Category — DW Drums

Pretty much every drummer worth their salt knows who Neil Peart is, the drummer of Rush has topped musician polls for over 2 decades now. I’ve been into Neil Peart’s drumming and Rush for a while now, but recently I picked up a vinyl copy of their classic “Moving Pictures” album and it stands out even more to me now.

I don’t know if it’s because I have a really nice turntable and speakers, but his drumming and drum sound is pretty much perfect on this album, at least to my ears. Now, maybe a lot of other drummers out there are thinking “duh” but I’m a younger guy and didn’t have the chance to get into the album when it was first released (as I was one year away from being born).

I’ve heard almost every Rush release, and while they all have something unique to offer, I’d consider their best work to be either “Moving Pictures” or “2112″. It’s a hard decision to make, but I’m going to go out on a limb and put my vote in for “Moving Pictures” just because of the strength and hooks so many of the songs possess. I did some digging around online and found a great picture of the band in the studio from this era (above). If anyone reading this knows, around what era did Neil Peart start using roland drums? I know he is a roland drums endorser and used Simmons early on.

Recently Brian “Head” Welch, formerly the guitarist of hugely successful metal band Korn spoke to Fox News (of all places) about leaving Korn and his latest album. The album is entitled “Save Me From Myself” and features none other than studio-great Josh Freese as well as bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, David Bowie).

Blabbermouth.com has a link to the Fox News interview with Head. And while his album is already out and has debuted on the Billboard Top 200, I still haven’t heard it. Even though I was never into Korn, I’m interested to hear it just for Josh Freese’s drumming. I admit that he does a lot of projects, but I’m also wanting to hear the interplay between him and Tony Levin. Also, Josh Freese has long been a DW Drums endorser and I’ve never been disappointed by the drum sounds he manages to get, of course he does have access to some of the best drum tech’s, mics and gear in the world.

I will do my best to check out the album and post my thoughts here.

Source.

This morning I came across a great article over at Wired.com about the current stage show on Nine Inch Nails latest tour. It is one of the most high-tech setups that has ever toured, features multiple moving “stealth screens” as well as interactive lights and video the band members can actually control on the fly.

“With the song “Only,” for instance, the front, convex screen starts out as solid static. On Reznor’s side of the display, a laser above him detects whenever he crosses a vertical plane paralleling the screen. On the floor, a piece of tape and two tiny LED lights let him know exactly where that plane is.

As Reznor intersects that plane with his hand or body, the laser tracks his X and Y coordinates. The “brain” box then tells the particles to spread out to a predetermined dispersal pattern. Reznor says: “Then it follows me around. If I leave the plane, it fills back in. If I push through, it comes back out.”

Proving that he is the ultimate professional once again, Josh Freese doesn’t just pound out beats on his DW drums, he is turning off and on a drum grid sequencer. “We recreated a grid drum sequencer,” he says. “[Drummer Josh Freese] is actually touching and turning them on and off. But he’s not really touching the screen. He’s crossing the same laser on the back screen, which gets calibrated at sound check.”

These are just a few aspects of the band’s current stage setup, the article is fairly long and well worth the read.

Source.

While not really newsworthy, I found a page over at DW Drums‘ site that contains a setup diagram for almost all of their artists/drummers.

All you have to do is click their name on the left and it will reveal all the details of their drum kit setup. DW’s roster has got everyone from session greats like Josh Freese to Brain, to Billy Ward. Seems like a no brainier to look at DW Drums site to get drum setups, only I never did until now. Good to know if you’re hunting for your favorite drummers setup.

DW Drummer Setups Page.