Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Inspiration
The Nike commercials said it best, "just do it". Alongside your ambitions, you'll come across many others with similar ambitions. Although there are some who say they want the same thing as you or they aspire to achieve the same results as you, deep down you know better. Only YOU can do that thing you do. For me it's drumming, writing songs and teaching others what I know about music. There are plenty of songs I want to learn and several styles to master yet they keep changing as I grow. My playing is the culmination of experiences and studies throughout my years but it is also mixed with what I have seen and heard others do. I do not have the same goals nor do I want the same sound. This should be all the confidence I need. I play drums the way only I do. Hopefully you can take that thought away with you and focus on YOU instead of what everyone else is doing.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The calm before the storm...
Blog 8/27/2011
It feels like my summer just began this past week. I didn't get much time for myself this summer but that can only lead to good things right? What's the phrase..."idle time is the devil's playground"? No rest for the wicked...
My band, Brand New Sin, began tracking our 5th full length CD in late May. It's entitled UNITED STATE; to quote Kris, "our finest work yet, until the next one". This is the first recording to include the extraordinary guitar work of our new lead guitarist, Tommy Matkowski. [Interesting side note: if you're not aware, we toured the country in February. we were lucky enough to open for the legendary Slash for two shows. Ironically and coincidentally, Guns N Roses' original artist, Billy White Jr., shared his amazing skills and imagination with us once again for this new album.] Shortly after the tour we signed a worldwide marketing and distribution deal with Goomba Music. Reminder- it's 2011; they're not just handing out label contracts at your local dive bar these days! According to our agreement, this means radio, video, international marketing and an entire staff of people pushing our music!! Very exciting times...life is good.
As with our 2009 release, DISTILLED, United State was tracked, engineered, produced, mixed and mastered at Subcat Music Studio which now resides in the building dubbed "219" in downtown Syracuse, NY.
I have a unique role in this amazing arts and entertainment complex. I teach private drum lessons full time in the drum studio on the 2nd floor. For the past 6 weeks I had the luxury and honor to be the drum teacher for Rock Camp! Yup. You read it right...ROCK CAMP! Not boring, completely inspiring, absolutely challenging and rewarding beyond words! I hope the program continues to gain momentum and cummunity support. This idea (locally) was spearheaded by local musician Bill Hider who is the chairman of the board for The Redhouse Theater and art gallery which is attached to Subcat. Thanks to all the artistic enterprises encompassed by 219 : Black Lagoon Productions, The Redhouse, Subcat Music Studio and Montage Cafe for the space and participation! Thanks to you Rock Camp ROCKED! [Much respect for our fearless leaders - Peggy and Emmett, and my fellow staff members, Leila, Seth, Rita, Parker, Jon, Dylan, Sam, Nathan, Justin, Koko; also, the Red house staff - Laura, Mike, John, Anton, Steve, and of course Scott Allyn]. These kids met eachother, formed bands, wrote and learned each others' songs, and performed a concert in 3 weeks! (We had 3 sessions in our first year). Awesome! [Useless trivia: Brand New Sin made a cameo appearance in the movie School Of Rock featuring Jack Black (Paramount Pictures)].
Between lessons, curriculum/lesson plans, tracking, practicing, delegating, co-producing, performing, lecturing, public speaking, conducting/arranging, etc. ...... I'm pooped. Whew! I should just forward my mail to 219 S. West St.
Somehow along the way I also managed to play some cool shows. Brand New Sin opened for Bobaflex at Mean Street Tattoo Studio's grand opening a couple weeks ago with When Everything Fails and Born Again Rebels. We played a rare acoustic gig at NOPL public library as intermission entertainment for battle of the bands last month. I also had the privilege to share the stage with a dozen of my closest childhood friends and fellow local musicians, including the infamous Jeff Tortora (2010 Syracuse Hall of Fame inductee and current Blue Man Group drummer) with The Whatafuocos at The Lost Horizon with Formerly Unnamed and the Born Again Savages. Jeff also was kind enough to donate his time and give an amazing performance and interview for the kids at Rock Camp last week! Unforgettable.
Subcat
http://subcat.net
Rock Camp
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redhouse-Rock-Camp/128352840587973
Goomba Music
http://goombamusic.com
Whatafuocos blurb
http://mobile.syracuse.com/advsyra/pm_103282/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=JhUlyh4G
Brand New Sin
http://brandnewsin.com
http://reverbnation.com/brandnewsin
Anyway, I am seriously ready for this album to drop. I am MORE than ready to hit the road with Brand New Sin (no surprise there).
...on to bigger and better things....
It feels like my summer just began this past week. I didn't get much time for myself this summer but that can only lead to good things right? What's the phrase..."idle time is the devil's playground"? No rest for the wicked...
