A ROLAND TD-30K KIT $ WIN VALUED AT 5,299 INFLUENCES: RINGO STARR MODERNThe World’s #1 Drum Magazine DRUMMERSeptember 2012 KEEP THEBEAT GROOVINGSOLO IDEAS COREY MILLER TATTOO ARTIST... DRUMMER J.P. BOUVET: TRAVIS DRUM-OFF CHAMP GOSPEL GREAT BARKER JOEL SMITH PORTRAIT OF A DRUM SHELLS: UNDERSTANDING DRUMMER WOOD TYPES AT THE TOP THIN LIZZY’S BRIAN DOWNEY GEARS UP REVIEWED: ModernDrummer.com • DUNNETT TITANIUM KIT • V-CLASSIC CYMBALS • OCDP BELL BRASS SNARE • SONOR PERFECT BALANCE PEDAL Volume 36, Number 9 CONTENTS This month’s cover illustration, “Not Just Another Face in the Crowd: Travis Barker,” is by drummer/tattoo artist Corey Miller. 11x14 pen and ink on paper. Read all about Miller in his feature story on page 50. For more on his tat- too parlor/art gallery, go to sixfeetunder.com. Paul La Raia EDUCATION 60 STRICTLY TECHNIQUE Polyrhythmic Coordination, Part 2: Three- and Four-Note Base Rhythms by Ari Hoenig 62 ROCK ’N’ JAZZ CLINIC Don’t Disturb the Groove!, Part 1: Broken Doubles and Paradiddles by Tobias Ralph 64 JAZZ DRUMMER’S WORKSHOP Improve Your Bottom Line, On the Cover Part 1: Bass Drum Comping in 4/4 by Steve Fidyk 66 CONCEPTS Inner Drumming: 36 TRAVIS BARKER Listening With All Four Limbs, Part 3 by George Marsh by David Ciauro Battles mythical and all too real have defined much of 70 HEALTH & SCIENCE Drum Athletes, Part 2: V-Sit and Push-Up Catch by Billy Cuthrell his life since MD last sat with him for a good long chat. With a recent solo debut, reams of one-off collabora- tions, new Transplants and Blink-182 activity, and a EQUIPMENT constant refinement of his craft, Travis can honestly say that he’s at the top of his game twenty years in. 18 PRODUCT CLOSE-UP • DUNNETT CLASSIC DRUMS Titanium Drumset • V-CLASSIC Vintage-Inspired Turkish Cymbals 1 • OCDP 6 /2x14 Brushed Bell Brass Snare • SONOR Perfect Balance Bass Drum Pedal FEATURING • CRASH ’N FLASH Drumset Lighting System 12 UPDATE 24 SHOP TALK • Chris Robinson’s GEORGE SLUPPICK DRUM SHELLS A Quick Guide to • Victor Wooten’s J.D. BLAIR Understanding Different Wood Types 28 PORTRAITS 26 GEARING UP 2011 Guitar Center Drum-Off Champ J.P. BOUVET Thin Lizzy’s BRIAN DOWNEY 72 NEW AND NOTABLE 30 JOEL SMITH by Stephen Styles His timeless performances on some of the most important gospel records of all time have sealed DEPARTMENTS his reputation as a giant among giants. 8 AN EDITOR’S OVERVIEW The Readers Respond by Michael Parillo 50 COREY MILLER by Adam Budofsky Music and art have been inseparable for the tattoo icon since 10 READERS’ PLATFORM his earliest experiences as a drummer on the L.A. punk scene. 14 ASK A PRO Billy Ward, Elvin Jones, John Tempesta 58 INFLUENCES 16 IT’S QUESTIONABLE Mind Matters RINGO STARR by Michael Parillo 76 SHOWCASE Featuring Drum Market 82 WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT...? 88 CRITIQUE Including Making Progress New Orleans Vet ALLYN ROBINSON by Cleve Warren 92 IN MEMORIAM Sonny Igoe, Michael Hossack 96 KIT OF THE MONTH Driving a Hybrid MD DIGITAL SUBSCRIBERS! When you see this icon, $ , click on a shaded box on the page to open the audio player. Note: a Roland TD-30K A 5 299 Shaded boxes appear when you first view a digitally enhanced page, WIN V-Pro Series Drumkit VALUE! and then they fade; they will reappear when you roll over the area. Sign up online! pg 95 AN EDITOR’S OVERVIEW MODERNDRUMMER FOUNDER MODERN DRUMMER ADVISORY BOARD: Kenny Aronoff, Eddie Bayers, RONALD SPAGNARDI Bill Bruford, Harry Cangany, Dennis The Readers Respond 1943–2003 DeLucia, Les DeMerle, Len DiMuzio, Peter Erskine, Vic Firth, Bob Gatzen, Danny Gottlieb, Jim Keltner, Paul Leim, n my June editorial, “Shake It Up,” I wrote about how refreshing it PUBLISHER/CEO Peter Magadini, George Marsh, Rod Morgenstein, Andy Newmark, Neil Peart, Iis to take on a side project. I can now report that the horn band I ISABEL SPAGNARDI Ed Shaughnessy, Steve Smith, Billy Ward, mentioned ended up breaking up after one show—we’ll call it an Dave Weckl, Paul Wertico. “indefinite hiatus”—but playing with the group was still a fun SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: experience that had me flexing some new musical muscles. And LORI SPAGNARDI Patrick Berkery, David Ciauro, John right around that same time I began playing in a new trio with Emrich, Mike Haid, Dr. Asif Khan, Rick Mattingly, Ken Micallef, Mark Parsons, some old friends, and I was really wondering how I’d be able to make the schedules VICE PRESIDENT Martin Patmos, Jeff Potter, Will Romano, work when adding my main band, my full-time job, and my gig moonlighting as my KEVIN W. KEARNS Bernie Schallehn, Ilya Stemkovsky, Stephen Styles, Robin Tolleson, Lauren wife’s personal chef. Problem solved! Vogel Weiss, Paul Wells. Anyway, in June I opened up the floor to you, the readers of Modern Drummer, to ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER