jimi
11-13-2003, 10:27 AM
Going to Amsterdam
I woke up in the morning around 6am or so and couldn’t get back to sleep! I passed the time by listening to Bruno Meeus’ solo CD I bought from him the night before at the Belgian clinic. I had a lovely European breakfast with cheese, yoghurt and salami etc. that was a big step from Rice Krispies at home everyday!
Martin, Sandy and David came down soon after and we left for Amsterdam just after 8am. Of course we had to stop in McDonalds too and David loved all the different burgers available there that weren’t back in Austria! When we got to Amsterdam we had a hard time finding the Melkweg because everybody we chose to ask turned out to be tourists and didn’t know the place at all! Eventually after asking many people, and not being able to find the ‘Light Supply’ square, which a Dutch guy in tight purple leggings told us to find (wtf!), a taxi driver eventually said to follow him in the car, and we found it!
The Melkweg
Virgil wasn’t there when we called but we came back later and were led to a café inside with 3 guys from Slagwerkkrant Magazine. I went over to say hi and Ronald recognized me straight away as the guys who reserved tickets from Ireland! We chatted for a while (Martin too) and they were stressing that Virgil hadn’t yet arrived, still. But soon after, a guy came in and said, c’mon let’s go, he’s here. So we all went out the side stage door to greet him. He said hi to Martin and asked me when did I arrive, and did I get caught in the crazy traffic. I told him we left early so the road was clear. We all hurried to set up his kit then. What was really cool was that the guys from the magazine didn’t know how to set up Virgil’s kit and they left it to myself and Martin and Virgil himself (other than the mics and that). We had it up in no time and even put up 2 Pearl banners on the backdrop curtain rail. It really felt good to have helped get the clinic up and running.
Soundcheck/Warm-up
This soundcheck was very professional and they had a lovely sound coming from the birch kit. It was so loud and I think this reflected Virgil’s power well. There was no weakness when moving from the snare to the toms and Virgil just asked for the bass drum to be a bit less punchy and he was happy. The sound engineer asked my opinion and I just said PERFECT!
Virgil warmed up for ages and played a couple of tunes including Quantum Factor and Dog Boots. For me, the warm-up was the absolute best part of the extra clinic-cular activities and I followed the Slagwerkkrant photographer’s lead and took some wicked cool pictures, I’m so proud of them!!:D
All throughout the warm-up I was able to walk right around the kit and watch and analyse anything I could think of … what an experience!
The Clinic Solo
The clinic started round 2.30pm and Virgil ended up playing a 25min+ solo! This was very different to the night before and was very good. It included metric modulations, sick grooves which were further layered, and all the trademark stuff like, stick twirling, alien crossovers, linear crashes, backsticking, 3hi-hat grooves, doublebass wizardry and the pure essence of Virgil’s musical soul, man it was good!:)
Virgil said afterwards that he dreamt that Mozart had told him exactly how to play his solo, and it certainly did have superb and demanding technique, compositional and improvisational ingenuity, wonderful visual and aural effect, and lots of personality. He then thanked his sponsors and accidentally mentioned Paiste instead of Sabian! But Virgil is so witty, and finished the sentence saying, ‘… whom I would like to thank for cancelling my contract! And now I’m with Sabian, who are brilliant!’
Exercises
As I explained in the last review, Virgil went the exercises, but this time with a few problems. He was probably so tired after the solo, and also from all the travelling, as this was the second last date of his tour.
Question Time
People were slow at first to ask him questions but eventually they did. There the few questions like, will you play for my band (the guy got 2pairs of sticks for that!) and who is your favourite drummer, me?
As Frank explained he answered about his book, and that there would be 4 tracks from both Universe and OTV, and Bruno Meeus also transcribed these, whom I met the day before (great guy!).
There was a quiet period for a while again and Virgil decided to ask him himself questions!
Virgil, what is your favourite polyrhythm and how do you play it??
