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Elmwood's Donnie Marple
2009-07-02
What is up, Modern Drummer! My name is Donnie Marple. I am the 2007 Guitar Center Drum-Off winner. Let me tell you a little about my past and then tell you what’s going on now.
Winning the Drum-Off really sparked a fire in my career. Coming from a small town in West Virginia, I never thought my dreams would actually come true, but with a lot of faith and practice they did. When I heard about the Drum-Off I was very interested and excited about entering my first national competition. When I ended up winning, I knew it would change my life. Winning gave me the courage to get out of Keyser, WV (my hometown), and move to Nashville to pursue my dream of becoming a professional drummer.
When I moved to Nashville I was looking everywhere for a good gig. I would go downtown and hand out my card to person after person, and I never got calls. I didn’t know what was going on. Well, I got desperate and went searching on the Internet. There’s a very well-known ad-based Web site called Craigslist. On this site you can find anything from jobs to used golf clubs. This is where I found a band called Elmwood. I really didn't know what to expect because the band was just an acoustic guitar and a bass guitar, Rusty Kelly and Nash Johnson, and the music was like nothing I had heard before.
I liked the music on their MySpace page and could hear what I would add to the band. I responded to their ad, and we eventually got together to jam. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. We clicked so well together. It was amazing. From the moment I played my first downbeat with them I knew I’d found something special.
 About a month later, our three pieces added a saxophonist, Derek Haight, to the crew. He added so much. After just three months of practicing eight hours a day and playing small gigs here and there, we got signed to a major booking agency called Paradigm. I could see my dreams coming true before my eyes. I know now that Elmwood is the reason I won the Guitar Center Drum-Off. This music, a mixture of rock, fusion, and jazz, is exactly what I have always dreamed of playing. It fits me perfectly. It gives me the chance to spread my wings as a drummer and to express myself to the fullest.
We have been on tour with bands such as Tea Leaf Green and G. Love And Special Sauce, and we even got to play the side stage for Dave Matthews Band, at Verizon Wireless Center in Birmingham, AL. We’re planning on going on our first headlining tour starting in August 2009. You can check out tour dates and more at our MySpace page below, and you can buy our new CD, Dreaming Little Things, on iTunes as well.
For all you drummers looking to pursue a career, NEVER give up on your dreams, and, like my mother always told me, “If you’re gonna dream, dream BIG!” God bless to all, and thanks for reading.
For more, visit www.myspace.com/elmwoodband, and check out this video: www.youtube.com.
Photo's by Brad Kuntz.
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Avril Lavigne's Rodney
Howard
2009-07-02
Yo, MD!
A lot going on these days! As of late last year, I finished up a world tour and DVD with Avril Lavigne. Earlier this year was the release of Tall Stories, a recording I did with ex-Journey frontman Steve Augeri. I reacquainted myself with the New York City scene, recording for various artists there, and reconnected with Gavin DeGraw for a U.S. tour supporting his latest. And I learned just before leaving that I was named #2 pop drummer in the 2009 MD Readers Poll. I was convinced I was being punk’d by all these texts from my buddies, but no—my name is actually right there on the pages of MD, beside the Guys That Are So Badass They’re Called Only By Their First Name. Wow! I don’t care how clichéd this sounds: It’s a complete honor to be in that company. Thanks, guys—whoever voted for me, you’ve made my mother very proud!
On the drum-geek gear tip, I’m LOVING playing big cymbals lately. Some of you might know that this last tour with Gavin DeGraw was intentionally stripped down, contrary to his normally un-singer/songwriter-y, very rock-ish vibe. I found myself playing a lot of rods, brushes, shakers, etc. (plus a 20" Pearl Masters Maple kick, wide open, no muffling, no holes, ha!). It was WAY different from the hard-hitting Avril vibe I’d been playing for the last two years. I ended up with an 18" Sabian Donati crash, 22" Artisan ride, 20" Ozone ride (as a crash), and whopping 18" hats made up of Artisan and Vault crashes. I found the bigger sizes responded way better to the brushes and rods, and there was something incredibly cool about playing “I Don’t Want To Be” softly but still sounding completely rockin’.
Originally I tried the 18" hats to get a less “flitty,” more raw, organic hat sound, and man did I get it—but I found that when I went back to set up for the more rock-edged European tour, my old 14s felt like toys! Enter Bobby Boos and Mark Love at Sabian. Short story: I’m a 16" hats guy now. Yes, to me the new standard is 16". At least for now. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the last few years, it’s that when you keep your heart, mind, and ears open and assume nothing, cool things happen.
Thanks for reading my ramblings. And remember, in this digitally hip day and age, the privilege of HITTING THINGS for fun and for musical gratification is special. Enjoy it!
Rodney
For more on Rodney, check out his myspace page: www.myspace.com/rodneyondrums.
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The Clarks' Dave Minarik
2009-06-30
MD readers. My name is Dave Minarik, and I play drums for a Pittsburgh-based band called the Clarks. We’re excited to release our latest CD, Restless Days. I thought I would share a bit of information about the recording process, rehearsals, and gear I used during this project.
The band started rehearsing for this project in the winter of 2008. In the past we’ve rented spaces in Nashville or used our own rehearsal space. Since we were going to record in Pittsburgh for the first time in many years, and since none of the bandmembers lives in close proximity anymore, we were fortunate to find a space made available by the company that prints our T-shirts. We hashed out material for a few months until we thought we had a strong song base to work from. At this point we brought Sean McDonald onboard as the engineer and producer for this project. After a few more months of fine-tuning each song, we felt that we were ready for the studio.
Days before we were scheduled for recording, we got a call from the Pittsburgh Penguins asking us to do a version of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World.” Not a band to pass up an opportunity like that, we decided to fit the song into our schedule. Within three days it was arranged and recorded. You might think that three days is a bit long, but consider the fact that no bandmembers were in the studio at the same time, and that we were playing shows at the same time. The song turned out great, and the Penguins and our fans loved our version of this timeless classic. Recording in this fashion set the tone for the new project.
With all of the live shows out of the way, it was time to lay down some drum tracks. I had the entire band come into the studio for one evening to lay down template tracks for all of the songs. These songs weren’t complete—the vocals weren’t all there, and the guitar parts weren’t done—but the basic structure and tempo of the songs were. I spent the next week laying down some solid drum tracks. This was a great way to record. I could spend as much time as I needed to get things right or maybe work out some fills.
Sean McDonald happens to be a great drummer and was wonderful to work with. We got to take the time we needed without having other bandmembers bored out of their minds, sitting around and waiting for me to finish. I think in the end it was all worth it. Most of the songs are a single drum track with the same basic kit. However, the seventh track, “Come Round Here,” is three separate loops.
 The kit Sean and I assembled was a mismatch of drums. Sean is really a mastermind when it comes to getting great tones. I have a few very nice kits; one of my favorites is a late-’40s, early-’50s Slingerland. This was one of those $500 finds that you read about in magazines, similar to finding a cherry 1948 pan head that’s been sitting untouched in a barn since the original owner parked it there in 1949. This kit has a great sound, and I’ve used it exclusively on the last three projects. Sean decided to try some different kick drum options and settled on a 24" Yamaha kick with a 26" Radio King kick in front of that. The results are unbelievable. Sean and I combined our snare drum collections, so we had all of the bases covered.
As a listener, I really like this record. I hope that most of you will agree. If you have the chance, please give it a listen.
Happy drumming!
Dave
For more on Dave Minarik and the Clarks, visit www.myspace.com/theclarks.
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