December 12, 2006
I just recorded 11 songs with Philip Sayce in LA with Dave Cobb as
the producer. It was amazing and I feel we have taken this record to
the next level from the last record we did a year and a half ago. Not
only did Philip and I record together, but we used no click track, no
headphones and we set up almost facing each other in the same room.
Therefore all our takes were live and complete takes. The feel and the
energy we got by recording this way was as if we were playing live somewhere
and it was being recorded. Dave pushed us to go for it and take chances.
So we did. ; )
Today, Philip, Roger and I played 6 Philip Sayce songs at the Mercury
Lounge in NYC for a small group of people, but mostly for the Verve
record company. It was very powerful and very live and passionate. Here
are some pictures of us playing that Damien Fahey ( of MTV TRL) took
of us.
December 10, 2006
Three months ago Lenore Hatfield from the Bloomington Camerata Orchestra
called me to see if I would be interested or even available to perform
as a guest soloist with the orchestra in December. I was reluctant to
say yes because my schedule changes daily, and I didn't see in my schedule
where I would have time to practice and prepare myself for this event,
especially if I were going to learn classical compositions for percussion
and orchestra. After thinking about this for a few days I thought of
the idea of performing some Buddy Rich Big Band tunes with the orchestra.
Lenore thought this was a great idea, but we needed to find someone
who would be able to arrange these 3 or 4 tunes for an orchestra. Eventually
Brent Wallerab agreed to do the arrangements the day I was flying to
China for a 3 week drum clinic tour through Asia and Australia. On December
8 and 9 I rehearsed with the orchestra and performed 3 Buddy Rich Big
Band tunes on Dec. 10. I had the saxs, trombones, trumpets, electric
bass and piano moved up in front of the orchestra to create a big band
vibe and also to hear everyone better. It went really well and the orchestra
was amazing and an honor to play with. The three songs we did were "Straight
No Chaser", "Big Swing Face" and "Channel 1 Suite".
I had recorded "Straight No Chaser" and "Big Swing Face"
with the Buddy Rich Big Band as a tribute to Buddy Rich on the CDs Burning
For Buddy on Atlantic Records, produced by Neil Peart. To hear the performance
click on http://farmfreshstudios.com/music/Kenny/
November 26, 2006
Moscow clinic
We flew to Moscow from Germany with only 2 hours of sleep. When I landed
in Moscow I kept thinking about how this was where my grandparents came
from. It made me think of so many different things because of the history
my family had with Russia and the history the USA has with Russia. I
knew I was going to play in front of a lot of people and I had to do
a great job. 1,000 people came to my clinic.
I went from the airport to Red Square and St. Basils Cathedral for some
pictures, checked into the hotel and headed to sound check. Moscow is
now 20 million people. I set my drums up, did my sound check and then
a press conference in front of 25 to 30 people. I was blown away at
how many people came to interview me and also their interest in my heritage...
my Russian background. Questions were focusing on how my Russian heritage
made me the drummer I am today in America. : ) It was so cool. Aronoff
was spelled Oronov when my grandparents lived in Russia.
I never had time to rest before the clinic. I was doing interviews
and autographs in my dressing room up until I went on stage. I walked
on stage and said "hello Moscow" in Russian and the 1,000
people went crazy. I then said “one of my grandparents came from
Kiev (now the Ukraine) and my other grandparent came from Odessa”..
The crown went even more crazy. : ) Then I proceeded to kick ass. Everything
went great except I had one of those unlucky moments at the very end
while I was doing my drum solo. My double bass drum pedal came apart
as I started my finale at the end of my solo. : ) ahhhhhhhhhh .. oh
well CARPE DIEM “sieze the day”, “seize the moment”
Make it happen and so I did. The crowd went nuts. Moscow rocks.. Thank
you, thank you...
November 25, 2006
Frankfurt, Germany clinic
This was the 7th clinic in 7 days in Germany. I was starting to feel
it. : ) The clinic was in a cool and intimate room at a music school
that was part of the Musik Schmidt music store in Frankfurt.
At least half of the tunes I played were favorites of the people there..
so that was cool. Melissa Etheridge, Philip Sayce, Fogerty, Mellencamp
and Jon Bon Jovi.
All through Germany I would wake up in time to meet in the lobby and
drive to the music store that we had just done the clinic at the night
before, or just drive to the next city. We would always stop on the
way at a gas station/ food mart to get a sandwich and some water to
have as we drove. I saw some licorice or what I thought was licorice
one day and had a craving to eat some. Man .. i have no idea what that
black chewy stuff was, but it wasn’t sweet taisting licorice.
It was like gasoline combined with paint thinner and a pound of salt.
horrible!!!!!! Hannis , who was driving me died laughing as I spit up
this black tar tasting crap.
After the show we went right to the Frankfurt hotel at the airport to
catch a 7:30 flight to Moscow.
November 24, 2006
Koln, Germany clinic
Another rainy day. : ) It took 4 hours to drive to Koln because of
heavy traffic. We went right to the venue again, since we were running
late. The cinic was not at the music store but the store is called Music
Store. : ) Great name right?
In Germany I was able to use the same equipment for all the clinics
since we drove. That made it so much much faster to set up every day
since I made marks on the stands. In Germany I was fortunate to play
on the Tama Omnitune Bubinga drum kit. I love being able to tune the
top and bottom heads from the top of the drums and on the beater side
of the kick drum. Here are the sizes I used.
