What news? what news?!

You've come this far, so read on and find out what's been happening with the various musical comings and goings...

The year rushed by and I for one and looking forward to what 2010 has to offer.

Playing & Recording News

I tracked with Circe Link a couple of weeks ago here in LA (www.circelink.com) and we had a straight up blast. Such a lovely environment (Stagg St. Studios) and we were all pretty well primed as these songs have been in the repetoire now for the better part of 6-8 months. We got sounds quickly and banged out 11 songs in 2 days. The album will be out in the summer and the CD release party will be on 7/25/10 at the Grand Olde Echo. You should come out. It's going to be really good. More news as it comes up.

Other sessions include Amy LaCour, Frentik, Gabe Rossen, and something with my friend Drew Allsbrook behind the production concole.

Freddy & Francine will be gearing up to go into the studio again to record the follow up to "The Briar Patch". We'll be in the studio late May... at the lovely Big Fish Studios in Encinitas, as a matter of fact. We're dialing in just what gear we want for it and it should be a fun time.

Steuart Liebig (www.stigsite.com) and his new group I'm a part of called "Hooked On Lemondrops" hopefully will be going into the studio sometime in 2010. I look forward to that opportunity and to more fun sonic madness with these guys. This will be a wide and varied mix of music with rhythms reminiscent of drum & bass, Zepplin-esque groove, Bjork-like flavors, and a healthy dose of much jazz and 'new' music. It's a stew of beautiful sonic goodness and I'm feeling challenged and invigorated by it. Stay tuned for more details.

Check out the gig page for things coming up with Freddy and Francine, Caitlin Parrot, Uncle Daddy, Circe Link, Scott Simons, and Kari Kimmel.

Gear News

Nothing new to report as far as purchases. I can say that it appears that I am no longer part of the Ddrum family which is a shame but that's the reality of this kind of deal. They seem to be going for a different market than I am part of and with the departure of my friend and drum manager, Terry Platt, I just didn't know what level of contact I would have with anyone there. Fortunately, I'm still with Vater drumsticks, Attack Drumheads, Istanbul Agop cymbals, B-band pick ups, and Factory Metal Percussion.  Things are going great on all of those fronts. I'm very pleased about that and thank them for their continued support!!!!

These companies and their products help me do what I do and I appreciate all of their efforts and am happy and honored to support and recommend them to all of my percussively minded friends.  As always, check out the Gear Geek page for a more detailed list of these and all of my gear goodies. Hopefully, I will have some new news regarding new gear and companies soon.

Finally, stay tuned for some new pictures that will be coming up taken by my friend and fantastic photographer Cat Gwynn. More news as is fit to print... hopefully with some more sense of regularity.

Cheers,
the management