Category — Drummers

This Sunday (8/3) Japanese stoner rock band Boris is going to be playing the Echoplex here in LA and opening for them is Torche. For those of you who haven’t heard this band they are worth checking out.

The band is from Miami and has been around since 2005. They’ve toured with the likes of Isis, Mogwai, Jesu, The Sword and Stinking Lizaveta. They also have just released a new record entitled “Meanderthal” which has been getting great reviews and is a solid well rounded record. This is a good band for people who like stoner rock and heavy music but are sick of it all sounding so similar. Torche incorporate more melody in their songs and less screaming in the vocals than most bands in the same scene.

I’m not sure what kind of drum kit he plays, but drummer Rick Smith is fast, does a ton of flams and is very solid. For more information, tour dates and music check out the Torche MySpace page.

*(Yes, the above photo is actually Matt Sorum in the 80’s with Guns N’ Roses…wow…).

Remember Velvet Revolver? That band that was basically Guns N’ Roses with Scott Weiland on vocals? Yea, they are still around and after he recently left the band via angry blog posts the band is now continuing on with a search for a new singer. Supposedly a lot of problems arose between Weiland and the rest of the band particularly drummer Matt Sorum.

I am kind of surprised that the search for the bands new singer isn’t a reality TV show. Anyway, rumors are flying that the guy who used to be married to Liv Tyler, and also used to sing for that band Spacehog is in the running.

According to Hollywood Insider…

“They all got along great,” says an insider. “It was really a refreshing change for the band.” Velvet Revolver’s management couldn’t confirm that an offer had been made, and would only say that they’re still auditioning prospective singers. But an RCA source says that Langdon is “definitely in the mix.”

Wow…just…wow, is all I have to say.

Nine Inch Nails will start hitting arenas and festivals today as they begin their “Lights In The Sky” tour. This tour is special because Trent Reznor has said to be incorporating some kind of “high-tech” stage setup and video displays.

This tour is also significant for drummers because Josh Freese is once again taking on drum duties. If you recall from the rehearsal footage I posted here a while ago, his drumming is better than ever and fun to watch.

Here are the NIN tour dates:

07-25 Pemberton, British Columbia - Pemberton Festival
07-26 Seattle, WA - Key Arena at Seattle Center *
07-28 Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Place *
07-29 Calgary, Alberta - Pengrowth Saddledome *
07-31 Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre *
08-02 Minneapolis, MN - Target Center *
08-03 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
08-05 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre %
08-07 Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena %
08-08 Worcester, MA - DCU Center %
08-09-10 Baltimore, MD - Pimlico Race Course (Virgin Mobile Festival)
08-12 Knoxville, TN - Knoxville Civic Coliseum %
08-13 Duluth, GA - Gwinnett Arena %
08-15 Oklahoma City, OK - Ford Center #
08-16 Houston, TX - Toyota Center #
08-18 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center #
08-20 Saint Louis, MO - Scottrade Center #
08-22 Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
08-23 Auburn Hills, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills #
08-25 Toledo, OH - Seagate Convention Center #
08-27 East Rutherford, NJ - Izod Center $
08-29 Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center $
08-31 Lexington, KY - Rupp Arena ^
09-02 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater %
09-03 Salt Lake, City UT - The E Center of West Valley %
09-05 Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena %
09-06 Inglewood, CA - The Forum %
10-04 Santiago, Chile - Arena Santiago
10-07 Sao Paulo, Brazil - Via Funchal
10-09 Porto Alegre, Brazil - Pepsi on Stage
10-12 Bogota, Colombia - Coliseo el Campin
10-15 Caracas, Venezuela - Poliedro de Caracas
10-18 Mexico City, Mexico - Foro Sol (Motrokr Festival)
10-19 Guadalajara, Mexico - VFG Arena (Motrokr Festival)
10-21 Monterrey, Mexico - Arena Monterrey
10-24-26 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience

* with Crystal Castles
% with Deerhunter
# with A Place to Bury Strangers
$ with Does It Offend You, Yeah?
^ with White Williams

Source.

Chad Smith, the well-known drummer of The Red Hot Chili Peppers has just released an instructional drum DVD. The DVD is entitled “Chad Smith: Eastern Rim” and features performance footage, drum clinics, touring diaries and interviews with Chad Smith himself.

