Give Ska Drummers Some Love

This week I am prepping to audition for a local band called Teflon Don. This will be a new musical experience for me because it is in a completely opposite musical direction than I am used to.  The group is a Ska band, more particularly a Third Wave Ska band.

Now, I am very meticulous when I approach a new project. I download the music and listen to it constantly. I practice nothing, but that genre while I prepare, and I do research into the style I am playing. In that research I usually seek out the best drummers of the genre and YouTube their videos and pick apart their recordings to see what makes them the leaders of their style of music.

When I was told Teflon Don was a Ska band I immediately thought of traditional Ska music, but this is far from the case in Third Wave Ska. Traditional Ska is played much slower with more "lift" in between hits. To see what I mean watch the current master Gil Sharone  in the video below.

Third Wave Ska is completely different. First, it is faster, much, much faster. In fact, in my opinion I see Third Wave Ska closer to traditional punk rock than its original Reggae roots. The traditional lift between hits is removed to facilitate the brisker tempos and with that any type of swung eighths are converted to straight eights.  Get that right hand ready for a workout on the hi-hat!

As I dove deeper into the genre I was disappointed to find that the drumming community doesn't give the masters of this style more props. When you break apart what is required of them it is down right amazing. First, the speed required would challenge any drummer out there. Next, their fills must be just as fast and just as tight thus requiring a superior level of technique.  From a musical standpoint these bands tend to "move around" in a song changing speeds, styles, and sometimes time signatures on the drop of a dime. This can be a huge challenge to any drummer who is used to just laying in the pocket even in a basic 120 bpm tune, never mind trying it at Third Wave Ska speed . And finally these drummers are playing with larger bands that include horn sections. That means they must be prepared to set-up and then match the brass hits at those blazing speeds.

Watch this video of Streetlight Manifesto's Chris Thatcher and you will see what I mean.

I will leave you with this video from Third Wave Ska's poster boys Reel Big Fish. This live cut of their hit mainstream tune "Sell Out" helps demonstrate the speed, tight hits, and changing tempos and styles the drummer must hit while performing in this genre.

So I encourage you to give these Third Wave Ska drummers some love, and if you need a good workout on the kit. Throw on some Streetlight Manifesto, Mad Caddies, or Reel Big Fish and be prepared to sweat!

Managers. Remember Why You Are Doing This.

Last weekend I headed down to Tampa to watch my friend perform an acoustic set with rock legend Marty Balin. For those of you who don't know, Marty is the real deal when it comes to the music industry.  He was one of the founders and lead singers of Jefferson Airplane, the psychedelic rock group that graced the original Woodstock stage in 1969 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Marty's performance last week in Tampa was much more intimate. Together with a small acoustic group he performed for an intimate crowd at the home of his lead guitarist for a Christmas party. My friend brought me along to watch him play hand percussion with the rock legend. On the way to the gig he asked me if I would run sound for the group.

Now, I have a degree in music business, and I have been on the road long enough to know my way around a soundboard. I possess "just enough" sound knowledge to know how to get the best possible mix for a band, as long as they are in a small room and there aren't too many wires or requests for "more of "me"" in the monitor. So I said yes, and for the entire evening I made sure Marty sounded as best as he possibly could.

I am not sharing this experience with you to tout my own sound engineer horn. I am sharing this with you to promote another point. A point about the evolution of the music business.

When Marty and Airplane were coming up in the early sixties there were no college trained music business majors, sound engineers, or even musicians to help them out. Bands during this era came together mostly through chance. When the Beatles needed a new drummer they didn't hold weeks of auditions. They just found the next closest guy with a kit and a decent voice. John Entwistle was asked to join Roger Daltrey when the future Who singer saw him walking down the street with a bass guitar hung over his shoulder.

And back in those days it was easier to find band mates than managers or sound engineers.  Michael Jeffery went from a fledgling club owner to the manager of The Animals and Jimi Hendrix. Peter Grant went from a small time actor to the manager of The Yardbirds and eventually Led Zeppelin. And Owsley Stanley went from LSD supplier to sound man for The Grateful Dead.

These happenstances played heavily into every realm of the early development of rock and roll from performance to management. For now let's take a look at the management side of the equation.

When I started my first company, my business partner and I were just 20 years old. We had no idea how to properly run a business. What we did know was that we needed to "make money" so we did everything we could to get more customers, more orders, and thus more cash in than we were spending.  Simply put, we were hungry.

