Category — General Drums

I posted earlier this week about famed session drummer Josh Freese. This guy has officially played drums on over 200 records, and not just small unknown bands either. He’s appeared on albums ranging from Jewel, A Perfect Circle, Chris Daughtry, Nine Inch Nails, Puddle of Mudd, Evanesence, Filter, Fuel, 3 Doors Down, Staind, Avril Lavigne…the list goes on and on.

Josh Freese is so sought-after as a session drummer that even bands with their own drummers sometimes swap them out for Freese, so he can record drums on the albums! Unless he is a member of the band (like he was with A Perfect Circle), he is usually uncredited, so as not to offend the bands own drummer even further, one would assume.

His style is very straightforward most of the time, although he can play very complicated fills and beats as well. Anyone who’s heard his work can of course attest to this. He is known for his rock-solid beats and ability to master a songs drum parts instantly. He has even stated in several interviews that he has just gone into the studio and played drums to something without even knowing what it is, then he’ll be listening to the radio, the song will come on and he’ll say to himself “oh, so thats what that was for!”

Freese is currently recording and touring with Nine Inch Nails. He plays DW Drums, he was playing Zildjian cymbals, but switched to Paiste a few years ago. Here are the specifics of his drum setup…

Drum Workshop Drums, Pedals, and Hardware
Paiste cymbals
Remo drumheads
Vater H220 drumsticks

Drum Workshop Drums

1. 18″ x 22″ DW Bass Drum
2. 6″ x 14″ Paiste Spirit of 2002 Snare
3. 5″ x 14″ DW Aluminum Shell Snare
4. 8″ x 10″ DW Tom
5. 10″ x 13″ DW Tom
6. 14″ x 16″ DW Tom
7. 16″ x 18″ DW Floor Tom

Paiste Signature Series Cymbals

A. 14″ Dark Crisp Hi-Hats
B. 18″ Full Crash
C. 18″ Power Crash
D. 21″ Dry Heavy Ride
E. 19″ Full Crash
F. 20″ Dry Crisp Ride
G. 20″ Power Crash
H. 18″ Sound Formula Thin China 20″ (top), inverted Full Ride w/rivets (bottom)

Sources.

Beck has debuted a new track from presumably his new album and collaboration with Danger Mouse. The song “Chemtrails” is currently available for listening at his Myspace and Official website.

“The new song is not a single, but showcases Beck and Danger Mouse’s shared affection for late ’60s psych-pop, according to a statement.

Beck’s as-yet untitled, Danger Mouse-produced album is due out this summer, as previously reported”.

While I wasn’t much of a fan of Beck’s last single release “Timebomb” I happen to like this song. It seems like a weird post for a drum blog. Check out the drums on this track though. I’m not sure who played them or how they were recorded, but they sound really full and thick. This track also features fills all over the drum kit. The groove mostly remains on the hi-hat and in the pocket, which I like, especially considering that the song has some pretty soft and understated synth parts.

Source - The NME.

It’s Earth Day 2008! The day where we should all do something helpful for the planet, except its kinda hard to post about earth day on a drum blog.

Think about it…pretty much everything you use as a drummer; snare drums, your floor tom, your mounted toms, drumsticks, well pretty much the whole drum set…Besides the hardware and cymbals, is made of wood. I guess it’s not so bad considering that the majority of people who own drum sets aren’t ever going to just throw them away.

Anyway, I guess something drummers could do for earth day is be appreciative of the drums we have, and maybe try to volunteer around where you live or even just pick up a few pieces of trash, anything helps. We have to protect those trees! Or else no more drums!

A musical project called Shrinebuilder, which was to feature Wino (of The Obsessed, Hidden Hand, Spirit Caravan), Scott Kelley (Neurosis) and Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius of OM will now include Dale Crover of the Melvins!

After Chris Hakius left OM it has now been confirmed that Dale Crover will take his place in the Shrinebuilder project. The project is slated for a 2009 release via Neurosis’ label, Neurot Recordings.

This is exciting news for me as a huge fan of Dale Crover’s drumming. I know that Wino, Scott Kelley and Al Cisneros will come up with amazing riffs, and now its pretty much confirmed that those riffs will be backed by some amazing drumming. This project is shaping up to be a very good one, I also hope to see the band live if they end up doing some dates.

More information.

Grover Pro Percussion Inc. has introduced two new models to its SilverFox drumstick product line, the “Boston Basher” and the “Sweet Pea” at the MESSE trade show in Germany.

Boston Basher
“The olive-shaped wood tip and short tapered shoulder achieve maximum projection from snare drums of any construction and bring out a full-bodied tone from toms. At 16″ long with a diameter of .620″, this durable hickory stick effortlessly achieves heavy volumes on the club scene or in arena venues without feeling heavy in your hands.”

