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Cool, thanx, Andy...
Know what's funny? In the Lincoln Center, right after the Chick show ended [NYC late last June] i was 1 of a handful of people left in the building, & coming out of the restroom, i nearly ran into Bernard...i had a very brief conversation with him, but then he had to answer his cell, & meet up with the guys in CCEB/3Qs & Blake & his gf [it wouldnt surprise me if it was blake or his gf on the phone trying to find him!]...i then ran into Gambale, Vinnie, & Weckl about 15 min. later...spoke to Frank & Dave briefly [Frankendave], but had a 10-15 min. conversation w Vinnie...he was very polite, kind, & humble [img]redface.gif[/img] ...got a nice photo of myself standing between Vinnie & Dave [hope they didnt hear me peein' in ma' pants [img]wink.gif[/img] ] [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 16, 2004 01:19 AM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
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...got a nice photo of myself standing between Vinnie & Dave [hope they didnt hear me peein' in ma' pants ] [img]wink.gif[/img]
FUSEY...you are 1 funny guy! That made me laugh. You are so dang real it's sic
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I had to work at a booth so didn't get to see a lot of stuff but, here are a few things.
Saw Neil's kit at the Sabian display (massive!). Checked out his new cymbal line. Definitely on the heavier side. Nice sounding. Very similar to the very first Sabians produced.
Jim Chapin was demo-ing the Moeller method at the DW booth.
Saw Weckl and Bellson signing autographs and Lang checking out some equipment. Johathan Moffet, Ed Thigpen, and Dom Famulero were also hanging out.
Stood right next to groove master Bernard Purdie while he demoed some new drums (can't recall the company name). He, of course, sounded fantastic and it was great seeing him run down the Purdie Shuffle.
Andy
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the gretsch section was under the kaman music booth far away from where all the other drum companies were.
i saw the steve gadd tribute dvd at the zildjian booth and it looks pretty good. vinnie is on it for about 15 minutes or so. shorter than the md2000 vid. the video angles are really good.
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Cool story Fuse.
One thing I noticed at NAMM was that I couldn't find the Gretsch drum booth. I saw the Gretsch merchandise booth with some Leedy drums displayed, but didn't see any of the current Gretsch kits there.
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Thanks Shedder. I'll have to look Gretsch up today.
I saw the Sabian Live show last night. I got into the room and there were Dave's drums set up on stage.
After some awards from Sabian to Carmen, Billy and Harvey Mason. Dom introduced the Weckl band.
Man! What a sound! Dave owns the sonic landscape in drumming. He controls every color in the pallet and he does so with that amazing grace, flow and musicality. I wish all of you could of been standing there with us. The band was amazing. Last night standing fairly close to the front of the stage, I could hear his drums mostly from the stage as opposed through the PA. What an amazing balance between his Sabians and Yamahas along with the Remo percussion. Everything, I mean everything could be heard crystal clearly. Killer band and they all seemed relaxed and like they were having the most fun you can have on stage.
After Weckl, they started to move the stage around. And Dom Famalero introduced...........Living Color!!!!!!!!
Very cool watching Will Calhoun lay it down for a great show from Living Color. I was blown away with their first album. Finally being able to see them was great! Will played a set of Sonar's and included Weckl's Ozone crash in his set up. He also used those multicolored plastic electric cymbals in addition to his kit. All, the guys on stage (minus the lead singer) used midi to trigger some cool effects. I particularly liked the bass player using his bass guitar to trigger off a muted jazz trumpet solo and then latter a guitar solo complete with feedback. Great show.
I had to split after Living Color but I understand that Joey Heredia was up next. Maybe some of the other guys can report on them.
Andy
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Thanx 4 the review, Andy.
Saw Calhoun in clinic once, back in late 80's/early 90's. It was good; diff than his rock playing w Colour. Said his 3 fave drummers were, in no particular order, "Elvin Jones, Elvin Jones, & oh yeah, Elvin Jones."
I really dug Colour. But some of those live boots find Will rushing really badly at times - but that's RnR 4 ya - lotsa pent up testosterone waiting/pushing up against the elevator door [img]wink.gif[/img] ...
[PS/BTW:] Bad move, leaving b4 the Herediameister; but u DID get 2 c the Weckzilla [img]wink.gif[/img] ]
Pocket - i'd prob let either of em widdle in my SHOE if i thought it'd make me play at their level [well, OK, maybe that's takin' it a litte[?!] TOO far [img]wink.gif[/img] ...more "reality TV" 4 ya, broski [img]tongue.gif[/img] ]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 17, 2004 01:46 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
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Fuse, I'll have to check out a Calhoun clinic if he still does them.