My band, Brand New Sin, began tracking our 5th full length CD in late May. It's entitled UNITED STATE; to quote Kris, "our finest work yet, until the next one". This is the first recording to include the extraordinary guitar work of our new lead guitarist, Tommy Matkowski. [Interesting side note: if you're not aware, we toured the country in February. we were lucky enough to open for the legendary Slash for two shows. Ironically and coincidentally, Guns N Roses' original artist, Billy White Jr., shared his amazing skills and imagination with us once again for this new album.] Shortly after the tour we signed a worldwide marketing and distribution deal with Goomba Music. Reminder- it's 2011; they're not just handing out label contracts at your local dive bar these days! According to our agreement, this means radio, video, international marketing and an entire staff of people pushing our music!! Very exciting times...life is good.
As with our 2009 release, DISTILLED, United State was tracked, engineered, produced, mixed and mastered at Subcat Music Studio which now resides in the building dubbed "219" in downtown Syracuse, NY.
I have a unique role in this amazing arts and entertainment complex. I teach private drum lessons full time in the drum studio on the 2nd floor. For the past 6 weeks I had the luxury and honor to be the drum teacher for Rock Camp! Yup. You read it right...ROCK CAMP! Not boring, completely inspiring, absolutely challenging and rewarding beyond words! I hope the program continues to gain momentum and cummunity support. This idea (locally) was spearheaded by local musician Bill Hider who is the chairman of the board for The Redhouse Theater and art gallery which is attached to Subcat. Thanks to all the artistic enterprises encompassed by 219 : Black Lagoon Productions, The Redhouse, Subcat Music Studio and Montage Cafe for the space and participation! Thanks to you Rock Camp ROCKED! [Much respect for our fearless leaders - Peggy and Emmett, and my fellow staff members, Leila, Seth, Rita, Parker, Jon, Dylan, Sam, Nathan, Justin, Koko; also, the Red house staff - Laura, Mike, John, Anton, Steve, and of course Scott Allyn]. These kids met eachother, formed bands, wrote and learned each others' songs, and performed a concert in 3 weeks! (We had 3 sessions in our first year). Awesome! [Useless trivia: Brand New Sin made a cameo appearance in the movie School Of Rock featuring Jack Black (Paramount Pictures)].
Between lessons, curriculum/lesson plans, tracking, practicing, delegating, co-producing, performing, lecturing, public speaking, conducting/arranging, etc. ...... I'm pooped. Whew! I should just forward my mail to 219 S. West St.
Somehow along the way I also managed to play some cool shows. Brand New Sin opened for Bobaflex at Mean Street Tattoo Studio's grand opening a couple weeks ago with When Everything Fails and Born Again Rebels. We played a rare acoustic gig at NOPL public library as intermission entertainment for battle of the bands last month. I also had the privilege to share the stage with a dozen of my closest childhood friends and fellow local musicians, including the infamous Jeff Tortora (2010 Syracuse Hall of Fame inductee and current Blue Man Group drummer) with The Whatafuocos at The Lost Horizon with Formerly Unnamed and the Born Again Savages. Jeff also was kind enough to donate his time and give an amazing performance and interview for the kids at Rock Camp last week! Unforgettable.
Subcat
http://subcat.net
Rock Camp
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redhouse-Rock-Camp/128352840587973
Goomba Music
http://goombamusic.com
Whatafuocos blurb
http://mobile.syracuse.com/advsyra/pm_103282/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=JhUlyh4G
Brand New Sin
http://brandnewsin.com
http://reverbnation.com/brandnewsin
Anyway, I am seriously ready for this album to drop. I am MORE than ready to hit the road with Brand New Sin (no surprise there).
...on to bigger and better things....
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
So, my wife is in a band...
Augustine http://augustinerocks.com
**Augustine recently changed their name to "JUST A MEMORY"**
They had a show last night. I went to bed early and woke up to a couple visitors crashing on the couch at our little flop house. I cooked some breakfast and kidnapped Leila's drummer...
I had this polyrhythm in my head and I didn't have enough hands to pull it off. It was Sunday and I promised myself I'd film a new drum video every week (every Monday). "Joe, you sticking around for a few? Wanna join me for my next video lesson?" He said, "Sure".
Here it is:
**Augustine recently changed their name to "JUST A MEMORY"**
They had a show last night. I went to bed early and woke up to a couple visitors crashing on the couch at our little flop house. I cooked some breakfast and kidnapped Leila's drummer...
I had this polyrhythm in my head and I didn't have enough hands to pull it off. It was Sunday and I promised myself I'd film a new drum video every week (every Monday). "Joe, you sticking around for a few? Wanna join me for my next video lesson?" He said, "Sure".
