While at Fest 11, the amazing Nick and James from Street Folk Sessions taped us doing a cover of Billy Joels’ “Sleeping with the Television On”. So thank you to Nick and James and extra thanks to Rachel Bell and John DeDomenici for joining in on the fun! ****edit (cause I’m a jerk)**** also a big thank you to Laura Stevenson and Jesse Litwa for lending their guitars. Without them, this wouldn’t of happened!! Check out Street folk Session for other videos from the Fest of The Wild, Broadcaster and many other awesome bands!!!!!
** This is my own personal opinion and I’m not bashing anybody for using a double kick pedal**
Recently, while browsing Facebook, I came across a post from one person (Brent from Save the Swim Team) to another (Jim from We Are The Union) stating that “You and your drumming have inspired me to quit using a double bass pedal. Tonight will be my last show with one. Congratulations.”. I saw this and thought, “Good for Jim, he’s a great drummer and I’m glad he is influencing people with his style of playing” but fuck that, Brent is a great drummer as well. But I jokingly made a remark saying that double pedals are lame. This stemmed into an interesting debate between Matt Covey (currently the drummer of Shai Hulud) and all of us on this Facebook thread about single pedal versus double pedals. Matt said “Might need to check out some more drummers that use double bass then…”.
I, personally, have always used a single pedal. As a drummer who’s been playing for 26 years, I have/will always play with a single pedal. Why? Because I feel playing with a double pedal is cheating……depending on what you are using it for. I also mentioned this in the Facebook thread, adding the quip “(if) You can’t do that shit with one foot, I say give up and run track instead!”. I say this due to the fact that ALMOST every drummer I’ve heard play a double pedal has been in metal/hardcore bands have the repetitive 16th note double bass drum break down that is in the stereotypical metal/hardcore song. And yes I may be stereotyping here in this specific genre but in my own honest opinion, I’m not impressed with it.
My whole take on drums in a song is not only about the technique in the playing, but how it helps the song and accentuates certain attributes to give that song a little extra….(for lack of a better term) umph. I’ve always tried to write drum parts that are creative, have heart, and compliments the song rather than sound like it is programmed and too tight to the song to where it doesn’t sound real or too mechincal. Not saying that there aren’t songs I enjoy that have that sound, but it’s not the drums in the song that make me feel that way in this case. With the 16th notes pounding on a double kick pedal, it just doesn’t do it for me. HOWEVER, there are certain drummers that I do appreciate with a double kick pedal. Joey Jordison from Slipknot is one of them. Back in 1999, I was in a metal/hardcore band called Mindtwist and a ska/punk band called The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. I used a single pedal for both. I knew I wasn’t great with using a double pedal (I have tried) but it enticed me to get better with one foot and get more creative. When Slipknot’s self titled album came out, the drums stood out to me because it had that heavy feel and it was driven by that 16th note metal cliche. It was something creative. At the time, the only other drummers I really heard with a double pedal was Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Kenny Schalk (Candiria) and David Silveria (Korn). David’s beats I thought were creative as well and blended/fit the song perfectly to where the song needed to be. Now I’m not going to bash Vinnie here, as you may think this is where I’m going with it, because he is also a great drummer. I appreciate what he does and I am still a huge Pantera fan (especially of their first 3 albums). But his drumming style wasn’t something that struck my fancy. Joey, and David were 2 drummers for me growing up with double pedals that really helped me shape my style with single pedal technique to think outside the box and incorporate a double kick style of a single pedal. Kenny……..can’t fucking touch him, the man is incredible at what he does.
Some of the drummers that I have grown up with and learned a lot from was Dave Grohl, Liberty Devitto, Tre Cool, and Chad Sexton. Chad uses a double pedal, but he rarely uses it, only when he thinks it could fit well into what he’s playing. That is something I will always admire. If I’m playing a show and I hear that a band I’m playing with has a drummer that uses a double, I’ll give it an honest, fair shot. But when I hear a drum solo that sounds like the drummer is trying to run a marathon, I back out. Now I’m not saying EVERY double pedal player is bad, or that they all play the same. But most double pedal players I’ve heard, majority of it has sounded the same to me. But this is just the footwork.
