Adventures with the jazz band.
Okay, so it wasn't really an adventure. I played with the "Monday Night Jazz Band" tonight because my drum teacher plays with them and every now and then they let the students play a few songs. They're incredibly nice people for putting up with all of our awful playing. I pretended that I was Janet Weiss and it was exciting because the kit I was playing on sounded just like hers. I played two songs and thankfully I didn't mess up. The last time I went, I was so nervous that I screwed up the song even though I had practiced it countless times.
My teacher has the most amazing maple kit. He said it cost $4,000 and was made by a company called Ayotte. The head of the company, Mr. Ayotte, somehow lost his position and went on to start another drum company called Taye. The Taye drums use the Ayotte designs, but are about half the price. I need to start saving right now. We're looking at $2,000 for a high-quality maple kit that sounds INCREDIBLE. That's a bargain compared to $4,000. Go Taye. My Tama kit is made of mahogany, which sounds like nothing special, and my cymbals sound like trash can lids, even though I just bought a new set. When it comes to drums, you won't get anywhere cheaply, unfortunately.
From my brother's new phone (same as mine):
By the way, I'm wearing an S-K shirt, but you can't tell because the quality is horrible.
:)
I still haven't got my hearing fully back yet. I hit the crash cymbal so hard tonight that it actually hurt. I know I've got at least some permanent damage already because I have to turn the TV up super loud (according to my family) to hear what the people are saying. I only wear the carpenter-style earmuffs sometimes when I practice because I'm an idiot. I need to start being more careful.
posted by onebeat @ 10:48 PM
4 Comments:
Are you wearing the One Beat shirt with Carrie wearing the tie?
You know, I still can't tell the quality of the drum sets but I can tell the differing styles of drummers. Janet is hard and clean, so is Bianca from erase errata, she also uses the "high hat" a bit (which is great because it makes them very danceable). Then there's Hannah Billie (or is it the other way around?) who is also clean. Like I said, I'm still trying to figure it out but it's cool that you can also play the drums.
It's the Hot Rock shirt that says "Sleater-Kinney" with a blue diamond in the middle.
There are so many levels of drumming. You can play by the rules and just play basic beats, or you can play like Janet and melt people's faces with your skills. Not many drummers put in the effort to be as creative as she is, which is pathetic. She really deserves more credit than she gets. I like it when the drummers play on the hi-hat and get that disco-ish beat going. I agree, good for dancing!
Oh, and I'll have to check out Erase Errata sometime. I've seen you mention them a lot. They sound interesting from what I've heard of them.
maybe not many people are able to put in the effort as Janet. :P
I still remember when Quasi opened in Portland and when Janet hit that bass drum, damn I had to gasp for air.
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