Rabbit & Pork

Drummer Live 07 is now approaching - 20/21st Oct.

No more detail than that for now - check http://www.drummerlive.co.uk/ for updates.

Just noticed on Mike Dolbear that Stanton Moore will tour the UK this September. Don’t know any more than that for now.

For me, he’s one of the best out there.

Got my Rush CD today (which is released 30th April in the UK) and have listened to parts whilst developing Alfresco. It’s going to take some getting used to, but even on first listen, there are some crackers.

But, best of all, Rush have finally released a CD that sounds amazing. The bass (from Geddy and Neil) is no longer mushy - it’s crisp, deep and clean. Awesome job.

Drumfest is back again in August.

Line-up includes:

• Omar Hakin (Sting, David Bowie, Madonna)
• Harvey Mason (Session Legend)
• Karl Brazil (Elton John, James Blunt - oh well)
• Kieron Pepper (The Prodigy)

Remarkably, Rush are to tour again this year and they’ll be playing here in the UK during October. This is a rare (and maybe last?) chance to see and listen to Peart live on drums.

Luckily, I already have a ticket for Wembley Arena (good position too) - thanks Chris.

UK Tour Dates

Oh, and their new Album Snakes & Arrows will be out in May too.

If you’re lucky enough to get hold of a ticket, you’ll have the unique chance to see Stewart Copeland back on drums with his pals as The Police.

Yes, they’re back together and on tour. Starting in America, the tour eventually makes its way to Europe and the UK sometime this autumn.

http://www.thepolicetour.com/

In a weak attempt to motivate myself to practise some drum rudiments, I fell back to purchasing a gadget - the Roland Rhythm Coach.

It’s simple, but has everything you need for quick-on-the-spur practise sessions. In particular, I find the Rhythmic Notes and Auto Up/Down exercises most interesting as they take you through an ever changing pattern/tempo.

The mesh head (Remo) is superb, but a back-light is missing.

Overall though, it’s a neat gadget and I’d recommend to anyone wanting to practise on the side.

The Portable IKEA Drum Rug.

Is this the cheapest way to solve my slipping drum kit?

I hope so. Thanks Jeff Consi for inventing such a thing.

BTW, thank you IKEA for saving me having to visit one of your stores ever again! They’ve discovered the internet.

For Christmas, I received Colin Woolway’s Drumsense Vol 1 & 2 DVDs. Surprisingly, I’ve already had a chance to view them both.

I would highly recommend them to anyone starting out on the drums. Each DVD is a no-nonsense production concentrating on simple, but effective exercises, each building on the previous. In conjunction with his complementary Rhythm magazine tutorials (which provide tabs for the exercises), you can’t go wrong getting to grips with the fundamentals.

For motivation, there’s a chapter where Colin plays a drum solo consisting of only patterns learnt in the Vol 1 exercises. Now, I can play most of those exercises in isolation, but never thought I might be able to play something akin to Colin’s demonstration. Of course, I am much less experienced, but there’s no reason why I can’t do something similar, so I shall have to try and pull it altogether in a musical context

In DVD Vol 2, my only (slight) negative point is that I would of liked to have seen more time spent on introducing rudiments (for example, demonstrating technique & some daily exercises to improve doubles etc). I guess this is exaggerated for me, as I’d like to venture into this area soon.

9/10.

“Just the Two of Us” - it’s on again.  Stewart, as I said before, stop it please.  You don’t belong there.