On Friday, August 31, 2012 three of the industry’s most respected drummers shared one stage At Drumscene 2012 at the Australian city of Perth. Dom Famularo, Dave Weckl, and  are currently three of the top drummers in the music scene. They helped make a successful inspiring event for the upcoming music generation. The event was organized by Australia’s number one magazine “Drumscene” and thanks to Musictek, the official publisher, and Frank Corniola with his crew, Toonari Post had a close view into the event and exclusive talks with the all performing artists.

At nearly 7:30 pm the anticipating crowd settled down for this one of its kind event, where they later welcomed the 59-year-old drummer, Dom Famularo, who comes from New York city’s Long Island. His opening act was an appealing joke about how Long Island is called that just because its long. A few laughs later Dom spoke to the audience that had a majority of drummers about his life and career and how he became a professional drummer at the age of 12. Bringing up the days when the great Buddy Rich still lived, he told the audience about the first time he saw Buddy Rich at a jazz club and commented on the reasons for why Buddy was, and still is, one of the most unique drummers ever known.

Image Credit: Sam Pettit

Famularo said that he only got good by watching drummers like him and “stealing” their techniques. It’s another smart way of improving and learning more techniques, he said. It was not long after that when Dom started playing his set on the drums. Then he started by saying hello to the drums and how he missed not playing it since yesterday. Showing an outstanding performance that absolutely made the drums speak for themselves, Dom has proved to the audience that he really did steal all those techniques from many other great drummers. It was possible to see the many drummers that lived before Dom combined into one and playing for him on the drums.

Without any further ado, Dom left the stage with a great applause from the audience, welcoming the next drummer on the set: Thomas Lang. Lang is an Austrian drummer born in 1967 . Thomas is much loved by the younger generation of drummers due to his incredible speed when playing on the drums. He is known for his multi-pedal techniques and powerful accented strokes. Lang began his set playing along with a back track that he had recorded with one of his bands that heavily featured the genre of Rock music.

It was a few minutes until Thomas started talking to the audience, speaking about his career, current projects, and equipment. Thomas is known for using Meinl manfactured cymbals with a DW drum kit and using his signature drum sticks to play with. Lang demonstrates all sorts of sounds on his kit by playing a variety of drum solos that were indeed impressive, considering his controls over the drum pedals. There were 7 of them that almost sounded as if he played them all at once.

Image Credit: Sam Pettit

After Thomas was done with his set, Toonari Post had an exclusive interview with him at the back stage. We asked Thomas about his opinion of electronic and computerized drumming and how it may reduce the number of actual drummers that exist. He confidently commented, “they are not, it is impossible,” briefly explaining that computerized music is commonly used in producing music and that its a pathetic situation, considering the fact that music needs an emotional factor for it to be complete. He also mentioned that it affects the younger generation, and how they soon will not be able to differentiate between what is good and what is bad.

After a short break, they saved the best for last. The stage was all set for the long awaited Dave Weckl. Born in 1960, he is well-known for being one of the highest quality jazz drummers, along with Steve Gad and Vinnie Colaiuta. Dave Weckl is best described as a very technical and most creative drummer, one who does not just play a beat in time but makes absolute music with his instrument. Dave welcomed his audience and talked a bit about the technical aspects of drumming to his audience, pointing out the ways of music and how one should deal with the instrument.

He started his first set with a back up track that he had recorded with his band, a great blend of Latin jazz that was demonstrated on the drums with perfection that most definitely secured his title of being one of the best at Latin jazz style drumming. Dave then moved on to playing some drum solos right after advising the audience who shared the same interest in the instrument, to occasionally drop the sticks and experiment on the instrument with your hands and feet to feel it and let it speak for you. It was indeed an indescribable performance set by Dave Weckl.

Image Credit: Sam Pettit

Just before the end, the three renowned drummers had set up a surprise for the audience. Dave called upon Dom Famularo and Thomas Lang to have a trio drum performance that is best described as the ultimate drum scene. The three drummers went on for ten minutes in perfect sync and a gradual flow of dynamics that gave the audience something to remember.

