The Shows Must Go On

Well, the Hollywood Drum Show has been and gone, as has PASIC - the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, this year held in Indianapolis. I had an expo booth at both and had a great time.

The Hollywood Show was very much a drummers' event, plus a few sound-track type folks. Plenty of great artist clinics - but none that I got too see, being glued to my booth.

PASIC was fantastic. The world's largest percussion event with over 150 different performances / workshops / clinics over the 4 days and the expo running alongside for 3 days. A real wide range of folks coming to see the expo - drummers, percussionists of all sorts, young students, old masters and everything in-between. And, even the man who is in the guiness book of records for having the largest hand-shaped-things collection! A real pleasure to meet all the people who came to my booth. It was great to hang out with industry friends old and new in the evenings too. I hope I can afford to make the trip over and exhibit again next year.

While in Indianapolis, the home of the P.A.S., I visited their newly opened museum - the Rhythm Discovery Center. Some cool stuff in there - an enormous drum head from Remo, feel the low frequency vibes man! But, I must say, I was most fascinated by the Musser designed Glock and Vibraphone type instruments. Fantastic.

So, what's next? Well, I've got orders from before and after the shows to make and new things to create. That's going to keep me busy until January. And what's happening in January? NAMM of course! I'll be at NAMM, on the Pork Pie Drums Booth. Booth #3378. Their main drum kit will be furnished with my cymbals and a very special custom gong.

Hand crafted cymbals alongside hand crafted drums. Perfect!

From Hollywood to Hollywood

Hollywood, Birmingham, England to Hollywood, California, USA that is...

Getting a business up and off the ground, getting the world to hear about it is not an easy or simple affair. I seem to have spent much of this year either planning for or attending trade fairs and public shows. But it seems to be working.

Last weekend, I had a wonderful time at the UK National Drum Fair held in Birmingham. There was a great response from drummers to my range of cymbals and gongs and several of them were deafened by Carl Palmer's sudden ffff attack on my 1 metre, 7kg, hand-shaped gong (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwQzEN7OM3E )

Listening to young drummer of the year winner Richard Rayner at 14 and Eric Delaney at 85 on their respective kits was fantastic. But, so was just talking to the hundreds of "ordinary" drummers and other exhibitors at this annual event.

Here are some of the cymbals I had at the show:



And here are some of the gongs:




Some were sold, others have been reserved. But many of them, plus some new ones will be going over the pond with me to the Hollywood Custom and Vintage Drum Show in just under 2 weeks' time. It's going to be a blast. I'm really looking forward to it.

http://www.ukdrumfair.com/
http://www.hollywooddrumshow.com/

Synchronicity

About a month ago, I was exhibiting my Cymbals and Gongs at The Chicago Drum Show in the USA. The show is a "Vintage and Custom" event, with plenty of tasty exhibitors complemented by hordes ravenous visitors.

It was great to meet all the different people there but the stand-out by far for me was Will Calhoun; meeting him and watching him play the drums. Will is a Grammy Award winner and the drummer for, among others, Living Colour. He's also a wonderful, charming, humble and down-to-earth bloke.

I had a couple of Living Colour albums in my collection, but I must confess that I'd never really paid much attention to Will as a drummer. What I saw in Chicago, however, really knocked my socks off! The bit I managed to video doesn't do it any kind of justice.



Before Will's drum performance, mid-setting up, I was demonstrating one of my small gongs to some people at my booth. Next thing I know, Will is not on the far side of the hall setting up any more, but he's stood right in front of me. "What did you just play!?" The man has got an ear for sounds!


Fast forward a bit, to a couple of weeks ago. Back home in England, I'm going down to London for a couple of days for another music trade / public show. It just so happens that Will Calhoun is touring with his HeadFake duo with bass player Doug Wimbish and is playing in London. It was great to catch up with Will again, and to be introduced to Doug. Once again, I was wowed. Double or morefold this time. Those 2 can make one hell of a lot of noise for a duo! Very skilled use of triggered loops and live sampling, virtuoso playing and both guys singing their asses off. Some good rockstar gurning from Doug too. Awesome!


I'm looking forward to the up-coming Living Colour tour now. Something I've just got to catch...

Ich bin ein Frankfurter

Well, sort of ;-)

I'm just back from spending the best part of a week in Frankfurt, exhibiting my Artisan Cymbals and Gongs at the MusikMesse trade fair - the largest music industry trade show in the world. The culmination of a few months' hard graft and preparations.

The Frankfurt Messe is vast - absolutely huge. The place is like a major international airport: 9 or more large exhibition hall buildings, some of which have multiple floors, plus a handful of stages and marquees. 80,000 people come through the doors over the 4 days of the show. Really the place to officially launch my new business!

And what a response! Thank you to everyone who came to the stand. The trade and the public seemed more than a little curious about my creations! It was great to see the variety of people who came to my booth (many of them more than once, often the 2nd and 3rd times with someone else in tow - "you have got to see this..."). I made some great contacts, new friends, met up with some old ones again and even made a few sales - La Baguetterie in France placing quite a large order, for one.

