July 2017 Issue – Volume 41 • Number 7
Articles in July 2017
Yamaha - DTX760K Electronic Drumset
Expanded sounds, more customization, and a responsive, natural feel.
Pride and Joy
This gorgeously kept example of 1970s drum history comes to us from Orange County, California, drummer Thomas Smith, who originally purchased the Rogers Block-finish setup as a nine-piece kit. “I was very busy in cover bands, traveling throughout California,” Smith…
Steve Smith, Peter Erskine, and Gerry Gibbs take the reins, Def Leppard Live CD/DVD, and more
RECORDINGS Taking the Reins Gerry Gibbs & Thrasher People Weather or Not Whatever the musical source, this drummer unfailingly makes it his own. On his previous disc, Live in Studio, drummer/composer Gerry Gibbs transformed a selection of “elevator music” warhorses…
Awolnation’s Isaac Carpenter
“When we were rehearsing for the latest album,” says modern pop group Awolnation’s drummer, Isaac Carpenter, “Masters of Maple owner Sahir Hanif brought his bell brass snare, and it seemed like our band sounded twenty-five-percent better. You can hit it…
Building Confidence - The Right Kind, the Right Way
I recently performed a gig with the great comedian Bob Newhart where I was sight-reading big band charts with him and his opening act. I’ve done shows with Bob many times over the years. They don’t have a ton of…
Swing Interpretations - Modern Groove Applications
There’s an interesting relationship between two-note (binary) and three-note (ternary) subdivisions that can help you develop better vocabulary and feel on the drumset. To understand this relationship, play an 8th-note triplet with your right hand while playing a straight 8th-note…
1967 Rock Drumming
The seeds were sown in 1966. While jazz had dom-inated the attention of progressive music fans the previous decade, rock ’n’ roll was now the place where the real avant-garde activity was going down. The Beatles’ Revolver, the Beach Boys’…
1967, the Summer of Love
Happy summer, everyone! Putting together this special issue has been a lot of work, but just as much fun. I was ten years old in 1967. Rolling Stone magazine debuted that year, and I’d just gotten my first “real” drumkit.…
Swinging London
THE ZOMBIES and THE MOODY BLUES might have originated in St. Albans and Birmingham, respectively, but few groups more fully captured the urbane and artsy edge of the British Invasion’s London HQ—even if one band was on its way up and the other on its way out.
Favorite 1960s Drum Tracks?
As we were taking a look back at some of the most iconic drummers and performances of 1967 for this month’s cover feature, we wanted to find out which tracks our readers and social media followers felt marked the greatest…
A New Perspective - Displacing Three-Over-Four Polyrhythms
https://vimeo.com/219138001 A three-over-four polyrhythm is comprised of sets of three equally spaced notes and four equally spaced notes that occupy the same timeframe. Typically both sides of the polyrhythm start together on the same note and utilize the same subdivision.…
RTOM - Black Hole Practice System
Snap-on mesh heads that convert an acoustic kit to a low-volume rehearsal set in seconds.
Spaun 20th Anniversary Kit, PDP Daru Jones New Yorker Kit, TRX Cymbals and More!
TRX Special Edition AX Cymbals The new Special Edition AX cymbals feature a bright, powerful sound that is recommended for contemporary rock, pop, Latin, and R&B. Made from handcrafted, hand-hammered B20 bronze, the brighter tone of the new AX models…
Remo - Classic Fit and P3 Felt Tone Drumheads
No more struggling to fit skins on oversized vintage snare and tom shells or wrestling with testy felt strips to achieve a classic fluffy/punchy kick tone.
UFIP - Class and Vibra Series Cymbals
Centrifuge-cast for the purest B20-bronze tone possible.
Yuval Lion
Enjoying a long run at New York’s Public Theater, the rock opera Joan of Arc: Into the Fire features a striking young actress/vocalist adorned in chain mail, sixteen male dancer/singers, and a rock band that pumps out David Byrne’s original…
The Drum Thing
“The most exciting thing,” photographer Deirdre O’Callaghan says, “is to be around passionate people with a drive to master an instrument. It’s truly magical.” That drive and passion come across crystal-clear in the images and words of the ninety-six drummers…