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Even for those who do not know much about the Beatles, the names John Lennon and Paul McCartney may ring a bell and stand out the most amongst all The Beatles. Many do not know much about the other two band members of the fab four, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Toonari Post have explored ten things to know about the quiet Beatle George, and will here focus on the drummer of the band, Ringo Starr.

1. He was in two bands before he joined The Beatles.

Ringo started his own group in 1957 with his friend Eddie Miles called the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group. In 1959, he joined the Raving Texans. By October 1960, the band was renamed Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and while they were performing in Hamburg, Starr met The Beatles.

2. His real name is Richard Starkey.

During his time with the Raving Texans, Richard adopted the stage name “Ringo Starr” because of the rings he wore and because it sounded “cowboyish,” and his drum solos were billed as “Starr Time.”

3. He wasn’t the original drummer for The Beatles.

After meeting The Beatles in 1960 in Germany, Starr sat in for Pete Best as The Beatles’ drummer on 18 August 1961 and 5 February 1962. The Beatles removed Best as their drummer on 16 August 1962, after Best had played in the early recording sessions at EMI Studios. Starr then became the band’s drummer and his first performance as a full Beatle was on 18 August 1962 at a Horticultural Society dance at Port Sunlight. Best’s removal from The Beatles didn’t sit well with Best’s fans. The following day, after Starr’s appearance at the Cavern Club performance as a full Beatle, they were upset at Best’s removal. They held vigils outside Best’s house and fought at the club, shouting ‘Pete forever! Ringo never!’ George Harrison received a black eye from one of the fans.

4. He was the oldest member to join the band.

Ringo was born July 7, 1940. John was the second oldest as he was born October 9, 1940 while Paul was born June 18, 1942 and George-the youngest of the fab four-was born February 25, 1943.

5. He was the first Beatle to actually leave the group.

It was in 1968 during the infamous White Album sessions. During the two week period in which Starr was gone, the remaining band members all took turns on the drums for some of the tracks. When he returned he found his drum kit covered in flowers.

6. Ringo was born left-handed.

He became ambidextrous because his grandmother thought it was a witch spell for people to be left handed and therefore he was forced to write with his right hand.

7. Starr didn’t play the drums on The Beatles’s single “Love Me Do.”

On September 11, 1962, during the band’s second recording session with Starr as a member, producer George Martin replaced Starr (who was inexperienced with playing in the studio) with session drummer Andy White to record takes for what would be the two sides of The Beatles’ first single, “Love Me Do” backed with “P.S. I Love You”. Instead of the drums, Starr played tambourine on “Love Me Do” and maracas on “P.S. I Love You” for this session.

8. Of all the band members, Ringo was the most consistent during recording sessions.

That’s according to English author and historian Mark Lewisohn, who is regarded as the world’s leading authority on The Beatles. In his detailed study of The Beatles’ recording sessions, Lewisohn confirmed that Starr was both proficient and remarkably reliable and consistent. According to Lewisohn, there were fewer than a dozen occasions in the band’s eight-year recording career where session “breakdowns” were caused by Starr making a mistake, while the vast majority of takes were stopped owing to mistakes by the other three Beatles.

9. Starr is considered to have influenced various modern drumming techniques.

Techniques such as the matched grip started with Starr. The drummer holds drum sticks and mallets to play percussion instruments; in the matched grip each hand holds its stick in the same way. In the traditional grip, each hand holds the stick differently. Placing the drums on high risers for visibility as part of the band, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings are also Starr’s.

10. Many drummers cite Starr as an influence.

This includes: Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes, Dave Grohl of Nirvana, Jen Ledger of Skillet, Max Weinberg of the E Street Band, Danny Carey of Tool, Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel’s band, Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, Eric Carr of Kiss, Phil Rudd of AC/DC, Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós, the former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Pedro Andreu of Heroes del Silencio and many others.

Image Courtesy of  Mazzzur / Shutterstock.com

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