Mikedolbear.com have a couple of very good reviews, click on the title above to open the article and then click on the links.
Drum Fest 2008 Review
Please follow link:
http://www.mikedolbear.com/story.asp?StoryID=1642
DVD Reviews for August 08
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Renowned British drum teacher Bob Armstrong has announced that he will be hosting an ‘Up Close and Personal’ clinic with top UK session man Ralph Salmins, plus a Special Guest Appearance by the Corps of Drums from The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, Portsmouth.
The clinic will take place at Bob’s Masterclass Studios in Essex (Drum City, 24 North Street, Romford
Essex, RM1 1BS) on Sunday 5 October at 2:30pm.
Tickets are available now by calling 01708 763708 or email masterclass.bob@btinternet.com.
If a clinic with Jojo Mayer isn’t enough to stiate your drum appetite then shortly after, on Thursday 16 October, idrums will be hosting a night of clinics featuring ‘Drum Guru’ Martin Ranscombe, Craig Blundell and Andy Edwards.
Details below:
Venue - The Square, Harlow @ 7:30pm
Tickets - £8, available thru idrums
Contact - Call the shop on or visit the website.
The Art Council’s Take It Away scheme went live last July, giving musicians a chance to buy instruments with the help of an interest-free loan. And the impressive numbers of UK musicians who’ve taken them up on the offer are just in.
Anyone over 18 can apply for a loan of up to £2000 for musical instruments, and pay that back in nine monthly instalments, paying just a 10% deposit upfront.
The option is open to buy any instrument you want, as well as sheet music, stools, extra equipment and even sometimes tuition. You can find a list of participating stores online, most of which are independent music stores which, incidentally, also benefit from the offer, with over half the stores involved having increased sales of £1000 or more.
So far over £5.4m of instruments have been bought through the scheme, by 8000 people, 14% of whom bought percussion – meaning we can look forward to a slew of great new drumming talent in the years to come thanks to the scheme.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for the Arts, says: “Playing music can have a really positive impact on people’s lives, especially young people, helping to build confidence, develop creativity and most of all sheer pleasure.”
For more information on the Take It Away scheme visit the website, which features a list of participating stores, clips of musicians playing the instruments they’ve bought through the scheme, an events page and an address for you to email feedback to if you’ve been helped by the scheme
A lot of drummers find they get into ruts after a few years when learning to play, and I always say that a good way to get you out of a rut is to watch a good drummer in clinic or on DVD to inspire you or give you some new ideas. So I’ve found some DVD reviews from mike dolbear’s site for you to have a look to see if any of them might be what you’re looking for.
Playing the drums for a rock band requires the stamina of a Premiership footballer, research suggests.
Tests on Clem Burke, the veteran Blondie drummer, revealed that 90 minutes of drumming could raise his heart rate to 190 beats a minute.
Click on the link to view a news clip about claims that some drummers have to be as fit as top athletes!
If you fancy going and buying a drum DVD maybe this list will help you to figure out which one to go for!
The top selling drumming DVDs in Europe in June were as follows…
1 JO JO Mayer Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer
2 Drum Legends - John Bonham
3 Mike Portnoy - In Constant Motion
4 Steve Gadd - Master Series
5 Thomas Lang - Creative Coordination
6 Absolute Beginners Drums
7 Thomas Lang - Creative Control
8 MD 2006 4 dvd set
9 Tommy Igoe - Groove Essentials
10 Classic Rock Drum Solos
The Beat 2008 event that we reported on has since announced its sterling line-up.
The event, taking place on Sunday 19 October will include special guest drummers Adrian Erlandsson (Cradle of Filth), Pete Ray Biggin (Mark Ronson, Incognito, Amy Winehouse) and Eric Ward (world class pipe drummer) demonstrating with Scottish Pipe Drummers, Concord Street Noize.
The event will also host the final of the Beat 2008 Young Drummer competition. If you are a talented young drummer visit www.drummersalliance.com for more details on how to enter this year’s Drummers Alliance Beat 2008 young drummer competition. Remember you must be 17 years or under to enter and the closing date is 1 September 2008 at 12 noon. The winner will walk away with a fantastic set of AAX cymbals kindly donated by Sabian.
Source: Rhythm magazing
Paiste has revealed its most recent weapon: a new series of cymbals developed in collaboration with Slipknot drumming legend Joey Jordison. The Black Alpha ‘Slipknot Edition’ cymbals take their cue from Paiste’s coveted colourSound range, and are coated using Paiste’s original black ColourSound coating and then silk-screened with a gold Alpha logo, model designation and Slipknot badge. The range - Jordison’s personal selection of Alpha models - consists of the 20” Metal ride, 17”, 18” and 19” Rock crash, 14” Sound Edge hi-hats, 18” Rock china and 10” Metal splash.
Of the ColourSound technology, Paiste claims that it “adds a bit of bite to the initial attack, centres the overtones and adds raw presence to the entire sound character of this dark and exotic-looking set of cymbals.”
Rhythm’s question: how much more black could these be? The answer? None more black. If you want to hear them for yourself, listen out for the cymbals when they form part of Jordison’s set-up on Slipknot’s forthcoming 2008/09 ‘All Hope Is Gone’ tour.
I just read a thread on a drummers’ forum from someone who asked whether or not you can draw on your drum heads - more specifically the snare head - and it gave me an idea for a post.
Firstly let me say that I wouldn’t ever write on my own drums as I think it makes them look tacky and un-professional. However, there’s one exception I would make and that’s if I didn’t have any paper and a REALLY attractive female wanted to give me her phone number! Other than that it’s a no no!
**Word of warning…. Don’t use anything sharp to write on drum heads as they can be rather easily pierced! Use a thick marker – colour is your preference! It won’t change or alter the sound in any way, however every time you hit the ink it will smudge, not only on that head, but onto your stick and then onto the other heads and cymbals.**
This is my reason for not wanting to draw on my drums.
Though one thing I did want to try was to get a cheap random drum, like a 14” floor tom, for about £2 and take it round to shows and get it signed by all the major artists to see if I could increase the value of it and make some money from selling it on ebay!
Another idea if you have a cheap set of drums and you’re pretty good at art, why not try customising the actual shells in some way? Turn a “cheap and nasty” kit into something artsie and fancy! You could make a few quid if you get good!