22 x18 bass drum
10” x 8” tom
12” x 10” tom
14 x 14 floor tom with legs
16 x 16 floor tom with legs
5 x 14 Trackmaster signature snare drum
November 23, 2006
Ibbenburen, Germany clinic
We drove 3 hours to Ibbenburen. It was a rainy wet day..again. The
drum clinic was at a store Musik Produktiv and it was one of the biggest
drum stores and music store complexes I've ever seen. It was like 4
huge Guitar Centers combined, The drum building was the size of one
huge Guitar Center. I played on a stage and we had a record attendance
for my German clinics. Great audience. One fan came with a combination
of 50 cd’s and records that I had played on for me to sign. I
had never experienced that before. There were some artists or bands
I had forgotten I had recorded with. Bernie was his name and I think
he said he has over 10,000 records and cd’s at his house. His
friend had me sign about 20 or 30 cd’s also. After the clinic
we ate a great meal. It was my Thanksgiving dinner since it was Thanksgiving
in the USA
November 22, 2006
Bochum, Germany clinic - House Of Drums
The drive to Bochum was 5 hours long instead 2.5 hours because traffic
was so bad. So we had to go right to the venue and set up. I did a sound
check, an interview with my friend Axel from Sticks and Things, and
then the clinic. The clinic was in a cool bar and it was completely
packed. People were sitting so close to me that it had to have been
painfully loud. : ) I really had a great time because the sound system
and accoustics were great. The atmosphere was amazing and the audience
was a very enthusiastic and high spirited group. After the clinic we
went to a really cool steak restaurant. The owner kept it open for us
so we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. I had a great hang talking
about drums and gear with the guys from the House Of Drums. They were
really into talking about gear which I love doing. Their store had about
100 drum kits set up on the floor. I really like this concept because
it makes it easy to compare all the differnet kits. I went from one
kit to another kit comparing them. Even if you were just checking out
bass drums.. you could go from one kit to another to make the comparison.
Or if you wanted to just check out all the different Tama kits they
had set up, you could do that.
November 21, 2006
Walldorf, Germany clinic
The drum clinic in Walldorf Germany was in a store called Session Music.
They had a huge complex where one building was Drums and Percussion
and another building was Sound and PA gear and another building was
Guitars and other String instruments etc. My clinic was in a building
that had a huge stage with a badass PA and lights. It also had a small
bar and while I did my clinic they served people drinks. I told everyone
to drink a beer everytime I performed a song. My set list was 12 songs
that day. : )
After the clinic we drove to a restaurant drank some beer and had some
food. The cool thing about the beer in Germany is that it has no preservatives,
chemicals or anything that's not organic.
November 20, 2006
Schorndorf, Germany clinic
Day 2 - Clinic 2 - Schorndorf Germany - It was a beautiful sunny fall
vibe drive from Koblenz to Schorndorf. I fell asleep in the car as we
were driving and the next thing I know we got pulled over by the police
checking to see if we were smuggling drugs from The Netherlands into
Germany.... : ) : ) NOT US. : ) They asked for my passport or any other
way to identify me. When I went to get my passport I suddenly realized
I had put my bag with that information in the other car.. : ) yeah...
that was fun.. out came the rubber glove....... just joking. I went
through my knapsack and found a copy of my passport. I was told it's
always good to xerox a copy of your passport and put it in a completly
different place then your original passport in case you lose the orginal
one. Well lucky for me that I had a copy.
Schorndorf is a picture perfect town with an old traditional marketplace
in the middle of the downtown square. Cobble stones and old traditional
buildings make it look so cool.
The clinic was in a intimate theater and the audience was once again
very focused and into learning. I was again amazed at the long applause
I received after I performed my last piece, "Straight No Chaser"
and took a 15 minute drum solo. Great audience.. Thanks to everyone
who was there.
I played these Zildjian cymbals on my Asian, Australian and now German
and Russian Drum Clinic tours.
2 - 18" A Custom Medium Crashes
1 - 21" K Crash Ride
14" New Beat Hi Hats (my left side)
14" Master Sound HiHats (my right side)... In Australia I used
15" HiHats instead.
21" A Custom Projection Ride
10" splash stacked upside down on top of a 12" Splash
November 19, 2006
.....and then I flew from Asia to Australia for 4 more drum clinics...
.....and then I flew to LA for three sessions...
.....and then I flew to Indiana and started working on 4 Buddy Rich
big band tunes for a Dec. 10th concert where I'm a guest soloist with
a 90 piece orchestra in Bloomington, Indiana...
.... and then I flew to Las Vegas for a show
.....and then I flew home for one day and continued working on the 4
Buddy Rich tunes
.....and then I flew to Koblenz Germany to start my 9 clinics in 10
days through Germany and Russia.
And here I am in Koblenz, Germany. Jurgen Maeder, the owner of Drums
Only has been trying to get me to perform in Koblenz for about 15 years.
: ) Been busy. : ) The clinic was in a beat up but very cool off the
beaten path rock club. Cool vibe, great PA, well put together and the
audience was amazing. I watched a 10 year old boy dance freely, because
he had to and had no control over his joy and love for music and drumming
right in front of me during my 2 1/2 hour drum clinic. The audience
gave me the longest applause I have ever had in my life. It made me
appreciate THEIR excitement and enthusiasm for music, drumming and learning.
To me it wasn't about me, it was about them getting IT. How cool.
After the clinic we had a very cool dinner over looking a river that
comes from France and connects to the famous Rhine River in Koblenz.
There is a third river that also connects in this very unique and cool
city of 100,000 people. There was at least one castle, some old churches,
a winery, and bunch of other cool buildings that I saw. I heard there
are a lot of cool things going on here.
