy neWcomer has found her prince.

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 6 9

cora coLeman-Dunham

photos by Stephen Morales

[ e d G e 7 . 0 ] 7 1

EDGE: What styles of music do you play, and which one would you consider to be your spe-cialty?

CC: Let’s see, now I’m playing pop. I was playing gospel and started off playing jazz. I don’t know if I have a specialty. I’ve also played R&B, and I’ve played blues a lot, too. I really enjoy the blues, come to think of it. I’ve even played some alternative stuff. I mean, I toured with Pink for a second. So I don’t know if I have a particular specialty. I’d like to say that I could at least approach all styles.

EDGE: Right now you’re touring with Prince. How did you land that gig?

CC: He came to a gig. I was playing with this keyboard player and R&B singer out here in L.A., and Prince came. We played two sets, and in between his bodyguard came up and said, “Hey, Prince is back there, and he wants to talk to you.” So, on the break, we just talk-ed. We talked about music and gear and ev-erything. One of the things he said was that it’s important to have the best gear for what-ever your craft is, to produce the maximum results. After the gig, he was gone, but his assistant came up and was like, “Hey, you know, P wants to get you a kit, whatever kit you want.” That’s when I got my first DW kit. Then, we did a party at Prince’s house. He had all these “after-parties,” like the BET awards, the Grammys and the Oscars. Ev-ery major event, he had a party, and we were playing, and he was always sitting in with us. It wasn’t an announced thing, it just kind of happened.

EDGE: Now the rhythm section of Prince’s new band is you and your husband on bass. What’s it like playing, working and living together? It’s a fairly unusual scenario.

CC: It’s really good, actually. It’s sort of re-laxing because we don’t have to wonder what the other person is up to. It’s also cool because, in addition to playing in band to-gether, we’re both from Houston, we share a lot of the same values and, most impor-tantly, we’ve been friends all of this time, so music is just another common thread. It’s definitely fun in the house, you know.

EDGE: What do you listen to around the house for inspiration?

CC: Always Aretha, always Patti LaBelle. I don’t know, Nancy Wilson, a lot of gospel.

EDGE: What’s in your iPod?

CC: I’m always adding things, but here’s what I have right now: Tye Tribbett, James Brown, CeCe Winans, Prince, Patti LaBelle, Larry Graham, a few audio books by Rob-ert Kiyosaki, The Avila Bros, Bootsy Collins, Bobby McFerrin, Aretha Franklin, Bill With-ers and India.Arie. I also just added the Foo Fighters and Maroon 5!

EDGE: Who are some of your favorite drummers and why?

CC: Let’s see: Terri Lyne Carrington, Gor-don Campbell, Billy Cobham, Aaron Spears, Philly Joe Jones, Munyungo Jackson, Clyde Stubblefield, Poogie Bell, Mickey Hart, Ed Thigpen, Grady Tate, Lionel Hampton,

Buddy Miles and Jabo Starks. I think these guys are my favorites based on my experience with many of these great drummers and having the fortunate opportunity to learn directly from many of them. Besides the fact that Aaron, Terri Lyne, Gordon, Grady and Munyungo are phe-nomenally talented, the thing that I admire most about their playing is the humility and integrity that these artists possess. Although they have chops for days, they only play parts that complement the music. If at one point it calls for a crazy fill or lick, then they do it, but they respect music enough to play what makes sense. I appreciate Ed Thigpen and Grady for their “feel” and brush work, and revere Clyde, Poogie and Jabo for their commitment to the groove. Buddy Miles, Mickey Hart and Lionel Hampton are my fa-vorite because they take risks, and they were innovators. It’s hard not to also appreciate their aggressiveness and their creativity.

EDGE: It’s funny, many of the serious R&B drummers we know learned to play at church, and a lot of them still do. They attribute a lot of their chops to playing at church. Do you feel that’s affected your playing, as well?

CC: I actually think it comes mostly from marching band. That’s where I got my chops. I really only started playing gospel the last couple years in high school. I didn’t grow up playing in church. I grew up Catholic, so that was mostly tambourine and guitar.

