My little brother called me last night to say that he finally bought himself an electric drumset. He'd be wanting one for years, as so have I, but since he's the engineer and married with no kids, he was more apt to get one before me. Either way, I'm quite psyched for him.
Since we both were percussionists in high school, me a one-time all-district and he a two-time all-stater, we had plenty to chat about drum-wise. He told me he's tried to get the drumming down for the title track of Tool's album Undertow, in all it's intricate glory, but he's had issues with it. We both agreed that this song has to be one of the more complicated rock drumming song out there. When you get a chance, listen to it and you'll agree. He said that he's taking the drum part of that song piece by piece, kind of like this: "you do a 2-e-&-a rhythm on the hi-hat and pedal down(left foot) on every other upbeat, while you do a 1-&-a beat on the bass drum pedal (right foot...)." Ya know, simple shtuff like that. Seriously, I really think it's a tough way to start, but nevertheless he'll start some drum kit lessons he picked up at a all-state band camp several years ago.
Since we talked about that specific Tool song, which is one of my favorite song of theirs, namely because of the drumming, I brought up other songs that I've considered my favorite drumming songs. My list consisted of Again by Alice in Chains, Led Zeppelin's Ocean, Go by Pearl Jam, One by Metallica, and Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! by The Beatles.
While we're on the subject of drummers, I thought I'd share what I think who've been the best in the past couple decades. It's hard to dispute the creative and bombastic style of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, who's arguably one of Rock's all-time best. During the mid to late 1980s you heard Tommy Lee's name thrown around as being the best at that point, but I always thought him to be just alright for the most part. But who I thought was a better drummer around that same time frame was Lars Ulrich from Metallica. The track One from And Justice for All.. is a stand-alone, I think one of the most difficult songs for a drummer. But as Metallica's music softened and became more mainstream, Ulrich's drumming suffered. However, as he and Metallica waned, another band swept into prominence, Tool. And with that came the superb body of work of Danny Carey.
As mentioned in a previous post, I've been a big fan of this group for a long time. Although it wasn't their first studio album, but the first album of theirs that I got was Undertow and they've had me hooked ever since. Over the years, their music has evolved into symphonic orchestrations of sorts. There's just something about their stuff that keeps me coming back for more. Perhaps a reason for that is the percussive prowess of Danny Carey. And in my opinion he's the best Rock drummer in the current era.
The first time I saw Tool was in a small venue in San Antonio that would be the ideal place to hold wedding receptions and some gal's sweet sixteen, but what I saw was a great show. In that concert I was most mesmerized by the dynamic playing of Carey in Undertow. There near the end, perhaps 15-20 seconds before the song ends, there's this jazz inspired cymbal work that melts into a percussive guitar laden conclusion. And as I stood there watching, there's Danny looking calm, while his arms flail away. UH-mazing! To get an idea of what I'm talking about check out these short flicks to see what I mean: 46 & 2 and Lateralus. If you had any doubt about who's Rock's best drummer before, I'd be very surprised if you didn't agree with me after seeing and hearing his stick work.
To further my point, check out this tutorial video of Eulogy played by an obvious fan of Carey's work. And that's just one of their songs. Talk about having your work cut out for you. Try it for youself and you'll know. Perhaps my brother needs to start with an easier drummer to emulate!
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