Gavin Harrison here!

Hi!
I have some questions about your drum pedal, I'm looking forward to buy one and I'm very interested in Axis. My scepticism is in heel of this pedal (I'm thinking about longboards - A series) because it doesn't look very heavily and I think that it isn't as endurance as e.g. Giant Step's pedals. I heard somewhere that it's easy to whip off scrolls (talking about Axis) even you manipulate it sparingly. Will be great if you will share some oppinions about that (and if you can answer how often you're changing your double pedals? experiences with those pedals mentioned above? etc.)
All the best!
TKIE
 
Hi szokematyi

In your Visions Dvd, there is a section about subdivisions. You demonstrated it with a work-out applied for the hands. If I remember correctly, you stated: This is the fundamental building block of everything that you'll ever play. I'm thinking about applying that concept for the feet as well for better timing and pedal control. Would you recommend it?

Absolutely - why not. Remember control is FAR MORE useful than speed!!!

Hi Deathtoll

Of all the songs you've performed on, what song really sticks out to you the most? Could you explain why too?

That's a hard question - I've played on a lot of songs. The songs on the last two albums that I made with 05Ric are the most challenging things I've ever done. Very rhythmically satisfying.

Hi Cuban

I appreciate this might be hard diplomatically to answer, but knowing your love of tones, I assume you have tried UFIP cymbals? What did you think?

Yes they are very good cymbals indeed. I was lucky enough to have a tour of the factory about three years ago.

These days, do you always wear IEM or headphones when play or do you still play without sometimes?


I almost never play without the IEMs or headphones. My tinnitus is getting worse - and one day it might stop me playing altogether - so I have to be VERY cautious these days.

Hi Heck99

I noticed in one of the pictures on your facebook page from your European tour this year what appeared to be an A-Custom Rezo Crash and K-Custom Hybrid Crash as your two "main" crashes in front of your kit. The sizes I can't tell from the picture, but how do you like them?


Yes I sometimes use those cymbals. The Reso crash is 15" and the Hybrid crash is 19". Sometimes I swap out cymbals during the tour just to try them out and see if they fit. I like them.

Hi mpdrums

Everytime I see you guys (Porcupine Tree) live I was asking myself how you manage to get the right entry to let your music be accurate with the live projections.... Do you hear a count or a click when you started a song to get into the right postion?

Of course for the projections to be in sync we need to play to a click. There is also a count in.

Hi pixelbreaker

I was looking at the back of my "Nil Recurring" CD and it says you tapped guitar on the first track. Which part is this?

Everything you hear in the first 33 seconds is just me. Two tapped guitar parts.

Hi Kalma

do you know where the differne between the Puresound 14" 12 Strands snare wires and the Concert Series 14" 12 Strands snarewires is?

They have different types of coiled wire.

Hi TKIE

My scepticism is in heel of this pedal (I'm thinking about longboards - A series) because it doesn't look very heavily and I think that it isn't as endurance as e.g. Giant Step's pedals.

Don't worry - they are very heavy duty.

I heard somewhere that it's easy to whip off scrolls (talking about Axis) even you manipulate it sparingly.

sorry but i don't understand what "whip off scrolls" means.

Cheers
Gavin
 
Hi Gavin,

A question about notation. I noticed that the ">" symbol is used for accents. The Rhythmic Designs book uses those for the main snare hits and notes without the accent mark for the ghost notes. Why did you choose for this approach over using smaller notes for the ghost notes? Is this the proper way to score out drumparts?

Cheers and enjoy the RAH show!
Santi
 
Sorry,
I thought to strip screws (hope it's understandable now...). I heard that it happens often and that an owner of this pedal have to screw it frequently. How often do you care about this stuff? (meaning screwing) And what is a lifetime of your pedal?
Thanks in front.
 
Gavin,

A question about your work with 05Ric. Which song(s) on the 2 albums did you have the most difficulty with (ie- time signature, tempo change).

Also, while I love Ric's fresh and melodramatic style of singing, have you ever considered releasing an instrumental version of the albums? I only ask because I think it would be easier to study the musical complexity without having to ignore the brilliant singing.

