Tales From The Sticks - Two

It's very late, but I did promise more on drum sticks...

That was because I was getting some funny looks on the train on the way into London, when I spent a considerable amount of time winding large, blue rubber bands around the ends of a couple of old sticks.

They were a present, of sorts, for a stickless drummer who needed a pair of beaters which could also be reversed to double as ordinary sticks. I had to pass them on to someone who could then pass them on to him in time for a special performance (which I couldn't get to).

Special, because it was born out of a series of music workshops at Crisis (the charity for the homeless) where I've been doing volunteer work for several months, as part of my training to be a music workshop leader.

And a present, because if I'd passed on a pair of my own beaters/sticks, I might not have seen them again.

Appalled at the number of red rubber bands deposited on the streets by postal workers, I had found a while back that they could be used to create rubber beaters of varying sizes, simply by wrapping them around and around the ends of old or damaged sticks.

Hence my quick manufacture of a pair on the London train. With those regular "If you see anything suspicious..." announcements being made, I became conscious that commuters were eyeing me as a potential security risk. But no one could bring themselves to ask me what the hell I was up to...

Tales From The Sticks - Part One

I promised to write more about sticks. Those not interested in drumming should look away now...

Without sticks, you are generally in some difficulty. Yes, you can play with your hands. And even though John Bonham was known to do it, it doesn't really look so cool...

Drummers love sticks. Some of them spend a lifetime looking for the right ones.

To me, Vic Firth American Classic 7As are perfection. But the more you play, the more sticks you have to buy. Like everything else, they don't last forever...

I called in to a shop in London just to buy a couple of pairs, and inevitably got talking about drums. This is, of course, the main reason for visiting drum stores, to look at drums and to discuss them in fine detail.

I asked what the drummer who used to run the shop was doing now. "Spending more time with his wife," I was told bluntly. "Something he should have done 10 years ago."

The ensuing conversation focused on the links between drumming, divorce and self-destruction. The chap now running the store, previously a full-time professional drummer, had been through his divorce some time back. Gigging every night, even though it was to pay the bills, hadn't gone down well at home. "She knew I was a drummer when we married, but... "

I said I knew it was rare to find a partner who understood about drumming, gigging, being in a band.

He said: "If it's any consolation, just about every full-time musician playing in the West End is divorced."

The conversation turned to drink and drugs (the time-honoured ways of the musician to deal with stresses of all sorts), and in particular to Phil Seamen (the man from whom Ginger Baker got a lot of his Ginger Bakeriness). We had both seen him play.

Seamen dealt with the strains by using cigarettes, alcohol and heroin. He died at 46, having made a name for himself as a drumming genius... but a walking disaster area.

I took my two pairs of sticks, thanked the man in the shop. And we wished each other well in keeping on going...

Crisis Present

I got so sick of crappy Christmas singles that I decided to write one myself... but not a crappy one.

That was a few years ago and it's been looking for a home ever since.

It finally got one thanks to the sublime popsters Christmas Aguilera who performed it at their Jolly Santa Social Club fund-raiser in London last year.

And this year it is officially released as a track on their seasonal EP, again with proceeds going to Crisis, the charity for the homeless.

So if you want to buy a copy of "I Wanna Give You A Present", just click here... and sing along.

Heavy Metal

I've been away. I'm back.

Drums can be heavy.

I still haven't quite recovered from trying to lift John Marshall's Sonor bass drum [see previous post], a piece of German engineering that even Keith Moon would have found difficult to kick over or explode.

Drum hardware can be even heavier. That's all the stands, the pedals, the shiny bits and pieces...

Last night a young drummer and I were putting up an old Premier kit for a music workshop at an arts centre off London's Brick Lane and were searching for the... well, neither of us knew what to call it... apart from "the thing that goes into the bass drum to hold the tom-toms".

The "post" is what I decided to call it... but we still couldn't find it for some time. When we did, it was huge and had not only attachments for two toms but also a central extension for holding a cymbal... right in front of the drummer's face and in between the two drums. Something that would only appeal to a drummer who preferred not to be identified... and who didn't mind playing a roll across the toms with an obstacle that would be near-impossible to avoid.

We finally found all the kit bits in the arts centre's music cupboard and got everything up and playing.

But the most important item of equipment for the drummer? It hardly weighs a thing. And it has to be the sticks... of which more soon...

Peter The Great

It takes a lot to make me laugh. And one man who can make me laugh — a lot — is Peter Searles (above). I last saw one of his one-man shows many years ago. And the first time I saw him was when I was camping at an arts festival with my kids back in the 1990s. He was so funny that we still laugh when talking about it now...

By complete chance, I met Peter again, for the first time in a decade, when I was helping out with the music at an end-of-term show at Crisis (the charity for homeless people) in London... and he was helping out with the drama.

He's still on the road and I (and my kids... now grown-up) are buying tickets to see him again. I would advise you that if you have any sense of humour, you should do the same.

In Memory Of Syd

I know I had a good time last night because I have the bruises to prove it. All down my right leg. That's where I was banging the tambourine to help "conduct" a music workshop performance by the Homeless Oratorio.

These great people and musicians get together regularly at Crisis in east London, and I was lucky enough to be there as part of a course I'm doing in leading music workshops.

This particular workshop is led by the remarkable Clare Kenny, bass player to Sinead O'Connor, and (in her days with Hank Wangford) aka Cherry Red Footwear. Also helping out on percussion was local resident Dave Rowntree, drummer with Blur.

The piece for the night — rather surreally — was Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine, which the 14-strong group performed with tremendous energy.

In just over a week, they will be on stage at the Royal Albert Hall with Brit Floyd (leading Floyd soundalikes) in a performance that has largely been brought about by the late Syd Barrett's sister's involvement in charity work. It looks like being an amazing night...