Music

What’s that pounding in my ears?

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

I’m sure my neighbors are going to love me.

Daughter is starting drum lessons.

Drum… set… lessons.

The lessons start next week, but yesterday I got her signed up and last night we went to Guitar Center to get her a pair of sticks and a practice pad. They were out of the method book so I ordered it from Amazon.

By coincidence, it was the first night of Guitar Center’s 2011 Drum Off competition. We stuck around and listened to a few of the folks play. A lot of your rock/metal drumming, but one guy was especially tasty, very smooth.

One thing Daughter noticed? Of all the people lined up to play, there was only one girl. 🙂

I told her it doesn’t matter. It’s not about being a boy or a girl, it’s about being a drummer. If you’ve got chops, that’s all that matters. Oh sure, she will have to learn how to hang with the boys, but having two brothers helps. But in the end, it’s about the music, and anyone that refuses to support and encourage you is as asshole and can go away.

She’s nervous, excited, a little intimidated, and certainly overwhelmed. But she’s happy, so she told me. She’s looking forward to this.

Right now, she’ll stick with the practice pad. Since she’s to learn set, yes eventually we’ll have to get one. People — even the instructor — tells me to get an electronic set. But I’m not convinced, because you just can’t equal what an acoustic set looks and feels and sounds like. We’ll see. If we got that route, I’ll be looking for some basic used sets on craigslist for sure.

And… my neighbors will really, really love me. 😉

Sunday Metal – Cyclone Temple

/ hsoi

I was poking around the Metal-Rules.com website and came across this “where are they now?” for Znowhite.

I had never really heard of Znowhite and still don’t know much about them, tho I remember my friend Bryan had their “Act of God” album. But they evolved into Cyclone Temple, and I do remember them. I have their “I Hate, Therefore I Am” album and think it’s a fine example of thrash metal.

I even got to see them play at The Bayou in Washington D.C.. I think they, of all things, were opening for Last Crack. Odd bill, but whatever. The thing I remember was both bands were somewhat unknown so the place was pretty empty. I guess things weren’t going well for the band, and the lead singer kept bitching about that and getting upset at the audience for not being puppets in his fingers. I spoke with their drummer afterwards and he was apologetic and a little embarrassed by the singer’s behavior. But, they did rock. I still think it’s a fine album.

Here’s their single, “Words Are Just Words”

Jani Lane, dead

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Jani Lane, best known as the (former/original) lead singer of the hair metal band Warrant was found dead at age 47.

Googling for more information, there isn’t any… other than he was found dead in a hotel room.

Jani’s been struggling with drugs and alcohol for quite some time, lapsing in and out. Following all his ups and downs via Metal Sludge over the years, you wondered when this was going to happen… you hoped that it wouldn’t, you hoped he’d pull things together. But alas. 😦  Even if the cause of death isn’t substance-related, you could see how it was all taking a huge toll on him.

R.I.P. Jani.

Here’s my favorite Warrant song, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (tho I’ll agree that “Dog Eat Dog” was an underrated album)

Sunday Metal Extra – Jim Breuer, metal impersonations

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The AC/DC “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” was awesome. 🙂

And in that spirit, AC/DC Hokey Pokey

And it seems Brian Johnson has a great sense of humor and doesn’t take himself too seriously: