Features NEIL PEART According to Peart, drumming is coming back to music with a vengeance. Rush's new album certainly supports that opinion—so what's up with the bongos? Read on, our progressive drum guru will be happy to explain.... William F. Miller 22 ROY "FUTURE MAN" WOOTEN Drums, cymbals, pedals? Mere frivolities. Drumsticks? Who needs 'em! Bela Fleck's "drummer" might not be a drummer at all. You'd never know it from the grooves, though—and we ain't talkin' drum machines, either. Robin Tolleson 28 MD SOUND SUPPLEMENT: STEVE SMITH & GARY CHAFFEE'S "SEVENTH HEAVEN" Okay, hands warmed up? Body relaxed? Brain tuned in? Get ready for a roller coaster ride sure to seriously test your drumming prowess. Robyn Flans 32 Volume 18, Number 2 Cover Photo By Andrew MacNaughton Columns EDUCATION NEWS EQUIPMENT 48 ROCK 'N' 10 UPDATE AZZ LINIC Carlos Vega, Depeche J C Mode's Alan Wilder, Songofunk: Part 2 Jamie Oldaker, and BY DAVID GARIBALDI Bobby Schayer of Bad Religion, plus News 68 DRIVER'S SEAT The Whipped Cream Roll BY ED SHAUGHNESSY 110 INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS 70 FROM THE PAST The Drums And DEPARTMENTS Drummers Of The Civil War DITOR'S 38 PRODUCT BY CHEECH IERO 4 E OVERVIEW CLOSE-UP Magstar Snare Drums 78 HEAD TALK BY RICK VAN HORN Intangibles 6 READERS' BY RON HEFNER PLATFORM 40 Sabian Larrie Londin Limited Edition 90 DRUM SOLOIST 14 ASK A PRO Ride Cymbal Steve Gadd: BY RICK VAN HORN "Conversations" 18 IT'S TRANSCRIBED BY 42 NEW AND CRAIG SCOTT QUESTIONABLE NOTABLE 96 ARTIST 44 DRUMLINE ON TRACK Roy Haynes 84 CRITIQUE BY MARK GRIFFITH PROFILES 112 DRUM MARKET 119 DRUMKIT OF 102 UP & COMING Cindy Blackman THE MONTH BY ROBYN FLANS Editor/Publisher Ronald Spagnardi On Staff At MD Associate Publisher Isabel Spagnardi Managing Editor Rick Van Horn Features Editor William F. Miller Associate Editor Adam J. Budofsky Justin J. Cordes Each month I receive anywhere from ten to twenty Editorial Assistant resumes from individuals looking for employment at Art Director Scott G. Bienstock Modern Drummer. Unfortunately, that's consider- Art Assistant Lori Spagnardi ably more than the number of jobs available at the Administrative Manager Tracy A. Kearns magazine. Bob Berenson The MD staff is actually rather small in compari- Advertising Director son to some publishing companies, and our employ- Advertising Assistant Joan C. Stickel ee turnover rate is extremely low. MD staffers tend to stay for long Marketing And Susanne Losquadro periods, and some of our employees now exceed ten years of con- Public Relations tinuous service. However, that shouldn't discourage you from send- ing in your resume if you're a qualified applicant. Employment MODERN DRUMMER ADVISORY BOARD: Henry Adler, Kenny opportunities do occasionally occur as key employees move on, or Aronoff, Louie Bellson, Bill Bruford, Jim Chapin, Alan Dawson, Dennis when new positions are created. I can assure you that every resume DeLucia, Les DeMerle, Len DiMuzio, Charlie Donnelly, Peter Erskine, Vic Firth, Danny Gottlieb, Sonny Igoe, Jim Keltner, Peter Magadini, George we receive is reviewed, acknowledged, and filed in accordance with Marsh, Joe Morello, Rod Morgenstein, Andy Newmark, Neil Peart, Charlie the applicant's background and qualifications. Perry, Dave Samuels, John Santos, Ed Shaughnessy, Steve Smith, Ed The majority of inquiries I receive are from drummers who desire Thigpen, Dave Weckl. positions on the MD Editorial Department staff. If you're applying CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Robyn Flans, Simon Goodwin, Rick in this area, be aware that though a solid drumming background is a Mattingly, Ken Micallef, Matt Peiken, Teri Saccone, Robert Santelli. prerequisite, it's definitely not the only thing we look for. Good MODERN DRUMMER magazine (ISSN 0194-4533) is published monthly by MODERN DRUMMER Publications, Inc., 870 Pompton writing and editing skills are obviously essential, as is a thorough Avenue, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009. Second-Class Postage paid at Cedar knowledge of the industry and nearly all facets of the art and the Grove, NJ 07009 and at additional mailing offices. Copyright 1994 by MODERN DRUMMER Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. instrument. If you feel you possess the necessary skills, there's cer- Reproduction without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. tainly no harm in sending us your resume. EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES: I also hear from many people interested in working in the MD MODERN DRUMMER Publications, 870 Pompton Avenue, Cedar Art Department. Since all of our production work is now totally Grove, NJ 07009. Tel: (201) 239-4140. computerized, a solid grasp of state-of-the-art computer technology MODERN DRUMMER welcomes manuscripts and photographic