We will be driving through Germany for 6 more days doing clinics before
I head to Moscow.
November 5, 2006
Sydney, Australia - This was my last clinic of my three week drum clinic
tour though Asia and Australia. Billy Hydes was having their annual
2 day Drum and Percussion Festival. I was booked for the Saturday afternoon
slot, which meant in order for me to get from Brisbane to Sydney in
time to set up and play... we had to depart for the Brisbane airport
at 5am AGAIN!!!!. : )I got 1 hour of sleep the night before... NICE!!
Did I sleep on the plane? Yee... NOOOOOO!! Of all days that I couldn't
sleep on the plane. : ( After we checked into the hotel we had 45 minutes
before we had to drive to the venue where the festival was located.
No time to rest. The festival was held in big room at the Olympic Stadium.
Besides the big room there was an area where drums and percussion were
on display like at a trade show. I had to set up my drums in the dark
(except for a small flashlight) behind the stage while a great Australian
drummer and percussionist performed their clinic. When they were done
my kit was brought up on stage for a quick sound check. Once I did my
sound check they let the 800 plus people in and I rocked my last clinic
to the people in Sydney. I was wicked tired, but because it was my last
clinic, the last show of the tour, that just made me more motivated
to kick ass and do a great job. It felt like the last show of a rock
tour. I was so grateful for all the support and help that Bob Wiczling,
Tina Clark, Kim Pang from Zildjian UK had given me on my three week
clinic tour plus Brady Willats from Musiclink in Australia, that I brought
them up on stage and introduced them to the audience. They were great
to travel with, hang with and work with. We were like best friends by
the end of the three weeks .On our way back to the hotel we had to stop
and visit the famous and beautiful Sydney Opera House. I had just played
there with John Fogerty 11 months before. One last dinner and I had
a long night sleep before flying back to Los Angeles. I had one day
off and I went right into the studio for three days to record for three
different projects. What a great experience the clinic tour was. It
was very cool to see the different cultures, the people, the different
styles of food, the geography, and the enthusiastic drummers.
November 4, 2006
Brisbane - Australia. The clinic venue was very unique because it was
an old movie theater. I was on the stage where the screen would normally
be and all the chairs were gone in the theater. The floor was sloped
like they are in movie theaters and the people just sat or layed on
the floor during the drum clinic. It was a unique visual for me because
most clinics the floor is level and people are sitting in chairs or
standing. I was so tired before the clinic I sat in a little dark corner
behind the stage and took a 15 minute power nap sitting up in a chair.
Then I had a great hang with one of Australias great and amazing drummers,
Grant Collins. He reminded me that I had done a master class in the
middle to late 80's and he was the one who asked me a question about
a beat I was playing. The wild thing is i remember a kid asking me that
question and it was Grant. : ) The audience was very focused and i could
tell they were serious. Some of the reason for that was it was a bar
and you had to be over 18. So there were no children hanging out at
the drum clinic. I was invited to go out and hit the streets after the
clinic, but I realized I would be lucky to get 3 hours of sleep that
night before flying to Sydney to perform at a drum festival. I ended
up only getting 1 hour of sleep. I was one fried dude when I got to
sound check for my last clinic of my 3 week tour of Asia and Australia.
November 3, 2006
Adelaide - Australia. Well we got to Adalaide early for sure. So early
I actually could go to the hotel for 2 or 3 hours. That's when I caught
up on my business and emails. Basically every night and every morning
no matter how late or early, I check my messages in the USA and do some
business through emails or phone calls. By the time I get back to the
USA I have a week of sessions booked and I'm filling up all my weeks
with work until X-Mas. I love it though. It makes me happy to be busy
and play drums. : )
The Adelaide audience was super cool and and friendly. Maybe it was
because I was playing in a bar and the bar was serving drinks. : ) yee
ha We didn't have time to go out and eat once again, because we had
to get up real early to fly to Brisbane.
November 2, 2006
Perth - Australia. We finally had a day off after traveling through
Asia for 2 weeks. NOT!!! It ended being a 12 hour day flying from Malaysia
to Singapore and then to Perth. We left the Malaysia hotel at 2 PM and
arrived at the Perth hotel at 2 AM. The kicker was I got stopped at
customs in Perth 3 different times. While I was in line waiting to show
my passport to the customs guy, I kept catching the eye of the main
customs guy. I guess his job is to look for suspicious people. Well....
I guess I fit the bill. : ) As soon as I got done showing my passport
to a customs guy, he pulled me aside. He was nice, but asked a ton of
questions. I thought "cool.. get me out of here.." Not so
fast Kenny. After I got my luggage, someone asked me what was in my
big purple drum case. I said hardware for a drum kit and drum sticks.
He then said any skins on drums and what are your sticks made of. :
) wow.....Next.. I had to put my luggage though an x-ray machine. That's
when they decided to inspect my luggage because I had so many vitamins.
They sent me to another area and I waited until a woman went through
all my vitamins... She opened up every jar and read every label. FINALLY
I was able to go. So by the time I got to sleep it was 5 am. Next day
I had to be in the lobby at 12 noon and then go get lunch with the people
involved with the drum clinic. In Australia, Billy Hydes has more drum
and music stores then anyone in the country (I think it's almost 30
stores). Plus Billy Hyde has a distribution company that sells to all
his stores and most of the other music stores in Australia. Basically
my 4 drum clinics through Australia were all Billy Hydes stores. After
lunch I visited The Drum Shop which is affiliated with the Billy Hydes
who orgaized my clinic in Perth. The store run by Mick Lamb "baahhhhhh!!"
is one of the coolest looking stores I have ever seen. Drum sets everywhere
and everywhere and everywhere. From there we went to a big theater at
a girls school where the clinic was held. I use a cable hat on my right
side 95% of the time, but when I pulled my cable hat out my purple drum
case, it had snapped in half. : ) NICE!!!! I didn't have much time for
mistakes like this.... so one of the guys helping me set up called the
store to get me a replacement, but in the meantime I did the best I
could to just get set up and start my sound check. I DUCK TAPED THE
PEDAL TOGETHER. : ) it was pathetic looking and barely worked, BUT I
knew that in the worse case scenario... I could get through my show.