Here it is:
Friday, November 12, 2010
I'm no movie director, but....
I got the nerve to finally take a crack at filming. Filming people, or, in this case, a person, my test subject...me. I enjoy talking about drumming and I know a lot about it. I still need to get over being slightly camera shy and overly critical of myself but, I think I would be doing a disservice to you if I didn't keep the camera rolling. Every week I'll upload a new video lesson for you. I'll show you what I've been working on, slow it down and teach you how to play it. Over the years I've learned how to help students learn, retain and memorize a new beat or style with minimal practice. No, I'm not giving anyone shortcuts on practice time. You still have to do the work and sweat. Sweat a lot. I can, however, give preventative habits so you don't WASTE time!
Breaking bad habits, making you aware of the fact that you are causing damage to yourself or wasting needless energy, playing too fast for your ability, playing too hard for the wrong technique etc......
That's my job.
Fix it. Move forward. Practice it tomorrow. Repeat. Simple. Ok, not so simple for the ADD / ADHD kids or most drummers I've ever met. Hey...is there a correlation? Maybe that's a bad generalization. This is more accurate I suppose - drummers often have a tendancy to be impatient students. That's not an insult, drum lessons can be boring, and drummers...well, they drum. 'Let's get to the good stuff. Come on. I don't want to play The Little Dummer Boy!!'
I was impatient in the beginning. A few years later I was stubborn, sensitive to critique, and slightly lazy. Those aren't very good traits for a kid with little drumming experience who was trying to get into music college. I needed some humility and I sure got it quickly. I already read music but college really sharpened my skills.
You don't have to know how to read music. You should though. It saves valuable time and valuable headroom because you don't have to memorize it. It's right there on the paper, screen, phone (insert favorite media here) etc. If you don't know how to read drum music I'll give you some confidence: it's a heck of a lot easier than reading piano music! You're only looking at a map of the drum set sounds and what order they are struck. On a small drum set there are about 10-12 characters that can be used to create thousands of cool rhythms (many more if you have a large kit or emsemble). That's not a scary way to look at it is it? Don't be afraid to ask a musician to show you how to read drum music. If you pay attention you can pick it up fast!
The next drum video: Hihat and Ride Variations.
All these variations are heard throughout rock history. They are still used in new music too. Think of this video as your rock toolbox. Memorize and coordinate each one of these and use them in as many styles as you can and you are on your way towards 4 limb independence. If you are serious and you have the patience, you can watch the examples and beats for 9 minutes, or skip to 9:10 where I put them all together at the end (with notation). It's a good challenge with timeless techniques. Hopefully this video will give you something you can use in your music for years to come.
Breaking bad habits, making you aware of the fact that you are causing damage to yourself or wasting needless energy, playing too fast for your ability, playing too hard for the wrong technique etc......
That's my job.
Fix it. Move forward. Practice it tomorrow. Repeat. Simple. Ok, not so simple for the ADD / ADHD kids or most drummers I've ever met. Hey...is there a correlation? Maybe that's a bad generalization. This is more accurate I suppose - drummers often have a tendancy to be impatient students. That's not an insult, drum lessons can be boring, and drummers...well, they drum. 'Let's get to the good stuff. Come on. I don't want to play The Little Dummer Boy!!'
I was impatient in the beginning. A few years later I was stubborn, sensitive to critique, and slightly lazy. Those aren't very good traits for a kid with little drumming experience who was trying to get into music college. I needed some humility and I sure got it quickly. I already read music but college really sharpened my skills.
You don't have to know how to read music. You should though. It saves valuable time and valuable headroom because you don't have to memorize it. It's right there on the paper, screen, phone (insert favorite media here) etc. If you don't know how to read drum music I'll give you some confidence: it's a heck of a lot easier than reading piano music! You're only looking at a map of the drum set sounds and what order they are struck. On a small drum set there are about 10-12 characters that can be used to create thousands of cool rhythms (many more if you have a large kit or emsemble). That's not a scary way to look at it is it? Don't be afraid to ask a musician to show you how to read drum music. If you pay attention you can pick it up fast!
The next drum video: Hihat and Ride Variations.
All these variations are heard throughout rock history. They are still used in new music too. Think of this video as your rock toolbox. Memorize and coordinate each one of these and use them in as many styles as you can and you are on your way towards 4 limb independence. If you are serious and you have the patience, you can watch the examples and beats for 9 minutes, or skip to 9:10 where I put them all together at the end (with notation). It's a good challenge with timeless techniques. Hopefully this video will give you something you can use in your music for years to come.
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