Marco Minnemann

To Stu

Marco played meinl cymbals for so many years because they were kind enough to offer him his first sponsership deal hence he stayed loyal to them. Zildjian by the way had been after marco for a few years before marco eventually caved into the tempatation of a free set of K custom cymbals and a big fat sponsership deal.
 
Even Bozzio admits that Marco reigns supreme with independence. Read Bozzio's recent interview in MD.

There are several drummers with high level independence but Marco is throwing it all together with polyrhythms, odd time sigs, odd note groupings, frequent meter changes etc.

Virgil is also doing crazy stuff at this level as well. (His "separating both sides of the body" technique)
I have to say, Virgil might be even badder than Marco

Marco really is a mutant, however. I mean, I saw him playing eighths with one limb, triplets with another, 16th's with the third and quintuplets with the fourth limb. AND he can assign any one pattern to any limb at any time. Who even plays music like that???

Check out the video Extreme Drumming. The solo at the end is awe-inspiring.
 
I got his Extreme drumming DVD from netflix the other day and what impressed me was an accented roll he did between two hi-hats. Insane stuff
 
NUTHA JASON said:
my initial feelings are that he is comparableto virgil donatti in chops but he certainly grooves more, the man is a machine when it comes to speed and a great showman too. i'm keen to learn more about him.

j

YAY!!! In other words, J, you can finally hear that Virgin's groove is flawed? :)

Marco's chops are more interesting, musically applicable, and fluid than the other pretenders'. Despite the ridiculous complexity of what he plays, he remains human. No one touches him for independence. And to top it all off, he's a cool, funny, down-to-earth guy, again unlike the others.

Marco kills Donati. Marco kills Lang.

Womble hath spake.
 
baddrumming said:
To Stu

Marco played meinl cymbals for so many years because they were kind enough to offer him his first sponsership deal hence he stayed loyal to them.

It seems like Meinl goes after the German Wunderkinds like Lang (ok, Austrian, close enough) and Minneman. What does that Benny Greb guy play?

I'm sure it has more to do with distribution and marketing than anything else. I've said it a million times on here, my favorite cymbal/drum company would be the one that would pay me to play their gear! But for now I guess I'll have to "settle" with Yamaha and Zildjian...oh darn.
 
Womble said:
Marco kills Donati. Marco kills Lang.

Womble hath spake.

I think what you meant to say was Marco Donati and Lang kill Womble and Stu_Strib.
 
Stu_Strib said:
I think what you meant to say was Marco Donati and Lang kill Womble and Stu_Strib.

Or possibly, Donati and Lang are about to kill Womble. LOL.

Please don't assume Thinshells' old job of pointing out that everyone's worse than the people they criticise, I've been enjoying my new-found freedom since he flipped!
 
I just watched the extreme drumming DVD. And thanks to Marco I have a huge headache. OMG I can't even believe the stuff he is doing.......WOW!!!
 
Marco kills Donati. Marco kills Lang.

Even Bozzio admits that Marco reigns supreme with independence.

And Pete Zeldman kills all of them. End of thread ;-)

Sorry Womble. Zeldman was doing all of Marco's stuff way back. I think Marco is a fantastic drummer, and I really enjoy his musicality. As for independance and sheer technical facility, there are drummers who've been doing the Extreme Independance for a while now, but without the exposure that Marco gets. I view Marco as pretty much a newcomer to the independance scene.
 
Womble said:
Please don't assume Thinshells' old job of pointing out that everyone's worse than the people they criticise, I've been enjoying my new-found freedom since he flipped!


No worries from me! That's the last thing I waste my time on. I have probably included this line more than 50 times on Drummerworld:

"what does MY skill have to do with (insert criticized drummer's name here)"?
 
err well i guess this post is a few months belated.. but regardless

if you define independance as being to play a co-ordinated rhythm independant of another (ie left hand/right hand.. right foot/right hand) it's impossible to differentiate between actual improvisation (and real independance), and memorized rhythm.

so assume your playing a shuffle, and you displace the upbeat every few bars. while you are obviously doing this independant of the rest of the rhythm, which is consistant, it is likewise possible that you just memorized a few bars, with an upbeat that doesn't fall in the same place

of course it's a fair bet to say someone on marco's playing level can improvise pretty fluently, but you can't honestly say he has excellent independance without being him..
 