These untrained managers shared those same traits. Many lacked formal business training and thus had to make up the difference with sheer determination and will. They probably didn't understand a balance sheet, or a profit and loss statement, but did know they needed to make more money than they spent for their artists. Like us they were hungry, and that hunger carried over to pushing their bands to play better, challenge the status quo, and perform as much as possible.

During the 80's large corporations started buying up record labels and replaced these "down and dirty" managers with stuffed suits concerned only with the bottom line. And with that the music business management style change drastically.  Artists soon found themselves being managed by people who didn't necessarily enjoy their music, or even listen to it.

So how did this change the music business?

When your manager is so concerned with business and not as much with your music he, or she, will encourage you to do everything, but play out live. As someone who holds a degree in music business management, I can tell you we spent far more time on licensing, contracts, and balance sheets than on developing a great show, theory, or performance.

Those earlier managers lacked this formal training so they had to make up the difference in an other avenue of their business model. Because they truly loved the music they were representing they pushed their artist to make more of it, either live or in the studio. The net result was the development of superior musicians and songwriters because they had played more shows and recorded more albums.

Last weekend I was reminded about that fact. Watching a true rock legend from that era surrounded by people who absolutely loved his music trying to help him out. His manager was there running a video camera, his girlfriend decorating, fellow band mates brought food, and an unknown fan ran sound for the evening.

If you are in the music business I encourage you to take a moment and remember why you got into this gig in the first place.  Hopefully it is for the love of the music. If that is the case than take a page from the history of rock and follow that down and dirty management style where managers wanted to see their bands play more and encouraged them to do it. You may be surprised by the end result.

Here are some Spotify links to some great Airplane!

Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love
Jefferson Airplane – Leaving On A Jet Plane

Classic Rock is Here to Save the Day!...Again

During last evening's 121212 Concert for Sandy Relief classic rock and rollers once again proved why they will never be forgotten and that they can still help change the world.

The sponsors of last night show didn't ask Bruno Mars, Rihanna, or Ke$sha. There was no Lady Gaga,  Maroon 5, FUN, or Bieber. Instead they brought out the big guns, rock's royalty if you will, with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Eric Calpton, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Roger Waters, Billy Joel, and Sir Paul McCartney.

In fact there were only three artists unqualified for AARP last night. Chris Martin, Alicia Keys, and Kanye West, and only one of them wore a leather skirt.  Thanks for the endless jokes and future Saturday Night Live sketch Kanye.

So why bring in rockers of yesteryear?

How awkward was it to see a 68 year old Roger Daltrey jump around with his leathery chest hanging out during The Who's set?

The Twittersphere was on fire during Billy Joel's performance with countless tweets comparing him to Darh Vader and Walt from Breaking Bad.  One Tweet by comedian Jeffrey Ross had many in stitches by spoofing a Joel classic with his elderly age: "Billy Joel is gonna have a heart a tack ack ack ack."

And how about all the parents who had to explain to their technology driven children that Dave Grohl used to play drums for another band called Nirvana? And the guy with the lime green pants was the bass player.

So why do these sponsors choose rock and roll relics over younger shinier models? 

You can ague all you want, but when Sir Paul McCartney ripped into "Live and Let Die" you were probably either singing along or swaying in your seat.  And after watching Kanye run around screaming obscenities in a leather skirt you were blown away by Billy Joel's performance with real music, real harmonies, and a killer band.

I give huge props to today's artists. Many work hard, and they are facing a radically different industry and consumer base with interests that change by the Tweet. All of this has led to a different style of musician.  Today's artist must stand out in a huge sea of competition.  To do that they must promote how great they are every day via marketing, social media, and any other means necessary.  They must capture consumers with everything BUT music.  Is it any wonder that today's artists go through costume changes during a show and yesterday's just change their guitars?

The artists that made up last night's bill were brought up in a different musical era.  To stand out they needed to play their instruments better than the next guy.  That's why Eric Clapton could kill it with a power trio and nothing else at last night's show. These artists needed to create songs that stuck with you for years to come.  I think everybody was singing along with Billy Joel during his set. And finally these AARP rockers came up during a time when the youth believed they could change the world...and they actually did. That's why The Who is a statement and not a question.

Sponsors seek out these aging rockers for a number of reasons.  First, they know a bill with Eric Clapton, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, and Sir Paul McCartney will easily fill seats with virtually zero marketing effort. Second, they know the music will be good...real, real, good.  And finally they know that these acts have already helped change the world so they have experience when it comes to doing it once again.

Regardless, I encourage all of you to drop a few bucks to the Sandy relief effort.  These people need our help. You can still donate to the Sand Relief effort by visiting their website at http://www.121212concert.org. And soon you can purchase the show from iTunes with proceeds going to the cause.