Playing devil’s advocate, this can also be said about punk rock (and almost any other genre of music). For punk, typically you have a fast drumbeat with repetitive 16th notes on a hi hat, and a snare, single kick, snare, double kick along with it. Most punk drummers follow suit in this style of playing, some accents the kick different ways. Punk drumming has always been something I “get”, and maybe I’m missing the point to a good metal/hardcore drummer. Being in the drum business for a long while, the double bass pedal drummers haven’t impressed me much. It could be that I’m being/have been close minded about it, or maybe its just not my cup of tea all together. But I’m more than willing to give it another shot.
On account of Matt Covey, the only thing I could find from him was this video of his Silverfox promo. Honestly, dude, you fucking kill it on drums!! Would love to see you one day live.
Today, Binary Heart (my solo project) has released a FULL BAND EP on Quote Unquote Records for FREE!!! So head over to there and download “Splitsville” and enjoy a short 4 songs that I enjoyed the crap out of writing and creating with my great friend (and bass player of Binary Heart), Mr. Steve Wozniak (YES he has the same name as that apple dude, and YES he’s just as awesome!).
Also on July 22nd, Binary Heart will be playing as a FULL BAND for the first time ever (no practicing at all…….that’s punk, right?) on Staten Island. All details for that show could be found HERE! So come on down and enjoy some awesome bands, and see how many times I mess up while playing an instrument when I’m not sitting down.
As I attempt to upkeep a blog and post more than 4 times a year, I figured I’d write a post about music that has been/will be currently playing on my iPod during the summer. Some of these bands have been friends of mine for a while and some are new. But all around, I’m glad they’ve created some awesome music for me to listen to and I hope it catches your ear as it has mine. Enjoy!!
No matter how often I say I won’t wait 3-4 months to post something here, I fail. I’m a PRO-crastinater. ha….ha….ha……sigh. :/
Anyways, updated news! I’ve been writing some songs for a full length album that I’m hoping will be released by the end of the year. (Once again, I procrastinate ALOT). It will be with a full band, with me recording drums, guitars and vocals, and Steve Wozniak playing bass. Speaking of Mr. Woz, he has started a solo project as well that I will be playing drums on. The project is called Civil Warmth and he has a single out called “All The Little Battles”. You should totally check it out cause its pretty bad ass.
Last weekend, I’ve experienced one of the best weekends of my life at the ASOB reunion shows. Every show was a blast from the past:
-running into old friends/fans that I haven’t seen in years
-getting to share a stage with some of the best people I’ve ever known (Joe Bove STILL is an amazing bass player, and he hasn’t picked up the thing in years.).
-playing these songs again for the first time in years
-playing MU330 songs with Dan Potthast
It was an unforgettable weekend, and even though I was running on no sleep for the entire week, I’d do it all again in the blink of an eye. And I have a long list of people to thank for that (let’s hope I don’t forget anybody): Jeff Rosenstock, John DeDomenici, Dave Renz, Sean McCabe, Sean Eldon Qualls, JT Turret, Chris Baltrus, Joe Werflman, Chris Valentino, Mike/Matt/Bob/Jon (Shinobu), Dan Potthast, Laura/Mike/Dave/Peter/Alex (Laura Stevenson and the Can), Adam/Tom/Danny/Doyle (The fad), Dno/Trotta/Brian/Zack (Curious Volume), Jake/TB player (sorry I don’t know your name…..Let Me Crazy), Bryan Schlamm, Shana Levi-Nielsen.
Also a very special thanks to Tom Kelly for driving my drunk ass home every night, Rachel Bell for being an awesome friend/personal assistant, and Dana Box/Alyssa/Nikki. (To anyone else I forgot which I’m sure I forgot a couple cause I’m writing this at 230 in the morning, I will probably edit you in when I’m not as sleepy).
One person I left out of the group above get his own very special paragraph. Mr. Jon Greco. Jon has been working on a Long Island Punk Documentary which has some interviews with members of Bomb, Nix 86, Bayside, and will also include some awesome footage from the ASOB warsaw show last Sunday. You can check those videos and then some on his facebook page here. Not sure if he reads this, but thank you Jon for filming last sunday.
