Category — General Drums

Now in it’s 16th year the Montreal Drum Fest will be held October 24th, 25th and 26th. This year’s edition of the festival features an impressive lineup of great drummers.

“Headliners are: Legend Lenny White (Innovation, Istanbul, Vic Firth, Remo), Simon Phillips (Zildjian, Tama, Pro-Mark, Remo),  Morgan Agren & the Mats/Morgan Band (DW, Sabian, Vic Firth), The Yamaha Groove Hour with Canadian drummers Paul Brochu, Mark Kelso and Larnell Lewis, Wolfgang Haffner (Meinl), Johnny Rabb (Roland) and Tommy Clufetos (Sonor, Sabian).”

For more information about the festival, visit Montreal Drum Fest online.

Ludwig drums have announced new centennial maple drums, which are the first product being linked to the company’s 100th anniversary in 2009.

“The Ludwig Centennial Series fuses the need for reliable gear with the desire for perfect drum tone in one exceptional package. Expandable to fit the needs of any playing style, Centennial Series Drums are Ludwig’s answer to the battle-cry of the mobile percussionist.”

“The Centennial Series Drums start with 6-ply (toms and floor toms) and 8-ply (snare and bass drums) North American Maple shells. Augmented with Ludwig’s new Classic Micro-Lug, Vibra-band mounting system on toms, and 2.3mm drum hoops, Centennial Series presents the road-worthy player with new ways to expand their spectrum of tone. Centennial’s three “Core” shell packs each come standard with a bass drum (20″, 22″, or 24″, each with a 20″ depth for added low and punch), a 12″ rack tom, 16″ floor tom, and snare drum.”

The kit (pictured above), looks absolutely beautiful to play and I’m curious to see what the reviews will be like. I’ve personally always loved Ludwig’s, as a 1967 Ludwig Blue Sparkle kit (with Supraphonic Snare) was the first I ever played on.

For more information go here.

Just this week I heard an interview on NPR with a guy who collected the broken sticks of famous drummers on eBay. He didn’t do well. No one would pay more than a couple bucks for them. I suppose Ringo Starr’s might bring in a little more cash, but no one seemed interested in the cast-aways some death metal bands former drum major. Nowadays I see that many vendors are selling “unbreakable” drumsticks. But as far as I can tell, none of them seem to “feel” right. These guys push a drumstick that at least seems to last longer. Les Ulrich says so, anyway. But maybe he gets free sticks to say that. Check ‘em out at Guitar Center.

Zildjian Cymbals has announced that it will produce the first ever run of all-black cymbals in its 385 year history.

“Pitch Black™” cymbals are available in a full range of sizes and models and are designed specifically for Rock and Metal applications. The series features eight models including a 22-inch Ride, 20-inch Crash Ride, 18 and 16-inch Crashes, 13-inch Splash, 15-inch Mastersound HiHats, 14-inch HiHats and an 18-inch China.”

“Utilizing a proprietary coating process, all Pitch Black™ cymbals are made from Zildjian’s high performance Bronze 12 Alloy which features enhanced tin content for a richer sound. The coating process allows the cymbals to be durable and visually striking while still opening up as a cymbal should. Heavier weights and large sizes combined with new profiles, cups, lathing and hammering techniques help to deliver the brightness and presence required for Rock and Metal applications.”

I don’t know much about the sound of these yet, but they look very cool. I am pretty sure purists will still want traditional cymbals, esp considering how expensive they are, although this is a great choice of a cymbal for the player who wants a different visual aesthetic for their drum kit while still having great sound.

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A new documentary on underground heavy music will be shown tomorrow in Los Angeles as part of The Cinefamily, Silent Movie Theatre series.

The documentary is titled “Such Hawks, Such Hounds” and features acclaimed acts such as OM, Acid King, Dead Meadow, Nebula, Sleep and many more. If you are into stoner rock or heavy underground music you know these bands to be essential to the scene, also many of them have great drummers. If you aren’t aware of this scene/style of music, it is well worth checking out if you are in the LA area.

To those who don’t know, a lot of these drummers drum kits vary, as there isn’t one specific set-up or kit to have for the style. A lot of the bands are working with very little money or none at all and often times piece together whatever they can for a drum set.

If you’d like to check out more info about the movie go here.

You can view a trailer at YouTube.

It appears that a Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy” album track will be debuted on the video game Rock Band 2.

“It seems “Shackler’s Revenge”, an apparent Democracy cut that wasn’t among those that leaked a little while back, will come scrolling down the screen this in September as part of the soundtrack to the video game/productivity leech Rock Band 2.”

“According to an unconfirmed tracklist that leaked last week, Rock Band 2 might also contain songs from Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nirvana, Modest Mouse, the Clash, the Ramones, R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, and many more.”

Guns N’ Roses choice of debuting a song on Rock Band 2 is a little weird, but also is smart as people may not have that much interest otherwise. Another thing, I can see playing songs by some of the artists mentioned would be kind of hard on the current Rock Band “drum set”, let’s hope they change that this next time around…

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Zildjian Cymbals, have added Rezo crash cymabls to their A Custom Cymbal Series.

“A Custom ReZo Crashes are now available in 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20-inch sizes, all featuring medium-thin weights, a new bell size and a new Brilliant/Traditional Finish combination.”

The A Custom ReZo Crashes feature a spectacular new look that displays alternating bands of spiral and full lathing techniques while using both Traditional and Brilliant finishes. The traditionally lathed area of each Crash helps to offer an aggressive array of bright overtones that blends perfectly with the instantaneous response achieved by the Brilliant finished sections of each cymbal. In addition, a brand new bell design for these Crashes was created to attain exceptional projection. The total design of these versatile new instruments produces a Crash effect that is high-pitched, musical and truly unique within the acclaimed A Custom range of cymbals.”

It would also be perfect for someone not looking for an overly dark crash cymbal, but still one with a shimmer and consistency to it. These cymbals seem like they will sound amazing, although an MSRP price has yet to be stated. Since they are part of Zildjian Cymbals Custom A line, start putting aside some money now.

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Beck has released a music video for the track “Gamma Ray” from his new album “Modern Guilt.”

I mentioned Beck’s new material here a few weeks ago because the drumming on what I had heard was great. While not typically thought of as a drum-associated artist, the drums sounded full, solid and vintage 60’s. Another reason I was really digging some of Beck’s new material is because of the late 60’s early 70’s psychedelic production and drum sounds. Recently I’ve been trying to find obscure records from this era.

I’m eventually going to listen to the album on vinyl, and will give some more impressions on the drumming here. Until then, check out the surreal video…

Beck “Gammy Ray” Music Video

Happy 4th of July weekend to you and yours.

If you are feeling patriotic tomorrow and this weekend, go pick up some American flag drumsticks and start playing away.

Happy 4th of July to everybody reading this blog. I’ll be back on Monday with more Drum news.

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.

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