< PreviousModern Drummer December 2022 48 Musicians” for Steve Reich didn’t you? PT: Yes! The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was curating a series of concerts for Steve Reich’s 80th birthday, and we played that piece in one of them. He gave us feedback during the rehearsals and sat in the audience for the concert. THAT was a lot of pressure! After that I knew I could do anything. MD : After this tour what’s coming in the future? PT: I will live in the momentum of this tour and experience, and will most likely do some creative work with my new found friends and family. I have also been doing some producing. I have created a bunch of electronic music with my modular setup, and I have the Sunhouse triggers that I use with my music. I have just done a remix project of a jazz duo that will be released in December, but other than that I just haven’t found the time to finish and release some of the projects that I have been working on. I would like to do some film or TV music too. I am generally open and willing to do anything musically. MD : How do you compose? PT: I come up with things on the modular. That instrument has opened up a creative realm that I haven’t had before. You can feed it (for example) harmonic and melodic information. Then you can twist some knobs or change some patch cables and enter unknown territory. So I will find a sound, or a melody, or a sequence that I like, and I record it, then mess around with it. When I like it, I take it to my practice space and jam to it. Then sometimes I put the recording back into my modular and start the whole process again. That’s why it’s so hard to finish stuff, it just keeps going. MD : What modular components are you using? PT: My go to is the Make Noise Morphagene Granular Sampler and the Make Noise Maths. MD : Who are some of your favorite composers? PT: Steve Reich, John Cage, Johannes Brahms, and there is an endless number of contemporary composers that I like, I’m afraid I would miss somebody. But I have to mention OneOhTrix Point Never is doing some really exciting stuff. MD: Who would you like to work with in the future? PT : I would love to work with Erykah Badu someday. I like the humanness, the purity, and the spirituality of her and her music. As you can probably tell, I thrive on positive human interaction. I also would love to play with Esperanza Spalding because of all of those same reasons. MD : What kind of gear are you playing? PT : Tama built me a Star Maple kit in a gold finish, and it’s the most beautiful kit ever. I have a side snare that is 8x14, my main snare is 6x14, both snares are Maple. My set is a 7x12 small tom, 14 x 14 and 16 x 16 floor toms, and a 14 x 20 bass drum. MD: Why the 7” deep tom? PT : The shorter depth means that I can move it anywhere, and the depth won’t interfere with placement. My small tom is over the bass drum a little bit so that one inch less makes a difference in positioning. I might also move to a 22” bass drum for this gig, so the seven-inch depth will help in tom positioning if I start using the 22” bass drum. I am using the Evans Hybrid snare heads on both snares. When I tune those heads super low, they are really fat, but if I tune them up high, they still have a nice crack. The kick head is an Onyx, and the 12 and the 14 get EC Reverse dots. My 16 has a 16” bass drum head on it. My cymbals are usually Meinl Byzance and I like the driest cymbals they make. But for this tour I switched to the Byzance Duo. Going from left to right, I have a Benny Greb Sand Crash for rolls and delicate stuff. I use 16, 18, and 19 Byzance Duo crashes. My rides are a 20 and a 22 crash-rides, and then I have the new Smack Stack, and the Matt Gartska Stack above my hi hat and the Matt Gartska 18“ Fat Stack above my floor tom. My sticks are ProMark 7a Rebounds, with an acorn tip. MD: Are you still living in Berlin? What’s the music scene like there? PT: It’s a diverse and vibrant music scene. Berlin is getting gentrified like every other major city, but compared to other big cities in the world, artists can still afford to live there because it’s relatively cheap. We have a big underground music scene. There are lots of places to play. As an artist it’s getting harder and harder, but there are a lot of art spaces and gallery’s that you can play. MD: What recordings can we check you out on? PT : I played with Zouj on his record Tagat, and I did Teri Gender Bender’s last record. Those are the two latest releases that I have done. MD : What are some of your favorite records to listen to? PT : Robert Glasper Black Radio, Bloc Party Silent Alarm, Flying Lotus stuff, and Moses Sumney with Ian Chang on drums. I also love the James Farm record with Joshua Redman and Eric Harland. That is the first CD that I listened to constantly and everywhere. I love listening to The Meters, and I love two artists called Contour and L’Rain that