Robonzo.com

It’s tough finding music news on the great ones. Take Phil Collins for instance. Rather than easy to find news on touring with his former bandmates Genesis or his session with son Simon, readers get front page news on his divorce settlement. Years ago, Phil released a groundbreaking recording called I Don’t Care Anymore and went on to record a couple of hugely successful solo projects. He went on to work with Robert Plant, Howard Jones, Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton to name a few. This, all after a notable career of drumming for, and eventually fronting Genesis, doing sessions with George Harrison and recording with the likes of Brian Eno, Argent and Thin Lizzy.

Seeing Phil play the drums live was an experience of pleasant surprise. I recall being impressed with his technical abilities, not truly showcased on any studio work. Most unforgettable, however, was the sound that his touring crew did for him. I’ve never since heard a more brilliant live drum mix than the opening notes of “I Don’t Care Anymore.

Many young drummers are unfamiliar with Collins. When I talk about what I saw and heard, I typically liken Collins’ then unique style to that of the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl. Personally, Collins always struck me as a pleasant guy. In the early 80’s, he played the role of supportive friend to Robert Plant, who took a great deal of time off from recording and performing following the death longtime friend and band mate John Bonham. Collins encouraged Plant to get back out and into the music scene, and was subsequently invited to play on Plant’s first two solo projects and first tour. At the time, I couldn’t have suggested a more unique drummer to sit along side Plant. Here’s a clip of that performance from my personal stash. Hopefully Phil will give us at least one more great hurrah to add to his already memorable career.
~r

MySpace has without a doubt become a huge part of artist promotion. Adopted by indie artists like The Killers to major artists like John Mayer, MySpace warrants heavy consideration in band and artist promotion. Does this platform fit the individual drummer’s promotional efforts? Absolutely. Recently I was asked to check out an independent artist MySpace page, which turned out to be a complete mess. That experience compels me to give advice.

My advice to drummers where MySpace is concerned is simple. Functionality, functionality, functionality. Ask yourself or ask a friend, whether or not your demos, photos and videos can be easily found, played and viewed. Next, go easy on the flash. Flash can be cool, but only when used by the highly skilled who are familiar with things like SEO and SEM. If you’re about to Google or Wiki those terms, then you have no business using flash. Where sound is concerned, let users opt to play your music, as opposed to force feeding them with auto-play upon landing. Finally, look and form are very important, but don’t get overly wrapped up in pimping your page out. Doing so will likely render your MySpace page a cluttered mess.

There’s much more that can be said on this topic, but for now let these simple rules be your starting guide and check out these resources for MySpace design tips.

Pixel2Life
QuantumCritics.com

~r

There’s an old saying that goes, “Rock and Roll is a young man’s game.” Not true today. I’m perhaps stating the obvious, considering that there are dozens of drummers with extremely successful rock and pop acts that fit the “old-guy” category. However, Phil Selway belongs on a short-list of studs that have developed a great body of work and gigs with one of the world’s coolest bands. Outside of Radiohead and all the cool stuff they’ve been involved in over the past year, Selway has worked in numerous other projects ranging from gigs with Dive Dive to a part in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Technically, Selway is tastefully subdued. Could he someday reach that Ringo Starr status where we couldn’t imagine anyone else playing for Radiohead? I’m unsure, but as a latecomer fan of Radiohead, I find his work to be perfect in its simplicity.

There’s interesting coverage of Radiohead’s appearance just last week at the All Points West Music and Arts Festival, but little mention of Selway. He’ll be making his way to San Francisco later this month, as Radiohead joins the lineup at the Outside Lands Music & Art Festival. Hopefully we’ll see decent mention of his performance. I hope that we might also see more of Phil in the likes of Modern Drummer and DrummerWorld.

~r

CampJam.com found it’s way to my desk recently. The connection to Robonzo.com is that young guitarists and drummers get a chance to be and jam with rock stars by showcasing their talent. Founded by former 38 Special guitarist Jeff Carlisi, Camp Jam has connections to some noteworthy drummers, including Liberty DeVitto and Carmine Appice, both of whom appeared at a the 2008 Camp Jam Ready-Set-Rock! Tour – Guitar Hero, Rock Solo Contest. Houston has also recently been visited by this Guitar Hero extravaganza, giving Texas youth an opportunity to meet up and jam with some rock legends. I’ll be watching these guys in the coming months. Beyond CampJam.com, you can also visit their blog site to keep up with the goings-on of this cool organization.

~r