New England, USA - February '10
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** New Tech page (#5) added - May '06 **
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Clover, Morris & DM - 2008. © Fotos by Folletts
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Jon Mover & DM / "Skyline" studios , NYC , Oct '09 / Pic' courtesy of
"Drumhead" Magazine.
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Greetings ! Since my last news letter, Fall & Winter have been quite full – here’s an abbreviated overview ‘of my diary’ to date. I’m not including all sessions / events, nor the ‘live’ dates which are too many to mention, but as always my thanks goes out to all my fellow musicians / songwriters / singers.
It’s now mid-January & I’m not long back from the NAMM show – it’s “a very large musical instrument manufacturers’ convention in Los Angeles” - is the easiest description. It was a enjoyable few days seeing [“ geeking-out “ !] on new equipment & getting to spend some time with many friends & acquaintances in the music & music instrument business, including chums @ Zildjian cymbals , Pro-Mark sticks & Evans drum heads, among many others.
Just about any spare time I’ve had over the last four to five months has been taken up working on the first “ Feast of Fiddles “ studio recording. For those still unfamiliar with FOF, it’s a 5-piece rhythm section [Bass, drums, two guitars & melodeon ] & six – sometimes seven – electric fiddles. Most of the Fiddlers sing as does our ‘glorious leader’ & ‘squeeze-y thing’ player, Mr Hugh Crabtree. For the past 15 years - & hopefully for the foreseeable future – we get together for approx. two weeks in early April & tour the UK .
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“DM @ the Zildjian booth / NAMM show, LA / Jan ‘10
Pic’ by Bruce Wittet”
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To date, the ensemble has only released ‘live’ recordings – getting us all together is logistically difficult – but the time finally came for a studio CD. Although I live in the US & the rest of the band reside in England, the technology exists for us to record without to much ‘to-ing & fro’ing’ . For those unfamiliar with this process or it’s concept, I won’t attempt to explain it here [ it may be the subject for a ‘tech-page’ write up when I’ve time ], but it’s all going very well & we expect to have CD’s available by April. Everyone involved is delighted with the result & I urge you to check it out.
Other recent studio sessions have been for my “Super Genius“ fellow band-mate Milt Reder and Mike Barry [individual projects], Boston singer Julie Daugherty [with the great guitarist Bobby Keyes producing], & Martin Sexton. In November, I had an enjoyable trip to Portland, Oregon & cut tracks for Stephan Bayley [“ City Squirrel“ is his musical nom-de-plume] alongside the great Mitch Easter [multi-instrumentalist & engineer / producer for REM & many others] on bass & ‘extra ears’. Do look for that one in the summer, most likely.
The New Year got off to a fine start [maybe not so much weather-wise here in New England] with sessions @ Rhinebeck, NY’s excellent “Clubhouse“ studio for Laura Cortese. Laura is a terrific fiddle player / songwriter / singer & the recording was beautifully engineered by Laura’s partner Matt Malikowski - another CD to watch for.
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DM @ 'Bopnique' Studio, cutting tracks for Chad Holiister CD / Pic' by Anthony Resta
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One October week found me in NYC / Manhattan [@ “Skyline“ studios] for Jon Szenics - other drummers on this CD include Jon Mover, Steve Gadd & Simon Phillips ! You can see some neat pictures from that recording project in the Nov/Dec “Drumhead“ magazine. [Fellow drummers ; I urge you to look out for that periodical . Admittedly I’m biased as my friend Jonathon Mover is the Editor, but the standard of interviews - the current one features a great discussion with Jim Keltner – is simply superb. ]
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" DM @ Rhinebeck NY's " Clubhouse " studio / Jan' '10 - Pic by Neil Cleary "
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Although I only got to play on one track - I came to the project somewhat late in the day - John Cate has a super new CD out which was recorded @ Producer Anthony Resta’s “Bopnique“ studios here in MA. Anthony makes great CD’s [& FYI ; I'm on some of Chad Hollister's latest which was cut @
"Bopnique"] & it’s always a pleasure to work with him & engineer Karyadi.
If you’re reading this in the UK , please try to make one of the FOF dates on the tour [or “ bijoux tour-ette “, as we like to call it] ; also FYI, I’ll be doing a drum clinic for Garry Marshall on April 12th after the tour - see Garry’s site for details.
Finally, here’s a Debussy quote that I recently saw @ Salem’s ‘Peabody Essex Museum’ that really resonated with me. “ The attraction of the virtuoso is very like that of the circus for the crowd. There is always the hope that something dangerous will happen “ .
Please keep looking to see when I’m playing live on the “gigs“ page - & I hope I’ll see you soon. Thanks once again - DM
PS : Look out for the "Skins & Tins" book ; it's a great piece of work about
drummers - & I'm flattered to be included ! http://www.sticksnskins.com
DM IS PROUD TO ENDORSE THE FOLLOWING:
ZILDJIAN Cymbals, YAMAHA Drums & Hardware, EVANS Drum Heads, PRO-MARK Sticks, LP Percussion, & PROTECTION RACKET & HARDCASE Drum Covers & Cases.