Bang on the Drum

There was a band called "Scream" from Washington DC, who had a song entitled, "Banging the Drum." I got to see Scream play in New Orleans in the late 80's. It was a good show, Dave Grohl was playing drums for them at the time. But this really isn't about Scream.



William Winant, percussionist, photo by me.
I've always liked a lot of percussion sounds, with big drums and minimal instrumentation. Working with William Winant as his percussion tech also introduced me to a whole plethora of other percussion instruments. I learned how to take apart and set up a six foot marimba in under three minutes. As a roadie, that was kind of cool.

Photo by Marina Miller

For the next White Rose record, I've been talking to Nate the drummer about doing a couple of songs where it is just drums with maybe a little bit of the band, and with some shouted lyrics. For example, the Safaris have a song called "Mystic Island Drums," which is an amazing song. It has huge jungle drums and a surf guitar playing a minimal chord progression. I'd like for one of our songs to be like this.My first "podcast" had a song from the band "Black Tusk." They too have songs with huge tom-tom drum sounds. Their use of heaviness and drums is amazing and kind of reminds me of Sepultura. Another one of my favorite bands is Bow Wow Wow. They are probably my biggest musical influence. I just love that band. So, in tribute to these band and their music, I've put together a small group of songs that are a springboard for a few songs off the next White Rose album. Hopefully, we'll be able to create something powerful like these songs.



Percussion