I just saw recently in Washington DC. MD : What drummers have you heard recently that have blown your mind? PT : Jharis Yokley from New York City and a German drummer named Silvan Strauss. Silvan puts his whole being into his playing. Seeing him play is a beautiful thing to watch. I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s always been inspiring to me. Whenever I get too tense, or stuck in my own head, I just imagine Silvan playing. He’s incredible! MD: And so are you! Check out Philo‘s drummer profile page, at modern drummer.com I thought that I wanted to focus on chops. But what I wound up working on was sound and my internal mix at the drums. And I really focused on how my body actually feels while I’m playing and how I wanted to set up my kit. Up until that point, I had never really paid much attention to how I set up my drums, BUY FROM YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC RETAILER CHECK OUT MORE AT MODERNDRUMMER.COM Available In Print and Digital Presents: Applying the Moeller Technique to the Bass Drum By Michael Packer The Bass Drum Owners Manual DIGITAL DVD DOWNLOAD INCLUDEDModern Drummer December 2022 50 Rodney Elkins The Food Stamps/Tyler Childers By Bob Girouard Emma DelavanteDecember 2022 Modern Drummer 51 P ure and simple, Rodney Elkins is a groove merchant. Like many southern drummers he plays a little behind the beat; creating a deep pocket, perfectly embellishing critical points in the song, but never playing more than the song needs. Considering his young age, his maturity on the instrument is impressive. Stylistically, his playing echoes rhythm masters like Booker T’s Al Jackson Jr. and The Band’s Levon Helm. At the same time, Rodney retains his own musical identity. Rodney’s use of dynamics is also notable, and the fact that his training on the kit is both formal and feel oriented, represents the best of both worlds. Singer/songwriter Tyler Childers received a Grammy nomination for Americana Emerging Artist in 2018. Today he is expertly backed by Rodney’s band The Food Stamps (consisting of Jesse Wells, James Barker, Chase Lewis, Craig Burletic and Rodney Elkins) on the recording Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven? It is Childer’s latest release (Hickman Holler/RCA), and comes with an infectious blend of traditional country, folk, bluegrass, gospel, and even New Orleans influenced jazz. Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven? retains a spiritual edge without being overly religious, and according to Rodney, “Tyler’s songs are just too good to ignore.” Furthermore, with a rhythm section that’s known each other forever and are at home with the nuances of Childers’ writing, it’s a win-win for everyone. Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven is currently on Billboard’s top 100 country albums chart, peaking at #3. If this sounds like a good old American success story it is. And whether success is measured in dollars or notoriety, it is always Emma Delavante Emma DelavanteModern Drummer December 2022 52 gratifying to watch the artistic growth of performers who not only remain true to their roots, but who also refuse to be pigeonholed by labels or formulas. I have a distinct feeling that Rodney, The Food Stamps, and Tyler Childers will personify that objective for a long time to come. MD: You originally hail from West Virginia. What was the music scene there like and who were your influences? RE : We actually had a thriving music scene in Huntington, West Virginia. Around 2009- 2010, me, James, and Craig from The Food Stamps started a trio called “Deadbeats and Barkers.” We were just one of many groups playing music that we loved. At the time, Huntington was predominantly a heavy metal town, but the scene’s hipness was created by the diversity of the people playing music. MD : Rodney, you grew up in a musical family, playing in a band with your dad and uncles. Was the first instrument you learned to play the guitar? RE : My dad taught me a “boogie-woogie” line on guitar and that was it. Honestly, I learned a lot from the 1991 Allman Brothers album, Live at Great Woods, with Warren Haynes playing that red Stratocaster. My father’s band was (and still is) called The Elkins Brothers Band. They’ve been a band since the 1950’s. They were my first music education. It was kind of like a “free country-western college.” When The Elkins Brothers Band plays, various members of The Food Stamps come by to help out from time to time, just to keep The Elkins Brothers Band legacy intact! MD : You were always drawn to rhythms, and you learned to play drums by trial and error. Does that mean that you learned by playing live on the gigs? RE: Yes, pretty much at first that’s how it happened. Then I realized I could take all the music classes in school that I wanted. MD: Your very first performance was a memorable one for sure. It was at the Barboursville