Eventually, the store brought me a cable hat to replace my broken one.
I had the Australian Zildjian rep, Brad, who was traveling with us,
call ahead to the other 3 Billy Hyde stores to make sure I had a cable
hat for my next three clinics. 462 people showed up for my clinic, the
second largest attendance ever for that store. After the clinic I did
an autograph session and went right back to the hotel because we had
to be in the lobby at 5 am so we could fly to Adelaide. We not only
had a long flight but because we were traveling east we lost 90 minutes
because of the time change. That's weird how the time can change in
Australia by 1 1/2 hours or 30 minutes or 1 hour. I got a huge 2 hours
of sleep that night. : (
November 1, 2006
Maylasia was my last drum clinic in Asia. Another beautiful city with
one of the most unique buildings I have ever seen. Two towering office
buildings lit up at night like something from a Batman movie, with an
enclosed walkway that connected the buildings at least 200 feet up in
the air. Malaysia has a lot of palm trees. Not like rows of them like
in Miami or Los Angeles. I’m talking about a palm tree jungle
or forest. It looked like something from Jurassic Park. Amazing to see.
The clinic was in a big theater with a killer PA system. There was a
great turnout of about 400 very enthusiastic people. I did 2 TV interviews
on the stage after sound check.
The next day we flew to Perth to start my 4 day clinic tour through
Australia. But before we left for the airport I got a Bali massage.
It was some relaxing massage that is from the countty of Bali. I have
no idea what that is, but it was relaxing.
I have enjoyed every clinic I did on my Asian clinic tour. Each country,
the people, the venues, the food, the kindness and service the people
offered me all the time and the overall experience was really enjoyable
and special. There was no one favorite clinic. They all were great experiences.
This trip was definitely hard work but very rewarding in so many ways.
Here's an example of what my days were basically like.
My clinics were 2 to 2.5 hours long, but to get to that point I went
through a lot with the people from the Zildjian cymbal company, who
were traveling with me. This is what we would do every day.
- wake up and drive to the airport
- check bags, check in, go through security, immigration and customs
- get some breakfast
- fly to the next country
- get our luggage
- go through customs
- drive to the hotel
- check in and try and grab lunch if there was time
- head to the venue
- set up and sound check for 2 hours
- do interviews
- 30 to 45 minute rest
- eat some food
- 2 to 2.5 hour drum clinic
- pack up my personal gear that I travel with (kick pedals, sticks,
cable hat, computer, motu 828, music etc.)
-1 to 1.5 hour autograph session
- drive to restraurant and have a dinner if there was time
- back to hotel (after midnight)
- check emails, do business, organize and pack for the next day
- some nights I would only get 3. 5 hours of sleep because we had to
get up so early for the next flight and drum clinic.
The experience has been so amazing, that all the running around and
not getting enough sleep didn’t matter. I love playing the drums.
I love music and I love sharing all of that with everyone. It’s
just the way it is. It’s who I am.
October 31, 2006
Singapore was the cleanest most manicured city I have ever seen. Beautiful
flowers and sculptured trees everywhere and no litter at all. Even the
airport was unique with beautiful trees, gardens and water stocked with
huge carp, a fitness center, an outdoor swimming pool and these weird
foot massage machines. I heard there's a law in Singapore that no chewing
gum is allowed in the country. Can you imagine going to jail for chewing
gum? yikes.. : ) Once again we didn’t have much time to see the
city, because after we checked into our hotel we had to leave to set
up and do a sound check and the drum clinic. The clinic was great. I
loved the intimate venue we were in. The people were really into asking
questions and so focused on what I was playing and talking about. I
didn’t need a translator for this clinics so I could make things
flow even better than usual. I blew up the monitor system when I started
the show. ha ha ha I have done this many times. After the clinic we
went right back to the hotel because we had an early flight to Malaysia.
October 30, 2006
Manila was amazing. At least 1,500 people came to my clinic. It was
definitely a unique place to have a drum clinic. The biggest shopping
mall in Asia. I played on a big stage at one end of a huge open area
in the mall. It was a crazy concept, but it worked. At least 800 chairs
were filled at ground level and then 700 hundred or more people watched
me from three different levels of the mall. The people just hovered
over the railings that wrapped around the area that the people were
sitting in while watching me. Imagine a small football field where I
was set up at one end zone on a 10 or 12 high foot stage. There was
a high ceiling, like in an indoor football stadium and behind me was
the ocean. It was wicked hot and humid. MTV Philippines had me do a
small spot where I requested a new video that's out right now. I requested
the new John Mayer video/song. Right before I performed they had a huge
and I mean huge fireworks display. There was a big PA, light show, and
video screens to make the clinic seem like a rock concert. The company
JB Music
put the clinic on with Zildjian's support of course. JB is Jett and
Elizabeth who own a big distribution company and own 13 music stores
and 7 sports stores. The clinic went great and afterwards we ate some
amazing food from Manila. Fish and meat with peanut sauces and spices.
