My anti-NAMM performance video!

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
After this weekend, it’s difficult to accept that what I’ve seen displayed in product demos, and by the show offs on the showroom floor, that THAT isn’t the way it is as a working drummer. Ironic, eh?

So I’ve had to talk myself down and remind myself how it really is in the world of working as a drummer. Here is my post-NAMM show performance video. This will get you hired ?

 
You left out the part where you show up for every rehearsal and gig early and well-prepared, are easy to work with, easily adjust to crazy gig conditions and other players with bad time, etc.. LOL
 
Well, i just looked quick through the performance program and i saw that apparently drummers like Greb, Kay Rodriguez, Vinny Appice, Eric Moore and Jost Nickel were playing there..

Those are not really people i would feel 'anti' about when getting home..

I would actually have tried to learn as much as possible from them..:)

And i also for sure would have stopped and look whenever i would have seen this young guy play..:

 
Well, i just looked quick through the performance program and i saw that apparently drummers like Greb, Kay Rodriguez, Vinny Appice, Eric Moore and Jost Nickel were playing there..

Those are not really people i would feel 'anti' about when getting home..

I would actually have tried to learn as much as possible from them..:)

And i also for sure would have stopped and look whenever i would have seen this young guy play..:

You’re killing me, man. Come to one of these days and hang where all the drums are. It’ll be like all your favorite players happening at the same time with all the tricks turned ON, and the volume knob up to 11. If there was a really good player playing, there’s no way to know it was happening with the amount of ambient noise. Pearl, DW/Gretsch do it right because they have their own rooms they can close off. Yamaha, literally takes over the Marriot hotel next door so their stars are afforded a better environment, as well. But that main show floor is a doozy of people walking around with their own sticks and basically making it hard for real business to happen between companies and buyers. It’s a true chops fest at times. So you see a lot of flash with nothing resembling what an actual working drummer does.
 
..You’re killing me, man. Come to one of these days and hang where all the drums are..


Actually, i visit allready since many years each year the european equivalent of NAMM in Germany, which ofcourse is a little smaller than NAMM, but still, also there much noise where the drums are..

Thanks for the lesson though..

But yes, give me a place where a bunch of musicians play and hang out and where many performances can be seen and i am like a child in a candystore, because i always try to learn something from everything i see..

Never any feelings of 'anti' or other sorts of negativity for me at places like that..
 
Well, i just looked quick through the performance program and i saw that apparently drummers like Greb, Kay Rodriguez, Vinny Appice, Eric Moore and Jost Nickel were playing there..

Those are not really people i would feel 'anti' about when getting home..

I would actually have tried to learn as much as possible from them..:)

And i also for sure would have stopped and look whenever i would have seen this young guy play..:


That JD Beck is a real beast!
 
Actually, i visit allready since many years each year the european equivalent of NAMM in Germany, which ofcourse is a little smaller than NAMM, but still, also there much noise where the drums are..

Thanks for the lesson though..

But yes, give me a place where a bunch of musicians play and hang out and where many performances can be seen and i am like a child in a candystore, because i always try to learn something from everything i see..

Never any feelings of 'anti' or other sorts of negativity for me at places like that..
I’m gonna point out that you’re being too literal. If I’m seeing a big name player display his chops and his love for the instrument, that’s one thing. At NAMM that’s also done in a somewhat controllable way - like Pearl features their artists on a schedule inside their own room like a concert. I’m mainly referring to the open floor where non-artists are walking around with their own sticks and playing on everything they see displaying whatever it is they know adding to the noise floor of the show. Those people never play anything grooving and maybe because they know they shouldn’t be doing it, they stuff as many notes into it and then move on, like a hit-and-run accident. It’s atrocious.

With so many people doing that, there’s no way you can hear how good an instrument sounds, and it’s doubly hard for the reps to do business with actual vendors who want to buy the product.

So my “anti” video doesn’t have anything to do with actual artists, and I’m not against those guys. Manufacturers try to feature them in the best possible way. I’m against the guys who bring their own sticks and just make a ruckus everywhere they go in the show. They never play anything musical, and it’s just inconsiderate. I never bring my own sticks to these things. I’m a nobody. If I see something I like I will kindly ask if the vendor can loan a stick so I can hear how something sounds - and it doesn’t last longer than one or two minutes.
 
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A couple of years back, we took this a stage further. 3 of us "performed" the money beat, without any embellishment (except right at the beginning), for 15 minutes straight at the UK drum show. The puzzled faces on attendees filing out of the performance theatre were priceless :)

 
That was great building up for the crash at the end. You should play that every song. I've never been to NAMM but if I did and people aren't suppose to be whacking on drum stuff I'd bring a fly swatter and whack them for the offense-tell them to bug off LOL. Or better yet borrow GruntersDad's hammer and really get their attention. All that noise would make it impossible for me to have a conversation with hearing aids but I'd like to be a fly on the wall listening to pros and listening to business deals-I like watching people I get to apply what I learned in my Animal Behavior class LOL.
 
