April 2019 Issue – Volume 43 • Number 4 - Modern Drummer Magazine

April 2019 Issue – Volume 43 • Number 4

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Articles in April 2019

Departments

Big Brother and the Holding Company’s “Piece of My Heart”

San Francisco circa 1967/68 was home to some of the most successful and forward-thinking rock bands of the time, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother and the Holding Company, featuring singer Janis Joplin.…

by Bob Girouard
Feb 27, 2019
An Editor's Overview

Long Live Rock!

For years, we rock ’n’ roll fans have had to put up with endless proclamations that the music we love is on the outs. Sure, the charts make it clear that dance and pop music commands the masses’ attention these…

by Adam Budofsky
Feb 27, 2019
Departments

The Hollywood Custom and Vintage Drum Show

The Hollywood Custom and Vintage Drum Show Classic and Modern Drumming Dazzles at the Latest Edition of the Perennial Festival Since its inception nearly two decades ago, the Hollywood Custom and Vintage Drum Show has built up a reputation as…

Story and photos by Bob Campbell
Feb 27, 2019
It Happened On The Road

Ty Segall and GØGGS’ Charles Moothart

There are endless crazy things that happen out there,” Charles Moothart muses while attempting to recall a tour tale suitable for sharing with the general public. “I think the better story is how all these events build up to those rare,…

by David Jarnstrom
Feb 27, 2019
Kit of the Month

The Transformer

This creative yet compact setup comes to us from Westminster, California’s Jimmy Tran, and it marks the second time that one of the drummer’s kits has appeared in MD’s featured spotlight. Tran, who plays regularly at the Disneyland Resort in…

Modern Drummer
Feb 27, 2019
Rock 'n' Jazz Clinic

Five-A-Diddles

Exploring Paradiddles in Quintuplet Groupings Throughout their careers, great drummers such as Zigaboo Modeliste, David Garibaldi, and Dave Weckl have opened our imaginations to the possibilities of paradiddles and their inversions. Is there anything this rudiment can’t do? I’d describe…

by Jayson Brinkworth
Feb 27, 2019
New and Notable

New Gear from Vic Firth, Tama, Mapex, CruzTools, Los Cabos, Vater, LP, Gretsch, and more.

Vic Firth VicKick Bass Drum Beater This beater, developed in collaboration with jazz great Peter Erskine, is designed for drumset and cajon players. A large maple shaft and smaller 1.75" felt ball create an even distribution of weight from top…

Modern Drummer
Feb 27, 2019
Equipment

Porter & Davies BC-X Bass Drum Monitoring System

An ultra-compact yet powerful tactile throne kicker for everyday use in clubs, on tour, or in the studio. Porter & Davies is a U.K.-based company that manufactures a range of high-quality tactile monitoring systems, including the flagship BC2, the rack-mountable…

by Michael Dawson
Feb 27, 2019
Equipment

British Drum Company - Lounge Series Drumset

The latest in a long line of English drum builders, offering distinctive drums since 2015. Several personalities from the English drumming community came together to launch the British Drum Company. Head drum builder Keith Keough, who helmed KD Drums between…

by Stephen Bidwell
Feb 27, 2019
Features

Oh Sees’ Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon

Even greater than the sum of their considerable parts, the drumming duo helps define one of the most prolific and mercurial rock bands of our time. Scanning the history of the band known as Oh Sees can leave you questioning…

Story by Stephen Bidwell | Photos by Nicola Gypsicola
Feb 27, 2019
Gearing Up

Protocol's Simon Phillips

While in Los Angeles, Simon Phillips uses this Tama Star kit, which is one of three setups he keeps in rotation. “I use whatever is available,” he says. “It’s all down to logistics. I’ll ship them out to various places,…

Story by John Martinez | Photos by Alex Solca
Feb 27, 2019
Critique

New Releases by Phil Stewart, Henry Conerway, Jeff Berlin, Rudy Royston and more.