Sweet Pea
“The Sweet Pea also enjoyed a successful debut at the MESSE show in Frankfurt, Germany. At 15-3/4″ long with a diameter of 0565″, this dynamic hickory stick features a small ball tip for fast response on cymbals while producing a warm sound on snare. Created in response to jazz artists’ requests for a stick with the feel of a 5A, yet capable of consistent cymbal articulation and projection, the Sweet Pea is the ideal choice for combo jazz in every setting.”

I think for me personally, I’d really like to try out the “Boston Basher”. While it is a pretty lame name for drum sticks, it sounds like it would be great for heavier/more aggressive playing. Also the length of this stick seems like it would be beneficial for a player like myself who is usually all over my drum kit and not always playing in the pocket. Although, the length of the “Basher” sticks would also help with playing the pocket as well.

Source.

According to Harmony-Central.com, a new high-def version of the electronic drum pad, the Mandala is going to be released. Inventor Vince De Franco who founded synesthesia corp. worked on the creation of this drum, with Tool drummer Danny Carey for 5 years, to replace his old Simmons SDX electronic drums. I posted about Isis drummer Aaron Harris a few days ago, he is also a Mandala user as well.

“A new kind of synthesizer, the Mandala 2.0 packages a musical range so wide it simultaneously offers players the top of the line, most accurate model of a physical drum (via 3,000 professionally created, proprietary samples of the Black Beauty Snare Drum) — along with a library of sounds derived from more than 100 other instruments.

It plugs into a PC or Mac with just a USB cable, and its easy-to-use software comes with more than 100 presets for out-of-the-box functionality. Players also can create their own configurations as they explore and discover its astonishing audio range.”

Source.

It has been announced as of yesterday (the first I’ve heard at least), that 25-year-veteran alternative band The Melvins will be releasing a new record on July 8th, 2008. The new album is titled “Nude With Boots” and was recorded at West Beach Recorders in Los Angeles, CA and also once again features the duo Big Business as part of the Melvins lineup.

This album comes as the follow up to the bands last record “(A) Senile Animal” which was one of their most successful and well received records out of their entire catalog. Sorry to bum anyone out who has found this page, I DO NOT have the leaked album nor do I even know if it has leaked or when it will. All I know is what I’ve read, and that it WILL be released on July 8th, 2008 via independent label - Ipecac Records.

Anyone who got their last record, knows that since the Melvins and Big Business combined forces, they had double drums and will have double drumming featured on this new album as well. Dale Crover is one of the most impressive drummers currently out there in my opinion, really looking forward to this one…

*(Photo courtesy of www.themelvins.net)

To celebrate Gretch’s 125th anniversary the company is teaming with Guitar Center to release the “Gretsch Vintage USA Maple Limited Edition Snare Drum”. The snare’s were selected from 300 original Vintage USA Jasper shells recently found in an amazing discovery at the Gretsch factory in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Only 125 of the drums have been made and will be available for sale worldwide.

In my opinion these drums look really cool. This is definitely a chance for any gear-heads to own a vintage made Gretsch snare drum thats also new! These would be great, especially if you want to get that warm vintage tone everyone always talks about. The price also isn’t bad at $599.99 considering what you’re getting. I personally won’t be getting one just because I’m going to be getting a nice double bass pedal soon, but if you are getting one I’d hurry there’s only 125!

Source

Continuing on with the Nirvana theme. I found this video on youtube of Dave Grohl showing off his and the Foo Fighters 8000 sq ft warehouse headquarters. This place houses the amazing amount of platinum records Dave Grohl has accumulated over the years, hundreds of guitars and drums and one of the nicest recording studios in all of LA, which is saying a lot.

Check it out…

Foo Fighter’s Studio 606 Tour

This isn’t newsworthy or anything, but as I was driving in my car the other day, the Nirvana song “Heart-Shaped Box” came on the radio. I’ve heard this song probably more than a million times, as I’ve been listening to it since I was around 11 years old. Strangely though, everytime I hear it, it sounds even better. This is probably the mark of a truly great song, but probably also the mark of a great recording as well.

I am aware that this particular song was recorded by Steve Albini, (who’s also recorded The Pixies, Bush, various thousands of other artists) and mixed by Scott Litt (REM, Incubus). Steve Albini is of course well known for his drum sound, but I like the combination of that sound combined with Scott Litt’s mixing techniques. Yea, I don’t really care that its not “super raw” or whatever. It sounds good to me. Of course the drums wouldn’t sound that great at all if Dave Grohl weren’t playing them anyway.

Steve Albini though, is known to put mics all over the drum kit, as well as all over the room he’s recording the drums in. Some multi-tracks of the In Utero album did leak recently and they show that there were a ton of mic’s used on the drums. Some room mics were used just for the sound of the crash cymbals as well as the ride cymbal. I’d love to do this kind of recording myself, I just really don’t have the money for these kind of mics, or a specifically designed drum room to record in, but I might use this technique next time I record drums on my own.