Hey its roach again. its been a while and its been a busy two weeks for me (work, my birthday was the 22nd, thanksgiving preparation etc.) It was an excellent birthday surprise party and i wanna thank everyone who came, including the other guys from slam one down. that fact is gonna factor into the last part of this blog so stay tuned...
alright lets continue.
when i left off, i told you about my first performance with the first band i played with. it was shit. nothing worked that night. we berated our "manager" after the show and we were all in low spirits. It would prove to be our first and last performance together. Through inner turmoil and not seeing eye to eye the band broke up. Most of the guys that were in that band i'm still friends with to this day and i love those guys, but we just didn't mesh well as a band.
for the next couple of months after that i continued to look for other bands. I joined an acoustic rock band that had a good singer, good bass player, and the music was excellent. We did a lot of shows together over that year i was with them and we recorded an EP. I really got to know those guys and even though the music wasn't the genre i wanted to get into, i still had fun playing with them. I got a lot of experience playing with those guys. The light style of the music helped me to relax behind the drum set, but I helped them rock out a little bit and make a show out of it.
While i was playing with them, i was still searching for bands to play with. I found a band that was looking for a drummer. It was Industrial Metal, something i was interested in and had experience playing in. They were already sort of established, indie label, getting ready to tour, all the good stuff. I thought this would be the opportunity i was looking for. I learned the songs forwards and backwards. The audition was in Long Island. I drove there, my brakes grinding into my rotors, running out of gas. i was gonna get there by hook or crook, dammit. I finally get to the place, meet the band, and we played together and i nailed it. Everything fit perfectly. They said they loved me and i loved the music and the vibe i was getting. they said they sort of had a problem with me being in another band, but i told them i was willing to quit that other band if it came down to it. I loved the other guys and the music, but acoustic rock is not my genre. I needed something more. They said they would be giving me a call in a couple of days.
So i waited and waited and informed the other band that i was possibly joining this other band that were getting ready to tour. They were cool with it. I waited two weeks before losing patience and contacting them. They replied saying they were going with another drummer who was a friend of theirs. I went back to the acoustic rock band and told them i didnt get into the band and they had already found a replacement drummer. I tried to leave my current girlfriend for a hotter girl and got dumped by both. I was left alone. no band, nobody to drum with.
needless to say, i was heartbroken.
i was left without a band to play with, something that i hadn't experienced since i started playing. Now Meanwhile, the bass player from my original band had a side project he was working on in those years and they seemed to be gaining momentum. After their drummer decided to leave to take care of his family, he called me up and asked me to sit in with them.
to be continued...
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Roach's thoughts on Slam One Down part 1...
hey this is Roach from Slam One Down. This ain't my first time wranglin this thing called a blog, but it is my first time writing about my thoughts on this band. this is part 1 in a 3 part series...here we go...
I joined this band about four or five months ago through, of all things, an email i got from a profile i made on a website that i had forgotten about for years. I haven't played drums for many years, but i've been playing music since i was 9. I started playing drums around 2001 and since then i've played with and auditioned for what seems like millions of bands. I've played some good shows, ive played a lot of bad shows. I auditioned for shit bands and never gave it another thought. I auditioned for really good bands and sounded like shit myself. Especially living in new york, I've had almost every experience a musician can think of.
getting an email from a band looking for a drummer is probably the most common thing i can think of. I've had bands come out of the woodwork, finding me through whatever link they could and contacting me to jam with them. I've also done my part and searched for bands that were looking for drummers and dropped them a line. Joining an already established band is like going out with a girl who already has a house and a job. you really have to show her something spectacular to get her to even notice you.
When i first started playing drums, i auditioned for bands right off the bat. any bands too...acoustic rock, folk rock, heavy metal, punk. you name it i was there jamming with them. my first choice is heavy metal so that was what i was focusing on. My drum teacher had shown me everything he knew, from polka beats to jazz to latin beats, but he was a broadway show guy and wasnt knowledgable about any metal at all. So i decided to learn it myself. Listening to any music, any band that i could, i listened to the drum parts and memorized all the beats, fills, etc.
The first band i was in was an industrial metal band (think rob zombie with a dance beat) i did pretty well in that band and it was a good and easy way for me to learn how to play in a rock band setting. We played our first show and it was utter shit. i won't lie to you folks, i was not happy about this show one bit. aside from the technical issues (amps going out, mics not working) we just werent together and sounded horrible. it was a learning experience and something that hung on my mind from then on. i needed a lot of work...
