stratdancer wrote:

Someone questioned Ted's surf drumming? No offence but that is blasphemy! It's like saying dick Dale's tone and trem picking is annoying.

To be honest I do find Dick Dale annoying. And I am not that much into Link Wray either.

Ted doesn’t need anyone to defend his drumming. The quality of his recorded work and live performances speak volumes, as well as the positive contributions he regularly makes to SG101. But I take offense to another supposed “musician” using such strong negative language to describe someone else’s playing. To use your own phrase “totally not cool”.

Blatant disrespect to a fellow-drummer aside, it’s ludicrous to lambast someone’s style as “the worst" for the surf genre and then proclaim that a junglebeat is appropriate for two songs that are so diametrically opposed from a rhythmic standpoint, that it boggles the mind. I’m all about innovation though, so please feel free to post links to your hi-hat-free-tambourine-centric approach to surf music.

Ted has the ears to know what a song calls for and the chops to deliver the goods. I have been drumming for a very long time and still struggle to match the speed and depth of the grooves he makes look effortless. To claim that “he plays fills whenever possible” only demonstrates that you either have no idea what a fill is, or you’re simply not listening very closely to your “favorite surf band”.

-murph

http://www.reverbnation.com/elmiragesurf
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"I knew I was in trouble when the Coco-Loco tasted like water!" -- morphball

I was striving to be the worst. Clearly my job is not done

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Ted rules. That is all.

Skins for The Delstroyers

So I was overseas when LongboardChery first posted, and of course,Chery, you are welcome to your subjective thoughts.
To everyone else who commented, thank you for your kind words! Wow, I'm overwhelmed.
But in the interest of keeping this thread alive and constructive, I also want to thank LongboardChery. Your post actually made me stop and think back on the almost quarter century that I have been drumming with Satan's Pilgrims. I think there is some validity to your criticism, especially in the early days. Even Phil Dirt agrees with you, he never liked my drumming, and often called me out.
Back in the early 90s, when we started out playing live, usually unmic'd, trying to be heard over 4 cranked Showman cabinets wasn't easy. When we went in to record the first three albums,(they were mostly done in the same hurried sessions in the span of a year) I was still playing with nylon tip heavier sticks that I found helped me be heard over the other Pilgrims.
As the years progressed and I had more and more recording experience under my belt, ranging from basement recordings live to tape to full on studios, I became more comfortable and tried to work on my drum sound while I became a more experienced drummer. Starting with Creature Feature and forward from there, I switched to all wood sticks and hopefully became a little more musical in my attempts. Going back and listening, I actually found a pretty wide range of snare sounds.
Are there certain examples you can give for your criticism, or is it on every song?
As far as playing like Bonzo, I have never really been that big of a fan or felt like he was a big influence on me. I feel like I have a pretty light kick foot and don't really play heavy...The only song I can think of that might apply is Haunted House of Rock(?) which the rest of the band wanted me to play the way I played it.
I have always liked an open snare with some ring to it, with some rim shots, but I feel like that is pretty old school surfy. The only times I have deadened or muffled the snare has been on some of our "soul" surf songs like Soul Pilgrim or Ragtop, where I would put my wallet on the snare like Al Jackson did at Stax studios in the 60s.
Anyway, if you want to talk about it more, give me some examples and I can let you know what was going on, in case you or others want to avoid doing the same thing? I'm up for it, but after almost 25 years, I can't really go back and change it. I'm glad we are your favorite band though!

Ted

http://www.satanspilgrims.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Satans-Pilgrims/8210228553
https://satanspilgrims.bandcamp.com/
http://www.surfyindustries.com

Last edited: Jun 21, 2016 19:52:23

Hello from Finland! Interesting thread here! I've been a drummer from the early eighties and been playing mostly roots-type of music. In my opinion it is important to discover Ur own unique style of playing. It is not easy I admit, but listening to different styles of music and drummers gets it going. And when recording albums it is important that the drums sound natural in the mix and that they are not too compressed or overproduced. I have used different drumkits in everyone of our recording and I can still hear the differences between those kits...and it makes me glad. We use several guitars too when recording and so we can mix and blend the sounds alltogether. In generally I like surfdrummers a lot and I havent heard of bad players at all. Everyone of them fills their spot wonderfully. I cannot name my drummer-hero since I like them all!

Twang & Bop til You Drop!

Wait, WTF? Ted is one of the best surf drummers, period! He is truly a gentleman and scholar and his polite response to a highly unwarranted claim that he's this worst drummer proves it.

Ted is solid a rock, tasty, groovy and always in the pocket. He doesn't overplay either like the critic claims. His drum sound is consistently killer too.

Sharing an opinion is everyone's right but calling someone the worst is not constructive and totally uncool. Especially since it's not a fair assessment in any way shape or form.

This critic named LongboardChery also claims to find Dick Dale annoying and is not into Link Wray either. AND she's only posted a total of 9 times altogether! Does she walk into a bar and tell everyone they suck there too. She also claims to be a drummer and is trying to start a surf band! Damn, quite a way to come out and make friends! Total BS

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Hello everyone! It's been a good long while since I've posted on this forum...and honestly I don't recall if I posted in this thread or not..but it's good to retread old ground a bit.

Dusty Watson is probably my favorite surf drummer, mostly because he seems to come from a straight up rock and roll background, just in his sometimes rather technical approach to fills and tendency to play straight beats (think Jon & The Nightriders' "Moving Target" for example), along with the "usual" surf stuff. I've been heavily influenced by him, especially as a guy who made the jump from pretty much death metal drumming into joining a Surf Rock band. I had the chops to play Surf, but I definitely was not a "typical" surf drummer. First time I started hearing Jon & The Nightriders, Satan's Pilgrims, Daikaiju, etc, and especially seeing Dusty Watson play thanks to YouTube vids...It really helped forge where my 'voice' was on the drums, especially playing Surf music. I don't claim to be in the same caliber as any of the greats, or even other members here, but I definitely appreciate what they do and how they've influenced me!

