Last summer I recorded the drums for the debut album of InAshton, a new band lead by the amazingly talented Morgan Clamp. The ENTIRE album is available for download for FREE on the band's website.

In other quick news... After having skipped the last two years, I will be attending the NAMM convention in Anaheim, CA (Friday Jan 15th only). I'll be hanging around the Sabian and Vic Firth booths most of the time!

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In 2007, I did a photoshoot at my old Brooklyn studio with photographer Jules Follett. The shoot was part of a huge undertaking in which Jules and some of her friends journeyed to portray as many drummers as they possibly could, and collect all their photos and bios for their book, Sticks 'n' Skins. Now, two years later, the book is out, and it's a true gem. Over 500 drummers are featured in the book. Yours truly can be found on page 318 (sporting a haircut I still don't understand, but that aside).

I'd like to thank Jules for her beautiful work, awesome contribution to the drummers community, and also the wonderful dinner we had with some of New York's finest drummers that week (amazing Italian food with Liberty DeVitto and Shawn Pelton!).

This book is a perfect Christmas gift! Grab it at Amazon.com.

I've had a complete set of BigDog hardware in storage in Holland for the past 4 years but I rarely ever use it. I've decided to sell it.
The set is basically brand new and consists of:

1x E002 twin kick pedal
1x B001 snare stand
1x B002 hi-hat stand
1x B003 straight cymbal stand
2x B004 boom cymbal stand
2x tom/cymbal combo stand (custom)
1x F006 deluxe throne w/cloth top

For pics, see www.bigdogdrumstuff.com.

This hardware is 100% heavy duty, road-worthy, professional grade stuff. I've really only used it for one 3-week tour with Bumblefoot in 2005. It's always been packed in fleece blankets and completely clean and undamaged. It's in new-like condition.

New value of this set is around 1300 Euros.
I really need to get rid of it, so I'll take any reasonable offer. I'll be in Holland around the Holidays to sell the set to the lucky highest bidder.
Email me if you're interested!

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Just did an interview for www.Metalliville.com. Here's a direct link to the interview.

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Just realized I hadn't posted this on MySpace yet...

I've been playing drums for metal queen Lita Ford for the past month. We just got back from doing a bunch of huge summer festivals in Europe and a handful of shows in the US. We'll be touring around the US through September, and there's been talk about possible shows in the fall.
I'm having an awesome time with my old friend Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal on guitar, and my new friends, bassist P.J. Farley (Trixter), keyboardist Michael. T. Ross (Angel, Missing Persons) and of course Lita and Jim. Also a quick shout-out to our amazing crew: George (sound, production), Chris K. (security), T-Bone (guitar tech), Chris F. (guitar tech), Victor (drum tech in Europe), Shawn (drum tech in the US) and Danny (tour manager in Europe). You guys all rock and are a huge part in making this an awesome experience :)

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By popular demand...:




Explanation of the fill at 1:25 (original album version, 1:31 in above video):

Howdy!

Quickie update...

I just finished recording and mixing a track for a death/black metal project based out of Alabama. Check it out here (track is called "Watchmaker's Respite").

I realized today that I have a pretty substantial pile of CD's sitting around my apartment that I am supposed to be selling. So I just created a little store page where you can grab some CD's I play on at discounted prices.

That's it for now. Back with more news soon..!

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Almost a year ago to the date, I recorded 7 songs for an instrumental guitar album to be released by Magna Carta.
I just found out that the cd will be released on February 10th. Check out this MySpace page for more info and samples.

The album consists of songs that feature guitarists such as James Murphy (Testament), Bumblefoot (Guns N' Roses), Shane Gibson (KorN), Chris Poland (Megadeth), Dave Martone, Mike Orlando, Devin Townsend and Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler (DAATH). I'm on 7 of the 12 tracks.
Of the 5 samples on the MySpace page, the only song that I don't play on is "Boot Dagger Boogie".

This album was a fun project. Most of these guitarists are teenage heroes of mine, making this a very special album for me.

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One of the songs I recorded for Trans Siberian Orchestra guitarist Angus Clark this summer is now available on his MySpace. The song is called "Festival". One of the first of many songs for which I recorded drums at my studio this past summer to be officially released. Slowly but surely, they're starting to pop up now! ;)

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Been a while... But haven't been sitting still! Some exciting stuff's cookin'.

On November 17th, I will be performing with the wonderful Ariana Shore at Arlene's Grocery in NYC. Nothing special about that, I hear you think. True. I played there many times before. However, this night is super-special. November 17th was Jeff Buckley's birthday. As we all know, Jeff sadly passed away in 1997. Arlene's Grocery was the last NYC venue where Buckley performed before his death.The show on November 17th ("An Evening With Jeff Buckley") will be a special tribute night dedicated to the genius himself. I will be performing one song with Ariana, which happens to be one of the best songs Jeff every wrote (though, they're all fantastic). As a HUGE Buckley fan, I'm extremely excited about this show.

On November 22nd I'm finally going to make it out to San Francisco. This city has been at the top of my list of places in the US that I'm dying to visit. I'll be doing a show with Mike Orlando's Sonic Stomp at the Broadway Studios, organized by Guitar Player Magazine. This should be an awesome show! I'll be sticking around SanFran for a couple more days afterwards to check out the town. If you're around, drop me a line and we'll hang out!

Furthermore, I'll be doing a show with Mike Orlando as well on December 18th at the Blender Theater at Gramercy in NYC as special guests for MTV'S own The Energy as heard on MTV's Real World & The Island. This is going to be a very big show. Get your tickets NOW at www.MikeOrlandoMusic.com!!

And lastly, more than a year since our last show... A show with Bumblefoot! We'll be doing a 30-minute in-store performance at the famous Vintage Vinyl record store in Fords, New Jersey, on November 26th to celebrate the release of the new Guns N' Roses album. Come rock out!

Lots more going on but it would be too much to list in one post. I'll post another update soon...

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