The video that started it all!

Jedi Drummer: Episode 1 is back!

"Trust your feelings!"

Cobra Venom is deep in the process of creating our new 7-inch EP and while we're very happy about what we did with Extinction Reality, we took a different approach for this new offering.  Extinction was very much a full-length album, a complete statement with the full range of instrument playing, songwriting and production capabilities we had at that point in time.  The new EP (name to be decided soon) is a raw, live-tracked sampling of our strongest current material.  The songs are focused while showing our band's musical growth at the same time.  We also made some major adjustments to these songs DURING THE SESSION and they sound way better because of it! 

"You must unlearn what you have learned."

My biggest challenge was trusting my live playing in a studio setting.  It has been a LONG time since I recorded without a click or backing track (at least 10 years, maybe longer).  It's also not that I couldn't use a click or track for these songs - it was a choice not to, in order to have a loose, uncontained, old school punk vibe for the album rather than a disciplined, technically precise and brutal performance by classically trained musicians.  The band trusted me to do well in this situation and I had to trust myself to make it work.  Fortunately, I'm very pleased with the end result and luckily for me, the rest of my band is also happy with my performance.  This doesn't mean that I'll NEVER use a click track again but it does mean that I can do either way in the future and be comfortable, confident, and effective behind the kit.

More info on the EP coming soon.  Our Indiegogo campaign video features the chorus of one of the new songs.  Thanks to everyone that has already contributed!  Please continue to spread the word and when it comes to your own creative endeavors, remember the words of Obi-Wan and Yoda....

Random Rant #5: Go See Old Movies In The Theater

Yeah. No subtlety for this rant.  I just told you what to do. Why? Cuz it's AWESOME.  Well, seeing old movies in the theater is AWESOME.  Me telling you what to do, like a complete jerk, is REALLY AWESOME. :)

Seriously though, especially if you're into action/adventure/comic book/fantasy/sci-fi/geeky stuff like me, the movies in that genre, especially from the 80s, were MEANT to be seen on gigantic movie screens.  Remember, studios were not totally sold on the VHS industry in the early 80s.  It took awhile for that to even be a consideration for production. Now of course everything that gets made has DVD/Blu-Ray consideration for watchability and sales projections but this was NOT the case back in the day and it shows.  The movies were made for the theaters and production was done accordingly.

Not meant for 15-inch screens

Matte paintings, models and miniatures have a life-likeness to them that modern film audiences either totally missed out on or can't remember.  Movies where there was a lot of physical art involved in the creation of the shots just stand out that much more in a cinema than on a screen the size of a book. I really felt this when I saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark last year and Batman this past week (thank you, Arclight).  I've seen both of those movies a zillion times on televisions but the cinema experience really lends something to the type of film that was created.  The sound was amazing, too.  The balance between dialogue, foley and music on a television or computer doesn't even come close to a theater experience and only THE BEST home theater systems can even try to do it justice in your living room.

I wonder if there's a way to bring some of the feel of these physical aspects back to movies.  CGI artists may get there eventually but there's still a ways to go.  Even the super high-budget movies like Avengers that look absolutely great on movie screens and on Blu-Rays aren't the same.  There's a lightning fast pace to the editing and effects processing that makes these movies look like commercials and video games more than films.  There are lighting issues too, maybe because so much stuff is moving and changing colors on these screens now.  And of course, there's the sound.  Film sound hasn't gotten quite as crazy as music production with the loudness of everything but it does get lost without a home theater setup.  

Only one building blows up and the movie still works

Ok, I'm gonna try to stop sounding like grandpa talking about the good old days and these young whippersnappers not knowing what good quality is now (I figure that'll happen around Random Rant #258 anyway).  I would like to ask the filmmaking community if there is a way to marry some of this new technology (certainly the digital artistry and lighting designs like we saw in Tron: Legacy) with  still craftsmanship that you'd find in model work and matte paintings.  Yeah, there's always costumes and props but I'm talking about major action sequences and location shots as well.  With a new Star Wars trilogy on the way, this kind of innovation can pay off BIG in the near future.

Disney, please no more bad aliens, fake backgrounds and pastel tones

I believe that younger audiences will get something cool out of this if they're exposed to the physical artwork in some familiar context.  Then they could learn to appreciate the older technology if they don't already.  The crowd that's longer in the tooth will also go to more movies if they feel like the movies are watchable as films and not just a 125-minute+ CGI video games with actors.  Since the older audience usually has money and families to bring to these movies anyway, why not give it a shot?  If the film industry is doing as well as we're being told, why not take a risk?  If nothing else, this move can revitalize some of these older film properties and bring more revenue to the table as nostalgia kicks in and new fans are brought into the fold.

There, I just told the movie industry what to do, too. Now that I'm done telling everyone else what to do, better get back to my job.

RLRR LRLL.....

Happy Anniversary, Jedi Drummer!

For as long as I've been a drummer, I've always thought about what kind of videos I could make of myself playing.  I'm a big fan of live performances and instructional videos but I also like behind-the-scenes stuff, shot in the studio during the production process.  I'm also a major Star Wars fan and wanted to find a way to incorporate my love for the Lucas legacy into my love for this awesome instrument.  Most importantly, I wanted to do something different and unique that would showcase my playing but also give people a taste of my personality and stage presence.

With a little (ok, A LOT of) help from my good friend and mentor, Charlie Waymire, the first Jedi Drummer video was created and unleashed on my YouTube channel at the end of July in 2010.  The immediate response from my friends and family was awesome so I decided to promote the video at the Star Wars Celebration V convention in Orlando and The 2011 NAMM Show in Anaheim as well as online through the usual channels.  I'm glad I did it because after each of those conventions my views went up considerably and I started getting comments from people that I didn't know personally.  It seemed they loved it just as much as my friends and family did and so the video began making its rounds through the inter-webs.

Many of my friends have told their friends about the video, posted links on their facebook pages, twitter feeds, etc and Jedi Drummer still gets great responses from people over and over again.  I'm lucky that John Williams gave us such an amazing and inspirational cue (and that Lucas' lawyers tend to look the other way on these kinds of things) but I'm even luckier that I was able to do my thing musically and have it be so well-received by musicians and Star Wars fans alike.  I hope you guys continue to have as much fun watching it as I did making it.  To all those who have been asking - yes, there will be another one.

May The Force Be With You!