This morning at NAMM, I went in an hour before the show opened just to check out the stuff before the crowds. A couple of things stood out. Though it's been out a while, Sabian's groove ride sounded really nice. I heard this killer drum sound resonating through the hall. It turned out to be a Pork Pie kit with an 18X26" kick, no muffling just a Power Stroke batter an an ambassador on the resonant side with a small hole. The sound was HUGE but much more controlled than I would have imagined.
At the Remo booth I saw Thomas Lang giving a lesson on his new practice kit. It had four footpedals mounted on it and it all fits into a small suitcase. Lang was demoing at one point groups of 5 with his feet while playing across four pedals and grooving in 4 with his hands.
DW had a new prototype pedal on display...no springs???....it felt pretty interesting. Also they had a prototype for a new kick beater with two parts so a low volume you had kind of the "felt" sound happening and then at high volumes it started to sound more like wood or plastic with a nice attack...clever idea.
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I didn't get a chance to really check out the e-percussion stuff. Maybe one of the other guys will report on it.
I passed by the Roland display (really massive). They had several of the V-kits and V-percussion stuff out. Lots of guys trying them out.
I played on the Hart stuff for a little while using the dDrum brain, but the levels were so low I could hardly hear the sound.
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I hit Roland, Hart, & Pintech hard.
Roland...they do a good job on their website for all new products. The "drum playing display" was outside...and for the Roland "booth" (clearly the largest vendor at NAMM ((they take an entire back side)) outside means in their area, but not isolated in a seperate room like previous years. All folks trying out the new kits wear headphones...it sounds like 800 woodpeckers listening to everyone hitting the pads as you wait for an available kit.
I didn't see anything all that new from last year.
HART. I spoke extensively with the manager. The smaller kits (mesh pads) have the same technology as the larger, more drum looking pads, but I thought the larger pads felt better. Playing a 13" snare just felt better than the smaller pads. The BD pedal was far more solid on the larger kit. They also have...I assume this is new becasue I don't recall this last year...a vibrator system that allows you to "feel" the BD hits as you sit on the throne. I also felt most tom hits as well. Not really sure what this really is all about...I guess they felt that playing live, you might not hear the BD hits good, so if you "felt" them it would help.
I asked why they don't make a kit with more traditional looking drums for a more visual look live. He said he wasn't sure. Maybe when electronic drums really took off years ago there was a novelty of looking different than an accoustic kit. Today, there seems a need to have your electronic kit look more like an accoustic kit. The hats seemed to improve, yet LA Danny didn't like the dynamics, and I agree this is the weakest area still.
PinTech: PinTech offers heads that allow for triggering.
They have kits--Custom Visual (looks like a real kit w/BD, tom. Choice of 14"-24" kick drums w/traditional spurs
14"x5, 12x5, 10X5 Snares
8x5, 10x5, 12x5, 14x5, 16x5 toms
Their other kits have more traditional looking electronic pads, but some offer the larger snare 14x3.5 piccolo
As I played the (see the NAMM pics; me playing the Vistalite kit) another drummer told me he triggers with a DDrum on his acoustic head to get the electronic sounds he wants with his accoustic looking kit. Someone like FUSE knows more about this than me.
The manager was a great guy. Email him at;
[email protected] for any questions
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So guys... Beside what Andy already shared, what other live performances have you all had the chance to see?
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Any word yet on electronic percussion / equipment? I heard there might be some new releases.
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NAMM did not really offer any great new stuff this year for me. Gretsch reintroduced the famour Chrome over Brass snare.
Bob Gatzen and DW were showing the prototype of a new pedal, based on Bow Flex technology, no springs or hinges, pedal won't be available for abou a year but the hihat version might see light in the next month.
Ludwig had a nice booth. The Neil peart 30th anniversary kit, I watched them set this up on Wednesday, very awesome to see the 24 karat hardware pulled out for the first time and they were using white gloves!
Pearl had a very kewl booth with a soundproof booth, Omar played and Todd Sucherman did a performance on Sunday that dazzled a few onlookers.
Peter Erskine, Jimmy Haslip, Buzz Feiten and Eric Marienthal played at the D'Addario booth, looked like they were recording it.
Peter Erskine played with his quartet at the Samson/Hartke party, very kewl stuff.
Then the biggest hang was with LADanny, Marc Atkinson, Derek, Chris Brady and myself, went to Chris's place after dinner and geeked out.
As for NAMM, I love gear and walking around taking it all in, plus looking at all the freaks that come out of the wood work.
