Drummer Talk » Music/DVDs

DVD Review – Behind the Player: Stephen Perkins

JABB — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:43:39 +0000

Hola! Yeah, I know it has been a while but now I’m back!

To make up for slacking I’m doing a trio of videos to make up for lost time. The three videos come from a new series of instructional videos I discovered on Netflix. A Los Angeles based company called IMV has flooded Netflix with its line of “Behind the Player” (BTP) DVDs. They have videos for guitarists, bassists, and drummers and they feature mostly artists of the rock/metal/alt variety. They also donate a portion of their earnings to a charity called Little Kids Rock. I suspect it’s all a part of an evil plot concocted to boost membership in the KISS Army, but that’s just my theory.

On to the review!

Content

Stephen Perkins is best known for drumming with Jane’s Addiction but he’s also played for Porno for Pyros, Infectious Grooves and he currently plays with Banyan. Of course, if you have seen this DVD before you would already know that because player history is one of main features of a BTP DVD. All of these BTP features have the same basic structure: there will be a BTP section, 2 or 3 song lessons, and some extras.

The BTP section is where the featured artist: gives you their background, talks about their lives in the band, gives general advice, and talks about their gear. If you didn’t know much about the player before you watched this section, you will by the time you’re done. Stephen chose to talk about getting his first drum set, the different drummers that influenced him, why he plays barefoot, and what each member of Jane’s Addiction contributed to their sound.

I had heard of Jane’s Addiction and Stephen Perkins before I rented this video but I had not listened to much of their music before. I can now say I’m a fan of Jane’s Addiction and it was this video that really introduced me to them. Two of the three songs that Stephen demonstrates were songs that were just right up my alley.

Speaking of which…

All of the BTP DVDs are focused on teaching the viewer how to play 2 or 3 tracks the artist played on. In this case it was: “Pets” by Porno for Pyros,”Been Caught Stealing” by Jane’s Addiction and the infinitely awesome “Mountain Song” also by Jane’s Addiction. Each song lesson has three sections: the actual lesson, an album track play-along, and a jam on the song with a bass player.

Presentation

Stephen Perkins is a great host and that’s what really makes the DVD. He articulate, easy to understand, enthusiastic, and he knew how he wanted to teach what he had to teach. Not all of the hosts of the BTP videos I’ve seen so far have been as effective with their allotted DVD time.

I like the three pronged approach they took with each because it shows that the different dynamics at work when you play to an album and when you play with another human. They definitely give you all you need to learn the song inside and out, so I say it’s a successful effort on their part.

Extras

BTP videos seem to be pretty weak in the area of extras. This one has a promo video for Banyan and a live version of “Mountain Song” that I must admit I could jam to all day. All of the BTP videos feature the same little promo video for Little Kids Rock so that’s in there too.

Overall, I think the Stephen Perkins BTP DVD was successful and sets the bar for what a BTP type of video should be. It’s not an in-depth guide to all things Stephen Perkins. It’s an introduction to: him, his music, and the music he’s been a part of. So if that’s what you’re looking for that’s what offered. I think it was definitely worth a rent just for the sake of expanding my musical horizons, but, because of its narrow focus and its brevity, I don’t think it’s worth a buy.

Todd Sucherman: Methods & Mechanics for Useful Musical Drumming

JABB — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:14:33 +0000

I’ve been excited to see this one for a while. I was waiting for the promised Blu-Ray version to come out so I could see if the instructional experience is that much better in HD. Alas, my patience expired when I saw it available on Netflix. I saw the preview for this DVD and thought “that guy sounds like a more progressive version of Steve Smith… and I like that.” As it turns out Todd Sucherman: drummer for Styx, session drummer, and clinician, is a big fan of Steve Smith. In fact Todd actually tells a touching personal story about his relationship with Steve Smith which is one of the nice little touches in this DVD that make it so great, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Content

The meat of actual drum instruction is dedicated to fills in some way or another. He approaches them from an impressive number of angles I must say; Rudimental fills, Fills from songs, double bass fills, and even tribute fills if you look in the bonus section on disk 2. Every time he teaches a new concept on the drum set he almost always plays an example in the form of a fill. This is not a knock on this video; I’m just saying that you won’t get many groove oriented examples. So if you’re a huge Styx fan and you’re looking to see a bunch of Stxy grooves broken down… sorry.

