Subrick's Picks: A look At Up & Coming Drummers – Pick 9
Written by: Richard “Subrick” Lowell
Guess who’s back? Back again. Subrick’s back. Tell a friend. Hello goys and birls, your benevolent diety Subrick here. I have returned from my hiatus (I came from Valhalla where I slumbered and fed) to bring you (yes, YOU) the very best of unknown, underground, and all things starting with the letter “u” that make kvlt black metal kids sever the head of a goat in the world of metal drumming. Firstly, since I’ve been gone, it appears that Forbidden is in need of a new drummer. One to replace both the excellent Mark Hernandez and the legendary Gene Hoglan. I threw my hat into the proverbial ring and uploaded the first of my audition videos, that being Forsaken at the Gates. If I were a betting man, however, I’d put my money on Duane Timlin from Dying Fetus. That man is a machine, and definitely deserves to be in a band the caliber of Forbidden. Now that my cheap plug is finished, let us move on to the best part of the article: where I pick the pick that was pickiest enough to be picked.
Try saying that three times fast.
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.
Septimiu fucking Harsan. What more can be said about this week’s pick? He is a beast. He is a monster. He is downright amazing. Seen here playing “Symptoms of General Decay” with Code Red, Septimiu (or Septimus as he’s known on Youtube) is blasting at about 300 BPM. Even better is that he throws in various other little surprises other than blasting. If any one thing is set to bore me, it’s non-stop blasting the entire song (Dark Funeral and Fleshgod Apocalypse’s “Agony” not withstanding). Septimiu is also playing this style of music on a basic five-piece kit, which I find commendable due to the security blanket dependence many death metal drummers have on using 80's glam metal sized kits (four toms, giant wall of cymbals, etc.) His technique is both superb and surprising; on his left hand he’s blasting with his fingers only. On his right hand, he’s using push pull. Push pull at speeds that great is astounding, and I’m surprised that he’s yet to contract arthritis of the wrist by doing so. Still, better than Steve Asheim’s “technique”.
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Septimiu’s links:
That will just about do it for the return edition of Subrick’s Picks. If you feel so inclined, subscribe to my Youtube channel, follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and become a fan of my band, Pandora’s Toybox. Well, not really my band. It’s Morte’s band, I just drum in it. Until next time, Subrick out!
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