He belted away for ages and played really cool examples, such a mathematical approach to them too. He also answered questions on double bass, his set up, and ideas/rhythms he likes to use on the 3 hi-hats.
Transcribed Tracks
This time he played everything from the sheet, starting with Ataraxia and then Quantum Factor. He went through the transcribed section of Apocalypse only, so I guess he didn’t have the whole backing track with him, I love that song!
Conclusion
He packed it in there and remembered to thank the right cymbal company this time! He told those who would be at the Breda clinic the next day, that Franz Liszt would be telling him how to play his solo for then, tonight in a dream. I would have loved to have seen that solo too because Franz Liszt was one of the pioneers of showmanship and absolutely phenomenal technique that began the celebrity status for great musicians, that is present today. The same for the other arts too, like acting.
I thought for a while Virgil wasn’t going to come back out for a signing session but eventually he did. I had gotten a poster off a guy from Pearl, thanks to Ronald W., so Virgil signed this and thanked us for coming such a long way to see him. I said it was great to see and hear him and hopefully I would see him again when PX come too Europe for the new album tour! He signed a picture of himself and Martin that was taken a year ago in Padova, and said goodbye to us then.
The whole weekend was absolutely fantastic and I’m definitely going to start saving again for another trip with Martin too see him.
Virgil’s Drumming
Since his latest album appearance and drum release (TUDW2002), Virgil has come a long long way. I mean, this guy advances faster than a Pentium processor! When listening to him, I find I can follow his train of thought and hear what rhythms he is playing around with. For the solos I heard, I found that he might begin an idea, layer it with ostinato and then just groove with it and perhaps modulate, eventually he would come back to the masterplan (of the solo). And of course a lot of what he did was well above me as well, from only one listen.
One thing I would say is that the concepts from ‘Extreme Interdependence’ sound so different in Virgil’s hands (and legs). He uses them very uniquely and originally.
When will Virgil reach the pinnacle of his career?? Who knows, and I hope it isn’t soon too!:)
Thank you to Chris and Lisa, Martin, the guys from Slagwerkkrant, and of course the V-man himself!:cool:
I woke up in the morning around 6am or so and couldn’t get back to sleep! I passed the time by listening to Bruno Meeus’ solo CD I bought from him the night before at the Belgian clinic. I had a lovely European breakfast with cheese, yoghurt and salami etc. that was a big step from Rice Krispies at home everyday!
Martin, Sandy and David came down soon after and we left for Amsterdam just after 8am. Of course we had to stop in McDonalds too and David loved all the different burgers available there that weren’t back in Austria! When we got to Amsterdam we had a hard time finding the Melkweg because everybody we chose to ask turned out to be tourists and didn’t know the place at all! Eventually after asking many people, and not being able to find the ‘Light Supply’ square, which a Dutch guy in tight purple leggings told us to find (wtf!), a taxi driver eventually said to follow him in the car, and we found it!
The Melkweg
Virgil wasn’t there when we called but we came back later and were led to a café inside with 3 guys from Slagwerkkrant Magazine. I went over to say hi and Ronald recognized me straight away as the guys who reserved tickets from Ireland! We chatted for a while (Martin too) and they were stressing that Virgil hadn’t yet arrived, still. But soon after, a guy came in and said, c’mon let’s go, he’s here. So we all went out the side stage door to greet him. He said hi to Martin and asked me when did I arrive, and did I get caught in the crazy traffic. I told him we left early so the road was clear. We all hurried to set up his kit then. What was really cool was that the guys from the magazine didn’t know how to set up Virgil’s kit and they left it to myself and Martin and Virgil himself (other than the mics and that). We had it up in no time and even put up 2 Pearl banners on the backdrop curtain rail. It really felt good to have helped get the clinic up and running.
Soundcheck/Warm-up
This soundcheck was very professional and they had a lovely sound coming from the birch kit. It was so loud and I think this reflected Virgil’s power well. There was no weakness when moving from the snare to the toms and Virgil just asked for the bass drum to be a bit less punchy and he was happy. The sound engineer asked my opinion and I just said PERFECT!