I've started practicing 6/8 time. Which I find quite easy to grasp, however, I'm always accenting the 'one' of every group of 3 (ONE two three, ONE two three), either with a stomp of the bass drum or a crack of the snare. Could you suggest an alternative way of counting 6/8 so I could play it without it sounding so monotonous or predictable?

Thanks so much
 
@ euphoric_anomaly: Odd question. Everything is possible:

ONE two three, one TWO three,
one two three, ONE TWO three,
one two THREE, one two THREE,
ONE TWO three, one TWO three .......................................................................................................

and so on ... There are countless opportunities if you divide it not only in eighth notes but also in 16s or 32s ....

So try to find the accents that fit the best with a song. ;-)
 
@ euphoric_anomaly: Odd question. Everything is possible:

ONE two three, one TWO three,
one two three, ONE TWO three,
one two THREE, one two THREE,
ONE TWO three, one TWO three .......................................................................................................

and so on ... There are countless opportunities if you divide it not only in eighth notes but also in 16s or 32s ....

So try to find the accents that fit the best with a song. ;-)

I appreciate your input Tobias :) Thank you for your examples :)
 
Hey Gavin, you probably won't remember me, I spoke to you briefly after the RAH concert last night. My dad introduced us and he was kind of joking about giving lessons by the way... :D I've still got Rhythmic Illusions to get through first!

Absolutely fantastic concert last night, loved every second of it and you're a true inspiration to younger drummers like myself and I really hope to be able to play with such emotion and feel as you do one day. Best birthday gift I've ever had, and it's going to be hard to top that!

However, in the acoustic part of the set you played last night, I noticed you were doing a certain brush pattern on the snare during Black Dahlia I think, it looked like you were doing circles with your left hand, while hitting and then sliding with your right. Is that correct? I've recently been getting into a lot of jazz/experimental trio music (such as Esbjorn Svensson Trio and Kieth Jarrett) and so would love to get some good ideas about brushes...

Cheers!
 
I noticed you were doing a certain brush pattern on the snare during Black Dahlia I think, it looked like you were doing circles with your left hand, while hitting and then sliding with your right. Is that correct? I've recently been getting into a lot of jazz/experimental trio music (such as Esbjorn Svensson Trio and Kieth Jarrett) and so would love to get some good ideas about brushes...

Cheers!

THIS might help you, it's quite decent, and he explains a lot in very little time. You might find yourself going back and forth. I'm sure what you saw Gavin playing is similar to some of the sweeping patterns Peter explains there.


Fox.
 
There are some wicked tips there, thanks Fox, I can learn a bunch of cool stuff from this. But the reason I asked was because I haven't seen anyone do this sort of pattern before (out of the few I've seen) and sounded so awesome and looked so fluid.

I loved the Jungle version of your Sonor kit as well Gavin, nice touch.
 
Hi Gavin,

Wish I could have seen you in Dublin but I was at Benny Greb and just couldn't make it to both. Do a clinic in Dublin soon!

I know that you play Axis now. But I've seen photos of your kit set up with a Sonor Giant Step double pedal. I'm thinking of getting one because my friend just snapped the footboard on my DW 9000s. They were too heavy if I'm honest. I was actually thinking of selling them so I could buy another pedal.

I play a Sonor S Classix and know they make great stuff. But the Giant steps aren't stocked here so if I go for one I'll have to do it without a test run to see if I like them.

Could you share any thoughts on them? Do they hold up? I'm not a crazy double bass player. I like to work them into fills...that's about it. Are light or heavy pedals? How smooth would they be?

Any info would be great.

Thanks,

SonorPlayer
 
now that the porcupine tour is over can we look forward to an 05ric-gavin harrison tour maybe next year?
 
I know you listen to more jazz then any other genre around it would seem, what modern jazz artists do you listen to when your not listening to your back catalog?
 
Hi SantiBanks

A question about notation. I noticed that the ">" symbol is used for accents. The Rhythmic Designs book uses those for the main snare hits and notes without the accent mark for the ghost notes. Why did you choose for this approach over using smaller notes for the ghost notes? Is this the proper way to score out drumparts?

