Tomorrow Never Knows  (Yogi)

Dynamic hard rock.  Recorded at Di Pietro Sound, 2002.

This is perhaps the heaviest sounding track on the Time Signatures drumming demo CD. The song is a Beatles cover tune, given a vastly different feel from the original version. Ever-productive guitarist/singer/songwriter Yogi once again invited Bryan Beller and me to play on a series of songs that would comprise his second CD release. Salve is the title of the work, and it ranges from all out rockers like this track to a more laid back sound from Yogi. I actually played with brushes on one song - that alone is quite a departure from our usual approach to drum sounds. Darin Di Pietro was the engineer on this recording. He's been there for most of the work Yogi and I have done together. The sound on this track is just slammin'! He went for a little more presence in the drumkit, particularly on the snare, but the tom-toms jump right out as well. In some sections the dynamic level drops suddenly, and it is here that the tones of the instruments settle into a mellow mood swing. The cross-stick hits in the middle breakdown are so clean and pure. The added reverb effect just makes them "sing".

I Am Not A Carpenter  (Uncle Salty's Cabin)

Loose blues rock.  Recorded at Di Pietro Sound, 2002.

If you like to hear percussion that hangs around in a song, never quite giving up its desire to add some spice and color to a musical foundation, then this is a piece of music for you. Darin Di Pietro sent me sideways and every way in which I am not accustomed for the drumming on this track. As I will openly profess, my tendency is to prepare for a studio session using charts and practice routines until I know what I'm going to do and where. For these sessions, I just showed up and played. Darin had a broad concept in mind for this Uncle Salty's Cabin CD. He wanted a looser feel to the music - something not quite as polished as the previous two USC releases. I had played a few live shows with the band and I knew this music was going to have a new direction. We experimented with drum set-ups for every track. This song featured tambourines and various metal janglers attached to the snare and bass drum. Afterward, an overdubbed percussion track with all sorts of goodies seemed the right thing to do. The temple blocks tell a story all their own.

Call You Out  (Brandi Carlile)  mp3

Swinging power pop.  Recorded at Ironwood Studios, 2000.

Brandi Carlile and I originally worked together at Acoustic Chambers studio recording with her band project, The Shed. I always thought her songs had something to offer and she is musically beyond her twenty-something years. With this first solo CD, she embarked on a singer/songwriter effort, recruiting numerous studio players and local producer Jon Plum. She's since received attention and guidance from some prominent industry people while working with famous studio notables. Her work continues to evolve, the song writing achieving new levels of intrigue and accomplishment. When we recorded the tracks on this CD, I sensed her undeniable striving forward in pursuing her musical goals. I feel Brandi and I have an unspoken sense of respect for one another. It's a relationship that I value as a firm foundation on which to build. Perhaps future schedules will allow us to create some new music together. This particular song offers the trademarks I most often associate with Brandi - thoughtful lyrics, musical performances of conviction, and melody lines that remain with you for days on end.

Changing  (Plum St.)

Moody progressive rock.  Recorded at Little Dog Audio, 2000.

Overall, I feel this is a nice recording with very melodic and memorable songs. Reed Hutchinson is quite the songwriter, and I enjoyed my reunion with Stefan Papp, the keyboardist from Glazz House. I believe there could be some attention given to these types of songs if the proper energy was devoted to the promotion machine. Any musician realizes what a task that is... where to begin in such an undertaking? For my part, a few weeks of pre-production rehearsals led to the recording of four tracks. One bit of studio magic presented here is the firing of a sampled snare drum sound over my actual sound. My piccolo was deemed to bright and cracking for the weighted feel the band wanted to hear for this song. Engineer Gary Thomas had a sophisticated Pro Tools set-up in his studio, so making the change was uneventful, if somewhat tedious here and there. I generally have no qualms about such doctoring of a track - after all, it's not my song that's being recorded. The artist has the final say on any recording project as far as I'm concerned. In this case, I can see what they were going for.

In The Rain  (Uncle Salty's Cabin)

Light jazzy blues.  Recorded at Di Pietro Sound, 2002.

In my continuing yet infrequent experiments playing the drums with brushes, I may have happened upon a subtle and convincing feel in this song. Another installment on the Uncle Salty's Cabin Hooch Radio 109.9 CD, producer Darin really wanted the jazzy overtones to come across on this one. Helping that are the hollow-bodied sound of his guitar (taking the rhythm, solo, and bass lines), my brush sweeps on the snare along with jazz time on ride cymbal and hi-hat, and the authentic lone overhead room mic capturing the whole drumkit as we recorded. Add Brett Branham's smoky-voiced vocals and it's a happening 1950s jazz/blues club after dark. We took some chances with extended drum fills, but the time still floats along as a pleasant little comping lilt. Like the other songs on this session, I had no pre-conceived form or part to follow. I just let Darin play it for me a few times and then we went for it. This was also a song where the bass and rhythm guitars were keeper tracks that I had to lock in with, so that was another challenge. Fortunately, Darin's time is pretty good, for a guitar player....

Your Love Is True  (TCF Band)

Contemporary Christian music.  Recorded at Affinity Studios, 1999.