...to be continued
I joined this band about four or five months ago through, of all things, an email i got from a profile i made on a website that i had forgotten about for years. I haven't played drums for many years, but i've been playing music since i was 9. I started playing drums around 2001 and since then i've played with and auditioned for what seems like millions of bands. I've played some good shows, ive played a lot of bad shows. I auditioned for shit bands and never gave it another thought. I auditioned for really good bands and sounded like shit myself. Especially living in new york, I've had almost every experience a musician can think of.
getting an email from a band looking for a drummer is probably the most common thing i can think of. I've had bands come out of the woodwork, finding me through whatever link they could and contacting me to jam with them. I've also done my part and searched for bands that were looking for drummers and dropped them a line. Joining an already established band is like going out with a girl who already has a house and a job. you really have to show her something spectacular to get her to even notice you.
When i first started playing drums, i auditioned for bands right off the bat. any bands too...acoustic rock, folk rock, heavy metal, punk. you name it i was there jamming with them. my first choice is heavy metal so that was what i was focusing on. My drum teacher had shown me everything he knew, from polka beats to jazz to latin beats, but he was a broadway show guy and wasnt knowledgable about any metal at all. So i decided to learn it myself. Listening to any music, any band that i could, i listened to the drum parts and memorized all the beats, fills, etc.
The first band i was in was an industrial metal band (think rob zombie with a dance beat) i did pretty well in that band and it was a good and easy way for me to learn how to play in a rock band setting. We played our first show and it was utter shit. i won't lie to you folks, i was not happy about this show one bit. aside from the technical issues (amps going out, mics not working) we just werent together and sounded horrible. it was a learning experience and something that hung on my mind from then on. i needed a lot of work...
...to be continued
Monday, November 2, 2009
Halloween Weekend
I figured I give everybody a recap of this sick weekend. Friday couldn't have been more perfect. I picked up two kegs and got them on ice around 2:00PM. A couple of friends came by and we started drinking around 5ish. We basically started pre-partying for the show from 5-9 PM. We packed up all the equipment and then put on our Halloween costumes.
I obviously dressed up as Dimebag, Roach was Fred Flinstone, Scott went as a Viking, and Bobby's costume was the best. He was a mix between the devil from Legend the movie and basically Lucifer. The Makeup job was incredible thanks to Gio.
We arrived at the show at around 9:30 and were able to see some great bands that night. They were Grimus, Unstable Foundation, One Brick Down, Homicidal and we went on last. All the bands played excellent. There were about 100 people in the place that night and we brought exactly 50 of them. So for all of you promoters out there, we proved that we can bring people. We are proud of that.
We finally got on stage around 12:30-1:00 and I would say most of the people stayed. Some of the bands left before we went on but I have no hard feelings. I can tell by the crowd reaction that it was our best show yet. For all of you Pantera lovers out there we covered two of their songs.
After the show we spoke with the promoters and management of the bar and it seems like we just earned ourselves some really good shows and we should be opening for some big bands.
That brings us to the after hours party. About 30 of us came back to my house, and kept partying straight through Friday and into Sunday Morning. It was the perfect weekend. Thanks to all of you who came out and showed your support.
J.R.
Slam One Down
I obviously dressed up as Dimebag, Roach was Fred Flinstone, Scott went as a Viking, and Bobby's costume was the best. He was a mix between the devil from Legend the movie and basically Lucifer. The Makeup job was incredible thanks to Gio.
We arrived at the show at around 9:30 and were able to see some great bands that night. They were Grimus, Unstable Foundation, One Brick Down, Homicidal and we went on last. All the bands played excellent. There were about 100 people in the place that night and we brought exactly 50 of them. So for all of you promoters out there, we proved that we can bring people. We are proud of that.
We finally got on stage around 12:30-1:00 and I would say most of the people stayed. Some of the bands left before we went on but I have no hard feelings. I can tell by the crowd reaction that it was our best show yet. For all of you Pantera lovers out there we covered two of their songs.
After the show we spoke with the promoters and management of the bar and it seems like we just earned ourselves some really good shows and we should be opening for some big bands.
That brings us to the after hours party. About 30 of us came back to my house, and kept partying straight through Friday and into Sunday Morning. It was the perfect weekend. Thanks to all of you who came out and showed your support.
J.R.
Slam One Down
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