My Kind of Venue!
/Gypsy Sally's, Washington, DC.
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Make Music New York
/Here is my set up for this year's MMNY. I didn't realize how challenging it would be to balance on one foot while playing bass drum for 40 minutes! I ended up flipping the splash for most of it, which provided a nice rhythmic effect that helped drive the band.
Takin' it to the streets
/Some of the PitchBlak crew busking in Harlem last Sunday. Gotta raise some funds for our summer tour! Check me out awkwardly trying to fix my broken drum throne in the opening shot.
Littlefield, 4/21. Photo by Seth Walters
I had a FANTASTIC weekend of music making with PitchBlak. The Balkan Shout Out gig was absolutely off the hook. I don't think the audience stopped jumping once during our hour set. They really knew how to get down! The crowd at Littlefield was equally as awesome, and I really enjoyed watching BatalaNYC do their thing. It was very inspiring!
Additionally, the first round of mixes for our forthcoming album, You See Us, just hit my inbox and my God is it sounding fresh! Aaron Nevezie is the man!
Drum Cam: It's All Good
/Here's a little solo clip from Dante's this past weekend. Sorry the quality isn't better, but it was tough to get a good shot on stage. Enjoy and please comment!
Drum Cam: 1988 Gregorian Swagger
/Live from Public Assembly last night. I <3 playing this song.
Drum Setup: PitchBlak Bunker Sessions
/Bunker Setup
Here's the setup I'm using for the PitchBlak recording session:
1966 Ludwig Blue Sparkle: 14" Bass Drum, 12" tom
1939 Slingerland Radio King (on loan to the Bunker from JoJo Mayer): 12" and 16" toms
1950's Rogers Eagle Badge 14" snare
Drum Room: The Bunker
/Here's somewhat of a panorama of the drum room at the bunker. You can see the string room to the left and the vocal booth straight back (with Ben Brody playing guitar). What a great place to record! Click to enlarge.
Drum Jam: Sugar Shack
/Last night, I didn't have a gig so I hit the practice room instead. I had a good time jamming along to an underplayed Phish song, Sugar Shack, from their 2009 album, Joy. It has some fun latin grooves and alternates between 4/4 and 9/4 (or 9/8, 4/4+5/4, etc... depending on how you want to look at it). I decided to come up with my own part rather than recreate what Jon Fishman plays. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!