June 2017 Issue – Volume 41 • Number 6
On 01st Jun 2017
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Articles in June 2017
MD Archive Online
An Editor's Overview MD Archive Online Hello, longtime subscribers, casual readers, and newcomers to the MD family! We are super-excited to announce that—for the first time in our forty-plus-year history—every single issue of Modern Drummer is now available for viewing…
Grand Funk Railroad’s Don Brewer
Features Grand Funk Railroad’s Don Brewer Story by Bob Girouard Photos by Craig Clingan Listen to Don Brewer’s powerful drumming on FM staples like “I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home” and “Footstompin’ Music.” Now zero in on his he-man vocals on…
Poison’s Rikki Rockett
Features Poison’s Rikki Rockett Story by Patrick Berkery Photos by Alex Solca In July of 2015, Rikki Rockett, the happy-go-lucky drummer for one of the most notorious bands to emerge from the Sunset Strip in the ’80s, was diagnosed with…
Rival Sons' Michael Miley
In the school of hard rock, the members of RIVAL SONS are at the top of their class. But even after logging thousands of miles opening for legends like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, they know that the journey never…
Reasons to Love: Roger Hawkins
Photo by Deborah Feingold Reasons to Love: Roger Hawkins by Jeff Potter Speaking matter-of-factly but with a hint of reflective wonderment, Roger Hawkins chuckles, “We just kind of made it up as we went along.” Specifically, the ace session drummer…
Russ Titelman
Photo by Matty Amendola Features Russ Titelman The man at the helm of classic tracks like Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” and Randy Newman’s “Rednecks,” and Eric Clapton’s Unplugged and Journeyman albums, takes us inside the making of a hit. by…
Zildjian - K Custom Special Dry Series
Product Close-Up Zildjian K Custom Special Dry Series The orginal dark, dry cymbals return with an expanded palette. Zildjian originally released a limited range of Special Dry series cymbals in 2003, and many drummers flocked to them for their unique…
Vic Firth - Modern Jazz Collection
https://vimeo.com/210265794 Product Close-Up Vic Firth Modern Jazz Collection A quintet of versatile sticks beta-tested by some of today’s top improvising artists. Since its inception, Vic Firth has relied on input and feedback from its endorsing artists when considering adding new…
Brass Ball Drums - Stave-Shell Snares
Product Close-Up Brass Ball Drums Stave-Shell Snares Innovative snares with a concave contour. Every so often, established drum shell designs are revisited for different reasons—to achieve increased resonance, to offer distinctive appearances, or to incorporate unconventional materials for construction. From…
Nord Drum - 3P Multipad
Product Close-Up Nord 3P Multipad A powerful percussion-modeling synthesizer with nearly limitless sonic potential. These days, Swedish company Nord is most known for its distinctive red-colored keyboards. But the company’s founders, Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson, originally collaborated in 1983…
Bucks County - Semi-Solid Mahogany/Poplar Drumset
https://vimeo.com/209236900 Product Close-Up Bucks County Semi-Solid Mahogany/Poplar Drumset Combining the strength and dependability of ply drums with the enhanced tonal quality of solid shells. Unhappy with the quality of drums that were available to him at the time, lifelong woodworker…
Medeski, Martin and Wood’s Billy Martin
Gearing Up Medeski, Martin and Wood’s Billy Martin Interview by Dave Previ Photos by Paul LaRaia We recently visited MMW co-founder Billy Martin at his home studio, which is a custom-built shed on the drummer’s New Jersey property that he…
Hi-Hat Splashes - Spicing Up Your Backbeats
https://vimeo.com/214561697 Basics Hi-Hat Splashes Spicing Up Your Backbeats by Rich Redmond The hi-hat foot splash is an under-used voice, especially among younger players. Performing the splash requires getting the ball of the foot and much of the leg involved in…
Groove Construction - Part 13: Left-Handed Split Grooves
https://vimeo.com/214560953 Rock 'N' Jazz Clinic Groove Construction Part 13: Left-Handed Split Grooves by Jost Nickel In this workshop we’re expanding a groove concept that I introduced in the January 2017 issue, in which we split the right hand between two…
1,000 Ways to Practice a Single Page - Part 4: Orchestrated Flams on the Drumset
https://vimeo.com/214572182 Strictly Technique 1,000 Ways to Practice a Single Page Part 4: Orchestrated Flams on the Drumset by Libor Hadrava Last month we learned how to interpret a single page of rhythms using flams. In this lesson we’ll apply this…
Playing Melodically - Part 1: “Billie’s Bounce”
https://vimeo.com/214234350 Jazz Drummer's Workshop Playing Melodically Part 1: “Billie’s Bounce” by Peter Erskine In this new series I hope to present my thoughts and pass along some experience and insights on playing jazz. Many of the upcoming topics will be…
Septuplet Permutations - Diving Deep Into an Odd Subdivision
https://vimeo.com/214568749 Rock Perspectives Septuplet Permutations Diving Deep Into an Odd Subdivision by Aaron Edgar I find that the best way to become proficient with a new subdivision is to isolate each partial within the grouping and then combine the partial…
Hone Your Human GPS - Setting Goals, Defining Problems, and Devising Solutions
Concepts Hone Your Human GPS Setting Goals, Defining Problems, and Devising Solutions by Mark Schulman I’ve researched how people define GPS as it relates to the human condition, and I think best-selling author Jim Samuels’ philosophy is the simplest and…
Hybrid Setups: Pros? Cons?
Readers' Platform Hybrid Setups: Pros? Cons? In recent years, electronic/acoustic hybrid setups have seen a relatively rapid rise in popularity. And it’s easy to see why, considering the dominance of produced sounds and tones in modern popular music and the…
Dr. Dog's Eric Slick goes solo, Josh Eppard tours with Coheed and Cambria, and more
Out Now Eric Slick on PalisadesOn April 21, Eric Slick, the drummer for the ’60s-influenced indie-rock band Dr. Dog, released his debut solo album, Palisades. Although he also recruited drummer Ricardo Lagomasino to contribute, Slick plays the majority of the…
Marcus Baylor takes the reins, Bowie memoir, and more
Critique Recordings The Baylor Project The JourneyA former Yellowjacket and his creative/life partner drop a funky and finely detailed collection that isn’t shy to show a little tenderness or to head down lots of creative avenues. As the album-opening “Block…
Chicago II
Dapper Dan - Seraphine as he appeared in the pull-out poster included in Chicago II Encore Chicago II by Patrick Berkery “If you think Chicago is your mom’s band, then, man, I want to party with your mom!” So said…
Stanton Moore Drum Academy
Inside Methods Stanton Moore Drum Academy by Stephen Bidwell New Orleans groove juggernaut Stanton Moore has been one busy timekeeper, working seemingly nonstop since his main project, Galactic, took off around twenty years ago. Moore is involved in myriad projects,…
Alphonse Mouzon
In Memoriam Alphonse Mouzon At the very end of last year the drumming world said its final goodbyes to the influential jazz-rock drummer Alphonse Mouzon. Although he was not quite as recognizable among the wider drumming audience as pioneering players…
The 2016 Guitar Center Drum-Off Grand Finals
Backbeats The 2016 Guitar Center Drum-Off Grand Finals Story by John Martinez Photos by Alex Solca This past January 14, Guitar Center held its twenty- eighth-annual Drum-Off Grand Finals, at the Novo club in downtown Los Angeles. Over the course…
Split Hybrid
Kit of the Month Split Hybrid This hybrid electronic/acoustic drumset comes to us from the New York City–based drummer Howard Alper, who explains that the ability to combine traditional acoustic drums with loops and samples enables unique solo performances on…