RECORDINGS Phil Stewart Melodious Drum A drummer and percussionist shines on his professional recording debut. Whereas much modern jazz opts to explore dissonant or chaotic sonic spaces, Phil Stewart’s first album, Melodious Drum, is a swinging expression of melancholy-tinged joy.…

Modern Drummer
Feb 27, 2019
Departments

What's Your Favorite Charlie Watts Performance?

When we first took to social media to ask which performances you’d recommend from the seminal Rolling Stones drummer, a bevy of diverse responses flooded in. It’s easy to understand the range in choices; Charlie’s signature drum sound, unique grooves,…

Modern Drummer
Feb 27, 2019
Equipment

NickyMoon Custom Cymbals

One hundred percent handcrafted instruments for a truly one-of-a-kind experience. NickyMoon is a New Jersey-based one-man custom shop owned and operated by traditionally trained cymbalsmith Nicholas Margarite. In the “about” section at nickymoon.com, Margarite explains why he decided to take…

by Michael Dawson
Feb 27, 2019
Rock Perspectives

Music As A Game

Finding Unique Concepts in Unlikely Places In his book Effortless Mastery, jazz pianist, composer, and author Kenny Werner wrote, “Don’t forget: Music is something we just made up. It doesn’t actually exist as anything but a game for us.” If…

by Aaron Edgar
Feb 27, 2019
Features

The 2019 Modern Drummer Readers Poll Results

  The Foo Fighters’ tandem drummers had another huge year in 2018, with Taylor Hawkins powering the band throughout its Concrete and Gold world tour and Dave Grohl reminding the world of his own remarkable kit skills on his twenty-three-minute…

Modern Drummer
Feb 27, 2019
Features

Morgan Ågren Of The Mats/Morgan Band

His work with Frank Zappa, the Crimson ProjeKCt, Fredrik Thordendal, Bill Laswell, and the way forward-looking Mats/Morgan duo has been blowing us away for a couple decades now. Yet all that time, he’s never been predictable, never repeated himself, never…

Story by Ken Micallef | Photos by Elliot Elliot
Feb 27, 2019
Features

Amanda Shires’ Jerry Pentecost

The Hardest Working Man When Modern Drummer reached out to catch up with Jerry Pentecost, the drummer filled us in on his impressive performing schedule and concluded, “I’m really just a dude looking for donuts.” Ah! Perhaps the metaphorical donut?…

Story by Jeff Potter | Photos by Rick Malkin
Feb 27, 2019
Departments

Sean Lennon on the Claypool Lennon Delirium’s South of Reality

The multitalent embraces oddness on the superduo’s latest psychedelic trip, channeling his iconic father’s unique approach to rhythm.   On February 22 the Claypool Lennon Delirium—an alternative psychedelic group that consists of Primus frontman Les Claypool and multi-instrumentalist/drummer Sean Ono…

by 
Billy Amendola
Feb 27, 2019
Equipment

Rogers USA Dyna-Sonic Snares

A faithful reproduction of one of the most legendary drums of all time.   Rogers Drums is an American manufacturer that was founded in the mid-nineteenth century. The company gained notoriety in the 1950s and ’60s for its cutting-edge innovations,…

by Michael Dawson
Feb 27, 2019
Features

Paris_Monster's Josh Dion

He’s the first to admit that playing drums while singing and working a keyboard can be looked upon as shticky. But take one listen. In no time you’ll realize that his drumming (and singing, and keyboard playing) is the real…

Story by Robin Tolleson | Photos by John Fell
Feb 27, 2019
Strictly Technique

Eights And Sixes

In this lesson we’re going to build upon the Eights and Sixes exercise that I introduced in Part 1 of this series by adding double strokes and rimshots into the routine. Focusing on the 8th-note offbeats within double-stroke sextuplets can…

by Bill Bachman
Feb 27, 2019
Departments

Kyle Crane with Neko Case

The ever-busy sticksman backs the seasoned indie songwriter on her latest international tour. The Los Angeles–based touring and session drummer Kyle Crane has steadily built a busy and successful career working with producer and songwriter Daniel Lanois, M. Ward (She…

by Willie Rose
Feb 27, 2019