“Drum Clinics: Chad demonstrates his power and skill in clinics filmed in Australia and Japan. These clinics offer multi-camera angles (including overhead and foot-cam!) and show Chad playing with original recordings from Stadium Arcadium”

“Performances: In addition to rare, behind-the-scenes views of a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, this DVD captures an explosive 30-minute improv live from Federation Square in Melbourne.”

This is a must-have for any Chad Smith or Red Hot Chili Peppers fans. For more information and a trailer go here.

In case any drummers out there missed it, legendary progressive rock band Rush made their first TV appearance in 33 years on The Colbert Report last night.

When it was announced, some (such as Stereogum), joked about the fact that Neil Peart’s drum kit might not fit in Colbert’s studio, surprisingly it did. The band played their hit “Tom Sawyer” and were interviewed. Stephen Colbert even jokingly asked Neil Peart “how many drums do you have there?” with Neil responding “enough”. It seems like the band must really appreciate Colbert’s show and/or humor to choose his show to break their 33 year TV absence.

Check out awesome footage of Neil Peart’s kit and more importantly awesome footage of the band playing Tom Sawyer on television…

Rush on The Colbert Report.

The Smashing Pumpkins are gearing up for a series of small shows in August in honor of their 20th anniversary.

“According to the group’s Web site, the Pumpkins will visit “mostly smaller-sized venues” during an August run featuring “unique sets and songs.”

So far the only date announced is Aug. 9 at the Venue in Hammond, Ind. The band will also gear up in November for larger shows in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

If you want to catch drummer Jimmy Chamberlain and his awesome drum kit, live and up-close you’ll want to start plotting a way to get tickets to those smaller shows.

Source.

Sub Pop Records 20th anniversary celebration is happening soon in Seattle, WA where a whole slew of new and old Sub Pop bands will perform.

Pitchfork Media, have a great piece on the label which includes a pretty in-depth interview with founders Jonathon Poneman and Bruce Pavitt. In it, the two discuss the formation of the label from a little-known zine, early bands such as Soundgarden and Nirvana and the insane direction the label took after the success of Nevermind. This includes discussion of Nirvana’s first album “Bleach” which as many people know, did not feature Dave Grohl, but drummer Chad Channing.

“BP: Bleach is almost double platinum, yeah. And it cost $600 to record, so…I would venture that, just from a business point of view, the return on investment from Bleach might make it the most profitable record in the history of the world. $600 for two million in sales, that’s pretty unusual.”

Source.

Rage Against The Machine frontman Zach De La Rocha is part of a new band/project with Jon Theodore, previously of The Mars Volta.

The band is called One Day As A Lion and is described as “a sonic reflection of the visceral tension between a picturesque fabricated cultural landscape, and the brutal socioeconomic realities it attempts to mask,”

Supposedly the record is an “exploration of kick and snare” which sounds really interesting. If this record turns out to be what I’m imagining (basically De La Rocha rapping over live drums with minimal instrumentation), this could be amazing.

Jon Theodore is a great drummer, as proven by his previous work in The Mars Volta. And I personally think this is cooler than getting a new Rage album. It comes out on July 22nd.

Source.

I came across a piece a little while ago about Obama and what he has on his iPod. Here’s a sampling…

• The Rolling Stones (favorite song: “Gimme Shelter”)
• Stevie Wonder (Barack’s musical hero)
• Earth Wind & Fire
• Elton John
• Miles Davis
• John Coltrane
• Charlie Parker
• Bob Dylan (30 songs, including Blood On The Tracks)
• Bruce Springsteen

So we can see that the guy has taste, and kind of “drummer-taste” at that! He’s got Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis on his iPod, among other cool stuff with excellent drumming!

“His favorite tune right now is Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm,” which works out because Dylan’s favorite presidential candidate right now is him. Says Obama: “I’ve got to say, having both Dylan and Bruce Springsteen say kind words about you is pretty remarkable. Those guys are icons.” He likes hip hop too, with some qualification:

“I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics,” he said, “but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music.”

Smart guy.

Source.

Coldplay is sponsoring a contest where you can enter for a chance to open select dates on their upcoming tour.  Yes, you would be the opening act for Coldplay if you won.

The contest is only for select cities, these being the bands Chicago, San Jose, DC, Boston and Hartford dates. Whether or not you are a single songwriter or a full band, you are eligible. The way it works is that, you must submit a YouTube video of yourself to the radio station-sponsored section of coldplayontour.com.

Winners will be selected and notified and will also join the likes of the other opening acts on the tour Shearwater and Santogold. Even if you or your band aren’t fans of Coldplay (I, myself am not), it’s a chance for amazing exposure.