Many nu-skool thrash brands tear it up, but we were unprepared for Carlos Cruz of Warbringer. Although super-tight and fast, he dug an impressively deep groove and big sound on a compact setup.
It was back to the old school with German thrash legends Destruction. Vaaver, the fifth in a long line of drummers, looked masterfully in control as he doled out beats from 30 years and 10 albums' worth of tunes.
DRUM! Night 2012 was the third annual clinic, concert, and benefit raffle held by DRUM!, in conjunction with San Jose Jazz SummerFest.This year it featured San Jose Taiko, Nate Brown, Street Drum Corps, Tim Yeung, Cora Coleman-Dunham Trio, Kenny Aronoff, Paul Bostaph, and other artists.
San Jose Taiko (http://www.taiko.org) opened the event with a street performance of original compositions.
DRUM! Groove Analysis Video Teacher and Alfred book author Nate Brown, conducted a stick tricks clinic in the lobby prior to the show. Nate runs onlinedrummer.com when he's not playing drums.
Mike Snyder held forth in the Roland V-Drum Lab at the event.
The silent auction (to benefit high school music education) featured snare drums, cymbals, sticks, and recording gear from the sponsors.
The merch table was hopping, thanks to DRUM! staffers Jordan Liffengren (left) and Cristina Strombotne (center).
Street Drum Corps emceed the event, and involved the crowd in their performance.
6. Street Drum Corps in action at the 2012 Drumnight concert.
Street Drum Corps at Drumnight 2012. I can feel it.
Tim Yeung opened his segment of the show with a furious performance.
Tim Yeung came to fame for his work with Morbid Angel and Divine Heresy.
During chats with the crowd, Tim emphasized the role of listening, even when playing at massive decibel levels.
“Music” says Tim Yeung, “is about relationships between musicians and the audience.”
Cora Coleman’s trio, featuring husband Josh Dunham on bass, delivered a high-powered set of funk, jazz, fusion and more.
Cora opened the set with a melodic piece that highlighted the range of her perfectly-tuned set.
Cora Coleman-Dunham in action – an amazing musician.
Keep practicing, kids. Cora Coleman-Dunham at Drumnight 2012
Cora Coleman-Dunham: beauty in motion.
Former Slayer and Testament star Paul Bostaph picked up the 2nd Annual BADAAS (Bay Area Drummers Achievement Awards) presented by Andy Doerschuk of DRUM!
Seeing Kenny Aronoff in the San Jose Repertory Theatre setting – like a small opera hall – was a treat.
Kenny regaled the crowd with tales of playing the Kennedy Center, and the inauguration.
To the students in the crowd, Kenny Aronoff advised, “Hard work is not four years in college. Hard work is your whole life. Everything I got I got through hard work.”
Aronoff is without doubt the only drummer to have played with Fogerty, Dylan, the Stones, John Cougar, and Springsteen, not to mention hundreds more.
Yeah! That's how you do it.
Cora Coleman-Dunham pitched in to draw the raffle prizes, including this Sabian cymbal.
The annual event benefits Lincoln High School music programs. Marian Ross and Yvonne Reddy of Lincoln High accept a sponsor plaque from DRUM!
Backstage after the show, VIP ticketholders hang with the artists. A fan asks Tim Yeung what 260 bpm feels like.
Cora with the fans.
Kenny Aronoff and Louie Bellson’s wife Francine Bellson trade stories.
“You think I'm giving you all my secrets?”
Pre-show dinner: Josh and Cora with DRUM! Publisher Phil Hood
Pre-show dinner. Cora Coleman-Dunham, DW Artist Relations Rep Juels Thomas, and DRUM! Office Manager Cookie Williams
Drummer: Didi Negron Backstage
Where: Rehearsals for Cirque du Soleill
Nellyris "Didi" Negron was a V-Drum Championship runner-up and is now a drummer with Cirque du Soleil. Here she is relaxing backstage with a great drumming mag during Cirque du Soliel's Amaluna rehearsals.
[Ed. Note: Each episode of Caught In The Act features a photo of a drummer in action, from the famous like Danny Carey to the not-so-famous local indies. If you’re a photographer who’d like to feature your work in Caught In The Act, drop us a note.]
Bands: Meshuggah, Baroness, and Decapitated
Venue: The Fillmore, San Francisco
Normally we don’t highlight all the drummers in a performance review but the Ophidian Trek was such an unusual juxtaposition of playing styles that all three dudes deserved equal shine.
First up, Karim “Krihm” Lechner of Decapitated, making his Stateside debut with the Polish technical death-metallers, looked surprisingly relaxed as he anchored the band’s contrasting sonic layers and multiple time changes with controlled power.
Next, Allen Blickle of Baroness was just the opposite: all drummer-face as he single-kicked and crash-rode his way through the Savannah band’s ethereal doom and blissed-out prog-folk.
Finally, Meshuggah’s Tomas Haake split the difference between Lechner’s finesse-y speed and Blickle’s propulsive pummel with an attack that was crushing and mathematic.
The 12 o’clock position of Haake’s single rack tom and curtain of cymbals blocked our view of the Swedish colossus – something that ordinarily would bug us — but the hypnotic patterns and dope drum tone had us at hello.
Drummer: Stanton Moore
Band: Galactic
Venue: Site for photo shoot/New Orleans
Site: http://www.stantonmoore.com
While shooting Stanton Moore for DRUM! and other clients in January photographer Robert Downs took him to several locations.
Robert Downs is one of DRUM's go-to photographers who has shot everyone from Abe Cunningham to Stanton Moore for the magazine.
He has also worked work with a host of the world's top drum companies such as DW, Pearl, Gretsch, DDRUM, Sabian, and Zildjian and photographed hundreds of top bands and artists.
[Ed. Note: Each episode of Caught In The Act features a photo of a drummer in action, from the famous like Danny Carey to the not-so-famous local indies. If you're a photographer who'd like to feature your work in Caught In The Act, drop us a note.]
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