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Hey everyone!
It's my first time posting but I've been visiting this site for ages now, (doin' a great job Steve!). It's just really to carry on from a recent spate to hit the forum, in the form of drummers who have rubbed people up the wrong way.
I know there are bound to be some out there who don't agree with this and who are gonna put mood swings down to 'artistic genius' or something, but I know lots of assholes who are certainly not 'geniuses'! So believe me, they can exist. Also there are gonna be those of you who are gonna say that this is negative use of our art, but it is just a bit of fun, like a soap opera/drama on Fox. Just go with it, and if you don't like it...don't post! It struck me as an interesting topic, nothing more. Anyway, here's a little story I have about Dennis Chambers when I went to go and see him in Clinic last year...
He came out; he played a 45-minute drum solo without even acknowledging the crowd at all. He then proceeded to play the same thing and the same chops all night. (Anyone who has been to one of his clinics will know what I mean).
BELIEVE ME I am not just slagging the guy off, I know it sounds like it, but I?m not! He's at the top of our game and should be respected for being better than any of us could ever be, but he was doing the same three tricks over and over.
1. Crossing his hands over each other for a visual and acoustic effect, and playing it all at great speed.
2. Flying around his toms at great speed.
3. Playing his hi-hat and bass drum together with the left foot at (yes you've got it... great speed).
Fine I thought. He's great, I?ll just sit back and watch. Then he started talking.
He got up to address the audience and just said, "Questions?".
People were asking questions and he was giving them some pretty cocky answers but after nearly an hour of talking someone asked the question "Dennis, can we see you play some more?!" (as sort of a feigned compliment). This is what he said, (I shit you not).
"Why do you assholes bother even coming to my shows! Why the hell do you shout out things like that? You are never gonna be able to play like me, I'm Dennis Chambers! What you think you are gonna go home having mastered this shit? You will only learn by me 'telling' you things, you can't see what I'm actually doing and decipher it that way! You?ll never get it. Assholes.."
There was a stunned, awkward silence in which a few people left. The organisers really tried to cover up the outburst by bringing out the raffle prizes, but they couldn't cover up how rude he'd been.
I've had the honour of seeing and meeting literally hundreds of 'name' drummers, but after seeing that, I had no desire to hang around and chat to him. What got my goat is the fact that there were little kids as young as five and six out in the audience who were hearing this.
I've met Weckl several times and he's been nothing but the perfect gentleman each and every time. Never had the opportunity to meet Vinnie yet but I hope I can say the same about him when I finally do.
Sorry for the long post. Anyway, hope this kicks off a lively debate, this is what forums are all about!!!
Keep groovin'
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all i can say is wow... that seems too be absurd about chambers...i would hope that this is not true... wow... i spent some time with gary chafee a few years ago and he was good friends with chambers and david garibaldi... he gave me some insight about vinnie.. he said that when vinnie first came to berklee he could read fly shit on paper... he said that chambers had a whole zen approach to playing, but that he wouldnt admit it.. chaffee said that if you asked dennis about it he would say what are you talin about white boy.... as far as garibaldi .. chafee stated that he and tower of power has lifestyle conflict they parted ways not on the best of terms and they would never play together again... well he was wrong about that thankfully..... just a little somethin somethin for you fellas.. later
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I always thought that Dennis was a gentleman..... weird.... or maybe he just had a bad day.
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I've seen Dennis three times and he was always a gentleman. The first time he even had his luggage lost at the airport. He seemed a little tense but not overly and certainly he didn't say anything to the crowd that would offend.
David Garibaldi on the other hand was a complete jerk to a friend of mine. If I didn't witness it first hand I wouldn't have believed it. My friend worked at a music store that was doing Garibaldi's clinic. He was setting the kit up and getting sounds when Garibaldi snapped at him and talked to him like a two year old. Complete cokehead attitude. His vibe was clearly that he didn't want to be there that night. Later during the question and answer session, a guy asked if he had a family (i.e. wife and kids) and how his being a musician affected his family life. Garibaldi snapped at him,
saying, "Yeah I've got a family". That was basically his answer.
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i think if i was there at that clinic i would have joined the others in leaving at that point.
If thats what he said then that aint cool.
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Well that's why I was so surprised!
I had heard that he was the consument gentleman too! Since I posted that, (only earlier today) I have had messages from people who don't want to post. One of them was from a guy in the US who said that they'd seen him lay into this camera-man who was filming the clinic for accidently hitting his arm onstage whilst he was playing.
That's maybe understandable, but to have a go at the guy and embarass the poor dude in front of the audience is a little low.
Maybe he was high on both occasions, but again, it really upset me because I was maybe expecting him to be some kind of amazing person..
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I think it'd be pretty f------ funny if Modern Drummer devoted an entire issue to shit-talk letters sent in by the fans. Maybe if we harass them enough...
The drummer's community tends to be a little more wussy than ,say, the guitarists circle. Maybe we need a good old-fashined brawl to stir things up. Shit, but I'm on Dennis Chambers's team. That dude beat some serious ass.
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well everyone has their bad days, but dennis' tirade is disapointing to hear of. im really tired of these great players misbehaving like that. a high profile artist such as dennis should always feel blessed and exude professionalism at every turn. they should know that students/fans or whatever,really do look up to their heroes(i know i still do);and they are completley responsible to send out a good message about their instrument. in fact i'm embarrased and sad to hear that story. dennis you may be undeniably talented, and by most recollections you seem to be a nice guy,but you know it is a small world,and dennis' behavior just made his world just that much smaller, drums are all about love dennis, ya ungrateful fuckin jerk (i sure hope this will beat the 21 postings about vinnie! LOL,LOL!
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Well lets all keep in mind that nobody knows what its like to be anyone under any circumstances but themselves. Point being that we don't know what it's like to walk in Dennis' shoes. But even under the most negative of circumstances I can't see that as an excuse to be derogatory to anyone.
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webmaster,
www.houseofdrumming.com
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I hate to bring good cheer into this, but there are some great drummers who are also genuinely cool people.
Tom Brechtlein is a very funny guy who will talk to just about anyone, I think. Love his Al di Meola impression.
Peter Erskine is perhaps the nicest man I've ever met. Exchanged multiple e-mails with him awhile back, and his responses were generous and complete. Genuinely enjoys interacting with drummers of all levels, and I think goes out of his way to not embarass people, whether or not they deserve it.
Other guys who have been very cool to me include Billy Cobham, Chuck Silverman, Billy Ward, and Louie Bellson.
On the other hand, Dave Weckl has *still* not returned my e-mail from 1998, in which I requested a master session with him. Dude's just too busy. Think maybe he got a little too ambitious with that website and his music school. I just want to spend one hour with him, so I can list that I studied under Dave Weckl in my resume'. http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
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I forgot to list Steve Smith, who had a clinic at the old Drum Shop in Scottsdale twice a year. He'd then provide master sessions for paying customers -- would spend a whole day there! I got to spend 15 minutes with him. I didn't know s*it from shinola back then, didn't have a clue what he was telling me, but I remember him being extremely patient with a snot-nosed pre-teen.
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Thanks Gaddabout. We need to be reminded of the really great drummers out there and not the few bad apples. Man, Steve Smith is really a great guy. I'd love to see him do a clinic. I sent in a question to him via Modern Drummer and not only did he answer it, he turned it into a full length article.
See the Modern Drummer issue November '99 on Implied Metric Modulation.
Clint
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