Big hits were the 1.25m Stainless Steel Bat-Wing Gong, the 60cm Nickel Silver round Gong and the 1m tall, 7kg Bronze Hand Gong. The latter has a wonderful delay in it's response to the mallet - you strike it and then the sound swells up noticably afterwards. This took a few people by surprise. They'd hit it, not get much, hit it again harder, still not much, hit it harder still and then WAAAHHHH!! Then they'd cover their ears, or run away, or both. Most amusing to observe!

Watching people play the Stainless Steel Rides was interesting too. 2 types of people. Those who "get it" and are fascinated by the new sound. And those who don't hear what they expect from a cymbal - end of story. Those people in the second camp were ushered quickly over to the Bronze Ride Cymbals - haha!

I was helped out greatly on the stand by my good friend from Dachau, RaBe. He was very enthusiastic and his German was, naturally, rather better than my half-forgotten schoolboy abilities. Another friend, Roger, from the UK helped for a few days too. Thank you both!

I think I may well have collapsed from exhaustion without the assistance. The last couple of weeks before the show were very busy - lots of late nights, microwave meals and take-away food at the workshop. The drive, from Bath to Frankfurt via the Dover-Calais ferry was quite gruelling too, given that I had very little time to take breaks. Ha! Packing the car took so long, I was 2 ferry crossings late. By the time the stand was set up on Tuesday night, I'd been awake for about 40 hours solid. I tell you, my display nearly fell down a couple of times as I tried to assemble it single-handed and half-shot!




But, it all worked out well in the end. Lots of "big name drummers" came to visit the stand. But, to spare their blushes (and endorsement deals with other cymbal companies) I'll not out them here. My Bronze ride cymbals were a particular hit. I had great support too from fellow independent cymbalsmiths Michael Paiste and Roberto Spizzichino. It's a small and friendly world between us hammer-wielding guys. The bigger and smaller companies came to have a good look too. I half wonder if I'll see my designs reproduced from other quarters next year.

I was filmed / interviewed 4 times - I'm getting used to it now. The first one is out there already - see here on youtube. Plus, 3 or 4 major drum / music magazines should be doing articles in the next few months also. Keep an eye out!

It was nice to have a good look around at the other exhibitors in the "Beat" Hall too. Some great cymbals and drums being produced. The same as last year, I think UFIP, Dream and Istanbul Agop were my favourites. One incident that particularly made me smile as I walked round was being grabbed by a guy from the Sabian stand - "are you Matt Nolan?" Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me...


Outside of the 9am to 6pm of the show (well, more like 8:30 to 6:45!), my "crew" and I had a great time sampling the local restaurants and beers. We also took this opportunity to meet up again with some locals that we know. A great night (not without incident) on Wednesday with Michael Paiste and his friend Marcel. I'll not forget that one.



The return journey was much smoother than the outward. No swearing at the sat-nav either. I even arrived several ferry-crossings early at Calais. Typical.

Now I must tidy my flat a bit (i.e. undo the mess that accumulated during the build-up to the Messe) ready for the arrival of Steve Hubback tomorrow. Steve is going to stay for a couple of days and borrow my workshop to make some pieces for Paolo Vinaccia.

Next stop, The Rebeats Chicago Drum Show!

Classic Relief / Dame Evelyn Glennie

Saturday 7th March, 7:30pm, Royal Festival Hall at the South Bank Centre in London. "Classic Relief" - gala concert in aid of the Comic Relief charity. WOW!

First up, what wonderful acoustics in that hall! I've played there before, but not actually been to see anything and hear it from the audience point of view. Excellent natural projection from the Orchestra and well mic'd soloists and voices. Even right up in the balcony. A pretty good view from there too.

The London Philharmonia were excellent and the various guest soloists were of equal calibre. What really made the difference though, were all the jokes - musical, surreal and slapstick that they had woven into the night. And conductor, Rainer Hirsch's patter was superb. I was amazed how well it all worked and flowed. I haven't laughed so much and so hard for so long since seeing Dave Gorman touring with his "Googlewhack Adventure".

Their rendition of The Blue Danube was both beautiful and hilarious. The Ride of the Valkyries for Marimba Duet and 10-piece Stylophone Ensemble was OUT THERE.

But, the jewel in the crown was to see and hear Dame Evelyn Glennie, the world-famous, profoundly deaf, Scottish Solo Percussionist play a piano duet. I believe it was her first public piano performance in her professional career. Totally unexpected and beautifully nuanced. Quite mesmeric and flowing arm and body movements too. Evelyn is an amazing performer.

Well worth fighting the motorway roadworks and 2 closed tube lines to get there and get back home very late.

What an awesome evening's music at The Arnolfini!

JJ and The Birdman, Defibrillators and Mick Flower / Chris Corsano. I'm sure all the other drummers in the audience were drooling too.

