Heading out to Los Angeles for Dimebash. Dave Lombardo is playing……..stay tuned for more!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The Ballad of the Big Bass Drum, a ddrum blog.
Greetings and salutations, ddrum fans. Felix with artist relations, bringing you yet another fun and exciting blog! I am gonna veer slightly from the usual artist updates, to talk about a subject near and to my heart. One of our best and brightest, Brian Tichy recently scored the gig with the legendary Whitesnake.
After we found out, of course our heads started swirling, with images of Whitesnake drummers past, and the immense double bass drum kit is the first thing that came to mind. I knew we would want to put something special together, and I rallied for a clever idea, to go with the epic tour, that would follow the recording of the new Whitesnake record. Brian's head seemed to be in the same place, and a massive kit with concert toms and a gong, soon began taking shape, at least in our collective imaginations.
Then something funny happened, Brian took his ddrum kit, with 26" bass drum, into the studio, and David Coverdale, Whitesnake 's legendary front man, was all about it! Sometimes perceptions of what is expected, end up being a little off, and now we find ourselves with an exciting new idea, spawned by a legendary non-drummer (yes, they are apparently capable of having good drum ideas too).
This got me to thinking about the 26" bass drum, in general, and its place in rock history. Bonham, Paice, Powell, the list of believers is long. Ddrum's own, Carmine Appice, has long been credited as the forerunner of this size, with the red sparkle 4 piece he played with Vanilla Fudge, on Ed Sullivan. We went so far as to make a replica of that kit, and it remains one of my absolute FAVORITE ddrum kits, of all time (yes I'm allowed to have a favorite).
Getting back to Mr. Tichy, he is getting ready to embark on a quick European Tour with Lynch Mob. For this gig, I was able to put together a "Frankenstein" bass drum, to send to him for this tour. It is a Dominion Ash 26" in a beautiful dark red. Before shipping it, I was able to test it, and the low end this thing produced was ridiculous. There really is no amount of processing, that can substitute real, acoustic low end, and this drum has it in spades. I am curious to see what other people think of this size bass drum, so I am opening up the floor to comments. Let me know you're out there!
After we found out, of course our heads started swirling, with images of Whitesnake drummers past, and the immense double bass drum kit is the first thing that came to mind. I knew we would want to put something special together, and I rallied for a clever idea, to go with the epic tour, that would follow the recording of the new Whitesnake record. Brian's head seemed to be in the same place, and a massive kit with concert toms and a gong, soon began taking shape, at least in our collective imaginations.
Then something funny happened, Brian took his ddrum kit, with 26" bass drum, into the studio, and David Coverdale, Whitesnake 's legendary front man, was all about it! Sometimes perceptions of what is expected, end up being a little off, and now we find ourselves with an exciting new idea, spawned by a legendary non-drummer (yes, they are apparently capable of having good drum ideas too). This got me to thinking about the 26" bass drum, in general, and its place in rock history. Bonham, Paice, Powell, the list of believers is long. Ddrum's own, Carmine Appice, has long been credited as the forerunner of this size, with the red sparkle 4 piece he played with Vanilla Fudge, on Ed Sullivan. We went so far as to make a replica of that kit, and it remains one of my absolute FAVORITE ddrum kits, of all time (yes I'm allowed to have a favorite).
Getting back to Mr. Tichy, he is getting ready to embark on a quick European Tour with Lynch Mob. For this gig, I was able to put together a "Frankenstein" bass drum, to send to him for this tour. It is a Dominion Ash 26" in a beautiful dark red. Before shipping it, I was able to test it, and the low end this thing produced was ridiculous. There really is no amount of processing, that can substitute real, acoustic low end, and this drum has it in spades. I am curious to see what other people think of this size bass drum, so I am opening up the floor to comments. Let me know you're out there!
Monday, October 11, 2010
The weekend report....
And now, weekend update, with DDRUM!
We had quite a week here in sunny Tampa Bay, last week. Yours truly, s holding down the fort on the Dean side, and handling all the usual ddrum shenanigans as well. As such, this blog will include a couple non-drummer artists as well!
We had a couple noteworthy visits to the office to the office last week. First up was the guys in Attila. This band is currently on a tour criss-crossing the country. They are what we like to refer to as a double-threat band, as the guitarists and bass player are all sporting Dean, while their drummer, Sean Heenan is holding it down with a new Reflex kit. Everyone in the band has been blown away by the sound and quality of this "lower line kit". Even going so far as to mention its superiority over some of the other "high-end" brands they have encountered on the road. With warm alder shells and a killer wrapped finish, these kits my prove to be the sleeper hit of the coming year.