A short list of the topics he covers includes: hand technique, rudiments, odd times, swing time, and double bass. However he has a ton of other little lessons scattered though out the dvd too. These can vary from tips about how to keep your drums in tune to reminders to be nice to your fans. Most of the topics he covers are only discussed briefly but he’s very good at communicating his points and doesn’t need much time. He spends more time on some topics than others but always enough info so that you don’t feel short changed. He even defers to other drummers and learning materials when he knows he doesn’t have enough time or that he isn’t the right person to go in depth about that topic. In fact, on his hand technique section he says to get Jojo Mayer’s DVD because it’s 3 hours of hand technique and a better resource. One of the most useful things an instructional video can do is recommend other materials for further study. I wish more instructional videos would do the same.

There are pdfs for you to print out but I wish there were more. It’s pretty much the sheet music for all the rudiments he talked about in the beginning of the DVD. I just wish they transcribed some of the fills in this DVD. I can find rudiment transcriptions everywhere, not so with the fills.

Presentation

Now, this was shot in HD and is/was scheduled to be released as a Blu-Ray I don’t know what happened to it. As of this writing I can’t find details on when and if the Blu-Ray will drop. I will do an update of some sort when I learn anything about its production status.

Now then, It’s still a very nice looking DVD in terms of clarity of picture but there were some issues I had with the DVD. There were minor issues with the lighting and volume every now and again. Those were forgivable but the one that was actually a problem was with some of the menus. Not all the menus, mind you just some of them. Some of the menus were very intuitive and easy to use, and some could have you selecting the wrong thing over and over.

Ok so there’s some rough edges on the production… what about Todd as a host? He’s excellent. He comes off as the teacher who tries to really get the students to like him but is still a great educator. Survive some of the jokes and he’s got a ton of wisdom for you. He’s a clear and concise teacher and he also knows his limits so he never talks past where he can effectively teach. Carrying on in the tradition of Neil Peart, he has entire sections of the video dedicated to him just talking about whatever he’s trying to teach, as opposed to demonstrating it on the kit. I’ve found that some of the best info on the DVD has come out of these thought sections. The best thing about them is that they even have him drumming in the background under the commentary to keep it interesting. A trick I hope other instructional DVDs pick up.

Extras.

Lots and lots of bonus footage here to keep keep satisfied. Song commentaries, gear tour, and even a blooper reel. Suffice it to say, if I’m happy about the amount of extras you probably will be too.

All in all. This is a must watch and definitely worth a spot in your collection or at least your Netflix queue.

Victor Wooten & Carter Beauford: Making Music

JABB — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:03:48 +0000

This review might be a little nontraditional but you’ll have to forgive me because this DVD is quite nontraditional. It’s one of those most rare of animals, the drum and bass instructional video. Carter Beauford, (drummer for DMB) and Victor Wooten, (bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones), decided to turn the recording session for Victor’s album Yin-Yang into the foundation for an entire drum/bass instructional DVD. This isn’t two separate instructional DVDs that Hudson Music decided to sell as a package. It doesn’t try to teach everything you need to know to play either instrument. Rather, it focuses on the music on the Yin-Yang album and examines the give-and-take between Carter and Victor when they play. This is an instructional that demands you pay attention to what they play and analyze it for yourself.

Content

According to wikipedia, Carter only did session work for Victor on two songs for the entire album. In the video you only really see them working on the track “Zenergy” so you’ll hear that song over and over and over and over. There is a lot of interviews and a few bass and drum duets to space out the studio footage. The idea, it seems, was to demonstrate whatever concept by playing together and then talking about it afterwards. After watching some of them I felt like I saw what they were getting at when they played. Some of the others not so much. One thing I noted is that because Carter Beauford’s style is so unique that it could be difficult taking his ideas and applying them to your playing. Then again if you’re watching this video then you probably already know that. Victor actually proved to be very articulate and the main educator of the video. Listening to what he had to say about music in a more philisophical kind of context along with his thoughts when he’s producing music is good for all musicians.