I will be writing a new acoustic song for a Shoreline records comp coming out this summer, so my next post will be sooner than later with details on how to get that comp. And BTMI is playing a show June 17th with Future of the Left at Europa in Brooklyn. Tickets are available here. Hope to see you there!
So internets, how’ve ya been? Hope your answer is posi. So far this year, a lot of things have been going on.
- I’ve been expanding my programming skills to some languages that I haven’t really dealt with and have not had the patience to learn how the syntax works. So for the last month, I’ve been diligently learning many different programming languages and currently looking for freelance web dev work. So if you or anyone you know needs a website, you can email: admin [at] verbalfury [dot] com.
- I’ve haven’t really been putting time into the Binary Heart stuff the last two months but within the last 2 days, I’ve picked up my guitar and started writing again. I’m looking to finish writing 2 new songs by mid March, in which I will possibly record demo’s of and put them on my tumblr (binaryheartny.tumblr.com). I’m also thinking of including a cover of a New Amsterdams song.
- Bomb will be touring full band in March (bombthemusicindustry.com for dates), and I’m excited for this tour for a couple reasons…..
1. I get to see my brother in Georgia.
2. We’re playing a couple shows with CLASSICS OF LOVE and MIKE PARK (who is currently kicking my ass in fantasy baskbetball.)
3. Getting to see some friends who I don’t get to see too often is always a great part of tour.
- Another thing that I’m stoked on is ASOB will be doing a couple reunion shows in May. I’m late on posting this, and tickets are already sold out for the Brooklyn show at the Warsaw, so for those who didn’t get tickets…… >sad face<. BUT, you can head here and pick up tickets, Feb 18th (that’s today) at 10am for the Webster Hall show on May 26th. It’ll be nice playing all those old songs again, on a stage, with some amazing people who, whether they know it or not, have made a tremendous impact on my life. Not to stray too far from the path of this post, but I also feel the same way about the members of Bomb. I love those guys like crazy and I’m thrilled to be in a band with them.
- I’ve been working overnights at a homeless shelter/emergency housing/(or as Sean Bonnette has said) people pound. There are some crazy stories that will come from this place in some later posts, and I’ll try not to post in another 3-4 months.
I can’t stop listening to Das Racist and the new Sidekicks album. HOLY FUCK!!! Get Das Racist’, Relax and head to reallyrecords.com to get the new Sidekicks album, Awkward Breeds. Album of the year 2012….I’m calling it!
Hey internets! Howya doin’? It’s been a while. It’s been a wild month of being busy and procrastinating on things I’ve wanted to get done.
Procrastination:
- Finishing an Android app I’ve been developing.
- Writing/finishing songs I’ve started.
- Creating a Binary Heart t-shirt design.
- Writing more in this blog.
Busy:
- Helping build a website for a great friend.
- Playing shows
- Working odd jobs to make ends meet.
When we were on tour with The Sidekicks in August, I finally downloaded, American War, Matt Scheuermann’s other band. I must’ve listened to it at least 4 times that same day. (You can download it here.) Cacthy hooks, great lyrics, and of course, Matt’s angelic voice. I feel like no matter what I write about this album, I cannot do it the justice it deserves. Even though it came out 2009 (yes ….I know, I’m behind on great music) this will be in my most listened albums of 2011 list. Pending I don’t procrastinate on writing that list til 2012.
Bomb recently played Fest 10, in Gainesville, and what a weekend that was!! There was so many awesome bands that played, so many friends I don’t get to see too often, and way too drinks on that Friday night (thank you Andy for the constant flow of PBR tall boys). On the way back up from Fest, we played a show in Atlanta with some great buddies as well. But for me, the highlight of that day was seeing my brother, Gary, and his awesome wife, Sindi, for a night.
So, Saturday night, I played my first solo acoustic show at the Parkside Pub in Levittown. I had a wonderful time and couldn’t be more thankful to have so many close friends to witness me be awkwardly nervous on stage. I have a video from the show that I will post tomorrow on the Binary Heart social media trifecta (tumblr/facebook/twitter).
I have another solo show coming up on Dec. 10th in Milford CT with George and Dave (formerly of High School football Heroes), Vic Ruggiero, and Ron and Mike (formerly of Spring Heeled Jack). It’s an all acoustic show, and I’m looking forward to playing another show. I’ll have more details posted on the trifecta soon.
