Have you ever noticed how often Late Night host David Letterman compliments his guest drummers about their drum sets? Apparently, he has done it enough times to garner the attention of the folks at CBC Music, who compiled a video montage of the popular TV star fawning over kits played in such bands as St. Vincent, TV On The Radio, Tegan And Sara, OK Go, and The Black Keys, among others. It’s not surprising to learn that Letterman himself is a drummer.
We suspected it wouldn’t take long for Dave Lombardo to get back behind the drums following his unceremonious departure from Slayer earlier this year. His next stop was to sit in with the Brazilian metal outfit Sepultura during the recording of their forthcoming album. Producer Ross Robinson invited the thrash legend to share drum duties with the band’s drummer Eloy Casagrande.
“He came and it was so nice, so special, so awesome,” Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser commented. “He is one of the nicest guys in [the] business and he enjoyed the idea a lot. Ross and Mike prepared two drum sets on the living room, facing each other, no cymbals, just tribal drums! When the mikes were all ready and running Eloy and Dave started playing and the magic was on; so great! The part they recorded will be a special part on the middle of one of the songs. It came out crazy!”
Jimmy Eat World's latest album Damage will be released in less than a week, and the band is heading to Europe to start their tour. But, they've got an addition to the posse: SJC Drums owner Mike Ciprari. He'll be joining the dudes as drum tech to Zach Lind.
A holy trinity has been formed among drummers Janet Weiss of Wild Flag, Zach Hill of Death Grips, and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden (pictured to the left). The three bashers have come together to form a drumming supergroup, dubbing their upcoming album, Drumgasm. Portland label Jackpot Records currently has a webpage devoted to the new project.
"Three people, three drum kits, some microphones and a reel of tape – that's it: pure spontaneity," reads the listing. "There's nothing out there that's very comparable to this – maybe the Voodoo drum ritual music of the Drummers of the Societe Absolument Guinin, is all I can think of, though admittedly even that is a pretty far cry."
Vinyl copies of the record are available for pre-order and priced at $14.99.
Aviva Nash's suit against Fox News personalities Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren has been rejected by a Bronx Supreme Court Judge. The Drum Cafe owner sued O'Reilly and Van Susteren for defamation when the two accused her of being nothing but a "hippie-dippie chick" stealing money from taxpayers with her drumming conferences.
The federal General Services Administration spent almost $300,000 as a part Drum Cafe's team-building exercises ($20,578 of which was used to buy 4,000 drumsticks).
Nash called their comments "defaming and denigrating." She argued that this behavior implied her services to be worthless and a waste of money. But Nash says she is a serious businesswoman of a leading company in interactive drumming and rhythm events.
In a ruling last week, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alexander Hunter found the "stealing" cracks were aimed at the GSA's "lavish use of taxpayer money to entertain and provide gifts to federal employees" and not at Nash. And while Nash was offended by the "hippie-dippie" comment, it was ruled "an expression of opinion" which cannot "be proven objectively true or false," the judge wrote.
Nash's lawyer, Richard Ancowitz, said they're considering an appeal "to vindicate the good name of Ms. Nash."
