Drum Related

As you may know, here at drum related we try to keep you updated with the latest news and events. So here’s a review hot off the press.
On Sunday I went down to Fareham near the south coast to attend the Beat CF Drum Event. The line up of drummers was Dave Mackintosh, Jason Bowld, Pete Lockett, Steve White and Craig Blundell along with myself of course!

It was an interesting day. Most people were there more to watch their favourite drummers and maybe pick up a few tips but I took it as my job to try to get them to dig into their pockets even deeper to donate money to the CF trust, which, at the end of the day, was the point of the event! Hopefully I did just that and if everyone gave generously with a bit of luck we managed to raise a good amount of money that day.
It was good to meet the guys back stage and chat to a few of them. It re-affirmed my ideas that they’d just be ordinary guys, which they were! On chatting to Jason Bowld he gave me an idea to write about some of the psychology behind performing, so watch out for that post soon.

I was pleased I got to see most of the guys perform as it’s always interesting to watch other drummers to see how they go about things.
Dave played along to a bunch of tracks from his new album which he’s just been touring. Though not necessarily my cup of tea, give the guy his dues, despite feeling pretty under the weather, he turned up, rocked out and kicked off the day nicely.

Jason was up next and I was especially impressed with what he did. I really liked his style. I’d never heard of him previously and was quite surprised how he’d managed to be that good and for me not to have heard of him! I’ll have to hook up with him one day for a clinic or something ‘cos he’s got some good ideas. If you get a chance to meet him, do so, he’s a real nice bloke and a cracking player.
Having seen Steve White the previous week at drummer live it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before, but still, I wasn’t complaining….. He, as always, rocks!

Craig’s tutorial approach was good, though more aimed at audience members of an intermediate level. Having said that I learned one or two things from his performance, which is always good.
Unfortunately due my warm up I didn’t get to see Pete do his percussion slot, but I’m sure I’ll see him again another time.

As far as I’m aware Jon Couzens (one of the event organisers) is planning on doing another event next year, so hopefully we’ll see even more support for that, as there were a few empty seats left in the auditorium!

From right to left, Rowland Rivron, Jon Couzens, Allison, Jason Bowld, Craig Blundell, Hannah, Steve White, Dave Mackintosh and Pete Lockett.

I’d like to extend a thank you to them for doing such a great job towards supporting a cause very close my heart.

Hope to see you all there next year!

Below is a breakdown of All The Small Things by Blink-182, it shows the section name and number of bars.

Section  No. of Bars

Intro                 8

1st Verse         16

Bridge               4

Chorus              8

Instrumental   8

2nd Verse        8

Bridge              4

Chorus             8

Instrumental 16

BIG Bridge     8

Chorus            9

This weeks “Track of the week” is All The Small Things by Blink-182.  This has made it onto my list not because I like it, but because this drummer has inspired soooooo many more people to become drummers than anyone else I know. Travis Barker is an icon to thousands of people world wide, young and old who want to take up this fantastic instrument. I’ve chosen this particular track from their repertoire because it was a commercial hit and even if you didn’t go and buy any of their stuff there’s still a good chance you heard it back when it was released. So crank it up loud and rock out boys and girls!

Name: Gerald Heyward.

Date of Birth: I’m gonna guess at somewhere between 1962 and 1967!

Place of Birth: Pennsylvania??

Started Playing: As a young lad in Church….. 11yrs old I think.

General info: Gerald has played for many a top artist including names like: Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliot, Mary J. Blige, P.Diddy, Destiny’s Child and Boyonce to name a few!! I saw him at Drummer Live this year and have to say he was absolutely phenomenal! He’s also just a damn nice guy! His performance saw the main hall absolutely packed with hundreds of people having to stand! I didn’t get any ideas from any other artist except him. This may be because I play in a similar style to him, but still, I think a lot of people learned a lot from his performance. Everything he did just seemed so effortless!

I’m sure he’d want me to add this part, so I will… He puts his talent down to a gift from God and is a dedicated Christian. He learned most of his stuff growing up and playing in church. Despite him thinking he’s getting old and having carpol tunnel (or however you spell it!) he doesn’t seem to be lacking in the speed and agility department so he can still give the youngsters such as myself a good run for their money! I’m now a big fan of his and will endeavour to meet him in my travels.
If you ever get a chance to see Gerald play, DO SO!!! I’m gonna give him a 9 out of 10!

Unfortunately I had to pay for my own cymbals at the weekend, but I think I got a good deal. Stagg, a make you may not be massively familiar with, are known for making products at the cheaper end of the market. However, as I mentioned in a previous post about cymbals, I brought some last year and was really happy with them. I needed a new ride and crash this year and so headed straight for the Staggs! I quickly picked out a “Furia” 16” rock crash and a 20” rock ride.