I recently read the Steve Job biography (which I actually just finished reading less than an hour ago), and I have to say, WOW, did he act like a brat sometimes. I give him credit, he really had a passion for the things he believed in, and didn’t care what anyone thought about him. He was a man who knew what he liked and what he wanted, regardless of what he did or said to people to get his way. I thought the book was amazing written, and would recommend it. I’m a big Apple fan, and I hope they can continue to be as awesome as Steve had envisioned it to be.
We had a day off so we drove to Amarillo, Texas to spend the day. We had a nice family style dinner at the Olive Garden and then went to a bar. Nothing like ordering a beer and watching a bar fight within 5 minutes of walking inside. I head back to the hotel after my 2nd beer to make a phone call and get some sleep.
Oklahoma City: We get to the Conservatory early for the show so I scope out the record shop next store. Turns out they had 50% all graphic novels, so I snatched up the latest Bone comic and the first Penny Arcade book. We play our show, signed a couple vinyl’s for someone who drove 12 hours to see us, and get changed and leave my Dead Ringer shirt and bathing suit on the top of the van. Because I wasn’t riding with the guys and ended up riding with Dave Lackey, I forgot about them. The flew off the van as we left and I didn’t realize it til that night when we got to Dave’s house in Tulsa.
The next day we drive around doing errands and stop at the Souper Salad place for all you can eat lunch (which reminded me of Party Down every time I saw the logo. I called it Souper Crackers for the remainder of our visit). We stop by a Target to get me a new bathing suit and shirt to wear while I play. I think I will always wear a bathing suit when I play from now on, it was the best idea I’ve ever had.
Lawrence, KS: We get to the house and walk to the liquor store down the block where I bought a 6 pack of Magic Hat, and these strawberry shortcake shooters for $5. They didn’t taste half bad and had 20% alcohol in them. I drank 3 of them and 5 beers after the show then fell asleep in the van.
St. Louis: Played in a pizza place that gave us free pizza. The pizza took forever to make and tasted horrible (maybe because I’m from NY and/or I was bitter about how long it took to make). We stayed with our friends, Tony and Julie, at their new place which was in a better neighborhood then the last place.
Indianapolis: Played at this place, Vibes, which was a cool, little record store. My friend, Indy, met up with us there to hang out. Went to a house party afterwards when I drank a lot of beer and played a banjo for the first time in my life. I had no idea those things were so fucking heavy.
Cincinnati: Woke up early so Indy and I could drive to meet up with the one and only, Ryan Rockwell, and get some hang time. We went to Sonic, I got a new Nalgene bottle (cause I broke my last one like an ass), jammed with Ryan at his lovely house, and saw The League for the first time. Indy and I left to get to the show but we misjudged time so we got sushi instead. This was the first time since I’ve had sushi since I’ve left for tour and I should’ve waited to get home. It was subpar at best. I think NY spoils us with all the good food we have here. We play the show then stay at Jeff’s cousin’s loft with an awesome rooftop patio.
Cleveland: This was a fun show at the Grog Shop but I felt exhausted throughout the day which bummed me out cause I wanted to be able to stay up all night and party for what will be the last night at the Soggy Dog house (the Sidekicks old living spot). But as we got there, Kenny Dix was asleep so there was no egyptian rat screw games going on. But there was plenty of beer and a funny phone call made by JR from Signal’s Midwest. (Their new album fucking owns. Please go pick up Latitudes and Longitudes. You’ll like it, I promise.) I head to bed a little early cause I just can’t keep my eyes open anymore.
We wake up the next day and head to Melt.
Pittsburgh: Roll up to 222 Ornsby and finalize doing a tag team set with us and the Sidekicks because there was enough room to set up 2 drum sets and all our equipment. We end it by playing Don’t Lose Touch together as the closer. I feel the shows keep getting more and more sweaty as the days go on. (My shoes don’t dry until I get home.)
We stay at Ryan’s parents house where great food and a nice shower greet us.
Baltimore: We drive the day and it saddens me that this was the last day on this long journey with the Sidekicks. I’m super bummed even though I will see them again soon. Traveling with someone for 36 days and seeing them everyday for those days, you get used to seeing them around. Especially when you highly enjoy their company and grow closer with them.