That was great building up for the crash at the end. You should play that every song. I've never been to NAMM but if I did and people aren't suppose to be whacking on drum stuff I'd bring a fly swatter and whack them for the offense-tell them to bug off LOL. Or better yet borrow GruntersDad's hammer and really get their attention. All that noise would make it impossible for me to have a conversation with hearing aids but I'd like to be a fly on the wall listening to pros and listening to business deals-I like watching people I get to apply what I learned in my Animal Behavior class LOL.
Oh it's embarrassing to be a drummer at NAMM because of the yahoos! Everybody on the main floor is sorta yelling at each other or trying to talk into each other's ear. Even Bermuda's voice was getting hoarse on Thursday (the show started on Thursday!). It does calm down a bit on the last day (Sunday) but some vendors may have already packed up and left. Even Sunday for the people performing is quite dead. The Hilton hotel next door is no longer having bands play on their stage, so it's sorta ghost-townish by then.
 
A couple of years back, we took this a stage further. 3 of us "performed" the money beat, without any embellishment (except right at the beginning), for 15 minutes straight at the UK drum show. The puzzled faces on attendees filing out of the performance theatre were priceless :)

That is awesome.
 
..I’m gonna point out that you’re being too literal..

..my “anti” video doesn’t have anything to do with actual artists..


No, i am not, i am reacting to your introduction words to your 'anti-video', which are..:

"..it’s difficult to accept that what I’ve seen displayed in product demos, and by the show offs on the showroom floor.."

Product demo's i consider what people like Greb, Nickel and "factory/company people/drummers" are busy with and show offs on the showroom floor i consider what everyone else is busy with, including artists themselves sometimes..

And yes, i know there are also guys who bring sticks to just hit every cymbal and drum they see, thanks again for the lesson though..

But i also remember seeing people like Jim Chapin on the showroom floor, between all the other noise, endlessly explaining Moeller to everyone who was interested or Tony Levin giving a nice bass demo at a stand..

There can always be reasons found to complain about everything, but i am pretty sure i could have spend all days there with seeing actually a lot, like a lot of things that would have inspired me to play something different when coming home than the most simple kindergarten beat..

Because playing only that beat 2,5 minutes will also get you hired nowhere..

There is nothing wrong with chops, you just need to know when and how to apply them..

The nice thing about chops or licks is actually that you can pretty easily steal one (even from some of those "annoying" amateurs, because sometimes they also have some pretty cool ideas) and then when coming home you can change that one lick into a million sticking patterns, patterns around the set, groove ideas, etc..

There you go, a nice free lesson for your next visit too..:)
 
No, i am not, i am reacting to your introduction words to your 'anti-video', which are..:

"..it’s difficult to accept that what I’ve seen displayed in product demos, and by the show offs on the showroom floor.."

Product demo's i consider what people like Greb, Nickel and "factory/company people/drummers" are busy with and show offs on the showroom floor i consider what everyone else is busy with, including artists themselves sometimes..

And yes, i know there are also guys who bring sticks to just hit every cymbal and drum they see, thanks again for the lesson though..

But i also remember seeing people like Jim Chapin on the showroom floor, between all the other noise, endlessly explaining Moeller to everyone who was interested or Tony Levin giving a nice bass demo at a stand..

There can always be reasons found to complain about everything, but i am pretty sure i could have spend all days there with seeing actually a lot, like a lot of things that would have inspired me to play something different when coming home than the most simple kindergarten beat..

Because playing only that beat 2,5 minutes will also get you hired nowhere..

There is nothing wrong with chops, you just need to know when and how to apply them..

The nice thing about chops or licks is actually that you can pretty easily steal one (even from some of those "annoying" amateurs, because sometimes they also have some pretty cool ideas) and then when coming home you can change that one lick into a million sticking patterns, patterns around the set, groove ideas, etc..

There you go, a nice free lesson for your next visit too..:)
Why are we still talking about this?
 
I’m gonna point out that you’re being too literal. If I’m seeing a big name player display his chops and his love for the instrument, that’s one thing. At NAMM that’s also done in a somewhat controllable way - like Pearl features their artists on a schedule inside their own room like a concert. I’m mainly referring to the open floor where non-artists are walking around with their own sticks and playing on everything they see displaying whatever it is they know adding to the noise floor of the show. Those people never play anything grooving and maybe because they know they shouldn’t be doing it, they stuff as many notes into it and then move on, like a hit-and-run accident. It’s atrocious.

With so many people doing that, there’s no way you can hear how good an instrument sounds, and it’s doubly hard for the reps to do business with actual vendors who want to buy the product.

So my “anti” video doesn’t have anything to do with actual artists, and I’m not against those guys. Manufacturers try to feature them in the best possible way. I’m against the guys who bring their own sticks and just make a ruckus everywhere they go in the show. They never play anything musical, and it’s just inconsiderate. I never bring my own sticks to these things. I’m a nobody. If I see something I like I will kindly ask if the vendor can loan a stick so I can hear how something sounds - and it doesn’t last longer than one or two minutes.
There is a way that NAMM could fix this problem in fell swoop: return NAMM to actually being the National Association of Musical Merchandisers. In other words, return to the days when NAMM was NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Buyers only.

I've been to three NAMM shows while wearing a dealer badge. I noticed across those three years that the number of "Visitor" tags were increasing exponentially. The number of "Buyer" tags were very small. Those guys with "Buyer" tags were treated almost like celebrities in their own right!

There was talk at one time about making only the last day of NAMM open to the public, or at least making all but the last day "buyers and dealers only" days. I don't know what the current policy is. I've been out of the music dealer business for years now, so my current NAMM knowledge is far out of date. Do you know current policy, Bo?

GeeDeeEmm

GeeDeeEmm
 
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