Out Now: Black & Gold by Brass Queens

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The first full length album from Brass Queens is officially here! We recorded Black & Gold back in May at the Bunker in Brooklyn with engineers Alex Conroy and Megan Mishkin. The album contains 5 BQ originals, 10 covers, and features the following personnel:

Trumpet: Alex Joseph, Stephanie King, Minerva Johnson
Alto Sax: Ally Chapel
Tenor Sax: Jenna Murdoch
Trombone: Elizabeth Arce, Stephanie Young
Sousaphone: Nora Nalepka, Heather Ewer
Percussion: Caitlin Cawley
Drum set: Yours Truly

The Bunker has a lot of great vintage kits but I wanted the drums on this to sound as modern as BQ does so I brought in my Yamaha Tour Custom. To say I’m thrilled about the way the drums sound would be an understatement. I mean, listen to that 14” tom. It sounds MASSIVE! My Ludwig Supraphonic really cuts through the band and my Zildjian As blend nicely.

Here’s a short video of three drum clips: The first is an excerpt of Titi’s Kawa where I try to sneak in some licks inspired by two of my favorite drummers - John Bonham and Stanton Moore. Next is the halftime breakdown of Lady Marmalade. And finally, here’s some uninterrupted drum footage of Vision Quest. I don’t have video of the take that we used for the album, but I’m really happy with the drums throughout this song so I wanted to feature it anyway:

As always, Brass Queens has a jam packed schedule coming up, but I invite you to join us for an official release show for the album on November 18th at Littlefield. I hope to see you there!

Play Along: Do It (The Phryg)

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I’m starting to feel cozy in my new studio space, but I still have a long way to go on getting everything dialed in. I’ve been jamming along to the new single from one of my favorite bands: Do It by The Phryg! This song really has me missing live music! It is played expertly by Collin Patierno (guitar), Bryan Walters (lead vocals, bass,, Nico Sleator (keys), and Phil McNeal (drums). Check ‘em out: www.thephryg.com

For my part, I decided to explore some clave based cowbell grooves interspersed with tambourine accents at the end of each bar during the verse, a purposeful reference to one of Bryan’s favorite bands, Umphrey’s McGee. For the pre-chorus, I move the cowbell hemiola feel to the cymbal stack to provide some accents in the sonority. For the chorus proper, I lay down a straight-ahead cowbell/tambourine groove. The section that follows features an interesting melodic breakdown that I compliment with tom feels a la Pink Floyd, another one of Bryan’s favorite bands. The last section took some time to work up. It’s sort of a combination of 5-over-4 and a clave. The first time through the pattern I play a a shuffle that serves as a ‘rhythmic illusion” before filling through the hits the second time through the pattern. Here’s what those accents look like:

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Enjoy the song and please check out and support the Phryg. When live music is back, come find me in the front row at one of their shows.