Presentation

This is one of the lower quality Hudson Music DVD’s but then it is one of their oldest. It’s in Full Screen and some of the back grounds for the interviews are bad. Whatever, I’ve seen many times worse then that in my time reviewing these things. Camera work and pacing are same old Hudson Music quality. The real thing that annoyed me was hearing that “Zenergy” song a million times while watching it Then again that’s probably what it’s like in the studio. You gotta listen to the same thing over and over again so you can figure out what can make the song better. I’ll just say it’s very realistic in that department and will leave it at that.

Carter gets his points across well enough but Wooten is the clinician of the two and better at communicating. I usually found that I liked Victors take on most of the things they discussed together. Between the pair of them, they were able to clearly explain whatever concept they were talking about. Once again they didn’t go into details about stickings or give transcriptions or whatever. Lots of broad concepts to be found here.

In short, presentation wise, this DVD came out as well as it could given the technology available to them at that time.

Extras

The bonus footage is the only real thing worth paying attention to in this DVD… of which there happens to be a ton. It contains highlights from a Victor Wooten bass clinic and a long form interview with Carter Beauford. The Beauford Interview is interesting and has some song groove examples. The Wooten clinic is a great watch for any kind of musician and the information is still relevant today. It’s the same stuff he talks about on his brand new Hudson Music DVD so that’s good. The extra content is just as good as the main feature when you put them together so definitely watch it if you get a chance.

I happen to be a Bassist/Drummer so I thought maybe I’d be the only one who’d really benefit to watching this DVD. Nope. You should definitely rent this at least once.

DVD Review – Matt Sorum: Licks and Tricks from the Rock & Roll Jungle

JABB — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:39:24 +0000

If there’s any drummer who can claim they’ve come from the rock and roll jungle it’s Matt Sorum. With seven years under his belt, he’s the longest sitting Guns N’ Roses drummer ever. Matt Sorum was ejected from the band by Axl Rose after he defended Slash’s decision to leave. So along with Slash and former Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan they formed Velvet Revolver… which is now on hiatus because their lead singer left the band. Lead singer issues aside, Matt Sorum is a road tested rock drummer and well qualified to speak on the topic of rock drumming.

Content

The video starts out with Matt and his prize drum tech Mike Fasano talking about tuning, mic placement, and choosing your snare drum. Now, Matt says that he used at least 25 snare drums on the use your illusions albums (there were two of them incase you didn’t know) so obviously his concept of snare drum choice is very different from our concept of snare drum choice. Mike talks about which kind of drums he would use for what kind of song so there is something to learn here.

The tuning section is fine except they advocate tuning both sides of every drum the same as each-other. The snare drum and bass drum are both unique from toms in that they often have radically different types of heads on each side of the drum. So shooting for equal tension on both heads may not be the best idea. Even on toms sometimes you don’t want the super resonate tone that having the two heads in harmony with each-other brings. They do teach the cross tuning method though, so that’s a plus. They also talk a bit about mic which is great because that’s something that’s usually neglected in drum instructional. The entire section isn’t very long and it’s not really in-depth but I kinda expected that.

After that there’s a lot of FAQ sections and interviews of people he’s played with and eventually a bunch of really really cool rock fills. Yes I am very impressed with the licks section of the video, very cool. Really though, too much of the dvd is performances and interviews with people talking about Matt. Simply put, style came before substance in this DVD. I know Matt wanted to answer his fans questions and make sure the video was fun. It was but wasn’t very educational. The only real exception to that was the fills section which was excellent.

You can’t have a ton of musical perfomances/interviews AND have lots of instructional sections AND keep it 55 minutes long.

Presentation

Other than being in full screen this is a pretty well made video. Matt’s actually a good host and manages to keep the whole thing entertaining as you go through it. He’s very comfortable in-front of a camera and usually has someone to bounce off of so he can keep a nice natural pace and setting.

