Bang The Drum Showily

A little while back I confessed my infatuation with Porcupine Tree‘s extraordinary drummer Gavin Harrison, who is, I still think, pretty much the bee’s knees when it comes to tapping the tubs. In that recent post I encouraged readers to go have a look for themselves, and linked to a YouTube clip of one of Mr. Harrison’s dazzling performances.

Commenter “Chris G.”, however, soon offered a dissenting opinion. He explained that Mr. Harrison “plays like a girl”, and said that in order to see “how you do it” we should all watch this clip of the tattooed urbanite Travis Barker (formerly of Blink-182) adding a few percussive touches to a haunting little tone poem by the American composer Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em. It was beautiful, sophisticated playing, and we were all duly impressed.

Well, Gavin and Travis, I have bad news for the both of you: there is a new king of the hill. Have a look here.

10 Comments

  1. chris g says

    I thought I’d seen all that Youtube has to offer in the way of instructional stick twirling videos. I wonder how did I miss this Korean sensation? Thanks for posting it. I’ll be studying it for days.

    Posted April 2, 2009 at 2:11 pm | Permalink
  2. Malcolm says

    You’re welcome, Chris. The guy is a drum god, pretty much.

    Posted April 2, 2009 at 2:19 pm | Permalink
  3. Mike Z says

    I really enjoyed that.

    – M

    Posted April 2, 2009 at 5:28 pm | Permalink
  4. Malcolm says

    Who wouldn’t?

    Posted April 2, 2009 at 5:29 pm | Permalink
  5. Ron D says

    That is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time, even though I kind of feel sorry for him. I can’t really explain why because he looks so happy when he is playing.

    Now, here is someone who is sure to dazzle you for real. His name is Chip Ritter, who I would say is all show, but he can play extremely well. His stick tricks (also the name of his book/instructional DVD) are impressive, but I am more dazzled by his drum fill at approx. 2:30 in this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrcr6XL27sc&feature=related

    Ron D

    Posted April 3, 2009 at 9:33 am | Permalink
  6. JO says

    Well, I’m just gonna forget my piano and guitar lessons and take up stick flipping!
    Jeanie

    Posted April 3, 2009 at 1:59 pm | Permalink
  7. lance says

    some older Kings impress me more…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHr4XQ9SEcg

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgaD54YcXpA

    and for guitar
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55YLZpLZN7o

    Posted April 5, 2009 at 4:07 pm | Permalink
  8. Malcolm says

    Lance! What a delightful surprise to hear from you.

    Those are phenomenal clips indeed. Thanks for pointing us to them — and for stopping by.

    Posted April 5, 2009 at 10:50 pm | Permalink
  9. Malcolm says

    Hi Ron,

    Thanks, that was certainly a sober and thoughful video. I especially like the bits where Mr. Ritter seems to have set up his kit somewhere on the oustskirts of Fallujah.

    And yes, that was a pretty snappy fill. (Did I ever mention to you, by the way, that I once managed to convince a young and impressionable assistant engineer that Phil Collins had invented the drum fill — and that it had in fact been named after him, and was originally called a “Phil”?)

    Posted April 5, 2009 at 10:59 pm | Permalink
  10. Ron D says

    Mal,

    Yes, I was surprised at how much I liked Ritter’s playing despite the showy-ness. I don’t know why the desert setting was needed, though.

    And no, you never mentioned the drum “Phil” story. Ha! Funny. Another thing to tell young and impressionable assistant engineers is that two different patch chord lengths results in the sound getting there at two different times! Not that I have ever said that to anyone! : )

    Ron D

    Posted April 6, 2009 at 1:45 pm | Permalink

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