Senior Service Center dance, you made $150 at age 12… Not too bad! What do you remember about that gig? RE : {Laughs} September 2000! The first thing I remember was getting to my uncle’s house where they kept all the gear. I was automatically designated roadie for the night. I remember being told, “Boy we need to get all this gear into the truck.” “Yes sir,” I replied. That was my introduction, better yet, my baptism into “show-biz.” MD : Drum Corps also played an important role in your drumming development. What did you learn from playing rudiments in an ensemble? RE : Yeah, I played in drum corps in high school and college. It’s where I learned the inner workings and intricacies of my instrument. MD : Did your classical and jazz training in college help in your approach to the music you’re playing now? RE: Absolutely. It gave me the discipline that I didn’t have. It also helped me appreciate many diff erent styles of music. MD: Rodney, can you give us the skinny on how you and The Food Stamps got the gig with Tyler Childers? What are the origins of the band The Food Stamps, and what’s the current music scene like in Nashville? RE : I can’t speak too much on the current scene in Nashville. I do know that the places that I frequent are filled with monster players. It’s inspiring, but there’s a bit of a “machine” mentality and a lot of folks get lost in it. MD : I think the band’s name “The Food Stamps” is very cool. How did that come about? RE : Our friend, Jack Browning, was kind of the mayor (not officially,) Rodney’s Gear: Drums: Ludwig, Three diff erent kits, all in sizes: 14 x 20, 8 x 12, 14 x 14; and 6 ½ x 14 bronze snare drum. The three sets are finished in: Classic Maple, Vintage White Marine Pearl, and Black Sparkle (with a 16 x16 floor tom added.) Cymbals: Bosphorus, 14” hats, 20” ride, 22” ride. Sticks: Pro Mark 5-A. Heads: Remo Coated Emperor. Hardware: DW 6000 flat base stands, 5000-foot pedal. Emma Delavanteof Huntington. He was the bartender at a club we played called Shoop’s. It was our one-year anniversary there and he christened the name after suggesting that we should be Tyler’s backing band. MD : You once stated to a fellow band member at a Marty Stuart concert that you wanted to, “Play country music for the rest of your life.” I would imagine that desire comes down to your innate love of the style of the music itself right? RE: Playing country music changed my life. I decided right then and there that I was going to play country music in some capacity for the rest of my life and I wanted it to be with Tyler. MD: Let’s talk a bit about the new album, Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? The album is recorded in three parts, with 24 tracks on three discs. There are eight songs that are are done diff erently on each disc. The diff erent discs are called the Hallelujah version, the Jubilee version, and the Joyful Noise version. What does each version of the music mean to the listener? RE: Hallelujah was played live in the studio. Jubilee is that same session with horns and other musical goodies added, and Joyful Noise is a re-mix of everything. All the music was done live on the spot. My part was to stay out of the way and just compliment and not overplay. MD : In preparing to record the album, did you do a lot of pre- production or had you already been playing the songs in concert? RE : No, the first time was in the studio. MD : When you were in the process of recording did you have the freedom to create your own drum parts? RE : Absolutely. We’re all friends, we all talk about parts. We scrutinize, correct, or complement each other accordingly! MD: This is the first time Tyler utilized you and the other “Stamps” on a record? How did you like recording in West Virginia.? RE : Man, it was wonderful. It felt super comfortable. MD: Right out of the box The Food Stamps sound like they’ve been influenced by The Band. In fact, the first cut, “Old Country Church,” sounds like you’re channeling Levon Helm. The groove reminds me a little of “Up on Cripple Creek.” It also sounds like Garth Hudson could have played organ on that song. Your drumming is very organic throughout the whole album. No frills, but a groove as wide as the Grand Canyon. The song “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?” left a major impression on me. “Purgatory” has The Band’s influence all over it, the opening horn lines remind me of The Last Waltz. That song also comes complete with a bass and organ solo. The way the horn section is arranged has a decidedly New Orleans feel to it. Finally, “Way of the Triune God” takes us to church with finely tuned gospel harmonies. This is damn good stuff ! The music that you play has often been described as neo- traditional country. Is this a sound that just evolved or were you aiming for a particular sound? In other words, your music encompasses country, folk, bluegrass, and gospel. With such diversity, it feels like you might be uncomfortable with any kind of “tags” attached to your music? RE : Speaking of The Band, we are all huge fans of them. In fact, when we first started playing together, we bonded over their live record Rock of Ages. With regards to “tags,” they’re just labels that help people understand the music we play. Today, everything is so formulaic and it’s hard to remain objective. I don’t like saying, “I don’t care for someone’s form of expression.” But at the same time, there’s good music in every genre and I try not be too discriminatory. Check out Rodney's drummer pro le page, at modern drummer.comModern Drummer December 2022 54 The 4 Practice Pockets: The IREC Model By Chris Lesso “There is no right or wrong, only consequences.” It’s so challenging to know just what to practice when we sit down at the kit. There is no exact right way, as long as we PLAY. Treat yourself as the ultimate life experiment! Try the model below, see what works and mold it to your own connection with your instrument. The journey is di erent or everyone. There’s a ow as you go from one pocket to the next, but you can try changing the order or try doing a deep dive into only one zone. Use what works and discard the rest. Every day is di erent, because you are a new you every time you sit at the kit. This model is only a guide for you to spark your best self through drumming! Intution (Your Creative Flow) What’s the rst thing you can play on the drums, right now, straight from the gut? What’s in your soul that you want to express at this very moment? Can you tell a story through the drums with clarity, heart, and emotion? Trying not to think but to just PLAY is a great way to start your practice and connect to your instrument. This process mimics real life expression; music is a language, we want to speak from the heart in real time, authentically and clearly. I like to record myself telling (playing) a short story on the drums. Listening back always reveals what I need to focus on, clarity, dynamics, time, simplicity, beginnings and endings, and creativity. Reps (Train Your Body) Drums are physical. You are an athlete! This part of the IREC practice model is where we re ne the movements that serve our greater transformation. Our sound is created by movement, and for our motions to be automatic we must program the most e cient ones into our muscle memory. This is the conditioning that serves us best when we need it in the moment. By expressing our ideas and thinking as little as possible, we can drop into ‘the zone’ any time we like, that is the special place where our drumming comes alive. Edges (Stretch Your Mind) This is the pocket where we move mountains. When you drop into rhythmic ow there’s not much thinking going on, ot similar to when when we walk or speak. But to learn how to get into the ow zone takes zooming way in to painstakingly work out the ner points. There’s no way around it, this is THE WORK. That’s why we call it ‘the no fun zone!’ Greatness lies in the details; it takes patience to smooth out the wrinkles and to release anything that’s not working for you. I call this ‘the no fun zone’ because you need to accept that this is the part of your practice you’re going to ‘embrace the suck’. Discomfort is GOOD because that’s when you’re stretching yourself into the superunknown. You’re now a fumbling beginner all over again, so don’t expect to sound good (yet!) It’s scary to dive in here, because this is where we face our de ciencies. And who wants to sound bad on the drums? No one. But this is true practice, because everything we’ve mastered today, was once unfamiliar and painful. Celebrate (Feed Your Heart) Now it’s time to celebrate! We don’t ‘work’ the drums, we play the drums. You’ve earned this moment, and this section of the IREC practice is all for you. Reward yourself! This is our chance to dance in the playground and have fun like we’re meant to do. So many adult drummers have a challenge with this, this is where we live out our inner child and let loose. Don’t neglect this part of your practice! Tap into the joy of WHY you chose to play this instrument. You’ve done the work, and now we circle back to where we started; not thinking, but exploring with a sense of play. Curiosity and enthusiasm is the fuel. Just jam! How much time should we put out in each pocket of IREC? That depends. When I’ve had a challenging day and need a lift from my drums, I’ve had entire practices of ‘heart’ where I just jam and celebrate playing my favorite music. If I’m working on a big project with a deadline, I push my edges doing mostly ‘ mind ’ work. If I’m in a highly creative space I ow into my ‘creative’ pocket. If I’m delegating whole new movement to muscle memory, I give a lot of time to doing reps in the ‘ body ’ pocket. Remember, the drums are there for YOU. They can be anything you need