Some quick reviews:

JJ and The Birdman - my good friend Tony Orrell and his mate, the keyboard player from The Scissor Sisters. They played an intriguing Kraut-Disco improvised set. Tony was using a Hubback Skull Gong, Hubback Vulture Sculpture Cymbal and a set of cowbells and woodblocks. Oh yes - and a drum-machine plus some kind of looping device. JJ was mellifluous and bubbling. Tony was energetic.

Defibrillators. Well, what can I say? 2-piece art-noise pandemonium. Their opening onslaught had everyone in the front 2 or 3 rows putting their fingers in their ears as fast as they could - and me popping in my musicians' earplugs (they were primed and ready - I've heard these guys before). It was fantastic though. Loud, dark and visceral. The opening explosion was made all the more startling by the extended pause beforehand due to sound problems - no sound at all. Seth Cooke played a vintage Premier drum kit with concert toms, a set of crotales and a mix of cymbals including one of my Stainless Steel Rides. Tony Geisha played an analogue synth, a radio-mic, a Mac and a Wii Controller - like some ironic triumphant phallus.

Mick Flower played a hypnotic Shaahi Baaja - which is like a cross between a dulcimer and an auto-harp, with electric pick-ups. Chris Corsano had everyone tranced out with his effortless, flowing, free-drumming on a little kit with old beaten-up Zyn Cymbals, plus lots of other metal oddments and a string/bridge across his snare drum that he could bow. I have no idea how long they played for. It was like time went somewhere else. They took the dynamics up and down a couple of times, reaching a natural and delicate end not long after the final climax.


I was very pleased to see a very healthy turn-out for such "way-out" music as well. I do like Bristol in this respect. Between The Cube, The Croft, The Arnolfini and The Folk House, there's quite a scene.


It was good to have a quick catch up with both Tonys and Seth after the show. And great to be introduced to Chris Corsano too. We talked about - of course - cymbals. I think Chris has unwittingly set me on a quest to find a new way of working with Stainless Steel. Well have to wait and see where that leads...

West Kennet Gong Barrow

First, an introduction to what I do. I am England's only Artisan Gong and Cymbal Smith. One of but a handful in the whole world. I forge metals such as Bronze into musical instruments, percussion instruments. Please check out my website.

Now, the story of the Gong Barrow...

Last Friday - Friday 13th in fact - I went out from my home in Bath, England to Stonehenge (less than 30 miles away). I went with the genius photographer Andy McCreeth to attempt some publicity photos for my Cymbal and Gong business. Due to a confusion between opening times and "last entry time" we arrived too late to gain access to the Ancient Monument. First problem.

Never mind, we thought, there's always another day. But, while we're out, let's try the Avebury Standing Stone Circle instead. It's not far away. Well, we drove through some magnificent snow fields that were still hanging on - like some forgotten land without the Sun - everywhere else had cleared by now. Eventually, we got to Avebury. Too dark by now, the Sun had practically set. Second problem.

Never mind, we thought, what about the West Kennett Long Barrow? The Barrow is an awesome example of a Neolithic Burial Chamber, a cavern constructed by hand from vast stones, overgrown with earth and grass, on the top of a natural ridge. But it's a long way from the road, uphill on a muddy track, we've got lots of heavy equipment to carry and the car says it is 1 degree C outside. Third problem.

So, OK, we weren't properly prepared for this. The temperature - while not quite arctic - was pretty chilly, and only getting lower. We weren't that well equipped with suitable warm clothing. And it was only getting darker. We had 1 Maglite with batteries of unknown remaining life and 1 tiny pen-torch. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, not much really. From that point on the evening was more-or-less a triumph! The long slog up the hill pulling a trolley that wanted to be a plough and carrying shoulder-wrenching bags served to warm us up and kept us warm for a good while afterwards. Andy managed to navigate the various pitch-dark chambers of the Long Barrow to set up his flashes and camera, pen-torch in mouth. And I sat there, trying to hammer a gong. In a puddle. In the dark...

After a while, we thought we'd probably got some good shots, and our fingers were starting to become useless against the energy-sapping, joint-stiffening, cold air, So we called it a night. While packing up, we became aware of a police helicopter observing us, in infra-red, from above. Maybe we have some explaining to do? At the bottom of the hill, we were indeed greeted by a policeman and policewoman. But they weren't too interested in us or why we were dragging a large anvil on a trolley. They had a missing person, had we seen anybody? Well, I hope they found them. While it was a beautiful, clear, starry night, it wasn't a night to be abroad unprepared.

Here's the pick of the crop from our night in the Long Barrow:

This turned out to be an amazing shot. Well I think so anyway. The lighting and shadows make me think of a Rembrandt painting and the composition and textures are oddly reminiscent of Salvador Dali.

We'll try Stonehenge again some time soon, but I'm not sure we're going to eclipse this experience or the photographic result!