Virgil warmed up for ages and played a couple of tunes including Quantum Factor and Dog Boots. For me, the warm-up was the absolute best part of the extra clinic-cular activities and I followed the Slagwerkkrant photographer’s lead and took some wicked cool pictures, I’m so proud of them!!:D
All throughout the warm-up I was able to walk right around the kit and watch and analyse anything I could think of … what an experience!
The Clinic Solo
The clinic started round 2.30pm and Virgil ended up playing a 25min+ solo! This was very different to the night before and was very good. It included metric modulations, sick grooves which were further layered, and all the trademark stuff like, stick twirling, alien crossovers, linear crashes, backsticking, 3hi-hat grooves, doublebass wizardry and the pure essence of Virgil’s musical soul, man it was good!:)
Virgil said afterwards that he dreamt that Mozart had told him exactly how to play his solo, and it certainly did have superb and demanding technique, compositional and improvisational ingenuity, wonderful visual and aural effect, and lots of personality. He then thanked his sponsors and accidentally mentioned Paiste instead of Sabian! But Virgil is so witty, and finished the sentence saying, ‘… whom I would like to thank for cancelling my contract! And now I’m with Sabian, who are brilliant!’
Exercises
As I explained in the last review, Virgil went the exercises, but this time with a few problems. He was probably so tired after the solo, and also from all the travelling, as this was the second last date of his tour.
Question Time
People were slow at first to ask him questions but eventually they did. There the few questions like, will you play for my band (the guy got 2pairs of sticks for that!) and who is your favourite drummer, me?
As Frank explained he answered about his book, and that there would be 4 tracks from both Universe and OTV, and Bruno Meeus also transcribed these, whom I met the day before (great guy!).
There was a quiet period for a while again and Virgil decided to ask him himself questions!
Virgil, what is your favourite polyrhythm and how do you play it??
He belted away for ages and played really cool examples, such a mathematical approach to them too. He also answered questions on double bass, his set up, and ideas/rhythms he likes to use on the 3 hi-hats.
Transcribed Tracks
This time he played everything from the sheet, starting with Ataraxia and then Quantum Factor. He went through the transcribed section of Apocalypse only, so I guess he didn’t have the whole backing track with him, I love that song!
Conclusion
He packed it in there and remembered to thank the right cymbal company this time! He told those who would be at the Breda clinic the next day, that Franz Liszt would be telling him how to play his solo for then, tonight in a dream. I would have loved to have seen that solo too because Franz Liszt was one of the pioneers of showmanship and absolutely phenomenal technique that began the celebrity status for great musicians, that is present today. The same for the other arts too, like acting.
I thought for a while Virgil wasn’t going to come back out for a signing session but eventually he did. I had gotten a poster off a guy from Pearl, thanks to Ronald W., so Virgil signed this and thanked us for coming such a long way to see him. I said it was great to see and hear him and hopefully I would see him again when PX come too Europe for the new album tour! He signed a picture of himself and Martin that was taken a year ago in Padova, and said goodbye to us then.
The whole weekend was absolutely fantastic and I’m definitely going to start saving again for another trip with Martin too see him.
Virgil’s Drumming
Since his latest album appearance and drum release (TUDW2002), Virgil has come a long long way. I mean, this guy advances faster than a Pentium processor! When listening to him, I find I can follow his train of thought and hear what rhythms he is playing around with. For the solos I heard, I found that he might begin an idea, layer it with ostinato and then just groove with it and perhaps modulate, eventually he would come back to the masterplan (of the solo). And of course a lot of what he did was well above me as well, from only one listen.
One thing I would say is that the concepts from ‘Extreme Interdependence’ sound so different in Virgil’s hands (and legs). He uses them very uniquely and originally.
When will Virgil reach the pinnacle of his career?? Who knows, and I hope it isn’t soon too!:)
Thank you to Chris and Lisa, Martin, the guys from Slagwerkkrant, and of course the V-man himself!:cool: