Category — Pearl Drums

The “how-to” site Instructables.com is running a DIY Halloween contest where people can submit their homemade Halloween costume ideas. I came across a DIY Slipknot Mask instrutable which can be helpful for anybody out there who doesn’t want to pay top dollar for the official masks.

A lot of the supplies you need for this project are things that can easily be found around the house.

Supplies:

Foil If you don’t have at least 4 feet of foil, you will have to buy more.
Leather I found an old leather jacket and cut up the leather from that.
Zipper (optional) For my mouth I used some of the zipper from the old jacket, but you can do whatever you want.
Sewing Needle Get a large one for it will have to be sharp to sew up the mask.
Thread You will need thread the same color as your leather and some red thread as well.
Elastic Bands
Scissors A large, sharp pair is recommended.
Newspaper For the paper mache part.
Flour You will need 1/3 cup of flour.
Water You will need 1/2 cup of water.
Glue I used a glue stick.

Depending on what you want your mask to look like, you may use some other items.

Check out the “How To Make A Slipknot Mask For Free Page” for a walkthrough with pictures and more details. For drummers, some minor adjustments to the mask pictured, (like white fabric instead of leather and dark markings) can turn it into a Joey Jordison mask.

Of course a lot of people wouldn’t recognize that you’re a drummer unless you’re either carrying around a snare drum and floor tom. To make it easy you could just carry a pair of drumsticks with you.

The Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy” album, which was 17 years in the making, will finally be released on November 23rd, a Sunday.

The album has been rumored, made fun of and talked about so much that it is hard to believe its actually coming out. The album is a Best Buy exclusive, so fans looking to purchase it will have to head there to pick up a copy. After what supposedly happened to an unsuspecting blogger who downloaded and leaked the tracks, you might want to forget about downloading it.

Drummers featured on the “Chinese Democracy” album include Josh Freese and Brain. I have no idea what kind of kits these guys played, or even how many other drummers could’ve been involved in the sessions. I did see pictures of a Pearl drum set accompanying an article about the recording of the album. Both Freese and Brain endorse DW Drums though.

Guns N’ Roses also has a few tracks from the album coming out in various other ways. Chinese Democracy track “Shaclker’s Revenge” will debut in the video game Rock Band 2, while “If The World” will be featured in the credits to “Body of Lies” the new Leonardo DiCaprio/Russell Crow film.

Source.

A lot of rock drummers probably aren’t that familiar with Omar Hakim. Being a drummer and a drumming fan, I knew his name but I really hadn’t really been exposed to his work.

Recently, I took the opportunity to sit down and listen to a sampling of recording’s he’s played on. This guy is a monster talent and can’t really be pinned down to one genre. His work with Weather Report was nothing short of amazing. Although his playing in Weather Report relied heavily on jazz techniques he managed to attract the attention of Sting and Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler as fans, which would lead to future work with both.

His playing on David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” also stands out as being incredibly solid and continued to expose him to numerous other artists. In the 80’s when drum machines and drum programming just started to come into fashion, instead of feeling defeated Hakim went out and learned how to program drum machines and electronics, becoming extremely proficient. He was also one of the first drummers to heavily incorporate an electronic drum set roland built for him, and continues to do endorse Roland electronic drums to this day.

Omar Hakim’s page at Drummerworld.com also has a great qoute from the man himself…

“Sometimes, if people know you from rock, they think of you as a rock drummer and don’t expect you to play anything else. Or, if they know you in jazz, then they typecast you as a jazz drummer,” explains Hakim. “I was conscious of the fact that I didn’t want people to know me as a rock drummer or a jazz drummer, but as a total musician. So I always made sure I let people know that I was about music.”

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.