mater- is absolutely essential for these positions. Of course, the creative ial, however, cannot assume responsibility for them. Such items must be talent needed to turn words, photographs, and illustrations into accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. effective layouts remains the most important aspect of any job in MUSIC DEALERS: Modern Drummer is available for resale at bulk rates. Direct correspondence to Modern Drummer, Dealer Service, P.O. the Art Department. Box 389, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. Tel.: (800) 334-DRUM or (815) 734- Finally, I regularly receive resumes from people in search of 6013. employment in marketing, circulation, advertising sales, and public SUBSCRIPTIONS: $29.95 per year; $51.95, two years. Single copies relations, and for general administrative positions. Once again, our $3.95. turnover rate in all of these departments is very low, and as a result SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE: Modern Drummer, P.O. Box there are a limited number of openings. But if you feel you have the 480, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0480. Change of address: Allow at least six weeks for a change. Please provide both old and new address. Toll Free appropriate skills and experience to work at the magazine in Tel: (800) 551-3786. these—or any other—capacities, it never hurts to have your resume POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Modern Drummer, P.O. Box on file here at MD. Positions can open up at any time, and if your 480, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. qualifications happen to meet our needs, you just might hear from us someday. Printed in The United States COVERING HOLES IN PEARL SHELLS has improved my playing—and that of the drumming magazine with a great variety of In your October '93 It's Questionable col- group as a whole—tremendously. Our tunes interesting and inspiring articles. Even umn, Chris Light, of Freehold, New Jersey, are tight, sharp, and dynamic, and I have though where I live MD is expensive and asked for advice on filling the holes in his less of a tendency to drift or to fill all the sometimes difficult to find, I always man- Pearl tom-tom shells created by the removal spaces. I no longer consciously hear the age to get my hands on every issue possi- of the tom-arm mounts (for the purpose of metronome as much as I feel its presence. ble. Thank you and keep up the good work. RIMS mounting). Bill Detamore suggested My changes, fills, and accents are sharper Marie Seneca Bush filling the holes with either doweling or a and more "in the groove." Caracas, Venezuela circular piece cut from another shell. I'd strongly recommend to other bush- Instead of these filling operations, which league players and garage bands that they can be difficult, time-consuming, and practice with a metronome. I may not be the potentially damaging to the shell, we rec- hottest drummer in town, but I'm becoming A READER RESPONDS ommend that Mr. Light consider the Pearl one of the steadiest. I was deeply moved by the "Call For Help" GK-90, which is a hole-covering device that Robert Jett letter (Readers' Platform, Nov. '93 MD) consists of plastic inside and outside masks Bow WA from Lazar Dzamic of the Catch The that are shaped like our BT-2 tom bracket. Rhythm Drum School in Yugoslavia. I went Bolts and nuts are provided to attach the right out and bought a few pairs of drum- device to the shell through the original sticks and sent them, along with some cas- mounting holes. When the GK-90 is STAR OF THE FUTURE? settes and my last six issues of Modern installed, the holes are covered both from This is a picture of my three-year-old Drummer. I just hope the package makes it within and without. A metal plate with the cousin, Taavi, who found my practice pad to them. If it does, I'm thinking of organiz- Pearl logo is laminated to the outside mask. and drumsticks lying around and decided to ing a fund-raiser to send drum instruction We feel that the GK-90 is ideal for drum- start working on rudiments. As we can see, books—and maybe even a drumset. mers who want to cover the holes in their he's concentrating really hard to make It's amazing to me how great the com- Pearl shells left behind by the removal of those double strokes flow smoothly. Who munication can be to drummers around the the tom bracket when using our I.M.S. knows...maybe we'll see him on the cover world through MD. Thanks for publishing (Integrated Mounting System) or other sus- of MD in 2020! the call for help letter from our Yugoslavian pension mounting systems. The unit retails Ville Ruso brothers. for $8. Helsinki, Finland Rick Ryan Gene Okamoto Marietta GA Pearl Corporation Nashville TN Editor's note. Rick, you were not alone in your sympathy to the plight of Lazar and his drum school.