Re: Cymbals and “the lost Modern Drummer interview”

[RuBrick]

Hi UMASCOW

1.) Thanks for responding to my post! I was a student of Js’ also. He taught me how to twirl sticks and how to do triplets (Tom1, tom2, bass, tom1, tom2, bass, ect.)

2.) I will have to check out Swish.

3.) Hey you know J chose George and not you! I know we all want to be entertained. But maybe J has something different in mind by having George play with him. We are talking about human beings here, right? Not that you don’t have the right to your opinion.

You maybe right in the sense that some of these songs rely heavily on the drummer for their feel and may come across very different with a different drummer. In other words not to your liking. But take it easy!

4.) You are right that Pat can have a lot of energy, but did you ever see Lou play with Dinosaur?

I remember Pat as being kind of a mellow guy. J was the only one who called him Murph. Pats’ friends called him "The Smerf" (when he wasn’t around) because he kind of looked and acted like a giant version of one of those blue cartoon characters. Sort of cool but ready to jump. I guess I can’t get used to everybody calling Pat "Murph."

4.) "Thumb" has double bass fills? I think that is just 16th notes on a single bass drum. Pat was pretty good at that.

5.) My personal opinion about Pat and J is that J got tired of writing songs with Pats’ drumming in mind. I think J wanted to write songs where he could move the song the way only he could. That is just my opinion. Maybe there was a personality thing goin’ on…. Who knows!

6.) The Bottom hi hat cymbal: That is just what he told me and I thought it was significant. There is a funny (sloppy?) hi hat sound on a couple of the songs (Water, Muck, Blowin it, ect…) on "Green Mind." I think that is what he was talking about. Although now that I am checking it out it seems Pat is getting the same sound. Maybe J was B.S.ing me. But he did kind of have his hi hats at an angle and you could hit the bottom cymbal on the edge.

7.) Sabians: I have to check them out again. I got turned off of Sabians when I noticed that the bell on a sabian sounds more like a fire bell then a cymbal bell. Also they have a painted on finish.

J and Pat have distinctive personalities as drummers. Most drummers don’t even have the freedom to express that on a recording. Or maybe they don’t dare because they are afraid some one will think they suck…. J and Pat don’t care if anyone thinks they suck and that is a big part of their sound and feel.

I am especially referring to what J does with tempo. Sometimes he is actually speeding up and slowing down. Sometimes he is just suggesting it by where he places the beat. Pat does that too but in a different, smoother way. It’s a Hard-Core Punk thing. All of Deep Wounds’ songs had tempo changes where most of the song would be moderate tempo but then the chorus would be like… SCREAMING QUADRUPLE TIME! J does magic when he evokes that feel while keeping metronome like time! Or totally sloppy time. Either way, it’s cool.

FOR THE GUITARISTS:

I heard J say a number of times that playing guitar is a lot like playing drums. What do you think of that? It definitely is a way of getting a different feel when playing guitar if you try to evoke the feel of a drum beat, or a drum fill.