Behind the Kit

…But I STILL stand by Kiss Alive -that album rocks. Simple. Riff heavy. Catchy.

Had to make a short film in an early film class about a childhood obsession. And obsessed I was.

In fact, when I was 8 years I wrote them a letter. I remember it exactly-

Dear Kiss,

I think you guys are the greatest band in the world. I really want to go see you in concert but my mom will not let me. She says people smoke pot and throw beer bottles at concerts.  Is this really true?

Your biggest fan,

Keith

I’m still waiting for them to write back.

For the past couple of years I have been playing in a three-piece band called The Tallships. In 2006 we did a tour of Europe and since then we’ve been consistently writing new material for a record we’ve been recording over the past few months. At this point in the recording the drums and bass are done and the guitars are almost finished. The guitarist is doing the bulk of the recording and mixing and today I went over to his house to listen to much of the work he did over the past week. As we were listening to the playbacks and discussing the ins and outs of the tunes, he paid me the highest compliment I could ask for as a musician.

Being at the helm of the recording process he is hearing (over and over) every little part and  said, “As I’m going through the stuff it’s crazy how integral your drum parts are –they have become essential to the music and the songs themselves.”

Awesome.

That is always my goal as a drummer and should be the goal of every drummer –Think like a musician and attempt to create drum parts that are so much part of the music, they actually become an integral part of the song.

Now, often times if not most of the time, the music will simply call for you to lay down a good solid beat, but when there are songs or sections of songs that are more open and allow you to do whatever, if you think like a musician rather than a drummer, MUSIC will come out of your set and your playing –not just beats and fills.

Remember- Music first, and shredding second. Waaay second. If you approach it like this, when the music calls for some shredding it’s going be shredding that matters.

Let the music tell you what to play and when to play it.

What do you call a guy who likes to hang around musicians?

A drummer.

Why do drummers have such a bad reputation in this regard? Well, unfortunately a lot of the time it is because they deserve it. Musically speaking, nothing is worse than a drummer who overplays and wants to show off those shiny new splash cymbals or gong or roto toms or whatever. It is essential to embrace the following concept in the name of all that does not suck –

The drums are a collection of percussive instruments that primarily play a rhythmic role in music.

They can provide other elements as well- texture, dynamics, attitude, and so forth. But if the drummer does not understand his fundamental role all will sound like turd. The drums and drummer exist within a band to support the music. As Bono said about U2’s rhythm section –Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton –they are the legs to the music. Sorry to the drummers who want to be front and center but your role is primarily a supportive one.

But what about Neil Peart? And Danny Carey? And Mitch Mitchell (RIP)? I guarantee as dramatic as they are they are fully aware when they are stepping outside the bounds of their role. Even though these guys are known for their shreddability factors I would still argue they initially approach the music from a supportive perspective, then AS THE MUSIC DICTATES they branch out from there into shred territory.

Drummers remember –we are musicians FIRST, and shredders second. If you don’t master the first concept you will never be allowed to show off your chops because everyone will hate you.

This man is an absolute unruly freak of nature, but I guarantee you when his main employer (Prince) wants him to lay down a funky simple groove he does it –no frills attached.

A number of years ago, I was in a band called Dryve and I was hanging with a fellow band member  who was the main lyric writer in the band. He was the main lyricist for one reason- he was really, really good at it  -he wrote some lyrics that are still my favorite to this day.  Anyway, we were discussing songwriting and he said something that stuck with me –

“To write good lyrics, you have to be willing to write a whole sheet of words, get to the bottom of the page, and then throw away the entire page except for one line where you really have something.”

What? No. I wanted to write perfect, awesome, life changing lyrics from start to finish. I didn’t want to write garbage. I came across an article (via NRSP) the other day where songwriter Brett Dennen basically said the same thing-

• Never, ever be an editor while you’re writing lyrics. Just pour out whatever comes naturally, and don’t let a single negative or critical thought enter your mind. And write a lot—write eight verses or more, without worrying about whether you’re being clever or poetic, or if the words even rhyme.

• Now, bomb the hell out of what you wrote. Slash and burn. Delete, erase, cross out lines and words that don’t absolutely need to be in there, because those things only distract from your point.

The lesson to be learned here is perfectionism will stifle creativity and consequently, good music. If you really feel like you have something to say musically, lyrically or otherwise, don’t let perfectionism destroy your output. Produce and refine and if you have talent it will rise to the top.

Here is the ultimate example. Would Bono have turned into the incredible singer/performer he is today if he let this stop him?

partygirlclip

You hear that?  They actually released that to the public!!!  He didn’t let his imperfections stop him (and you have to admit, that is pretty rough) but he worked and worked and became the amazing vocalist he is today.

Do not strive initially to be perfect, strive to GET GOING and the perfection of your output will come in due time.

If you have ever heard anyone ever say, “Being in a band is like being in marriage”, well, that is unfortunately only half of the truth. The truth is being in a band is usually like being in a BAD marriage with 2 or 3 or 4 other people. And it usually ain’t pretty. I was in a band once where upon dissolution of the band we had to divvy up the remaining debt as they outweighed the assets. “You get the car I get the house” stuff, except it was, “I pay off the house you pay off the car”. Ugly.

