Eli Litwin

Keep up with Eli here:

www.myspace.com/elilitwin
www.myspace.com/knifetheglitter
www.myspace.com/normallove
www.myspace.com/gunmuffs
www.myspace.com/inzinzac
www.myspace.com/timeislikeasword
www.myspace.com/thetruetweeter
www.myspace.com/bringitinside

 

My name is Elijah Wolf Kraft Litwin and I was born in Morristown, NJ on January 11, 1983. I grew up hearing the music of my father who played banjo, guitar, harmonica, and sang in a variety of bluegrass/Dixieland/folk/old-time country/etc. groups, most of which he was the band leader. Naturally, I was inclined to pursue music and began playing drums at age 9, in the 4th grade. I got my first drum set (the Thor that I still play today) in the 6th grade and soon after, began playing music with my best friend who had started playing guitar. We began with the usual Nirvana, Bush and Silverchair covers, eventually writing a few originals. I have never been without a band since then. I was playing with some other friends in a rock band going into high school, and joined the concert, jazz and marching bands, though my first experience playing metal was actually on guitar (which I started playing in 6th grade). But, I continued to jam with friends and eventually started a metal band to play drums in towards the end of high school.

When it came time to apply for colleges I knew that the only thing I was interested in was playing music, drum set in particular. Jazz was pretty much the only option for that, which sounded cool to me, so in Fall of 2001 I started the Jazz Performance program at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia. It turned out to be a great choice and I’m very glad to have chosen that path. I got the chance to play with many other talented young musicians and learned a great deal from the professors there, notably my private drum teacher Erik Johnson, who had a strong background in not just jazz, but rock and metal as well. During winter break of my sophomore year, I started jamming with some new guys up in north jersey, which eventually became *Knife the Glitter*. KTG is my main musical focus and the place where my own creative voice really comes out. We have put out one self released ep, toured the country a few times and are currently writing our new album, due out sometime in 2009.

During my final year at Temple I began teaching private drum lessons at a number of middle and high schools in the greater Philadelphia area. I graduated with my Bachelors of Music degree in Spring of 2006 (after a 5th year of music technology courses) and was into the real world! Luckily my teaching jobs were already supporting me and I was able to stay concentrated on music. I slowly began joining/starting new bands in Philadelphia as I became a part of the local music scene. *Normal Love*, which formed as I was finishing college, was very exciting for me because in addition to being my first real Philly band, the music was unlike anything I had ever heard and the other guys in the band were all incredibly talented. We released our debut album on High Two Records in Nov of 2007, toured the US and Canada for the past 2 summers, and were recently featured in the Summer issue of Sign To Noise Magazine (a nationally distributed experimental music magazine). I have a number of other groups now as well, all of varying degrees of activity, which I will list below. I have also started doing session work and am currently in full-on “professional drummer” mode.

Eli Litwin Interview:

SD.com: How old were you when you started playing?

Eli: I was 9 yrs old, in the 4th grade. I remember very clearly, at the beginning of the school year, my homeroom teacher asking if anyone wanted to play an instrument in the band and I think I immediately knew that I wanted to play the drums.

 

 

SD.com: Did you play in a school band or any drum corps?

Eli: I was in the band in middle school, then concert band, jazz band and marching band in high school.  Though our marching band percussion section wasn’t big enough for us to march with the rest of the band (there was just 1 person for all 4 bass drums), so I got to play drum set on the side line.

 

 

SD.com: Who are your top 5 influences?

Eli: 1) *Gene Hoglan* – His playing on Death’s “Symbolic” (my #1 favorite metal album ever)completely blew my mind when I first heard it in high school. His amazing cymbal work (l love all the ride/bell and splash accents) and uncompromising groove was a huge influence on the way I play. Also, his more recent playing on the last two Strapping Young Lad albums (“The New Black” and “Alien”) is soooo crushing. When I think of his sound, particularly on “Alien” I just think of 2 planets crashing into each other. That’s how huge his sound is.

2) *Kenneth Schalk* – Again with the groove.  So solid through all the odd times and such. There were parts where it was as though he was “comping” in the jazz drumming sense of the word, throwing in unexpected accents and flipping the beat around, etc., but in the context of this crazy hardcore/hiphop/metal groove.  Candiria was one of a kind.

3) *Chris Pennie – *I still remember the first time I heard Dillinger’s “The Mullet Burden” and soon after found their “Under the Running Board” ep in Rick Ta Life’s “distro” at a 25 Ta Life show at Obsessions (ha!).  Obviously it blew my mind.  I now get to hear him practicing sometimes, down the hall from my band’s practice space, and he’s a damn machine.

4) *Thomas Haake* – Again, I remember the first time I heard Meshuggah’s “Chaosphere” in high school (at an All State Band try-out, nonetheless, ha! No, I didn’t make it.) very clearly. I had no idea what I just heard. It was so dense, atonal and brutal that I just didn’t understand, but I knew I probably should try to.  Their whole “over-the-bar-line” concept of rhythm (not odd time signatures!!!) eventually taught me a lot about feeling a groove (notice all the talk about groove?)

