Planet X at Durty Nellies near Chicago

[peter c]

Please do bring the mini-disc as
I cannot make the performance.

[img]frown.gif[/img]

I'm sure Virgil will be killing.
Please give me a review of the
show and tell him that Pete said
'hi' but regretted he could not
be there, up to here, with work
and diapers.

Also tell him that I loved the
class yesterday! Thanks!

[img]cool.gif[/img]

[FuseU1]

dum-dum-soc + MD recorder = [img]biggrin.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rainbow.gif[/img]

[dum-dum-soc]

I will be rushing from a rehersal but I will be there, and so will my MINIDISC [img]redface.gif[/img] .......... Is any of the the other CHI area hod peoples going? Has any one seen the show before? How long is the clinic? I need to know how many minidisc to bring.............

[Terry B]

Wow! what a show!! LOVED the new lineup those guys were having a blast up there! Yo d.d.soc, I would be VERY intrested in hearing that Minidisc. I brought mine too, but got some brutal distortion every time Virg hits the bass drum! Great show though!

[dum-dum-soc]

Here is my review


First I thought the show started at 7pm, which in actuallity it started at 8pm with the band Big Electric. This band consist of just a drummer and a guitar player. The sound man must have been on Nyquil and cocaine because the sound needed tweaking even through the Planet X show. Anyway Big Electric went on for about an hour and a half. The music was cool and the sound was along the same vibe as Planet X. The drummer works at THe Drum Pad which sponsered the event and apparently is endorsed by paiste and gms drums. His kit was massive. Only Terry Bozzio has a more toys than this guy. The kit actually remind you of the Bozzio kit with his old paiste signature line all over. His playing was cool with a lot of musical fills to make the songs rounder (remember it was just to of them). At about 9:30 or so they started doing the giveways and door prizes. Why is it that real drummers never win anything usefull like a pedal, snare, or cymbals??????????? Anyway, then it was time for the main show. Virgil and planet X came out and stated kicking ass. They blew through the tunes effortlessly while trying to get the sound man to stop doing rufies and shrooms. The bass player was this cat named Rufus from england and he was incredibly fast. Virgil was doing tatsey stuff through out the songs and then the band left to give Virg the spotlight. He killed with his alternating tempo parraddile between his right hand and right foot and left hand and left foot. All and all he did a great job but seemed pissed at times probrably due to the sound engineer. They played for about 2 hours straight including a one song encore in which his last cybal hit was one of frustration, anger, and exhaustion as he threw the sticks at the cymbals. NIce. I have to dump the minidisc down to protools and find some way to have it downloadable for everyone.....

[peter c]

Thanks, DDS.

Please remember me. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[img]cool.gif[/img]

[Vdrummer]

I'm glad you liked the show. The sound man did a better job than many could in the situation. He's never worked in that club before but has done many tours with major acts, including Metallica and Poison, and usually gets a killing drum sound.

Here's more of the story than anyone probably cares about but....

The opening act, Big Electric features the impressive Vic Salazar and a 16 drum GMS kit with 50 cymbals, gong, gong drum, bass drum woofers, and electronic pads, two remote china Hi-hats, etc. Everything in his kit was submixed down to just 5 sends by Vic, not the soundman. The drum kit would require 24 or more channels otherwise. There was a line check for Big Electric but as I understand no real sound check. The sound guy's hands were tied quite a bit by the submixed drum sends and some other issues not in his control.

Virgil showed up for PX's sound check, he was giving private lessons at our shop and was nearby. However, the rest of the band missed the time scheduled for their soundcheck. The soundman got the time extended for them, the club has a dinner crowd in the next room and the club wanted it done by 5, and they got a brief check but not enough time to set monitors to everyone's liking. Hence, the frustration of the band with monitor's for the first song.

I thought the sound for PX was slamming from the opening bass drum hit. I've been to the club many times before and haven't heard the system sound that good before. I'll be there tomorrow to see Matt Taul with Tantric and am curious how the sound compares.

Virgil played his ass off and TJ and Rufus were outstanding as well. I like Rufus' solo but wish TJ had gotten an actual solo spot. At points, TJ reminded me a lot of Holdsworth. I spoke with Rufus for awhile after the show and he was joking that people will be writing about him and the band on the internet tomorrow.

Brad

[FuseU1]

Thanks a mil DDS!

[MSCearly]

"I have to dump the minidisc down to protools and find some way to have it downloadable for everyone....."

that would be soooo great DDS!

[Vdrummer]

I saw Tantric tonight at the same club as PX performed at. First, the sound was much, much better the other night. My girlfriend even commented on it. Tonight there was no low end, light drums, lots of guitars, generally a weird balance. The bar's house sound man did the opening band and they came off better than Tantric who are traveling with their own touring sound man. The guy we hired for PX two nights ago kicked all their butts with his mix.

This next bit is off topic but you may be interested anyhow. Tantric has a very aggressive drummer named Matt Taul. My girlfriend has their CD's, likes them and wanted to see them. I figured it would be cool based on their new CD. He does a lot of busy hi-hat work and plays a lot of fills for a radio friendly band. On the CD he reminds me at points of the 80's band Simple Minds drummer, Mel Gaynor. Seeing him live, well, what a disappointment. I knew he overplayed a bit but I don't mind that from a good player. Unfortunately, he was sloppy and stiff and a surprising number of fills didn't end quite on one. He generally appeared to be struggling. There must have been a lot of drum editing done in Pro Tools to make the CD sound like it does. We still like the disk, but neither of us were terribly impressed with the band.