We get to the show and a company Feed The Scene has shown up to make sushi for the bands. To my surprise, Steve, showed up to hang out and words could not describe the happiness I felt catching up with my best pal.
We pack up after the show and take a tour photo and then end up heading home. I miss the sidekicks already! (But I bought new shoes). It takes all kinds….
We end up playing a great show in San Diego, where Jen from Grim Luck played cello with us on “The Shit that you Hate”. After we played, we packed up as quick as we possibly could so we can make our way to Tijuana. It’s only a 20 minute drive from the venue and none of us have ever been so we figured….why the hell not?
We get the hotel and end up dropping off luggage and such and then walk the 20 minutes to the border. Once we get there, we walk through these subway like turnstiles and get right into Mexico with no problem. Although the soldiers holding the machine guns by the entrance made me a little worried. We end up taking 2 taxi’s into town where we thought the guy said it was $5 each cab. Turns out if was $5 each person.
We get dropped off in front of a strip club/brothel where these guys who are dressed as cavemen harass us about coming into their club and scoping out the women. We all walk away and try to find the first small bar we see. Every bar is kinda like a club where the music is loud and the drunks are obnoxious. As John described Tijuana at this point, “It’s like New Orleans in hell”. On our walk to the bar, we saw a cop beating the hell out of a drunk person.
We get to the bar and when we order beers in Spanish, its $5 a beer. These are like super beers. I think every beer you order is $5 and only comes in 40oz. size. We chug these quick cause we hear the bar closes at 3.
We walk into a another busy bar and every one gets beers again (Pacifico beers, $5, about 24-28oz bottles). We walk around and immediately make friends. I talked to one dude about drums and talked to another lady about Hispanic dialect. Some of us end up heading back to the hotel around 4 while others partied a little longer (which turns out they get back to the hotel around 7am).
We wake up early and take the long drive to Phoenix, where its always stupid hot. It was 110 degrees when we arrive at 830 at night. But I ended up setting up behind a wall of amps because the stage is only so big. But I felt I played the best I have all tour. After the show we end to get burritos and then to our friend Mark’s house for night time swimming, drinking and showering.
I wake up this morning to find my friend, Marie, texting me that they posted news about the Binary Heart EP on absolutepunk.net. It’s still blowing my mind people are digging it, but those who do, I thank you much. <3
We drive another long day to Albuquerque and play at a place called Gasworks. Its a neat space, even though I couldn’t hear anything. But we’re staying with our new friend, Garrett, who played “Everybody that you Love” on guitar with us today and did a pretty bad ass job. I’m now going to drink more beer and then head to sleep. (9 more days <3)
After San Francisco, we played in Cupertino. Being the Apple enthusiast that I am, I was stoked to plan a trip to 1 INfinite Loop, but upon doing research, I found out it’s just a glorified gift shop. They don’t do any tours of the Apple campus. I was a little bummed. For some reason, I was in a miserable mood, probably because I came down with a cold this day and i can only take so much Zicam. I set up for the show and after the first song, Matt ended up spilling a whole beer all over me and my drumset during the first song. Being that this show, Jeff decided to play every song right into each other, it was hard to clean off my kit in a hasty manner. By the 3rd song, i had enough of a break to tip my snare drum upside down and pour out half of that beer. That set the pace for my attitude for the rest of the night.
Santa Cruz was a good time. We played with some amazing friends (Dan Potthas and the bricks, Classics of Love, and Sidekicks) and had a friend of us giving us space cakes. I had a night filled with chuckles. It was so tasty, I ate a spacecake on the way to Pomona.
Pomona was a great show because we saw some friends we haven’t seen in a while (Dino, Joyce Manor) and it was nice catching up with but I wish I was a little more into it and not in pain from doing some damage to my back. I swear I’m falling apart on this tour.
LA became a little bit of a hassle because our original show got cancelled but Dino found a bookstore that offered to put on the show and it was a great show. Chotto Ghetto, Little Medusa’s were awesome, and there was a great crowd on such short notice. (Thank you for all who came out!) Rumor has it, Rachel McAdams was at our show tonight. Bummed I didn’t get to meet her.
I have a video from the show that I will post tomorrow on the Binary Heart social media trifecta (