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Just so we’re clear on what Fred Armisen is lampooning.
Important to note: Bozzio’s cymbals are way up high here. You know what that means he isn’t.
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Complicated Drumming Technique: Polynesian Nightmare
Flam. Rest.
A few years ago, I came across this DVD. I recognised Fred Armisen on the cover but had no idea what the DVD was. I had no idea what I was in for.
It’s This Is Spinal Tap for drummers.
See also: the paradiddle-addle-oodle.
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Dave Weckl — Zildjian Day Clinic, 1986 (Part 1) (Part 2 / Part 3)
The [drum | guitar | bass | $INSTRUMENT] clinic is the oft-forgotten cousin of the instructional tape and video (as referenced in “Known For His Reach”). This one’s new to me, and wowzers — if you like the super-technical early Weckl (think the first CCEB album), this stuff is gold. Even Part 2, where DW plays “Island Magic” with those horrid Yamaha electric drums.
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Steve Smith on the drum part in Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”
Such a great part. When you play it, you really feel like you’re moving around a lot. That right hand is so used to just playing eighths on the hi-hat or ride or whatever, it feels like you’re really doing work to make it play those melodies all over the kit.
It’s worth mentioning that this open-handed style of playing was pioneered by Billy “No Meter” Cobham. Also, pass the god-damn butter.
(Source: youtube.com)
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Bad Plus — “Heart of Glass”
Far out — haven’t listened to The Bad Plus in aaaages. I just pulled out an old Dave King interview in a 2004 Modern Drummer (yeah, I subscribed to Modern Drummer back in the day) from right around the time that I started getting serious about figuring out this jazz stuff, and in there is a list of Dave King’s favourite albums. By now, six years later, it turns out that I own most of the albums on the list. It’s nice how things work themselves out like that.
Anyway, The Bad Plus. Right outta my set-up-my-drums-just-like-my-idols period (see this from last week).
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Blondie - “Dreaming” (Top of the Pops, 1979)
Blondie’s second-most reliable producer-of-boners? Clem Burke.
Duh.
Fun fact about Clem Burke: He’s left-handed, but he plays a right-handed kit1. As a result, a lot of his sixteenth-note fills (on glorious display in “Dreaming” and “Heart of Glass”) start on the left hand, which means he hits that crash cymbal on 1 with his left hand as well.
So, remember, when you’re fifteen years old and playing along to Blondie albums, setting your kit up just like Clem Burke’s (with that mounted tom literally parallel to the ground) and starting your fills on the left hand will really help you become a successful musician. Obviously.
I might have more to say about this later on, but when we’re starting out with a musical instrument2, we emulate the people we admire, and more often than not we pick totally trivial (read: easy) things to copy, convinced that doing so will make us more like them. Yeah, sure. The key to Zeldman’s success is totally which model of Mac Pro he uses. You can just swap out talent for gigahertz on a 1:1 basis, can’t you? Yeah, I’m pretty sure it works like that.
Anyway, whatever. Blondie are great. Thanks for reminding me about them, Merlin.
1see also
2 or [writing | drawing | photography | film-making | pretty much any skill]
