Subrick's Picks: A look At Up & Coming Drummers
Written by: Richard “Subrick” Lowell
Hello Everyone! It is I, your newest Sick Drummer Magazine contributor. Subrick’s my name, and drumming is my game! I will be here every two weeks to give you an insight into the world of unknown drummers from the greater internet landscape, many of which have posted videos on this very website. Sick Drummer Magazine approached me to do this column for two reasons: 1. They said they loved my devotion & dedication to, and knowledge of extreme metal drumming. 2. They wanted to launch a column where a young drummer got to be involved in featuring other young drummers.
The purpose of my columns here will be to feature great underground drummers that get nowhere near the credit or recognition they deserve. I hope that over the lifespan of this column, I can show you many drummers (and bands) and that I can educate the faithful readers of this website/magazine about bands very few have heard of, and promote some new drummers who will blow you away with their skill and ability.
For your chance to be featured, all you have to do is post a video of you drumming to YouTube, Vimeo or whatever video site you prefer, and embed the link on this website in the SD Videos section. Nothing more, nothing less, but you do need to be a registered member of our site to post.
There are three categories on which I base my selections: Playing Ability, Production Value, and Kit Sound. All three are pretty straight forward, but here’s what I specifically look for with each category.
Playing Ability: I look to see if a player is technically sound; timing is good, endurance and power are up to par, among other, more miniscule things.
Production Value: I prefer to watch video from a good quality camera, or studio quality. By studio quality, I don’t mean the greatest production sound ever recorded. I classify studio quality as a drumming performance recorded with microphones and/or triggers. Electronic kits are very much encouraged (especially when using less conventional samples). Now, if you have sound quality that isn’t as good, that doesn’t mean you won't be included in my selection process. Everyone is eligible to be featured.
Kit Sound: One of the most important characteristics! We all have read Eyal Levi’s article about why drum performances are always sound replaced these days. For those who haven’t, the basic gist of it is because drummers don’t know how to tune their drums. Considering that many drum videos I see on YouTube involve players that have really bad sounding kits, it seems rarer and rarer that drummers actually tune their drums. Meet all three of these criteria, and you have a shot to be featured. You could be playing the most radio friendly Disney pop imaginable, but if I feel your video meets these criteria, you could make the front page.
Now that you have my criteria, let me introduce you to my first featured selection under Subrick’s Picks:
Braynard Bruuster with the video “Dwarf Corpse Drummer (Black Metal Beach Party)”. Braynard goes by the handle “elbowedinkneecap1” on YouTube, where he has uploaded a few covers of bands such as Behemoth, The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel and Suicide Silence. His production value is at studio quality, which is always a plus for me. His playing ability is above average, with no noticeable mess-ups in his video. His kit sound is phenomenal, with his using ddrum triggers for his kick drums and his drums having a nice tone to them. His snare in particular has a very nice crack and pop to it, showing once again why snare drums are my favorite drums. Braynard is the drummer of Grandville, Michigan folk metal band Dwarf Corpse, and released an EP with them in 2010 called “Blood Vengeance”.
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That’ll do it this time for Subrick’s Picks! If you liked this article or if you wanna check out my material, I’ll provide links to my YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages. I post drum videos on a very regular basis, so there will always be videos of mine for you to hopefully enjoy. Until next time, Subrick out!
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