It's really hard to read the smaller notes and something that you could only really reliably do with a computer. I have read hand written parts where the size of the dots have not been that consistent to start with. I prefer the accent system and it is the proper way to score drum parts.

Hi TKIE

I thought to strip screws (hope it's understandable now...). I heard that it happens often and that an owner of this pedal have to screw it frequently. How often do you care about this stuff? (meaning screwing) And what is a lifetime of your pedal?


I've had my original Axis pedal for 8 years and the screws have never stripped out.

Hi euphoric_anomaly

A question about your work with 05Ric. Which song(s) on the 2 albums did you have the most difficulty with (ie- time signature, tempo change).

The song "Scar" is quite a hard one - but once you memorise the 11/8 part it's not too bad. As with all odd time signatures there's always a key to them. You never have to count to 11 - you need to work out a way to feel the pattern in a collection of smaller groupings. Like 3/4 + 5/8.

Also, while I love Ric's fresh and melodramatic style of singing, have you ever considered releasing an instrumental version of the albums? I only ask because I think it would be easier to study the musical complexity without having to ignore the brilliant singing.

No absolutely not. His vocals are an essential and integral part of the music. It wouldn't sound right without them.

I've started practicing 6/8 time. Which I find quite easy to grasp, however, I'm always accenting the 'one' of every group of 3 (ONE two three, ONE two three), either with a stomp of the bass drum or a crack of the snare. Could you suggest an alternative way of counting 6/8 so I could play it without it sounding so monotonous or predictable?

There are of course many variations - you could put the snare on beat 5 for instance - but depending on the music you're playing it might not be appropriate. You could anticipate the normal place for the snare beat by a 16th. That's what I do in the verse of "Break" on the album Circles.

Hi EJWest

I noticed you were doing a certain brush pattern on the snare during Black Dahlia I think, it looked like you were doing circles with your left hand, while hitting and then sliding with your right. Is that correct?

Yes that's correct.

Hi sonorplayer

Could you share any thoughts on Giant Step? Do they hold up? I'm not a crazy double bass player. I like to work them into fills...that's about it. Are light or heavy pedals? How smooth would they be?

Yes they are great pedals - and feel really smooth. They can feel heavy or light depending on how you set them up with the springs and various adjustments.

Hi dtl

now that the porcupine tour is over can we look forward to an 05ric-gavin harrison tour maybe next year?

That would be great fun - but at the moment we're just concentrating on the next record.

Hi gibeachhead

Curious if you'll be lending your talents again on the next Steven Wilson solo album?

Right now - I've no idea.

Hi jojojojojo

i heard Thomas Lang did an audition with Dream Theater.
Is there any chance you might join Dream Theater?
Or is it just PT and your studio stuff at the moment?


What? Mike Portnoy has left Dream Theater? Are you sure?

Cheers
Gavin
 
Gavin,

Yes it's true, Portnoy did leave Dream Theater.
http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=59646

I recently fell in love with your work on OSI's album "Blood".

I noticed in Radiologue, you do the same fancy offbeat footwork that you did in Futile -- where the double bass roll seems displaced by a 16th note, something like that. I think the name for the type of fill was Herta???

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the title track to the album is (at least the intro) 10/8.

Thanks
 
Hi Gavin,

Don't you just love the endless questions? :) Hey I know you have heard this a million times but your knowledge is very appreciated. You obviously take a lot of time to answer the constant bombardment of query's about your drumming prowess and recording techniques. Once again many thanks for taking the time to answer everyone.

On that note I have a question ...

I know you like to use Space Designer when mixing but how many subgroups do you use? Or do you just get a good mix of everything and then send it to one aux bus and then apply reverb, etc ... ?

Thanks again,

Charles
 
HA!!! Did Portnoy leave DT!!! You guys are funny. By the time you asked that I believe, I say I believe, that Gavin has already auditioned for DT.. Now of course this is a guess and I am NOT speaking for Gavin. I know the auditions were beginning this past week. As a matter of fact I had HEARD Gavin was auditioning, but that means nothing and is just a rumor unless Gavin confirms. Once again, I HEARD, that there were some heavy hitters audtioning, Harrison, Minnemen, Morgenstein to name the three I heard specifically.
 
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