I am lucky in the sense that my band (Bottle Caps for Dollars, you can find us on Facebook) allows some of my metal influence to come through, and it kind of helped us forge our own sound. I have also been playing with a very traditional band called The SpeNerds on occasion, which has been great for helping me play a little more low key and lighter.

I love surf drumming. Even if the beats are kind of the same a lot of times, everybody has their own stamp on how to play it. If you take two drummers of this genre and have them both play, say, "Walk Don't Run", each drummer's individual style will shine through. Surf music really can cover a lot of ground compared to other styles of music. You can play balls out, you can play jazz light, you can play somewhere in between, and sometimes in the same song, much less a full set!!

Just for a little background, I started some 25yrs ago in band class in elementary school. Did it all the way through high school. Played a LOT of snare. In fact, if it wasn't for my school experience (we unfortunately did not have a marching band), I wouldn't have had the work to be able to really lay into some very fast single stroke rolls, which helps when I play some of these old Dick Dale tunes! Lol. I love the music, I love the vibe that it gives off, and without a crap-ton of distortion or ridiculous effects, outside of some fuzz and reverb.

Getting back to (I think) the original post, the classic surf beat is so instantly recognizable, you can't help but be drawn to it. What's great about it too is the fact you can play 4 on the floor with the kick, you can play some 8th notes on the floor tom, you can change the accents up, make it sound more technical than it is, it's all fantastic. And when it's done right, you really KNOW it's right!

Anyway, this was WAAYYYY too long winded of a post, and I apologize. I had to geek out a bit.

Gear:Kit:Pearl Reference series in Emerald Fade,Pearl rack,Pearl Demon Drive pedals,Tama Iron Cobra hi-hat stand, Sabian & UFiP cymbals.

Last edited: Jul 13, 2016 19:38:32

spskins wrote:

So I was overseas when LongboardChery first posted, and of course,Chery, you are welcome to your subjective thoughts.
To everyone else who commented, thank you for your kind words! Wow, I'm overwhelmed.
But in the interest of keeping this thread alive and constructive, I also want to thank LongboardChery. Your post actually made me stop and think back on the almost quarter century that I have been drumming with Satan's Pilgrims. I think there is some validity to your criticism, especially in the early days. Even Phil Dirt agrees with you, he never liked my drumming, and often called me out.
Back in the early 90s, when we started out playing live, usually unmic'd, trying to be heard over 4 cranked Showman cabinets wasn't easy. When we went in to record the first three albums,(they were mostly done in the same hurried sessions in the span of a year) I was still playing with nylon tip heavier sticks that I found helped me be heard over the other Pilgrims.
As the years progressed and I had more and more recording experience under my belt, ranging from basement recordings live to tape to full on studios, I became more comfortable and tried to work on my drum sound while I became a more experienced drummer. Starting with Creature Feature and forward from there, I switched to all wood sticks and hopefully became a little more musical in my attempts. Going back and listening, I actually found a pretty wide range of snare sounds.
Are there certain examples you can give for your criticism, or is it on every song?
As far as playing like Bonzo, I have never really been that big of a fan or felt like he was a big influence on me. I feel like I have a pretty light kick foot and don't really play heavy...The only song I can think of that might apply is Haunted House of Rock(?) which the rest of the band wanted me to play the way I played it.
I have always liked an open snare with some ring to it, with some rim shots, but I feel like that is pretty old school surfy. The only times I have deadened or muffled the snare has been on some of our "soul" surf songs like Soul Pilgrim or Ragtop, where I would put my wallet on the snare like Al Jackson did at Stax studios in the 60s.
Anyway, if you want to talk about it more, give me some examples and I can let you know what was going on, in case you or others want to avoid doing the same thing? I'm up for it, but after almost 25 years, I can't really go back and change it. I'm glad we are your favorite band though!

Ted

Holy crap...didn't realize the man behind the drums for Satan's Pilgrims was here! I know, old thread, Surf Rock forum..I should not at all be surprised....and why would anybody call out your drumming in a negative light?? Always sounded great to me!

Gear:Kit:Pearl Reference series in Emerald Fade,Pearl rack,Pearl Demon Drive pedals,Tama Iron Cobra hi-hat stand, Sabian & UFiP cymbals.

On the subject of Ted's drumming and LongboardChery's criticism, I think there's a useful point to be made.

One cool thing about the proliferance of surf bands recording back in the day is that it yielded many versions of the same songs. I have always enjoyed this variety and found that there's usually one particular version that speaks to me more than the others.

I've thought about this a lot and I think the element that's most influential on the sound and feel of a surf song is in fact the drums. Subtle differences can have profound effects.

One thing about Ted is that he plays hard and fast. It's interesting to hear his take on it--competing with four showmen on their four Showmen and all--and, as a non-drummer, to consider his hints at what I am sure is a wide world of issues a drummer must deal with.

It could be that LongboardChery simply prefers a different kind of feel to surf music. Sometimes the drums can be fairly sparse and light, highlighting the "wavedancing" feel of the music with accents and lots of syncopation. Using "Burnin' Rubber" as an example, we can see that the Surfaris went this route while the Pilgrims did a much harder driving version. Way different! I love 'em both. Pardon the smoke here:

Last edited: Dec 08, 2016 23:25:08