Drum geek sick chops youtube thread

i mention that because i'm quitting my job this month and i've been thinking about changing things up, "career-wise". i've been dreaming about trying to start a small music label that is also a radical co-op/non-profit/something else model. would be trying to achieve four things:

a) all revenue beyond basic living wage expenses (see c and d) go toward antifa local mutual aid efforts
b) release physical/digital releases of do-gooder bands, with a brilliant (and tbd) structure that guarantees that the band will at least break even, and could potentially even _make a little bit of money_ from their music.
c) pay myself a living wage, and enough to pay my rent, bills, and student loans. and not a cent more.
d) anyone who gets paid as part of the organization/label gets paid the same amount, no matter who they are. that can either be a salary or a per hour basis.

i mention that because i'm obviously going through my second pre-40s mid-life crisis i anticipate that no matter how non-platform/diy i try to be, i'll probably need something like bandcamp too.

That sounds amazing except for the part where you need to get people to pay money for music, in a sufficient amount to even make back the costs of mastering etc :/

(please don't go into music with any hope of making money!)

definitely. the "brilliant (and tbd) structure" mentioned in part b) definitely goes a long way there, lol

i want to see if i can do it, though. like...what if the person who did the mastering was part of the collective/co-op? and what if pressings/releases only happened once a minimum amount of people indicated that they would like to purchase it? that would lessen the risk. my thought is that most people want to make a bunch of money and grow, but i don't. i just want to pay my bills and set up something that is sustainable and helpful to other people. so maybe the profit-taking part of the equation goes away. (and perhaps there's even a way to somehow make it a non-profit, but i know that complicates things even more). and local bands, generally, just want to release their shit on a label and have a physical release to show their loved ones, but also not lose a bunch of money in the process. maybe there are a few do-gooder bands who would be interested in releasing something for a label that is just trying to raise money for mutual aid.

also, i'm not coming up with this out of nowhere, i've seen that there are do-gooder bands and music people who already support this kind of thing. i started thinking about it after a friend of mine helped put this together: https://chicagocommunityjailsupport.bandcamp.com/album/warm-violet-a-compilation-for-chicago-community-jail-support. it raised $9000 on the first day of release, and people are still buying it.

i'm also thinking about how it would be so cool if the "buy" button was actually the "donate" button, and it tells you exactly how much is going to the mutual aid fund vs how much is going to the artist and the label.

that would be something i would like to be involved with if you decide to push it forward. feel free to email me.

another thought: what if there was a way to purchase music (physical releases, even, most likely in small diy quantities) that also qualified as a charitable act of giving? why does all music have to be locked up inside profitable streaming giants (and again...platforms exerting a growing influence on the content itself)?

xp

thanks NA! and depending on how it goes, i will! it could be a big life move, but i definitely want to make sure that it can actually work before proceeding.

it could also take a very different form. like, i was thinking of how cool it would be release music from incarcerated people, and then for all the proceeds to go back to the prisoners + mutual aid/jail support. it sounds a little wild, but another person on the same team that put together the bandcamp comp is ALSO highly connected with the incarceration/activist world. i haven't talked with her yet but multiple people have mentioned that she would be "VERY, VERY" into the idea, so...yeah.

or...it would probably be something very different than that, or nothing at all.

Ok godspeed then. As I'm sure you know, it's all too easy to only look at the successes (on Bandcamp or elsewhere) and think 'oh, I can do that as well' without knowing all of the irl scene/networks/pr/invisible factors that are behind it. I've seen some great charity comps with amazing musicians that tank on Bandcamp too.

These are cool ideas though, don't let me get you down.

this turned into a really interesting discussion fwiw. Jordan I think what you think sometimes too which is that it seems maybe a bit sad if this is all just self-contained 'content creation,' and it's notable that the video you posted at the start of it was a joke about getting fired from gigs for trying all that stuff on stage. And I can't think of any of these people who are also in really great bands that I like, whereas the drummers in really great bands I like tend to keep things a lot simpler (and really how often during the course of a show or album would you want to hear those kinds of insane fractal fills?). Of course maybe that's just a nice story I tell myself to not feel inadequate.

Also KM, I applaud your idea, but I think if you do something like that you should do it more for spiritual, humane and awareness-raising reasons, because music is about the worst possible way to raise money for anything unless you have big names and a marketing budget off the bat.

Yeah, I would of course prefer to be able to play all that stuff and then choose not to. :)

To bring it back around, this is a youtube drum thing that has been sticking in my mind lately, a simple reminder to play like you give a shit and imbue every backbeat with confidence & intention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-1vs2xbH8

luckily, i have an in on the upcoming sonic youth reunion album

i appreciate the feedback! i'm still working through it - calling it a "music label" is probably a really misleading way to put it. it would be more like a co-op service for creative people, designed to replace the most expensive/privatized parts of the process with diy/co-op/in-house. if there is just one do-gooder with mastering skills and equipment, that could be their contribution to the co-op service. sure, that contribution would be much more important than most other people could provide, but that's part of a normal community. it's normal for people who have lucked out in life to subsidize those who haven't (yet). i think there must be someone out there who, miraculously, is financially secure but also still wants to be in a community with people who are not. or, probably much more likely, there is someone out there with those mastering skills/equipment who is NOT financially secure, but is a do-gooder and therefore is going to sacrifice some of their own personal wellbeing in order to help out a bunch of other people, anyway. in my experience, creative people are a) almost always broke and also b) generous with their time and energy. the trick is to find these people, and i already know some of them so that makes me optimistic

a simple reminder to play like you give a shit and imbue every backbeat with confidence & intention:

Yeah I have very strong feelings about this -- that more broadly you should really enjoy and feel emotion about everything you play, and if what you're playing is very simple and "boring" then you should try to vibe with what you're accompanying and just enjoy the way your simple beat supports it. I think a lot about the way someone like Nick Mason plays - no matter how simple he's playing, it always sounds like he's really listening to and vibing with the rest of the band, and it's hard to say how I know he's doing that, it's just in the feel of the drumming, even in between the fills (which he typically only puts at the end of phrases, keeping the rest of the beat simple). Or even simpler, Ralph Molina. I also think a lot about the drums on Don't Let It Bring You Down, almost minimalist, yet there's a lot of feel and emotion in them.

what the crap is going on in here?