Straight away I heard what I wanted to hear. Nice solid, bright tones. I got the two for £160, (plus a free t-shirt!!) which I thought was pretty good value.
When I got them back to my studio and tried them out properly I was not disappointed! They sounded great! As I said, when buying cymbals, buy with your ears, not with and expectation of what a brand should deliver. I’d rate these cymbals better than some more expensive Sabian HH cymbals I have. They sound just right in my teaching studios.
So if you’re looking out for cymbals and don’t want to pay really high prices, check out Stagg cymbals and see what you think. I personally love ‘em! Stagg, if you’re listening, chuck a few more my way please!

As previously mentioned, I got given this practice pad at Drummer Live to firstly review and secondly to aid my practice for the UK’s Fastest Drummer competition.
I’ve now used this pad and can say I don’t know why I didn’t get one sooner! I live in an apartment block and therefore can’t really have a drum kit at home. I always say to all my students that just a simple thing like practicing your hands for 10mins every day will improve your playing.

This pad has two sides to it, one side that’s REALLY bouncy, and the other is pretty solid and dead. The latter is the one I’m most interested in using as it’s more like the competition pads for the UK’s fastest drummer competition. I was surprised at just how solid they were when I did a run on Saturday. It was like playing a wooden table! So using this pad I’ll be able to practice generating more of my own bounce and hopefully do better next time!
I’d recommend these pads to anyone as they’re a great practice aid. They’re solid and durable as well as being a good sturdy coffee table!!
RRP: £35
www.hqpercussion.com/real_feel.htm

Name: Andrew Small

Place of Birth:??

Started Playing: Started Seriously playing drums at age 19.
General Info: Andrew plays and had played for many great artists including Kyle, Massive Attack, Jamelia and Ms Dynamite to name but a few. I saw Andrew playing at this years’ Drummer Live and was not disappointed with his performance. I wasn’t so into the Massive Attack stuff that he played, but I did enjoy the Kyle tracks that he did. Andrew doesn’t claim to be a solo drummer, he is a serious session player and certainly lives up to that.

You could rely on his solid groove all day long knowing he won’t put a foot wrong. He actually said he gets a kick out of playing the exact same thing for ten minutes straight! Something that would bore most of us I’m sure! He likes to use electronic triggers integrated into an acoustic set up for more options with sound. Though I found it a tad boring, he did some short demos on the subject. Having said that I may have only been a bit bored as I’ve seen and used that before, it may have been interesting for people who didn’t know how that type of thing worked.
Overall I can’t say I didn’t enjoy his performance, so I’ll give it a 7.5 out of 10. (only missing out on the 8 because of the Massive Attack songs!)
If you want to find out more about Andrew his site is: www.andrewsmall.net

Below is a breakdown of Amerie’ Gotta Work, it shows the section name and number of bars.

Section No. of Bars

Intro 4

Chorus 8

1st Verse 8

Chorus 8

Instrumental 2

2nd Verse 8

Chorus 8

Instrumental 2

Middle 8 8

Chorus 8

Chorus 8

Outro 4

This weeks “Track of the week” is Gotta Work by Amerie, bringing you bang up to date now after having a few oldies in the archive. Gotta Work is a cracking new style of track that’s actually massively influenced from the days when a ten strong band would play up on stage. It’s full of energy, yet not too fast for someone who’s only just started to learn to play to. The four bar loop that makes this track is actually rather tricky to play, however there’s nothing wrong with making up your own loop to play. This track is along the same sort of musical lines as her 1st big hit, “One Thing” and the worldwide smash “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce, and I think I’m correct in saying they were written by the same guy. Even if this isn’t your style of music it’s still a great song to play to, so give it a listen.

Name: Harpal Mudhar

Place of Birth:  Chelmsford, Essex. UK.

Started Playing:  Age 4yrs

General info: Harpal won MikeDolbear.com’s young drummer of the year 2007, earlier on in the year.  He kicked off the main stage line up for Drummer Live 2007. He played along to a few tracks and when went into a short solo. Give the lad his dues, he was very tight!

I don’t know how much live work he’s done but it didn’t seem to phase him to be on stage playing in front of more than 1000 other drummers! He had a nice solid groove and sounded like he may be emulating the gospel and funk drummers out there. I don’t know who his influences are as I didn’t speak to him but if you want to find out more about him you can visit www.harpalmudhar.com . His soloing was interesting and solid enough and for a youngster, he really owns the stage.
I’ll give him a solid 8/10. If the opportunity arouse to see him again I would.