Great beer down there also. : ) Once again I only got 4 hours to sleep
because we had to get up at 5:30 am to fly to the Philippines for a
clinic. In Manila they have these crazy cars called Jeepne’s (Jeep
- knees). They're long jeeps that carry people all over the city like
taxi cabs. People are jam packed in these low ceiling jeeps. They are
so cool though. I wish I had one in the USA so I could drive my drums
around. : )
bye..
October 27, 2006
Sorry I'm a bit late on this blog. I've been traveling a lot and only
got 7 hours of sleep in 2 days, and actually have only had 12 hours
of sleep in 3 days. (Early flights and late dinners after long clinics/autograph
sessions). I'm writing this as I fly from Thailand to Manila. I can't
believe I'm flying over Viet Nam. I'm talking about the Viet Nam depicted
in "Apocalypse Now", "The Deer Hunter" and "Platoon".
What a weird thought. And there it is right under me. Viet Nam. Ok...
let me back up. HONG KONG.... amazing city. Powerful... It's like the
center of the New World. Tons of big construction everywhere (looks
like bees in a bee hive), money, big business, excitement, amazing new
happening architecture, (they have regular light shows every night in
the harbour, where the lights are on the buildings), tons of cool hotels,
restaurants, bars, night clubs etc etc. If you can get to Hong Kong,
go. Amazing. Frank, one of the family owners of Tom Lee Music, was our
gracious host, . They have almost 20 stores in China and Canada. 400
people came to my clinic and everyone's passion and focused interest
blew me away. While I was in Hong Kong I had a Chinese/Thai massage
at the amazing Conrad Hotel. The wild thing was the masseuse used their
feet while standing on my back. I know... weird, but it worked. The
massuse had extreme control and was basically trying to stretch my muscles
out. It was very intense but also very therapeutic. Frank from Tom Lee
took us (Bob Wiczling, Tina Clark and Kim Pang from Zildjian) out both
nights. The first night we ate an amazing traditional Chinese meal.
Peking Duck, fresh fish from a fish tank in the restaurant and other
assorted vegetables, meats and fish. The tradition is for the guest
of honor to eat the head of the fish...... yeah right..... no way. :
)
The day after the clinic, Oct 24, we flew super early after 3 hours
of sleep to Bangkok, Thailand. I have never met such kind and friendly
people. Kind and humble. 90 to 95% of the people are Buddhists.
After checking in, I had 30 minutes to check emails and then have another
amazing lunch in The Conrad Hotel. After lunch we left for sound check
with Kittipong, son of the owner of Theera Music which has been in business
for a 100 years. The clinic was held in a beautiful convention room
with a massive PA and a very pleasant and warm atmosphere. Again 400
people attended. With very little sleep I powered though 11 tunes. I
had a translator. I added a new song to my show called "Black Oblivion"
that I recorded with Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) and Tony Iommi
(Black Sabbath) in 1998. After the clinic we went to an outdoor restaurant
on the water, where we ate some traditional Thai food. wow. The medium
hot was extremely hot for my wimpy taste buds (that's the only wimpy
thing about me). : )
October 23, 2006
South Korea. : ) This was my first visit to Seoul and it was a great
experience on many levels. I loved the passionate people, and I loved
the Korean food (thank you Thomas Kang and Cosmos). I really appreciated
the audience's enthusiasm at my drum clinic and master-class because
they were so into listening and learning, which definitely made it enjoyable
for me. I am humbled by how fortunate I am to be able to travel the
world playing the drums. I have worked my entire life to be good at
what I do, but that wasn't a guarantee that I would end up successful
and asked to do drum clinics, sessions and tours around the world. Three
people from the Zildjian cymbal company have been making my trip amazing.
Bob Wiczling, Tina Clark and Kim Pang.. thank you. Anyway...it was rainy
and warm when we landed. It was a 9 hour day of travel from the hotel
in Tokyo to the hotel in Seoul. After I checked into the hotel, I had
45 minutes to get my things together and then begin work. We drove 1
hour to the venue where I spent 2 hours setting up and sound checking.
I had 30 minutes to eat and get ready before a 2.5 hour drum clinic.
I added a new song to my set called "Feel Alright" by Gratitude.
It was a way for me to demonstrate how I'm influenced by the emotion
and vibe of the singer, when I'm recording. The next day I had a very
unique healthy Korean lunch with a record producer friend of mine from
Korea, Thomas Kang. The restaurant prepared us some home made tofu (restaurant
made it themselves), tender pork, lots of vegetables with unique Korean
spices, and specially prepared vegetable dishes. Also we had something
that looked like an egg pizza with fish and vegetables mixed in with
the eggs. We had a unique soup that I have no idea what it was. : )
The Korean meals are made up of a few main courses with lots of bowls
on the table filled with spicy vegetables, fish, tofu, and some meat.
The cool thing is, as you finish the food in the bowls, the waitress
constantly refills the bowls. The idea is to combine foods and as you
eat. You can make your tofu, meat or fish have many different tastes
through out the meal depending what you add from the bowls. It really
makes the meal exciting and very enjoyable. I did 2 interviews and a
2 hour master-class after lunch.
My drum clinics are like rock concerts where I play about 10 songs that
I have recorded with bands or artists. In between the songs I will talk
about the music or something I experienced when recording the music.
I don't get to technical unless people ask technical questions. However,
my master classes are more technical and I try to help people in any
way I can with their approach to drumming. After the master class I
went for another amazing meal with Cosmos Musical Instruments and a
bunch of local professional drummers. I can't wait to come back to Seoul.