TRACY A. KEARNS MODERN DRUMMER magazine share your own side-project experiences, and as expected you had some great (ISSN 0194-4533) is published responses. Here are a few. monthly by EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MODERN DRUMMER Publications, Inc., After playing in two alternative rock bands for the previous ten years, I joined an 12 Old Bridge Road, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009. ADAM J. BUDOFSKY PERIODICALS MAIL POSTAGE paid at original/cover country band. It was something I had wanted to get into for some Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 and at additional time, as I have always appreciated the songwriting and musicianship in country mailing offices. Copyright 2012 by MANAGING EDITOR MODERN DRUMMER Publications, Inc. music. After learning the new and challenging material, I noticed that my playing in MICHAEL DAWSON All rights reserved. Reproduction without the my alternative rock bands began to get tighter and more solid. My timing was also permission of the publisher is prohibited. substantially better. When I started learning the country songs, I had no choice but ASSOCIATE EDITOR EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING/ADMINIS- to tighten it up. The band and the dancing audience depended on me to be tighter BILLY AMENDOLA TRATIVE OFFICES: MODERN DRUM- than ever, and it was a great experience. It only benefits you and your bands to MER Publications, 12 Old Bridge Road, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009. Tel: (973) stretch into other avenues if you have the time, energy, and motivation to do so. ASSOCIATE EDITOR 239-4140. Fax: (973) 239-7139. Email: [email protected]. —Philip Kurut MICHAEL PARILLO MODERN DRUMMER welcomes manu- Spicing up my playing from time to time is as simple as heading out to one of the SENIOR ART DIRECTOR scripts and photographic material but can- not assume responsibility for them. weekly open-mic nights in town. There’s something exhilarating about sitting in with SCOTT G. BIENSTOCK complete strangers and playing a couple songs that aren’t on your regular set list. SUBSCRIPTIONS: US and Canada Between playing a different instrument, battling the hi-hat that keeps slipping away, $34.97 per year; $56.97, two years. ART DIRECTOR Other international $59.97 per year. and staying in the pocket while watching and listening for solo cues and the shout GERALD VITALE Single copies $5.99. chorus, those ten minutes of nerve-racking pressure mean everything and nothing SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE: when one of the waiters comes over and says you sounded great. ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Modern Drummer, PO Box 274, Oregon, —Scott W. Gray BOB BERENSON IL 61061-9920. Change of address: Allow at least six weeks for a change. Please provide both old and I’m currently playing in a (mostly) classic rock cover/originals band, and it’s great. I’m ADVERTISING ASSISTANT new address. Call (800) 551-3786 an old-school metalhead—forty-two years young—and I always wanted to feed that or (815) 732-5283. Phone hours, LASHANDA GIBSON 8AM–4:30PM Monday–Friday CST, urge as well. So now I’m involved in a side project of playing heavy metal/punky or visit Subscriber Services at www.moderndrummer.com. music with kid-friendly lyrics. (I know—interesting concept.) I also recently got DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR involved in a second side project that is very much indie stylings. This one is com- EJ DECOSKE MUSIC DEALERS: Modern Drummer pletely away from my musical knowledge base, but oh, the challenge and fun! The is distributed by Hal Leonard Corp. (800) 554-0626. [email protected] time factor alone can be very daunting, but I think it’s not bad to see what more you MUSIC ENGRAVER www.halleonard.com/dealers can handle when the time arises. WILLIE ROSE —Dirk Ayala INTERNATIONAL LICENSING REPRESENTATIVE: Robert Abramson & Associates, Inc., Libby Abramson, I’ve been in a party/dance band in the San Francisco Bay Area, called Struttin, for President, PO Box 740346, Boyton MODERN DRUMMER Beach, FL 33474-0346, twenty-five years. Over the last few years the band has slowed down, and I’ve been PRO PANEL [email protected]. seeking out new musical growth. Most of my new situations involve playing in church. Sometimes I’ll be asked to sit in on Sunday morning when there’s a no-show POSTMASTER: Send address changes 2012 Pro Panel to Modern Drummer, PO Box 274, from another drummer. This situation has put me on stage with a count-off, without Oregon, IL 61061-9920. ever hearing the song (or sometimes the whole set). The only thing I ask is if there are Chris Adler Gregg Bissonette Canadian Publications Mail Agreement any time signatures that could be tricky. There generally aren’t, but I ask.