On Friday, our offices received a visit from not one, but TWO members of the Mighty GWAR! Brad Roberts AKA Jizmak the Gusher, and his partner in low end, Beefcake the Mighty. The guys took the "nickel tour" of our humble facility, checking out our woodshop, and world-famous artist rooms. We then visited ddrum parts guru and customer service manager extraordinaire, Mike Petrak, where brad was able to pick up some spare parts for this current run. No one pummels a kit quite like Jizmak, luckily, no one makes a drum kit quite like ddrum. Later that night, joined by many of the staff here at the shop, I took in the Gwar show at the Ritz in Ybor City. Performance art, meets warriors from space, and collides with political and pop satire, while played by shredding musicians, and then covered in more blood and goo than a venue can hold. Stick that in a blender and hit "frappe". The band closed the evening with a piece from their upcoming record " Bloody Pit of Horror" a de-tuned masterpiece involving zombies…..what more can a Gwar fan ask for? Be sure to catch them on the road between now and December, as they tour the second half of their 25th anniversary, and look for the new record on November 9th 2010.
We had quite a week here in sunny Tampa Bay, last week. Yours truly, s holding down the fort on the Dean side, and handling all the usual ddrum shenanigans as well. As such, this blog will include a couple non-drummer artists as well!
We had a couple noteworthy visits to the office to the office last week. First up was the guys in Attila. This band is currently on a tour criss-crossing the country. They are what we like to refer to as a double-threat band, as the guitarists and bass player are all sporting Dean, while their drummer, Sean Heenan is holding it down with a new Reflex kit. Everyone in the band has been blown away by the sound and quality of this "lower line kit". Even going so far as to mention its superiority over some of the other "high-end" brands they have encountered on the road. With warm alder shells and a killer wrapped finish, these kits my prove to be the sleeper hit of the coming year.
On Friday, our offices received a visit from not one, but TWO members of the Mighty GWAR! Brad Roberts AKA Jizmak the Gusher, and his partner in low end, Beefcake the Mighty. The guys took the "nickel tour" of our humble facility, checking out our woodshop, and world-famous artist rooms. We then visited ddrum parts guru and customer service manager extraordinaire, Mike Petrak, where brad was able to pick up some spare parts for this current run. No one pummels a kit quite like Jizmak, luckily, no one makes a drum kit quite like ddrum. Later that night, joined by many of the staff here at the shop, I took in the Gwar show at the Ritz in Ybor City. Performance art, meets warriors from space, and collides with political and pop satire, while played by shredding musicians, and then covered in more blood and goo than a venue can hold. Stick that in a blender and hit "frappe". The band closed the evening with a piece from their upcoming record " Bloody Pit of Horror" a de-tuned masterpiece involving zombies…..what more can a Gwar fan ask for? Be sure to catch them on the road between now and December, as they tour the second half of their 25th anniversary, and look for the new record on November 9th 2010.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
American Carnage
Good Morning DDRUM!
What a weekend! American Carnage invaded Orlando, and nothing will ever be the same! Starting off the show, was Anthrax, with long-time trigger endorser, Charlie Benante. The band reminded everyone present, why they are considered among the originators of thrash metal.
Up next Megadeth! Celebrating the anniversary of their classic album, Rust In Peace, the band opened their set by playing the album, in its entirety. The band then careened like a speeding truck, through a list of some of their biggest hits. The crowd was so into it, they actually sang the riff to "Symphony of Destruction" along with the band. All the while, Shawn Drover, a lefty on a right handed kit, held the band together with his powerful and precise playing. Holding court over all in attendance, on his custom-silver dominion ash drum set.
Closing out the carnage, was none other than the mighty Slayer. I had the opportunity to watch this show, from directly behind Dave Lombardo's drum riser. To hear Dave on record is an experience, to see him live is amazing. To watch him from 4 feet away is like a drum lesson at 150 miles per hr! I was tired after watching him play one song. Dave on the other hand, is a machine, never slowing down for a minute.
Keep on the lookout for these three bands in 2011, there are even bigger things on the horizon. Stay tuned, pics coming soon!
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