Outrageous club drummers that left a lasting impression.

B

Bozozoid

Diamond Member
Over the decades I've witnessed a few drummers that left a life long impression. So I'm in a local club and I stroll in to catch this band Sylvester. All Berkley graduates that I'd found out later. If the club was a bit slow they would break into Led Boots (Jeff Beck) and just burned. Lido shuffle or Ajas Peg etc etc as if you were listening to a CD through the club sound system. Also Marc Cranney doing Roundabout with Zero Ted just blew me across the street. Does anyone ever think back on memories that never left? on club drummers that flipped your lid?.
 
Bands that Son of Vistalite Black has seen in clubs:
Gojira — Mario Duplantier
Testament — Dave Lombardo
Amon Amarth - Jocke Wallgren
Ghost — Unknown Ghoul
Dark Tranquillity — Joakim Nilsson
Cannibal Corpse — Paul Mazurkiewicz
Animals as Leaders — Matt Garstka

All outrageous in their own way. No Jeff Beck covers, though.
 
My old teacher from uni plays a tiny jazz pub every other Sunday. He just brings some nice Istanbuls, stool, snare and a pedal and make a battered up export sing. He was house drummer at Ronnie Scotts for years and was very close friends with Jim Chapin, hence why we all had lessons from Jim if you went to Birmingham Conservatoire or Wolverhampton Uni.

It was xmas eve a couple years back and I went to see him at this little pub. He was doing solos with buzzed accents. Has anyone tried buzzed accents? They're horrible to do in rudiments never mind put in a solo. The guys brush work is flawless.

He's still cool with me chewing his ear off as well bless him.

Other than that I saw Mike Portnoy in a tiny club in Nottingham with Sons of Apollo. Billy Sheehan was on bass. Maybe 150 there. Saw Martin Axenrot with Opeth in a small gig in Birmingham on a stage I'd played on. For a metal guy he really tips the cap to half time shuffles and 70s classic rock. Superb player.
 
Fortunately for me- unfortunate for them, because they should be Red Hot Chili Peppers / Jane's Addiction / No Doubt famous (they all opened for FB before they got big)- I've seen the mighty Fishbone 26 times since 1989, mostly in clubs and small theaters. Well, they're about as famous as a club-level band can be. Singer Angelo Moore doubles as a spoken word poetry performer as Dr. Madd Vibe, and a phrase in one of his pieces is "living the lifestyles of the famous but not rich". 😕 I'd say that they were probably too diverse for their own good, confusing radio programmers who preferred artists fit neatly into just one category, but I think a sizeable dollop of racism played into it also.
 
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timmdrum said:
Fortunately for me- unfortunate for them, because they should be Red Hot Chili Peppers / Jane's Addiction / No Doubt famous (they all opened for FB before they got big), I've seen the mighty Fishbone 26 times since 1989, mostly in clubs and small theaters. Well, they're about as famous as a club-level band can be. Singer Angelo Moore doubles as a spoken word poetry performer as Dr. Madd Vibe, and a phrase in one of his pieces is "living the lifestyles of the famous but not rich". 😕 I'd say that they were probably too diverse for their own good, confusing radio programmers who preferred artists fit neatly into just one category, but I think a sizeable dollop of racism played into it also.
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Only got to see them once but it was with the original lineup in a theater that the air broke in Orlando during summer. They were all beat by the end of that show but it was a blast.
 
I saw Jack DeJohnette in a small theater in New Orleans in the 80s. Peace and goodwill.
 
Over the yrs, especially in the earlier yrs before i got busier, i went to see certain bands/players at clubs ( i am talking local players) there were 5-7 drummers i honed in on because they had traits i wanted to acquire. Two of those guys eventually got signed with capital. Even in this mid sized city, theres an amazing group of musiciams. One was in a band that was up for contract consideration against Bon Jovi. Of course B J got the contract which was a good choice. My 2 cents
 
jda said:
Berklee- Lee Berk founder recently passed
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Thank for that jda. Over the years I've seen quite a few acts at Berklee. Dire Straits 1978, Buddy and Louie together, Suzanne Ciani to name a few. It's nice to see it's still going strong.

As to Bozozoid's post. I saw Nils Lofgren early 80s at the Paradise Club in Boston. Before his Springsteen association. The crowd was extremely sparse...well there was no crowd actually. He was scheduled to do 2 shows and I was at the first one. Nils was great doing his traditional flips while playing solos. He was very engaging too and at the end of the set he said if anyone wants to hang out for the second show feel free. Which we did. But the kicker was he had a guy in drums who I'd never heard of before who was just unreal...one Andy Newmark. That was a night to remember. I learned (stole) a lot that night

 
What is a club drummer? For some reason I was thinking like a soccer club or swimming club, sort of large organization that consists of many teams that span ages. Is there any concept like that in music? It would be interesting if there were actual music clubs you could sign your kids up for.
 
I saw Randy Castillo with the Wumblies. We would talk during the band's break and I didn't know he would become Ozzies drummer until I read his interview in Modern Drummer (cover). Even then..until I'd read his Wumblies story did I wake up to the fact that it was him. Great rock drummer.
 
Somewhere around 1978 or 1979, I saw a band at one of my go-to clubs and the drummer was phenomenal. Big kit, 6-8 toms which he blistered, playing Gino Vannelli and fusion stuff. The band was called Streamwinner... the drummer... Kenny Aronoff!
 
SmoothOperator said:
What is a club drummer? For some reason I was thinking like a soccer club or swimming club, sort of large organization that consists of many teams that span ages. Is there any concept like that in music? It would be interesting if there were actual music clubs you could sign your kids up for.
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A club is a music venue without seats (primarily) with a capacity of under about 1,500 people and 1,000 or less in my area. Events there are called "shows" or "rock shows" ... These are distinct from "concerts" in that the audience is not seated and cheese plates are not available (usually).
 
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