EDGE: Let’s talk gear. Tell us about the new kit.

CC: Tangerine Sparkle Fade, it’s a beautiful kit. It’s got 8”, 10”, 12”, 13” and 14” toms. I got the Neil Peart Snare, and I got this crazy 8x14” snare; it’s beautiful! It’s all with 9000 hardware, of course. Prince loves the kit, I love the kit, it’s a great, great color and great sound. The shells are birch, and all of the drum hardware is black.

EDGE: Does your studio kit differ from your tour set-up?

CC: Yes. I only use the SPD-S pads and the TD-20 module for live shows, unless I am actually recording on V-drums. Otherwise, my basic set-up is the same. I might switch a cymbal or two around or remove a tom; it really depends on what the music calls for.

EDGE: When you get a new kit or a new piece of gear, do you feel like it changes your playing?

CC: Definitely my approach, because it’s got a different character, you know. I’ll also change up the way I sit sometimes. Like if I sit lower, I feel old, like an old guy, [laughs] you know, like the old school approach. Michael Bland, Prince’s old drummer, used to sit low, and that’s a different way of ap-proaching the kit. Because the toms used to be so big, they sat so low, I guess. I have a more aggressive approach if I’m sitting over the toms, so sometimes I sit much higher. Little subtleties like that make a big differ-ence.

EDGE: Describe a typical day on tour.

CC: I guess it depends on whether we are on the tour bus or flying, but for the most part, we wake up, pray, work out, eat breakfast, do a little reading, tour around the city a bit and get to sound check a few hours before the show. Depending on how far away the hotel is, I might bring my clothes along to the venue. We usually get to the venue while the workers are still setting up chairs and getting the room together. I connect with Mike, my tech, and we discuss any changes or set-up concerns. Sometimes we play for an hour or so, and then on to dinner. After dinner, I get hair and make-up done, get a warm-up in and head for the stage. After the show, there will usually be an after-party, where we’ll get to jam for another two hours or so. We normally don’t finish until around 2 a.m.! I’m usually back in the hotel room just before sunrise. Then, we’re on to the next city.

EDGE: What’s your warm-up routine like?

CC: My warm-up is usually whatever time I have between sound check, hair and make-

up. I usually grab a towel or two in the green room along with a pair of 3S sticks. Sometimes I spend time just twirling the sticks between my fingers just to get them moving. Other times, I sit and just play single, double and triple strokes aggres-sively. I try to let my warm-up time be a secluded activity, if possible, just to get my mind in show-mode and refresh myself on any piv-otal arrangements or transitions. I also work on page changes and patch changes on the SPD-S pad. Electronics are usually an after-thought for many drummers, but I try make it part of my warm up. Let’s see, I also do tradition-al marching rudiments, such as flams and Swiss armies, in the warm-up as well.

EDGE: Does Prince give you a solo? Describe your recipe for the perfect drum solo.

CC: Yes. I think the perfect drum solo gets right to the point. It should also have some sort of direction and dynamic range, in-stead of playing for the sake of playing. I think a great solo makes a non-musician say, “Wow.”

EDGE: Where do you see yourself headed and what goals have you set for your-self in terms of your music career?

CC: That’s a good question. I try to pride myself on just staying positive, but I really don’t know what’s next. I’m al-ways networking. I’m always commu-nicating with people and always estab-lishing relationships. I want to get more into writing and leave a mark there. I also definitely want to perform and have options.