Extras

Ain’t none.

All and all… It’s not my bag. I wouldn’t have it high on my priorities list because the only really good section was the drum fills section. If your on the fence of wether or not to rent this one then I suggest that you don’t.

DVD Review – Alan Schechner: Coordination & Groove

JABB — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:37:46 +0000

Coordination & Groove is a video that is pretty much honest about its content. It’s a video about coordination and groove, in that order IMO. Alan Schechner (the host) is another one of those working drummers. The kind that we’ll probably end up like if we pursue the working drummer career path. Not famous, but then again… who needs fame if you have a job making music with the instrument of your choice? He’s also a drum instructor and has taught Steve Vai’s drummer Jeremy Colson. He’s also how I would expect a hypothetical Jamie Kennedy/Jerry Seinfeld love child to appear.

Content

His system is extremely similar to Akira Jimbo’s Wasabi method. They both function by taking a simple groove and applying different series of tweaks on the beat. They both start out tweaking the beats maybe once or twice. Depending on the original beat and how creative you’re feeling that day you’ll probably come across some cool beats of your own. Though, if you want your beat to really groove you better not go too crazy because it will quickly turn into a coordination exercise… hence the title of the film. Seriously though most of the examples aren’t readily applicable to most music. In fact, if you are going to play anything that you made using every step in this system; you better give your band a big warning beforehand. I suppose that’s the benefit of the system is you can take it as far as you want; I just think that approaching them with some restraint will produce the most musical result. In-fact most of the best grooves he plays are the ones BEFORE the transformation system.

It’s not all bad though, there are some bright spots in this film. I really enjoyed his solos which I thought were very musical and well thought out. Think Steve Smith but more progressive and less jazzy. He makes great use of a rhythm saw, which is a serrated stick, and a pair of boomwhackers, which is a strange plastic tube that makes a pitched noise that changes depending on what you hit it on. very very melodic and clever stuff

Presentation

It’s fullscreen, it’s grainy, it gets repetitive, and it strikes me as attempt to cram a ton of information in a video that would have benefited from being longer. They did get a few things right too though: In every example they have split screen viewing AND the sheet music clearly printed under! its even in a readable font size! You can print them off the website which is ok… but it would have been awesome if it were on the disk.

Extras

They punted on this one. They took two of the lessons, removed them from of the main film, and label them bonus lessons. I’m not even sure that could honestly be called an extra. Not impressed. Definitely would have loved a gear tour on his kit as it’s quite nice.

All and all I’m kinda torn on this one. This isn’t a MUST SEE! It’s more of a should-rent-it-if-you-wanna. If you’ve seen Wasabi then you know most of what you’re gonna get and you can be the judge if you want more. If you haven’t seen Wasabi then I don’t know what to tell you but I will say you should see one or the other.

DVD Review – Rockabilly Rocking Swing with Slim Jim Phantom

JABB — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:37:46 +0000

Slim Jim Phantom is awesome… more awesomely awesome then you will ever be, and this video proves it! Woe unto you he who knowith not how awesome he is for he is just that awesome. Is what I would proclaim smugly if I weren’t above such things. Which I’m apparently not but seriously that is how smug this video comes across to me. Almost to the point of making the thing too comical to watch. I’m gonna keep this review short because the less I say the less likely I’ll say something I’ll regret.

Content

You’ll never find another drum instructional that isn’t a parody that has this kinda content. This blows Tris Imboden’s video out of the water in terms of being a sub-par instructional video. It is straight up comical. I hope Slim Jim Phantom is just a persona this guy plays when he’s on the stage. Because if he’s this full of himself in real life I’m surprised his ego doesn’t just repel everyone in a fifty foot radius. He talks a little bit of actual rockabilly drumming and the rest is him stroking his ego on camera… I kinda feel dirty watching it. There is literally a large section on how to get a cool image and dance around on stage like he does. He even doesn’t sit down when he plays drums because he likes being up front! Never mind the fact that he can’t operate a hi-hat with his set. There is very little education and a lot of preening and ego stroking. Seriously if we could convert his smugness into energy then we could power a 5 state area.