Well this is going to make everyone on drummerworld but I'm going to a drum clinic including Marco, Terry Bozzio ( ohhhh yeeeaaaah!) and Chad Wackerman it's on april 29th I can't wait.

I've seen some of Marco's movie and I was extremeley impressed with him.
 
I love Marco's drumming. He is probaly my favorite drummer ever since I bought his Extreme Drumming DVD. I love listening to the music he plays with. It's just great to see someone who developed amazing interdependence, then apply it to make mind-boggling grooves that fit the music more than well. For anyone who has the DVD, my favorite song (and drumming) on it is the alternate take of "Motor" on Side B (especially when he starts using all of the different high hat/cymbal orchestrations (the one while the music is still playing)). I don't see why this one isn't on the site instead of one of the others.
 
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jonny said:
And Pete Zeldman kills all of them. End of thread ;-)

I dutifully checked out Pete Zeldman's site, but there was only one brief audio clip, and to be honest it sounded like a rather unappealing mess. When I said no one touches Marco for independence I didn't really mean in terms of complexity but in musicality (just my opinion). But if there's someplace else I can check out more Zeldman, please let me know, I'd be interested.
 
Hey Womble,

I see what you're saying. Personally, out of all of the 'super' drummers, like Lang, Mangini, Donati etc, I'd say that Marco is the most musical as well. I remember the first time I saw his video, I was really blown away by it. I genuinely think it's really good music, whereas I can't always say the same thing about other drummers. With Lang or Mangini, I think it's good drumming, but I can't honestly say that I always enjoy the musicality side of it.

However, although not I'm not someone who likes to get caught up in "who's the best techinical drummer etc", I do think that when it comes to independance and four way co-ordination, technical ability is something to be admired. It's ridiculously hard to get to a decent level. Zeldman has taken it seriously far out. There is a video of him on the Drum Institute website, under his profile, which is ok. But neither the clip or the video I mentioned really showcase his talent properly. Personally, I'd rate him as the world's best drummer, and yes, that's putting above Vinnie and Weckl etc. Try and catch him live in clinic, and he'll change the way you think about drums! ;-)
 
Has anyone seen Marco recently? He seems to have fallen off the face of the earth in the last 6 months or so. He's not playing with any bands that I know of nor is he on a clinic tour.

Anyone know what's up?
 
Knevildrummer said:
Has anyone seen Marco recently? He seems to have fallen off the face of the earth in the last 6 months or so. He's not playing with any bands that I know of nor is he on a clinic tour.

Anyone know what's up?

29. October 2006, Birmingham, West Midlands, UK, Drumfest 2006

25. October 2006, Northampton, Northamtonshire, UK, Drumfest 2006

22. October 2006, Brentwood, Essex, UK, Drumfest 2006

20. - 24. June 2006, München, Germany, "Unterfahrt" www.unterfahrt.de, Wolfgang Schmid Special Kick

20. May 2006, Bordeaux, France, Drums Addict Festival 2006, http://www.medoquine.com/fr/visite.html

04. May 2006, B&B Music, Camden, DE, USA, BMW Clinic Tour

02. May 2006, Dynamic Percussion, Manchester, CT, USA, BMW Clinic Tour

01. May 2006, Drum Shop, Portland, ME, USA, BMW Clinic Tour

29. Apr. 2006, Steve's Music, Montreal, QC, Canada, BMW Clinic Tour

28. Apr. 2006, Steve's Music, Ottawa, ON, Canada, BMW Clinic Tour

26. Apr. 2006, Steve's Music,Toronto, ON, Canada, BMW Clinic Tour (Bozzio, Minnemann, Wackerman)

25. March 2006, Weinstadt, Wolfgang Schmid Special Kick Tour 2006, Jazztage, www.jak-weinstadt.de

24. March 2006, Habach, Germany, "Village" www.village-habach.de, Wolfgang Schmid Special Kick
 
jonny said:
And Pete Zeldman kills all of them. End of thread ;-)

Sorry Womble. Zeldman was doing all of Marco's stuff way back. .


I remember Zeldman doing this crazy independence stuff back in '89. He is truly an unsung giant of a drummer. Whatever happened to him? I'd heard some pretty bad things.

I'd love to see him playing alongside Marco now. That would be SCARY!!!
 
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