them to be. The goal is always LONGEVITY when we play the in nite game. There is no right way for everyone. Even when you’ve found a balance that works for you, expect it to constantly change as you evolve. Keep it uid, keep it open, challenge yourself, and have fun on the drumming path! To nd your transformation through drumming, connect with Chris at chrislesso.net/ltrdrumming Check out Chris’s Modern Drummer pro le page at moderndrummer.comBuy from your favorite retailer check out more at moderndrummer.com Carl Palmer’s Applied Rhythms Presents:Modern Drummer December 2022 56 It’s More Than Beats, Fills and Patterns By: Thomas Pridgen T here’s a Mars Volta song called Teflon that has a weird hybrid version of a paradiddle. A lot of Mars Volta songs have ghost notes with hybrid versions of a paradiddle. I use a lot of the rudiments and grooves. The reason I show people rudiments is that playing drums is essentially doubles and singles. Most people don’t play triplets with one hand, they play doubles and singles, A lot of times, drummers might say, ‘I don’t need to learn rudiments,’ but learning rudiments sharpens the way you sound playing certain things. When you watch people on the internet, you hear them playing but you can’t hear every note. They’re not as articulate as drummers who sit there and practice a long time. Incredible teachers like Tony Williams and Ndugu Chancler would make you do double-stroke rolls in class for almost a year before you actually got to touch a drum set and that’s so you know how to have articulation and not overlook the little things. It’s easy to explain things from a rudimentary level. The rudiments were written based on what other people were already playing. When I went to Berklee I sharpened my rudiments. Rudiments give you so much more to practice and so much to strive for. Regarding learning to play fast, I learned in church how to play fast doubles. After practicing a lot, I would do the oppo- site side of the beat. Then I would do triplets, the upbeat, and then I would do the downbeat, you could just keep moving up the numbers to fours, to fives, to sixes, and then you can actually put them together. Every time I heard a place to put a double I would put it. There’s not just one way to practice playing faster. Ex. #3 I have a practice pedal pad at home and would do singles between the right hand and the bass drum and then you can do the left hand and bass drum. RLRRLRLRLRRLLRLLRLRRLRLRLRRLRRLL 4 4/ Mars Volta "Teflon" Groove >>>>>>>> 11 œœœ ≈ O œ OO œœ ≈ œ O œ O œœ ≈ œ OO œ œ ™ J ‰ œ O œœ œœ ≈ O œ OO œœ ≈ œ O œ O œœ ≈ œ OO œ OO œœ œ ™ J RFFRFFBFFRFF / Triplet Bass Drum Exercise 3333 22 ¿ œœ ¿ œœ œ ¿ œœ ¿ œœ R L F F R L F F R L F F R L F F R L F F R L F F R L F F R L F F / 16th Notes Single Stroke Bass Drum Exercise 33 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ F F L R F F F F L R F F L R L R F F L R F F F F L R F F L R L R / Paradiddle Bass Drum Exercise 44 œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œœDecember 2022 Modern Drummer 57 I would sit there all day and come up with ways to do a paradiddle between the bass drum. I literally have no way to tell you to do this besides to struggle with it. Practicing is one thing and foot placement is the other thing. I play with my heel up. It’s like I’m tapping the footboard. The DW logo is at the ball of my foot. I’m not by the chain, but I’m not too far back. To find the right spot do sixteenth notes and slide your foot up and down the pedal plate. The place where you feel the most balance is where your foot goes. Seat placement also matters. I sit with my legs at a right angle. When it comes to playing linear patterns and phrases, I don’t think about music like that. I think more like a horn player – these are expressions coming out of me. I look at drumming as phrases and melodies. The majority of the things I think about are figuring out how to play the phrases in my mind. For example, the egg beater is in 5. It’s 3 on the right hand and 2 on the left. So, what I would try to do is put the bass drum with it. The thought is I’m developing these little things from a rhythm and a melody. When I play fills and I throw in the 7, this is not a lick or a pattern. This is me developing a thing off a rhythm and a melody. I’m building off something I’m hearing in my mind. You build a lot of vocabulary because no one is going to think about phrasing the way that you do. When everyone plays the same it takes the music out of it. Do the rudiments, learn the different styles, and then when you go on stage, you put yourself out to the world, because no one is going to hear the phrases and thoughts the way you do. I encourage you to sing on the drums and make music. RRRLLRRRLLRRRLLRRRLL 5 4/ Egg Beaters / 55 œ ¿ œ ¿ œ ¿ œœ œ ¿ œ ¿ œ ¿ œœ œ ¿ œ ¿ œ ¿ œœ œ ¿ œ ¿ œ ¿ œœ œ ¿ œœ œœ ¿ œœœ œ ¿ œ œœœ ¿ œœ œœ ¿ œ œœ Courtesy of DW DrumsNext >