Presentation

It’s a very old film so the effects aren’t that great but the camera work is ok and, to his credit, he does have the best backdrop on a instructional video I’ve ever seen. Nice lighting… too bad that the host of the video is the most self absorbed man since Narcissus. He even has a section where he tells you how to get hair like his! This crap isn’t normal for an instructional video!

Extras

What you want more of this guy? What’s wrong with you? Fine he has some bonus footage at the end of the video.

There you go. If you wanna laugh at a over inflated egotist then buy this DVD… If you wanna learn something go somewhere else.

DVD Review – Steve Gadd: In Session

JABB — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:29:02 +0000

Steve Gadd: In Session should win some kind of prize for honesty and plainspokenness in the category of drum instructional videos over thirty years in age, because that’s all you get with In Session. Steve Gadd giving session advice from in session interviews and just straight up doing session work. That’s it. That’s not a bad thing, but if you were expecting something that isn’t “Steve Gadd giving session advice from in session interviews and just straight up doing session work” then you’re looking in the wrong place. And yes, I did just quote myself and use italics unnecessarily.

Steve (a.k.a. everyones hero) Gadd is a session drummer so well respected, that the world found it necessary to record him playing in a session environment for the sake of all drummers who wish to garner a speck of insight into his musical mastery in his natural habitat, the studio. Steve Gadd is the guy that defines studio musicians so naturally any session drummer with any sense would want to observe how the best in the business does his thing in the studio, just like how any metal drummer would want to learn his double bass skills from the guy with the best double bass chops.

So is rewindable footage of Steve Gadd doing session work with a few interview clips interspersed worth your money? Maybe, maybe not. Is it worth your time? Yes it is.

Content

I wasn’t kidding when I said “Steve Gadd giving session advice from in session interviews and just straight up doing session work” that’s really all you get. There isn’t in-depth analysis of the song he just played; he won’t show you how to play whatever song he ever played on; he won’t show you how to do a really cool stick trick and he for darn sure won’t be doing any gear talk. You’ve got to have a coach mentality when viewing this video to really get anything out of it. Little is explained verbally so you need to have keen powers of observation to really take away knowledge that can be redly applied in a musical context. If you’re good at that sort of thing then you’ll get a lot out of this movie. If you arn’t then it will make for a nice watch on a lazy sunday evening. As far as entertainment value I don’t think this is worth buying. Renting yes, buying no. If you can do the observational learning thing then this is most definitely worth a look, maybe even a buy. There are two PDF’s you can download of some funk beats and a transcript of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. They seem to be totally devoid of any relationship to what was played in the main feature.

Presentation

This is what I’d call a vintage video. Grainy texture, full screen, clothes, hair, everything about this video screams late 70s early 80s. The camerawork is very good for it’s time period, it’s steps above all the hot licks’ productions of that era which makes it much easier to watch than most of the older instructional videos. Given the age and performance of its contemporaries this isn’t a half bad little video. The menu system is easy to operate which is often not true in videos that were re-released on DVD from VHS Not bad at all for a video of its age.

Extras

There aren’t very many… just some bonus footage, some old urls, and a built in advertisement for a bunch of other really really old Steve Gadd videos.

So there you go. It’s a classic that’s worth viewing once for everyone. You’ll have to figure out on your own if you want to buy it or otherwise obtain it for the long term.

DVD Review – Randy Van Patten: Extreme Drum Set Techniques

JABB — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:50:54 +0000

I’m gonna be totally honest and say I had never heard of Randy Van Patten before I rented this DVD and I have a feeling you might not know who he is either. He’s a working drummer with a lots of years under his belt and has drummed for lots of people in his time. In other words he’s the kind of drummer we aspire to be like but didn’t realize it when we started. When people say they want to be a studio or a session drummer they often have guys like Steve Gadd in mind, but not everyone can achieve Steve’s level of standing in the music industry. Most studio and session drummers are more like Randy. One of many working drummers who’ve landed some big gigs but never achieved the notoriety of the drum gods. Not glamorous but if they went missing it would put the music industry into cardiac arrest. You can get the specifics on everything Randy at www.vanzdrumming.com.

