Props to Todd Sucherman

[likedachuch]

i remember a post of todd sucherman before, but seeing him in person is something else!

i just went to see todd sucherman out in manhattan beach @poncho's restaurant last saturday evening. all i have to say is that this guy is a monster! reminds me of steve smith meets mike portnoy, meets ringo! just a great feel and yet has chops for days. did i mention concept and interpretation? i have no clue as to how he gets so much power from traditional grip!

super humble as well. we started talking about drums and todd was very generous with his time. i aked why he hasn't been on the cover of MD and he seemed dissapointed and perhaps implied a theory that guys who are on mtv or were aging jazz musicians seemed to only make cover nowadays. he was grateful for a feature none-the-less (i guess this was about 6 months ago?). it kind of made me question the integrity of MD sometimes. but we both understood that it was a business and it couldn't survive without selling magazines.

the band played alot of cover tunes, and coco of the corporate band 'haute chile' played bass and sang. there was a guitarist named reggie but i forgot his last name. he was fantastic as well. as was a sax player they had. this band was tight.

the highlight of the evening was when todd played this crazy solo during 'black magic woman'. his poly-rythmic sections and concepts were mind numbing. i mean this guy HAS it! i mean he's right there with dave dicenso not getting enough press. just a shame.

another great thing about this evening was that there was no cover or drink minimums. so if you get a chance to check out an amazing / under rated drummer playing with great musicians, put their spin on great pop tunes, then poncho's @ manhattan beach , ca is the place! i believe he announces it on his website whenever he plays there.

http://toddsucherman.com/index.htm

btw - his wife taylor mills is a great singer too! she sat in on a ballad. (i forgot the name of it. [img]redface.gif[/img] ) kinda reminded me of patsy kline meets lady day. she was super cool and beautiful.

todd, ya lucky bastard! [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Randy walker]

glad you dug the gig and got to see Todd.

[likedachuch]

yeah randy,

was a pleasant surprise. i thought it was going to be a pretty predictable pop set, but turned out to be more than that. they really knew how to take the tunes and take it out and still made it undistracting. like i could still sing along, ya know?

very cool.

[FuseU1]

Thx, Chuch.

Todd = VERY underrated. A great talent. He's just killin' on that Driven to Tears cover mp3, & also in Jerry Goodman's Tears of Joy vid clips in clinic on his site. Nice job on that Styx Back to Paradise vid too [but his ability far exceeds even that cool band [img]wink.gif[/img] ].

I bought & helped support MD all the time back when i started out & well into my intermediate yrs, even had the subscriptn many times. I haven't bought one in a long time, but I rem when they used to cover all kinds of players back in the day, from many of the diff & ethnic styles, even if it was in the up n coming section or a music lesson motif. "Wha' happon'?!" [img]graemlins/thinking.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 17, 2004 08:57 PM: Message edited by: fuseU1 ]</font>

[Randy walker]

yeah the band at Poncho's kills it.

Spoke to Todd and he is getting ready to start his clinic road trip....

He also has a new signature drumstick with ProMark coming out. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[FuseU1]

Any chance of him hitting either central FL or TN? [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Those 3 JG - TOJ clinic vid-clips on his site gave me goosebumps, man. Great tune; JG's wailin' on it also, naturally. The violin sound & playing - almost made me shed a...TOJ] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 17, 2004 09:01 PM: Message edited by: fuseU1 ]</font>

[Randy walker]

Not this time around.. only midwest, 1 in Chicago and 2 in Wisconsin.......But, STYX has a song in the top 10 right now! a live cover of "I am The Walrus"........go figure, over 100 radio stations are playing it in their top 30 rotation and more stations are added weekly.
So, who knows, there could be some more clinics in the future, I know Todd wants to do more. After he does these I will try and post some footage to his website.
I did the TOJ and STYX tune One With Everything.

[PocketPlayer]

I saw STYX on a PBS special years ago and witnessed Todd's feel and end of tune chops. Just like seeing Thomas Lang play a little snare at NAMM just hangin', I instantly experienced his vast vocabulary with just a few notes. What I dug is how much fun he looked to be having with the band.

[likedachuch]

cool, randy! i thank you for shooting those vids. without 'em, i wouldn't have known how great he was and prolly wouldn't have gone outta my way from OC to see him that evening. cheers to you! [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img]

also, i thought todd had his own vater signature stix? if so, then why the change to pro-mark? not that i have anything against them. just curious, tis all.

furthermore, i got a chance to know todd's cousin, nick siewart by riding the metrolink to work. turned out he used to work at center staging near the burbank airport. he's also a very talented drummer as well. great feel and huge ears. hope to see him be featured sometime soon in MD too.

thanks again, randy. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[likedachuch]

fuse,

i notice the same sentiments about MD starting to catch on with alot of the fellow drummers that i talk to. i hope the magazine continues to do the late Ron Spagnardi justice as to how he originally envisioned MD to be.

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