S
Sticktrick
Guest
Hey I actually have a nice story about Vinne that everybody will certainly enjoy...
I was at one of his shows with Carizma in LA (that crazy fusion band you know...). They started playing and a minute into the first song the bass amp broke. No bass anymore. The whole band stops playing, Vinnie makes some silly jokes about bassplayers. After 5 or 10 minutes of waiting for a new amp the whole room seemed to become electrified. I don´t know if you know about Vinnie as a person, but I can tell you from 17 times that I saw him live (still have all the tickets and just counted them. Yes. I am a fan....lol) that he is OUT OF CONTROL. I mean as a person also - you know he just seems to be on fire all the time (making jokes, running from A to B on stage and back when he is doing clinics - freak! But in a very positive way!).
So after making jokes for a few minutes, he got a little stressed out and just started to play a solo. He was standing in front of his drums and played on cymbals only at first (he seemed to be wanting to entertain himself a little). But people yelled and applaused already so he just went for it and played a real solo until the amp was fixed (maybe 5 or 10 more minutes.). Then they went straight into the first song which was in 13/8. Later I found out that the whole freaking solo was also in 13/8 because I illegally taped it and listended back. Crazy guy.
But it is not the whole story: Another minute into the song Vinnie wanted to hit his huge China on his left side but missed it, because he was doing something else with his right hand and didn´t look to see where exactly it was. Now he became REALLY pissed: The next spot in the music that allowed for a big crash, he looked at the China as if he was going to kill it and then hit it so hard with his left hand (in traditional grip!!!) that the whole stand with cymbal attached to hit collapsed and fell to the floor with a big crash. The crowd went nuts, Vinnie smiled and everything was good. All while maintainig a 13/8 groove. Really crazy guy.
Man I just think that he is a natural talent and one of the very best drummers that this planet has ever seen. He is just into it very very deeply.
And the story goes on: Ralph Humphrey was in the audience (concert was at LAMA where Ralph teaches) and in the next class he asked everybody who was there: "Nice time signature that the first solo was in, right?" Ralph could recall that whole solo that Vinnie had made up and even remembered all tiny little Metric Shifts and little diddys that Vinnie had played. You might think that this is not that remarkable, but it is: There was a whole room full of drummers there (good ones) and everybody listened to that solo, but didn´t get it. Now Ralph walks into the room explaining everything about it and he had only heard it ONCE. We later on checked the things he said with my recording and it was all correct. Ralph just has BIG ears.... It was actually told me, that Vinnie once said, that the only person on this planet who truly can understand what Vinnie does in the exact same moment that he does it in, is Ralph Humphrey. Nice compliment I think.
I was at one of his shows with Carizma in LA (that crazy fusion band you know...). They started playing and a minute into the first song the bass amp broke. No bass anymore. The whole band stops playing, Vinnie makes some silly jokes about bassplayers. After 5 or 10 minutes of waiting for a new amp the whole room seemed to become electrified. I don´t know if you know about Vinnie as a person, but I can tell you from 17 times that I saw him live (still have all the tickets and just counted them. Yes. I am a fan....lol) that he is OUT OF CONTROL. I mean as a person also - you know he just seems to be on fire all the time (making jokes, running from A to B on stage and back when he is doing clinics - freak! But in a very positive way!).
So after making jokes for a few minutes, he got a little stressed out and just started to play a solo. He was standing in front of his drums and played on cymbals only at first (he seemed to be wanting to entertain himself a little). But people yelled and applaused already so he just went for it and played a real solo until the amp was fixed (maybe 5 or 10 more minutes.). Then they went straight into the first song which was in 13/8. Later I found out that the whole freaking solo was also in 13/8 because I illegally taped it and listended back. Crazy guy.
But it is not the whole story: Another minute into the song Vinnie wanted to hit his huge China on his left side but missed it, because he was doing something else with his right hand and didn´t look to see where exactly it was. Now he became REALLY pissed: The next spot in the music that allowed for a big crash, he looked at the China as if he was going to kill it and then hit it so hard with his left hand (in traditional grip!!!) that the whole stand with cymbal attached to hit collapsed and fell to the floor with a big crash. The crowd went nuts, Vinnie smiled and everything was good. All while maintainig a 13/8 groove. Really crazy guy.
Man I just think that he is a natural talent and one of the very best drummers that this planet has ever seen. He is just into it very very deeply.
And the story goes on: Ralph Humphrey was in the audience (concert was at LAMA where Ralph teaches) and in the next class he asked everybody who was there: "Nice time signature that the first solo was in, right?" Ralph could recall that whole solo that Vinnie had made up and even remembered all tiny little Metric Shifts and little diddys that Vinnie had played. You might think that this is not that remarkable, but it is: There was a whole room full of drummers there (good ones) and everybody listened to that solo, but didn´t get it. Now Ralph walks into the room explaining everything about it and he had only heard it ONCE. We later on checked the things he said with my recording and it was all correct. Ralph just has BIG ears.... It was actually told me, that Vinnie once said, that the only person on this planet who truly can understand what Vinnie does in the exact same moment that he does it in, is Ralph Humphrey. Nice compliment I think.