Timberlake Christian Fellowship is a place where I met and played with many excellent Seattle-area musicians. In my personal campaign to improve my musicianship while documenting my work, I have encountered playing styles very foreign to me. Contemporary Christian music had been new ground to me, but by the time of this recording, I felt I could provide the church with the drum tracks they wanted for their CD release of choruses and original songs. Working with many friends made the job much easier, as we had come to know each other's strengths and musical feel. This second installment of a TCF Band recording was a noticeably stronger effort than the first. I played on a few more tracks on this one, alongside Seattle "A" studio players Steve Hill and Doug Barnett. This was a special treat for me since I used to watch those guys from afar. Now our names and performances share some space on a CD! Playing some live performances with sax player extraordinaire Darren Motamedy was one of the other great musical memories from this period.

My Love For Lois Is Real  (Yogi)

Dynamic hard rock.  Recorded at Di Pietro Sound, 2001.

Any Raw Flesh to be one of the best if not the best recorded CD on which I have played. So many elements came together to make this recording session and the results very well done. For me, the process began with several months of individual practice on just about every facet of a given song's drum performance. I would work up grooves and fills, aiming for a precision which I could duplicate in the studio. Yogi came to my rehearsal space for a series of pre-production sessions, where he would critique my parts and a final version would emerge. We started tracking material in February 1999 with local engineer/producer Darin Di Pietro, the most talented studio guru I have met in the Seattle area. We were also fortunate to meet and work with Bryan Beller, the incredible bassist in the Mike Keneally Band. The original version of this song is quite old, dating back to 1994. Yogi has recorded it several times, and it makes an appearance on one of his earlier non-CD releases. By far this CD version reaches the pinnacle, in both its performances and production values.

Trinity  (Chris G)

Techno derived soundtrack.  Recorded at WonderWorks Studios, 1999.

I still struggle with what to call the style of this piece. I've settled on Techno, or any designation that calls to mind a steadily thumping bass drum pattern and synthesized bass part progressions. The sampled bells and electronic drums are courtesy of my V-Drum kit, which is a sound I've wanted to record for the expressed intention of hearing "electronic" sounding drums. The patch I chose sounds similar to the 80's Simmons drums, but Roland adds its own distinctive twist. I actually wrote and titled this song with the movie The Matrix still fresh in my memory, the title taken from the name of one of the main characters. I don't how I settled into the driving feel - maybe I was trying to emulate a frenetic soundtrack texture of sorts, maybe I was inspired by the dark premise of the movie and the leather-clad characters always being chased around. The breakdown offers a bit of relief from the relentless pace, only to regain the momentum to the end. My knowledge of music theory is probably increased by this kind of writing with no boundaries - like using the chromatic melody lines in the outro section.

No Last Goodbye  (Chris G)

Delicate R&B groove.  Recorded at WonderWorks Studios, 2000.

Soulful R&B is a style that I haven't had too many opportunities to play, much less to write. As in this example, many songs seem to use a well crafted drum machine part to provide the rhythmic foundation, instead of a live drumkit. I chose that route for this piece, carefully building layers in the percussion track while maintaining the basic elements of the groove. Of course that opened up the song to taking the music wherever I wanted it to go. Since I write on keyboards, I wrote many string parts that intertwined with the piano lines. My favorite parts are the chorus section with its high piano melody and the bridge section with multiple tracked string layers. My inspiration for this song came from listening to a lot of Brian McKnight, particularly his Anytime CD. There are lyrics and complete melody lines for this song, but I never exerted much of a search for a vocalist who might have given me a soulful delivery. Maybe some future recording session will bear fruit, yet I rarely return to previously recorded work. I can live with the instrumental version...

Viajero Internacional  (Chris G)  View drum transcription

Driving Latin samba.  Recorded at Acoustic Chambers, 2000.

I love Latin music. I love the way it sounds, the way the rhythm moves, and the images it conjures up within me. All that percussion - congas, bongos, bells, shakers, and regular drums - just keeps going. So much energy and excitement. I wanted to capture the intensity of a Latin-inspired piece of music, yet I realized my Cakewalk keyboard writing method would be limited. I've been exposed to many different recordings that involve a Latin flair, so I had some ideas brewing. A real horn section would have helped give an added lift to the song, but overall I'm happy with the way it came out - especially the drum solo section. Soloing over a comp is my favorite way to solo, and the keyboard motif underneath my drumming keeps the feel south of the border. I think this solo is one of my best drumming efforts on record. I certainly borrow some ideas from my influences (who doesn't), but that's where we discover ourselves. I would say this piece probably derives much of it's feel from samba music. I know my left hand is kept busy hitting all the accents while the right plays the ride cymbal.

An Early Evening Drive  (Chris G)

Electric jazz instrumental.  Recorded at Acoustic Chambers, 2002.

Instrumental music can be as entertaining as vocal music, and that's my philosophy when I write a song like this one. One of my favorite musicians is Chick Corea. His music - especially his Elektric Band offerings - is the kind of stuff that I try to emulate with this music. Some call it electric jazz, others will say it has fusion leanings. I guess either name can be accurate, though the emphasis here is on the groove rather than a dynamic display of chops, which I tend to equate with fusion music. It's certainly not smooth jazz - there's no saxophone! Oh, the confusion of labels... The feel centers around the broken sixteenth note groove prevalent in the intro, chorus, and rideout sections. There are several parts in the song, including a tom-tom groove pattern. That was a conscious decision to avoid the snare drum just for variety. Soloing instrumentation is still an issue for me - I can't seem to get anything special. For this song, I used the tried and true layered shakuhachi flute and synclavier samples. I am very happy with the ending modulation, it sounds "jazzy".