“my drum teacher Was a trumpet player, actually. he was a great communicator. he could communicate what i needed to be a drummer. he’d say, ‘hey, you know you have to practice rudiments.’”

set-up specs:Collector’s Series® Birch Drums with Tangerine to Blood Red Sparkle Lacquer and Black Hardware18x20” Bass Drum8x14” Collector’s Birch Snare Drum7x8”, 8x10”, 9x12”, 10x13”, 11x14” Tom-Toms9002 Double Pedal9500 Hi-Hat Stand9300 Snare Drum Stand9900 Double Tom Stand9991 Single Tom Stand991 Single Tom Clamp9700 Straight Cymbal Stand (x2)9100M Standard Drum Throne934 Cymbal Arm934S Cymbal Arm (x2)

1

2

3

4

5

67

8

9

10

Adrian Ost • Powerman 5000 [1]Alex Acuña • independent

Alvaro Lopez • independentAndrew Hurley • Fall Out Boy [2]

Andrew “The Butcher” Mrotek • The Academy Is...Angel • PIG/Switched

Benjamin Byrne • Starsailor [3]Bertram Engel • Peter Maffay

Billy Goodness • Sean Patrick McGrawBilly Miller • independent [4]

Bobby Jarzombek • Rob Halford/Sebastian BachBodo Stricker • 2$Haircut/Final Virus [5]

Bradley Webb • Blue Man Group/independentBrandon Saller • Atreyu

Brandon Wakeham • If Hope Dies [6]Brian Flenniken • The Mad Caddies [7]

Caesar Griffin • Joss StoneChris Witten • World Party

Cory Jenkins • Tito Jackson [8]Craig Randolph • independent

Daniel Galluci • Cirque du Soleil “Quidam”Dan Lamagna • Suicide City [9]

Dave Hooper • independentDavid Carr • Third Day [10]

David Lemonds • Keith Anderson [11]Derek Bloom • From First to Last

Donald Guillaume • Fugees/Wyclef Jean [12]Eric Boudreault • Cavalia/Waza [13]Eric Scribner • Cirque du Soleil “O”

Gene Trautmann • Eagles of Death Metal [14]Gordon Marshall • The Moody Blues

Guy Davis • Reuben [15]Henry Cole • independent [16]

Hernan Hecht • Hernan Hecht/X-pression QuartetIan Matthews • Kasabian

Jason McGerr • Death Cab for Cutie/educatorJeff Gilbert • KutlessJimmy Fox • James Gang [17]Joey Waronker • independentJonah David • Matisyahu [18]Jonny Quinn • Snow PatrolJoshua Eppard • independentKevin Haskins • Bauhaus [19]Lawrence “LB” Breaux • independent [20]Lori Peters • SkilletMarc Allen • FinchMaria Martinez • independent/educator [21]Mark Chadwick Hagedorn • GizmachiMeggers • The CasualtiesNathaniel Mullins • Gloria Trevi/David Melillo/studio [22]Omar Abidi • Fightstar [23]Patrick Caccia • Eric SardinasPatrick James Keeler • The RaconteursPeter Erskine • independent/studioRaul Pineda • independent [24]René Detroy • independent/We Will Rock YouRené Martínez • IntocableRichard Bailey • IncognitoRobert Perkins • Michael Bublé [25]Rod Bland • Bobby Blue BandRyan Hoyle • Collective Soul/studio [26]Sammy Siegler • Nightmare of You/Rival Schools/CIV [27]Scot Ellis • She Wants RevengeSean McDaniel • Monty Python’s SpamalotSeven Antonopolous • Opiate for the MassesShawn Fichter • Peter FramptonSpencer Smith • Panic! At The DiscoTom Meadows • Lucie SilvasTrevor Freidrich • 18 VisionsWalter Rodriguez • Yanni

>new arTisTs

DW Drums, Pedals & HardwareDW Pedals & Hardware

PDP Drums, Pedals & Hardware

[1]

Ben

Rose

Pho

togr

aphy

[4]

[2]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[11]

[10]

[12]

[13]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[19][20]

[21]

[23]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[3]

[18]

Jan

Win

dszu

s

[14]

[22]

Din

ah v

on N

iesse

n

[5]

Adr

iana

Her

nand

ez

[24]

VISIT WWW.DWDRUMS.COM TO BUILD YOUR VERY OWN CUSTOM DREAM KIT TODAY

Graphics Image Ad (EDGE).indd 1 9/7/06 10:37:27 AM