Side-note before we get started. vanzdrumming.com isn’t affiliated with Vans skateboard shoe company. I thought they might have been sponsoring him because I saw VZD and vanzdrumming all over his DVD and skateboarding shoes do make great drumming shoes. I figured maybe Vans was expanding their consumer base… nope. Vanzdrumming is just the name of his website. On to the Review!

Content

Techniques is a bit of dangerous word to use in the drum instructional world because usually when you hear the word technique in a drumming context you think of the physical motions and bodily mechanics used by the drummer to play their instrument. In this case, like so many others, there is very very little actual physical technique taught in this video. There is a small section on hand technique, just enough so that you won’t hurt yourself. If you own or have seen Secret Weapons then you can just skip this section all together. The rest of the video is mostly different licks and patterns to use on the drum-set. I kinda like to think of it as a guide to crazy stuff you can do to get attention at a Guitar Center. So yes there is gold to be mined here, just use it to create something tasteful not gaudy.

Presentation

For a Non-Hudson music DVD this is actually very good, the camera work is on par and Randy is a pretty good host. He does tend to get carried away with his examples though. One of the brilliant things I must say is that this DVD can be downloaded or you can purchase the DVD. Big points for outside the box thinking there. I couldn’t figure out where that would fall in the scheme of things but i felt it needed to be included for good measure so I put it here. The download can be found here. The cool thing is if you don’t want the whole thing you can just download the chunks you want… pretty sweet.

Extras

There ain’t any! Well not on the DVD anyway and because the DVD is what I reviewed I can’t tell you what the download extras are. You’ll just have to find that out for yourself.

So there you go. A lick oriented DVD for drummers. A straight ahead review for a straight ahead DVD.

Chris Adler and Jason Bittner: Live at Modern Drummer Festival 2005

JABB — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:30:53 +0000

It has been a while but I’m back from my vacation and I’m brining the reviews son! If you own the DVD set for the 2005 Modern Drummer Festival then don’t bother with this one because you already own it. This DVD is merely the two clinics that these two drummers gave during the modern drummer festival so it’s kind of like a HMMS (Hudson Music Master Series) double feature. There’s not much else to say about it beyond that so let’s just get into it.

Content

Even though the description on my Netflix sleeve says that this runs 2 hours and 35 minuets long it still feels really short. The Adler clinic comes first but it’s not so much a clinic as a get to know Chris Adler session with some live performances. Chris says at the beginning that he’s not going to do a 30 minute solo or show you the hardest parts of the hardest songs so it’s not a shock when he doesn’t. For a guy who had never done a clinic before and was worried about being alone on stage, he handles himself very nicely. He performs three Lamb of God songs, talks about himself and his drumming journey and gives a small preview of what would later become Machinations of Dementia (Adler would later have to bow out due to touring conflicts and the band would their name to Blotted Science.) Chris seems like a good guy but there isn’t too much to learn in his clinic besides getting to know the man himself. He actually does more teaching in his backstage interview in the special features section then he does in the main feature. After all the demonstrations he answers a few questions and then he skeedadles the heck out of there.

Jason Bittner comes afterwards and he’s more of what you’d probably expect a MD Festival to be like. Before he ever speaks a word to the audience he plays two Shadows Fall songs and then goes straight into a long drum-solo. About 20 some minutes into the clinic he first says hi, thanks his sponsors and then gives his Double Bass Crash Course™. He answers some questions and then plays two more songs and gets gone. Bittner’s clinic is definitely more instructional then Adler’s clinic but he comes off very rushed and a bit irritated. He talks about how he doesn’t want to rush his clinic but the time constraints force him to do so. Either way it’s pretty much exactly what I expected out of a metal oriented MD clinic.

Presentation

As always with Hudson Music the Camera work is just phenomenal. The two hosts Chris and Jason are chill and rushed (respectively.) I think both were decent hosts given the circumstances though Jason was clearly a tad agitated.