Very cool city.
October 21, 2006
After Shanghai we flew to Tokyo Japan, where I did my second Asian
drum clinic at a music school. The school is amazing because it has
3,000 students attending and focuses on rock and current types of music.
At the end of my clinic 4 students performed a Jimi Hendrix classic
called "Spanish Castle Magic". After they perfomed I made
a few suggestions and then I performed the same song with the students
demonstrating what I suggested. It was basically a short master class.
The clinic was set in a very cool room with a big PA, and club vibe
setting. I set up in the middle of the room on a riser (small stage)
facing the main stage that the student band played on. Therefore the
PA from the stage was facing at me. So I was basically in the audience
with all the students around me. There was a runway that connected my
little stage to the big stage. I had an interpreter and I performed
11 songs that I have recorded with bands over the years. I related every
song to a story and I used each song to describe a concept, a technical
or musical point. At the end of Straight No Chaser I took a 10 minute
drum solo. Here was my set list:
1) Alanis Morissette - Eight Easy Steps
2) Philip Sayce and Peace Machine - Powerful Thing (this is a power
trio I play with in LA)
3) Tony Iommi - What You're Living For
4) Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending
5) Alice Cooper - Sister Sara
6) Melissa Etheridge - This Moment
7) John Fogerty - Born On The Bayou
8) John Mellencamp - Paper In Fire
9) John Mellencamp - Jack and Diane (drum solo part of song)
10) John Bon Jovi - Blaze Of Glory (break down to end of song)
11) Tribute to Buddy Rich - Straight No Chaser
The 2 nights we stayed in Tokyo, I ate some amazing food. Both nights
we ate in a restaurant and sat on the floor in our own small private
room in the traditional Japanese style. the first night we ate raw beef,
and vegetables and dipped them into a pot of bowling water to cook them.
We also had all kinds of Sushi and Sashimi. The second night we also
ate sitting down also in traditional Japanese style. This time we had
cooked vegetables and lots of tempora. I ate some weird clear rubbery
thin square slices with Miso on it to give it taste. There was a Japanese
man called Jackie who was eating with us and he said that it had very
little calories. I think it was NO calories with NO taste. : ) I will
never eat that rubber food again.
October 20, 2006
Sessions in LA, and Chicago! Live shows in LA, Mexico, San Francisco,
Cleveland after a 10 week tour of Europe and the USA with John Fogerty.
I get on a plane to Shanghai, China Oct 17th and land on Oct. 18th.
BOOM BOOM CRASH BOOM BOOM CRASH. Wow suddenly I'm on a 3 week drum clinic
tour of Asia and Australia sponsored by Zildjian UK, with Bob Wiczling
and Tina Clark. I didn't have time to really think about the fact that
I was going to go to cities and countries in Asia I've never been to
before. Way too busy to think about that. But suddenly I'm in China.
Wow. Carpe Diem (seize the day). I land at 6:30 PM in Shanghai, go through
immigration, drive to the city, check in, eat, sleep, wake at 7:30 AM,
and head to the the Shanghai Music Show, where I set my drums up for
the Drum Festival at this Music Show (China's version of The NAMM show
in the USA or the Music Messe in Germany). Usually I get to set my drums
up on stage and do a long sound check, but this time I didn't get a
sound check or set my drums up on stage. So I asked for a carpet and
marked the carpet with tape, like a good drum tech would, where every
piece of hardware, or anything relating to my set touched the carpet.
I explained to the front of house engineer that I would be performing
10 songs that I had recorded with different bands and that I would send
him 2 stereo XLR cables to his mixer from my Motu 828. (this is hooked
up to my computer where my music is stored in Digital Performer). Then
I went back to the hotel for a few hours where I ate lunch, > checked
emails, put my set list together for my clinic program and did business.
When I went back to the Music Fair, I did 3 interviews and then went
to the stage. My drums were in place and my tape markings worked great.
I made sure everything felt great and then taped my bass drum and hi
hat pedals down. I forgot to tape the snare drum stand in place and
sure enough as I pounded my snare during the first song, my snare drum
and stand started moving out of place. I did all of this in front of
the audience. I hooked up my G4 and Motu 828 and sent music to the front
of house engineer to make sure he had my music for the audience to hear.
My first song of the drum clinic was an Alanis Morrisette song called
" Eight Easy Steps". I picked that song because it starts
with loops, vocals and no drums. This way the front of house engineer
could make sure my music was coming through the PA before I started
playing in the 2nd verse. I had an interpreter while I talked to the
500 plus audience in between songs. It was wicked hot, but everyone
stayed and watched my 1.5 hour clinic with extreme focus. I really enjoyed
everyone's curiosity in what I was doing. I signed autographs and as
we drove back to the hotel I did one more interview. I went out to dinner
with about 40 distributers from Asia, South Africa, Australia, and New
Zealand. I went to sleep for one hour, woke up, worked for 4 hours,
slept another 4 hours, woke and headed to the airport to fly to Tokyo
for my next drum clinic. Even though I wasn't in Shanghai very long,
I was amazed at how cool the city was. It was way more modern and happening
then I would have thought.