In a marriage you have two people coming together to join their lives and futures and live happily ever after. Then, after the wedding, reality sets in-“I thought you would… I never thought you would…Why don’t you ever…” and so forth. It takes time, effort and a lot of work to learn how to communicate and build a happy union.

The difficulty usually lies in unsaid and therefore unmet expectations as the mighty task of a parallel life course is undertaken. And what gets so difficult is there is so much at stake –the course of the two lives and the sense of identity that is so closely wrapped up in the direction of that course.

At the heart of what we feel about ourselves is the deep concept of our sexuality, not sexuality as in simply the sex act, but in the essence of what we feel about ourselves as men and women. Therefore when the marriage is shaken or tested our very sense of selves is shaken as well.

The good thing is since marriage has been around for thousands of years there is a lot of work that has gone into it, so when we hit bumps in the road there is a multitude of resources (counseling, books, friends etc.) we can draw upon.

Ain’t no such thing as rock band counseling last time I checked (unless you are Metallica…good lord, that’s for another post).

When you decide to join or form a band it is imperative that you understand that ALL of the issues of marriage are at play in your rock and roll union. Trust, fear, vulnerability etc. -everything except the sex. We hope anyway. Unless of course you are Fleetwood Mac.

But even if you take out the sexuality factor you do indeed throw in something just as volatile -if not more so –the creativity factor.

What lies just as closely to the center of our inner rocking child star is the creative self. We are ALL beings that need to create. How we create, what we are creating, and how others perceive, honor and respect our creativity is just as important to our sense of well being as whether our wives think we are studs or the husbands think we are fat.

There is a reason there are so few bands that continue for the long term. And it isn’t limited to money issues.

Since the death of Napster music lovers such as myself have been looking, praying, hoping for an easy way to access and discover good music. So far what I have tried has spotty or mixed results-

• File sharing, illegal downloading, I am a horrible person depriving artists (wait, I am an artist!) of their ‘rightful’ fortunes, liberating the future of music way.

-OK here are my problems with that. I just want a few tunes. Or a record. Now, with the bit torrent world, I am forced to wait, like hours dude for the ENTIRE Iron Maiden catalog. No Bro. I just want the Killers album. C’mon.

-Firewalls and broken connections and failing torrent loaders… I don’t want to become computer torrent downloader guy -I just want to hear WRATHCHILD!!

• The ‘New’ Napster and subscription services of the like.

-Um, I don’t think I want to pay 4 or 10 or 15 bucks a month just to listen online to what I already have and MAAAAYBE find something cool. No way.

So here is what I have found to be very, very cool-

PANDORA

My favorite so far. Why? Because it rocks that’s why. If you do not know of Pandora here is the deal- You pick a ‘station’ -could be an artist or a song or a genre. So let’s say it is… “Heartbreaker” by Led Zeppelin (hell yeah…) Pandora will create a radio station based upon reasons you might like the song. So as you listen to your newly created station you might get a Rage against the machine song (which is just recycled Zep riffs. Don’t get me wrong -I love ’em) based upon the musicality of Heartbreaker or you might get a song that was also recorded in 1969 -obviously based upon the time period rather than the musical qualities. Then, you get vote a thumbs up or down on whatever the ‘station’ spits out at you. So the station will learn what it is you really like about the song and obey your wishes to steer it in whatever direction you please. PLUS -this is really cool- they have an iphone app which allows you to experience all the joys of your own customized station on your phone. That is supremely awesome when you want to tune into your Iron Maiden collection on the road for a little Metal mania.

Drawbacks? When you give thumbs ups on certain tunes it starts spitting those at you a little too frequently. I only wish they would make it a little more random and somehow keep track of how many times they have played you a song in a certain period of time. So I find myself refraining from giving the thumbs up on certain tunes because I don’t want to hear them EVERY time I listen to the station.

LALA

OK I am a little new to this one but so far there are a number of things that sold me on it’s merits.

When I join it will scan my computer and match all the songs on my computer to what is in there data base. What ever is not matched they will actually upload. Then, since I ‘own’ all of the tunes on my computer I can listen to them anywhere and anytime I want on LALA. Then, if through their matching service or networking (which I admit I have not thoroughly explored yet -I am still in uploading mode) I find something I like I can listen to it for free. Once. Then, if I want to be able to listen to it anytime it is 10 cents. Dude, 10 cents is not a bad deal. Then if I love it so much I want to download it and put it under my pillow THEN it is 99 cents.

Now what I like about this is first, I don’t have to pay to listen online to any of the 10000 songs I already own. Then if I do like something I only have to pay 10 cents to be able to listen to it. Now that is a good deal.

Rock on.

I am but a babe taking his first steps in the world of the blog.

Yep this the official first post. The one nobody will read. Except my wife. And maybe my mom.

I labored for months on what to write about. Music? Politics? Philosophical implications of moral relativsm affecting the zeitgeist of today’s cultural perceptions? I could not decide. Therefore I will write about all of it. May the strongest survive. Go.