Extras

There is lots of extra footage including interviews with both artists, an on the road segment with Chris Adler and two more instructional clips featuring a less rushed Jason Bittner. That’s pretty much it though, the rest is a bunch of other random crap that hardly qualifies as extras in my opinion.

All in all I think that this is a renter not a buyer. Even if you are a fan of these two drummers I just don’t think it’s worth it. I would much rather buy the entire MD 2005 collection then just get this little excerpt.

So until next time this is JABB telling you to keep your powder dry and save those felts.

DVD Review – Arrival: Behind the Glass

JABB — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:45:20 +0000

Russ Miller, studio drummer, inventor of drumming gadgets, and former drummer-talk interviewee has entered the world of instructional DVDs with his offering Arrival: Behind the Glass. Arrival is the name of the album that he recently released and Arrival: Behind the Glass is a tour of what it was like recording with tons and tons of famous and well respected drummers. Oh, right. I didn’t mention the all star cast, did I? This is definitely an album for drummers incase you hadn’t guessed. Every other track on the album is a rhythmic conversation (a.k.a drum duet) with some incredible drummer. Among those included in the project were: Steve Smith, Jeff Hamilton, Zoro, Akira Jimbo, and Johnny Rabb.

From what I gather the idea was to use the album as a basis for a general instructional DVD, not unlike Voices In My Head. In addition to using the album tracks as a spring board for lessons, Russ also called on listeners of his album to send him questions about the album and what he played on what track. Almost all of the people who wrote in were asking about licks he did and how to perform them so you do get a good deal of cool licks broken down for you in this DVD so never fear about that. Also with the DVD you get two audio disks containing the album Arrival and you also get a play along version of the whole album so you can jam to the tunes.

Content

I had really really high hopes for this DVD, and unfortunately it didn’t deliver on my expectations. The concepts and techniques section of the video is the meat of the video where he goes over the concepts and techniques he uses as a studio drummer and on this record in particular. Lots of the stuff Russ covered was very good, not that it hadn’t been covered in other but it was a good offering to the drumming public. The problem is that the thing was simply too short and too guided by the questions from fans. Most of the questions from the fans were about licks which was fine but it got to the point where I felt it took up too much time from the video. I get the fact that the point was to answer questions from the fans the sections where Russ was just straight up teaching were much better. Which is why I think this video was too short. After playing with all these great artists there is no way Russ didn’t glean more information that he could have shared with us if he would have either cut the questions or lengthen the video. I will say they did a great job with the PDFs though, Props for that.

Presentation

Produced by Hudson Limited this video isn’t as well put together as some of the regular Hudson Music videos, but that is to be expected. For those of you who don’t know Hudson Limited is the independent branch of Hudson Music meaning it’s a more in the hands of the artist and whatever team of film makers he can put together for the project. This can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your point of view and the given situation. In this particular case it didn’t work out as good as I would have hoped. The menu system can be a pain to navigate because the indicator that they chose to show you what you are about to select is to turn the wording dark purple, when the words are already dark blue. This can make it almost impossible to accurately navigate the menu because you’ll keep wondering what in the heck you are about to select. It’s definitely not as polished and clean as some of the other Hudson stuff. In fact at some points it looks like they were using a really high end web cam to film. For an amateur video this would have been exceptional but for something coming with the Hudson name on it, it’s a bit shoddy looking. If the content were exceptional then this would be a minor nit pick but because the content isn’t winning me over either it irks me just that much more.

Extras

The DVD comes with an album and a play along version of the same album, A good look at the making of the album and video, a photo gallery (boo) and a clip of Richie Gahate Garcia playing for the recording of the album. For a Hudson Limited DVD this is actually above average. The stuff from the limited section of Hudson is usually thin on the extras.

All in all I feel like I paid a little too much for this DVD. I was disappointed especially because I really expected something awesome out of Russ. If Russ ever gives it another shot I’ll be more then happy to see what he comes up with but for me this one just doesn’t cut it.

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