October 19, 2006
First of all, sorry I'm so late on writing in my blog. Since the last
one, I've been in the studio with Alex Band (singer from The Calling)
recording for his new record. He's an amazing singer. Then I did 3 shows
with John Fogerty - in Cleveland, Mexico City and San Francisco. I recorded
another song for Avril Lavigne's upcoming record in LA. Then I spent
a few days recording in Chicago with a brilliant artist named Chris
Otepka, from the band Troubled Hubble - they're a college alternative
rock band. When his CD comes out check it out, it will be amazing -
very unique and special. I've also been playing some shows with Philip
Sayce in LA, and will soon be in the studio with him. And I did 2 shows
with the Bodeans in Boulder, Colorado. What was cool about those shows
was that there were 2 drummers onstage - myself and Noah Levy. Noah
started playing with them when I went on tour with John Fogerty. Today
the Rod Stewart CD debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, so
congratulaltions to Rod and John Shanks and everyone else involved.
It was a honor to be a part of that project. Right now I'm writing this
from Shanghai, China where later today I'll be giving a clinic at the
Shanghai Music Show. I'm starting a 3 week drum clinic tour for Zildjian,
through Asia and Australia, and this is the first stop. I'm really excitied
about it and it should be an amazing experience. I'll be sending pictures
and writing in my blog from the clinic tour so be sure to check back.
August 28, 2006
I’ve been on tour with John Fogerty this summer and I want to
take a minute talk about the guys I’m playing with in the band.
In addition to John, the rest of the band consists of Billy Burnette
on guitar and background vocals, Bob Britt on guitar and background
vocals, George Hawkins on bass and background vocals, and Mattt Nolen
on keyboards and guitar. These guys are all amazing players. What I’m
most impressed with when I play with them is the feel of the band. The
band plays extremely well together as a unit. I get inspired by what
I’m hearing each night from them and from John. We’re constantly
listening to each other, changing things up each night, changing parts,
and it makes for an exciting show every night. Billy plays rhythm guitar,
and it doesn’t get any better. He has incredible groove. When
he solos, his ideas are extremely creative both in his tone, rhythm
and choice of notes. He was a member of Fleetwood Mac in the late 80’s
and early 90’s has also recorded &/or toured with Bob Dylan,
Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo and many others,
and his songwriting credits are numerous. George has played bass with
Kenny Loggins, Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo, Christine McVie, Steve Perry,
Delbert McClinton, Dan Fogelberg, Al Jarreau, and many others. As a
drummer it’s so easy to play with him. His timing and feel are
impeccable. Not only does he do what a bass player’s supposed
to do - keep the foundation rhythmically and melodically - but he adds
a lot of great ideas to that foundation at the right time, and he’s
also an amazing singer. Bob Britt is flawless at whatever he plays on
guitar. He has an amazingly laid-back feel and plays deep in the pocket.
He also sings background vocals and his voice blends incredibly well
together with John, Billy and George. Bob does a lot of recording in
Nashville, and has worked with the Dixie Chicks (as musical director),
Leon Russell, Wynonna Judd and numerous others. Matt Nolen plays keyboards
and all extra guitar parts. He plays with great feel and inventiveness,
and I love his solo ideas on keyboards. If you’ve been to see
John Fogerty play you know his solo on “Grapevine” is a
highlight of the show. He’s also a solo artist, check out his
website at www.mattnolen.com.
On a personal note, it’s an incredible group of guys and I love
hanging with them and spending time with them. We have a blast together
both on and offstage. You can check out all the bandmembers except me,
on the DVD John
Fogerty: The Long Road Home in Concert which was filmed on the 2005
tour.
Billy Burnette
George Hawkins
Matt Nolen
Bob Britt
August 20, 2006
Today we're in Chicago getting ready for a show tonight at Charter
One Pavillion, which is on a lake across from Soldier Field. During
soundcheck we got to watch the Blue Angels fly overhead which was very
cool. Last night we played Indianapolis. It's alway fun and exciting
to play for my hometown crowd, and last night was no exception.. it
was a very enthusiastic crowd and I had a blast. The audiences on this
tour are always so pumped for the shows.. you can tell they love music
and are really passionate fans. It makes it exciting for us to play.
Here are a few pictures from Jones Beach in New York last week. Before
the show I had a chance to hang out with Damien Fahey, a good friend
of mine who’s a host on MTV Beachtrouse and TRL. He’s a
damn good drummer too and he came with his bandmate Kenli from their
band Here’s Johnny. Check them out at www.myspace.com/heresjohnnymusic.
August 6, 2006
Last night we did a show at the PNC Arts Center in New Jersey, on the
John Fogerty tour. It was a beautiful night, a high-energy crowd, and
to top it off during the encore Bruce Springsteen joined us onstage.
This was the fourth time I’ve had the chance to play with him
(other times were with John Mellencamp and twice with Melissa Etheridge)
and as always, what an incredible thrill. It’s amazing how powerful
his presence is onstage. To introduce him, John said something along
the lines of "there's a young man with a guitar backstage..."
And the crowd realizing who it was, began to well up, shouts of “Bruuuuuce”
came from everywhere and the place went wild. We did an unrehearsed
version of “Long Tall Sally." Needless to say, it was a thrilling
moment to be onstage with two of the greatest rock legends of all time.
After the show we drove through the night to Saratoga, NY where we have
a show tonight. Then it's on to New Hampshire on Tuesday.
August 3, 2006
I'm on the road with John Fogerty, in Massachusetts right now. The
tour has been amazing so far, I'm really enjoying it. John has incredible
energy onstage and the audiences have been phenomenal. John has such
a deep catalog of hits, and the band on this tour is one of the best
I've played with. It's been great hanging with Willie Nelson and the
guys from his band too. They're opening on a lot of the dates.
Last night we drove through the night to Mansfield, Mass. where we
have a show Friday at the Tweeter Center. Today I visited the Zildjian
factory in Norwell. Here are a few pictures. It was great to see John
DeChristopher, John King, Sarah Malaney, Craigie Zildjian, John Sorenson
and everyone there. We had a great lunch and then I tested some cymbals.
