peterad

Steve Smith in my opinion is a drummer who can play anything. He has dedicated himself to getting as close to perfection as possible. There are others who are faster, louder, more in your face, but Steve is unquestionably one of the greatest all around drummers on the planet. Listen to him play jazz like Buddy or Tony Williams, and then check him out playing some metric-modulated double bass slamming fusion/rock with Franko Gambale and Wictor Wooten. The guy is amazing!

MaltBuddow3

Vinnie is the man... I just found out he's on the new MEGADETH record... gotta love him!

Steve is also the man.... blows my mind

drummaman1

with the Moelller Stroke properly learned you'll never need to slam. The whip-like motion produces a huge sound, big and full. Watch out!

Thomas Lang is no good. He needs to work more on his drumset skills.

jimi

Lang just needs to play some good music, i didnt like the DVD tracks, but he is phenominal no doubt. Does anyone think his art is lacking all the same? The solos have amazing chops but a 40 min solo of his is nothing compared to Virgil or Vinnie, you know? And dont get me wrong(!), id love to have a tenth of his technique all the same!!!
As for Smith, he's one of my favs alright, really been meaning to get the drummers collective DVD! Also got a recording of the Chad wackerman group today, i like his style too!

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TuomasR

I just got few thoughts...think about legendary drummers like mcbrain or lombardo...they really are big dissapointments.Only thing why they are still famous is because they are legendary drummers.check out the modern drummer video where dave lombardo is performing...i feel so bad because he´s in the same tape with horacio hernandez.and half of world´s population could play like mcbrain
TUOMAS R

DerNeue

I saw the appearance of Dave too and found it really good in the meaning of his power and how he supported the idea of the track. But I was dissappointed about his solo, where he said he would just play what he felt like, because his creativity seemed not very good.
Let's put it like this... he is more the drummer that has a lot of power at the drums but when it comes to technique and creativity he is not the best.

Lang said that he choose the tracks because he knew what viewers would expect from him to play.
He admitted once that he had to learn a lot to catch up with Virgil's skills. I do not know where it was again.

kirk

It is in a interview with DrumScene mag out of Australia that Lang stated that Virg raised the bar for EVERYONE technically and creatively back in the 90's and inspired many to see what could be achieved with EXTREME passion, discipline, and dedication.

Kirk

joe_schmoe

steve smith ****ing rules...
respects to drummaman, kirk, and jimi

i also think that lang is very cool...
but i prefer steve smith... just my taste i guess

ataraxia

i just wish thomas lang would get a really cool gig, like a project with one of the prog virtuosos. i mean, he's played with pop idol and bewitched! what a waste of ****ing talent. anyone could do that pop drumming.

TuomasR

The drummers who play often in things like pop idol are almost everytime professional drummers...like lang,and think about the money you make with pop idols.i would go to pop idols also.for example vinnie colaiuta,who is one of the best all around drummers in the world plays for eros ramazzotti,celine dion,sting,almost every studio musician is a jazz player.my opinion is that everyone can´t do pop drumming.i think that when band is full of virtuosos the music often sucks.

TuomasR

A correction, i´ve just heard few examples of bands in which that aforementioned theory is correct. I don't mean that there aren't any allstar bands that create excellent music - great examples of these "good-allstar-bands" are Extraction, Planet X and some others.

joe_schmoe

music with "virtuosos" often sucks...
yeah, sometimes you have all-star bands created for commercial or any other reasons that just don't mix... but that seldom is the case... that depends on what you consider a "virtuoso"... lets say that the word "virtuoso" is replaced by a something-beyond-good player... these all-star bands almost never fail to create at-the-least very interesting music. yeah, there are cases when these all-star bands don't do anything for the listener etc... but, most of the times, you got GREAT musicians, great music makers, mix em together and something good comes out... 1+1=3
i read a review in jazz times or something... that the pat martino album think tank didn't quite make it because the ALL STARS DIDN'T MIX... that's cool, in their opinion... but i enjoy listening to that cd a lot... that that cd has gfot some real heavy players...
another thing... that people like vinnie, dennis, peter erskine etc, go do their gigs (that by the way, yield some pretty hefty cash) doesn't mean that the music has to be good... i honestly think (for example,) that NIACIN, the band where dennis chambers plays, is somewhat of a thing directed to the medeski martin and wood, jam band crowd/// ok, it's my opinion... i have two cds that i don't like... i love dennis chambers... i even enjoy his drumming there... but, it just doesn't do it for me... ok, it's my opinion... everybody's got theirs... some people think that THINK TANK sucks, ok... but, just to say, that "virtuoso" groups don't ussually 'suck' and "commercial" gigs don't ussually "rule"

TuomasR

[QUOTE=joe_schmoe]music with "virtuosos" often sucks...
yeah, sometimes you have all-star bands created for commercial or any other reasons that just don't mix... but that seldom is the case...

You´re right.i love also dennis chambers´s drumming,especially his older recordings with brecker brothers,mike stern and john scofield.dennis is playing next saturday in stockholm...i was planning to go there but it would cost too much to travel from finland.i don´t like his new projects so much like cab,tetsuo sakurai,niacin.....but extraction is good,one reason for that is victor wooten.i don´t like bands which make songs with 2 bars melody-20 bars solo - technique.i hope you understand my english,sometimes i don´t understand it myself

ataraxia

your english is fine! dennis chamber is just incredible. i prefer him to colaiuta or steve smith, not sure why. he just has incredible feel. i can't get enough of Cab's Sunday - i love his work on that track.

is his thing with victor wooten worth getting then?