Hi.

Do you want to hear a bada** bongo solo from a guy who is all about the fem-fan action (see below)??

No.

You don’t.

No one does.

Which brings me to the point of this post. An issue so controversial and thought-provoking that you almost want to finish this sentence, but have probably decided to hit the back button on your mouse to go browse pictures of lolcats or google search “epic fail”. But that’s neither here nor there. If you HAVE made it this far, here’s the bottom line, from a guy who pretends to be someone who resembles something like a drummer: Drum solos suck.

Almost all of them.

That’s not to say it doesn’t take a tremendous amount of talent, skill and practice, it’s just that they are loud, long, harmful to the rhythm of the song and, above all, spectacularly boring. Lets take, for example, Neil Peart’s “Yyz” solo from one of Rush’s live performances. The guy is amazing, tearing around the drum kit like you read about, and the only thing I can think about is: Maybe there’s enough time to hit the head real quick… The only parts that are remotely enjoyable are the sections where an actual beat appears to sneak out of the 16th note triplet tom fills, and then *poof* it disappears beneath a two-semester snare roll. It takes unbelievable ability, but does it add to the musical experience?

As another option, I think providing a solid, unique beat, with appropriate fills and variation provides a much richer musical experience, and puts the drums in a position to act as the backbone and pulse of the band. An example of this would be Danny Carey, or “Jesus Christ” as he is known around my apartment. The drummer from Tool composes incredible beats based on rock, jazz and even tabla, provides perfectly phrased fills at appropriate times, and does not indulge in wanky drum solos.

Danny Carey would pwn your face. And probably your family’s faces. And your dog. 

To that effect, no musician in Tool ever really does a solo, live or on record. Does this detract from their music. I think I would personally offer a resounding “F_ _ _ no!”, as I think Tool is easily the greatest modern rock band in existence. I might be biased though… Fan or no, it would be difficult to argue that their composition and dynamics are wounded in any way by the absence of a drum (or any other) solo.

So I guess my real point is that liking how Danny Carey drums won’t affect your desire to see more lolcat pictures.

Tags: carey, danny, drum, solo, Tool

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 10:19 pm and is filed under music, ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.