On this tour I've been using 14" A New Beats as my main hihats
on my right side with a cable hat, and 14" A Mastersound hihats
on my left side on a regular hihat stand. I may change my setup to 14"
Mastersound hihats on my right side and 15" A Mastersound hihats
on my left side. The Mastersounds are a bit crisper and have more attack
than the New Beats and I think this combination may work better in the
larger 20,000 seat venues we're playing in this summer.
July 13, 2006
Here's a picture I took today in Bergen Norway, where we had a day
off after driving 13 hours through the night from Oslo. Went to sleep
at 3:30 AM on the bus and woke at 6:30 as we were slowly making our
way up the mountains of Norway. I saw waterfalls on either side of the
small 2 lane road and we went though tunnels and by small mountain rivers.
It was beautiful. Bergen is an old fishing village and some of the existing
restored buildings are 1,000 years old. Very cool. Tomorrow we play
an outdoor show in Bergen, then drive 13 hours back to Oslo and then
another 5 hours to Kungsbacka, Sweden for a show on Saturday.
July 10, 2006
I’m in Stockholm on tour with John Fogerty, getting ready to
do a show here tonight. We’ve been in Europe since June 27 when
we flew from Nashville after rehearsals. The plan was to fly to Paris
via Newark, but the weather was bad and we missed our connection and
bottom line, we finally made it to Paris but by a much different route,
and the bags didn’t make it for 8 days. I had one hour before
the first show to run into a mall and grab some clothes to wear onstage.
The audiences have been amazing. We do a 2 hour soundcheck and then
a 2 to 2 1/2 hour show. John likes to change the set list every night.
This keeps it interesting for the fans and the band. We’ve played
France, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark. Tonight is the
show in Stockholm, then we’re on to Norway, then back Sweden,
Germany and the Netherlands again. We fly back to the USA on July 20.
I have one kit in Europe that I’m using now and another one waiting
for me in the US for when I get there since there’s not enough
time to ship all the gear from Europe to the US for the first show in
West Palm Beach on July 22. I’ll keep posting from the road. For
a list of all the tour dates check out the News.
June 24, 2006
Just finished the first day of tour rehearsals with John Fogerty in Nashville. We’re getting ready for the European tour, which is the first leg of the summer tour. John’s extremely diligent and focused in reheasals. Every note has to be in place. Tempos, every beat, every nuance needs to be perfect, which I think is great. Really respect him for that. The band sounds amazing. Very tight and has great feel. We’ll rehearse one more day then fly to Paris Monday for the first show of the tour.
June 7, 2006
I'm writing from the set of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in LA, where
I just soundchecked with John Fogerty. It's an outdoor show tonight
and should be a lot of fun. This is the first time I'm using my new
Tama Starclassic Bubinga kit in the ultraviolet sparkle finish. The
drums look and sound amazing. They're very aggressive, tons of low end,
tons of sustain and lots of punch. I'm really looking forward to using
them on tour this summer.
June 3, 2006
I just finished 11 days of recording in New York and New Jersey. First I spent 8 days at Avatar Studios in New York City, with the artist Steve Rider and producer Matt Serletic (Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas, Willie Nelson). Steve wrote some amazing songs and the band included Jack Daly (Lenny Kravitz) on bass and Rusty Anderson (Paul McCarthey) on guitar and myself. It was a great experience, coming up with new sounds and new parts to create a band feel that worked for Steve and his music. Matt Serletic was like a 5th member of the band, coming up with great ideas and amazing direction for the songs. After that session, I went to Barbershop Studios on Lake Hopatcong, NJ and recorded 9 songs for Marc Berley's record, with John Seymour producing. Bass player PJ Farley and guitarist Steve Brown were on the session - great players with great attitudes. Then it was on to Mission Sound in Brooklyn where I recorded 5 tracks with a Russian artist, Rasul 2. The music was very cool and had an R&B, dance and Latin feel.
April 23, 2006
It's been a busy year so far. I've been doing shows with 3 bands, John Fogerty, The Bodeans and Philip Sayce, and a lot of recording, mostly in LA. (Meat Loaf, Rod Stewart, Avril Lavigne, Jesse McCartney, Philip Sayce, Lena Park, After Midnight Project, Phil Jones, Zucchero, and some jingles). In Nashville I recorded with Jake Owen, George Canyon and Jeff Adkins. I also recorded with Grant Olsen in Indiana and Nolan Neal in Woodstock, NY. I've done drum clinics in Texas, St. Louis, Boston, Hartford, CT, Salem, NH, and Portsmouth, NH. I was filmed for an online educational program called Lessons With The Legends. When this project is finished, you'll be able to download three 15 or 20 minute lessons with me with performance, instructional and interview segments. Check the News section in the coming months for information on that. Also, Philip Sayce and Peace Machine was filmed for HDTV, Sirius sattelite radio and Radio Shack. All in all, a busy start to the year and I of course love it. But just to give you an idea how crazy it can be, recently I had to make arrangements for 9 separate drum kits in a 2 week period. And a few weeks ago I flew 5 times in two days in order to get to clinics and sessions booked back to back.
Coming up, I'll be doing more recording, clinics in the northwest, and some live gigs with The Bodeans and Philip Sayce and I'll go on tour with John Fogerty in Europe starting in June, and then the USA (with Willie Nelson opening) starting in July. The dates are posted on the News page. Looking forward to seeing everyone on the road!
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