Thinking about it in terms of drumming, it's definitely a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's great that there's so much information that's available, and not gatekept behind lessons or a music education. It's amazing that you can see how people's hands move (instead of just your one friend in the school band who's decent at drums), get the sticking behind the lick, slow it down to .25 speed, etc.

NOT GATEKEPT is a key phrase here
maybe it's because i have had to maintain delusion-levels of belief in myself to progress as a drummer, or some other reason, but comparing yourself to others is a superhighway to feeling like shit. play like you feel it/be a conduit for the spirit and you may not ever be recognized but at least you are playing music in a way that is enjoyable and i think that is the point. ralph molina otm, he was one of my early role models. in case you wondered, i started playing 7 years ago this June. yes that much time has passed.

Had some actual lols at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzLg6aM3c7U

not a drummer: what is that loofa thing on his snare?

probably just for dampening (real pros use a wallet)

this video is cracking me up

just like his funny faces, and stuff, more than anything. i like this guy and his loofa!

xp I don't know what it's called but it's like this little collection of fake shells strung together that you shake for effect (used here to dampen the drum/add effect).

i assumed it was for dampening but it seems so convoluted for that purpose

esp a fan of "diarrhea of the hands," a phrase I think will enter my lexicon, and being highly interactive with the soloist, died at that one

Love Zackgrooves, his channel has been a good replacement for Rational Funk.

He's just ridiculously good but has his head on straight about everything (and is goofy & funny obv).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc6i6liFJ84

Don't know where to put this etc....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItZyaOlrb7E

lol that made the rounds years ago

i never get sick of it though

I feel very strongly that that drummer is at the right gig

Lol, was thinking the same thing.

Increasingly getting my drum jollies on instagram rather than youtube.

Monstrous and insanely creative percussionist I follow
https://www.instagram.com/akhamie.music/

This guy is my favorite rn though
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNpZKs6HT5u/

https://www.instagram.com/stevely_man_drums/

Hadn't ever paid much attention to James Gang or their drummer Jimmy Vox, but this is good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo0vBdlWQs0

*Fox

Been getting into this French dude:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QABXwWOVOk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slHhwUY8hmA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty_y_2INYgo

Ok I'm pretty into the 'Everybody Want to Rule the World: Metric Modulation' challenge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F88Z4Tts4gY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-4cErugi8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEBOIuUKO1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RuVGHL-N78

great stuff indeed

Funk/jazz legend Dennis Chambers hearing Tool's 'Schism' sans drums and then taking a pass on drums a few minutes later. Pretty funking cool and kinda wild that what he came up with at points really is not all that far from Daney Carey's take. Dude heard this like once and then played this...yikes what a drummer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVwyAsU4dus

ha i loved that video

Yeah, that was fun.

Already posted something by Rafael Barata a while back, but nothing by Edu Ribeiro who is an equally big monster and stage presence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPp6mZht230

That is the first tool song I’ve ever heard, all the way through

I’m with Dennis, “not my cup of tea”!

Tool (If You Think It's Over)

wow that Ribeiro vid is something!

feels like a missed opportunity to not let us hear the tool track without drums, but still a cool vid with Dennis too

sick counting chops with Mike Mangini
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ37nonagho

I've been trying to avoid that Dennis Chambers/Tool video because the algorithm seems intent on me clicking it, but here's what I've been into:

-This Swiss kid who's a fantastic bebop drummer, that's a big thing I've been working on lately: https://www.instagram.com/peterprimusfrosch/

-Joe Farnsworth's insta/youtube posts

-This Japanese kid is who just ridiculous, doing the modern linear post-Chris Dave/JD Beck etc thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uo6Gkv2YLQ

This Swiss kid who's a fantastic bebop drummer

This Japanese kid is who just ridiculous, doing the modern linear post-Chris Dave/JD Beck etc thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uo6Gkv2YLQ

― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 21:03 (forty-four minutes ago) link

I kind of hate this tbh, it's good chops but it just feels like a pointless exercise in how many different ways a beat can be subdivided. It's got nothing whatsoever to do with the tune he's playing over, not even in the most abstract/oblique way (other than being in 3)

I get what you're saying, the ubiquity of linear post-gospel chop style playing can all sound the same, it's meant to sound like a blur of displaced notes that miraculously resolves on the 1. But I'm pretty into this style that's more based around the backbeat, with all the skittery subdivisions in between. It's definitely not easy to make it groove (and I've noticed that the Louis Cole/JD Beck trick of putting splash cymbals or household items on all your drums really helps even out the sound between them, it makes it easier to play these beats and have it sound like a cohesive thing).

That video might not be the most musical example, but I think the point of the video is to show how many ways a beat can be subdivided. :) It's basically a backing track and he's got some fresh ideas. The culture of internet virtuosity has its problems, but I watch these for inspiration and to find a little something in there I can practice/incorporate.

A couple more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81-6sUmUpHg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OolnA7ElNpU