5) *David Silveria – *He was the first metal drummer I ever really got into, way back in 7th grade, when Korn’s first album came out. I thought his playing on their first 2 albums was very creative. Unfortunately everything they did after that I felt the complete opposite about. But, he definitely got me started on the whole groove and cymbals interest until I found that Gene was who I was really looking for.

 

 

 

 

SD.com: Assuming that influences doesn’t mean favorites, who are your favorites?

Eli: The above top 4 are definitely my all-time favorites, but I’ll say a few more recent favorites.

*Jeff Eber *of Dysrhythmia and Zevious. I have watched this guy play the drums so many times and it just never gets old.  His incredible jazz chops give him an agility very few rock and metal drummers have.

*Matthias Bossi* of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Book of Knots, and a few others. Very creative and unconventional in a super heavy way. The man plays a slow, heavy groove like no one I’ve ever heard.

*Hannes Grossmann* formerly (unfortunately) of Necrophagist. His playing on “Epitaph” is some of the most unbelievable metal drumming I’ve ever heard. The sheer power, speed, creativity, groove and beautifuly smooth rhythmic subdivisions on that album are jawdropping.  I was fortunate enough to see him playing with them once and it was absolutely perfect. I couldn’t believe it. He easily put every other drummer at that show to shame.

*Danny Walker *of Intronaut, Uphill Battle, and a few others. Great, creative metal drumming ideas and a common love for cymbals!

*Ben Koller* of Converge. Definitely my favorite hardcore drummer out there. His performance on “No Heros” is nothing short of phenomenal. So much energy and power.

*Gabe Serbian* of The Locust. Again, increadibly creative and unconventional, but in a super fast, spastic yet totally rock solid way. Watching this guy play is a real treat.

 

 

SD.com: Let us know 5 CD’s that are in your current rotation

Eli:
Meshuggah – “obZen”
Cephalic Carnage – “Xenosapien”
Devin Townsend – “Ziltoid the Omniscient”
Byla & Jarboe – “Viscera”
The Mars Volta – “The Bedlam in Goliath”
Kaki King – “Dreaming of Revenge”
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – “Raising Sand”
(couldn’t keep it to just 5)

 

 

SD.com: What do you do to warm up before a show?

Eli: If I have enough time, I like to warm up my hands on a pad with singles, doubles, 16’s and various combinations of para’s, diddle’s and flams. I’ll warm up my feet by just bass drumming on the floor, though I should really get a practice bass drum pad. I usually do various stretches that cover arms, legs, back, neck and shoulders as well.

 

 

SD.com: Can you remember a night you think was your best playing ever? If yes, when and where?

Eli: I can’t think of any one specific night, though I can definitely say that when that feeling of “yes, this is so on and feels f’ing great” comes on for even just a few minutes, it is a really incredible experience and inspires me to reach that point more often.  My best playing ever has yet to come.

 

 

 

 

SD.com: Do you have a favorite brand of drums or cymbals?

Eli: My drumset is a total mutant at this point. I have a Thor drumset which I got way back in 6th grade.  They were a no-name drum company in a discount music catalog and no one has ever heard of them. They do, however, have a sweet logo (a hand holding a lightning bolt!) and sound really great when I put Evans EC2’s on them, so until I get a bangin’ drum endorsement (ehh?  *hint*) I’m stickin with the Thors!  I more recently bought a deeper Pearl bass drum that I use in some of my heavier bands (namely Knife the Glitter and Gun Muffs). I have a great sounding Tama maple snare that I like very much. As far as cymbals, I used all Zildjian for a long time, though I recently bought a couple Sabian crashes that I like too. Wuhan is great for their really cheap China’s. I use the 12″ in my stack, on top of a 10″ Zildjian splash.  I also found this really awesome used 20″ Wuhan Medium Ride that I used as a crash (as seen in my drum videos), but I unfortunately cracked it and it’ll never be the same. 🙁  I crack lots of cymbals. Endorsements anybody!?  🙂

 

 

SD.com: If you could give one piece of advice to young drummers, it would be…

Eli: Make every effort possible to be a well-rounded drummer. There are too many drummers out there (in the metal scene these days) that have totally ridiculous chops and could blast your face off for hours, but ask them to play a medium to slow paced groove and sound as stiff as a board. Creativity and dynamic playing, along with a great feel, show a much more unique drumming identity and greater musical command.

 

 

SD.com: Who gave the best live performance you’ve ever seen?

Eli: The two performances that come to mind immediately when I think of best shows ever are Bjork @ Madison Square Garden on her most recent tour for “Volta” and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum @ The North Star in Philly on their most recent tour for “In Glorious Times.”  Both performances were incredibly moving and inspirational.

 

 

SD.com: If you had to stop drumming, what would you want to do with your life?

Eli: If I really had to stop drumming, like if I was not physically able to anymore, I would still continue writing lots of music and continue teaching drums if possible. I would certainly not be able to quit music all together because it is by far the thing I am most passionate about in life. I definitely don’t have any kind of “back up plan” away from music. But, I don’t need one cause this plan will do me just fine.