Books & DVDs

The times they definitely are a changin’. With the evolution of the music business into a completely new animal, the old methods of keeping a band going through outside management, promotions and recording is being replaced by a totally DIY approach. This can be a good thing all round, as band members can truly be in control of their destinies rather than pawns in the hands of unscrupulous managers, agents and record companies. All very fine, but how do you go about it? Indie Rock 101 gives you the gen for forming a band, writing and rehearsing material, recording and mastering your songs, promoting the band, developing a fan base, gigging and even making a video.

The first section of the book deals with running your band, and is full of excellent suggestions for recruitment, auditioning, practising with and even firing band members. It also includes basic advice on principles of songwriting, wisely keeping to the generalities, as there are much better dedicated titles on this subject already out in the market place. The following section deals with recording and comprises the meat of the book, covering pre-production, equipment, the recording process itself, and mixing. There’s a good amount of timely advice on not succumbing too much to gear lust and showing you how you can get the most mileage out of your recording budget, with screenshots of programs and plug-ins to give you an idea of what things should look like. One of the useful sections is on mastering and what it entails, and why you might consider a professional mastering house to add the ‘fairy dust’ to your masters.

The final part of the book deals with promoting the band: DIY graphics for the CD cover, press kits, sharing and selling your music online, playing gigs, networking, how to behave professionally on gigs, making a video, and how to keep going over the years without burning out or getting cynical. Once again there’s a lot of excellent and timely advice that you might take years to amass if you had to find it out for yourself.

So overall this is a good book with useful (some might say essential) information on running a band and keeping going, but it falls between two stools — the basic premise, and the specifics of recording techniques, which are already covered in far greater detail by other authors and titles. This dichotomy is compounded by the addition at the end of the first two chapters of other Focal Press titles on recording: Home Studio Setup by Ben Harris, and Secrets Of Recording by Lorne Bregitzer. Why this was done seems rather pointless, because the reader will either get annoyed at the inclusion of only chapters of each title being included, be annoyed that they were included in the first place, or be annoyed that they didn’t purchase those titles instead of this one. Either way, this ‘try before you buy’ approach seems a bit heavy handed and not well handled.

For guitar students, learning to play jazz lines over chord changes can be a real challenge. Getting the idiomatic lines fully internalised is a world away from some people’s approach of playing modes and altered scales. In other words, there’s a whole difference between flowing, spontaneous improvisation and ‘jazz by numbers’.

So who did the greats like Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Grant Green turn to for inspiration? Basically, they listened to sax players. The range of the guitar and sax are close, and we can always learn from the greats by listening to and analysing what they did and what makes solo lines flow with lucidity and ease. At that moment, a student guitarist will make an interesting discovery: horn-style lines don’t sit easily under the hands on the fretboard. In addition, although you may know your scales and chords, developing your soloing abilities to the next level needs more information.

Enter Jazz Guitar Etudes by Greg Fishman, a collection of 12 pieces written by the author (who is himself a sax and flute player) to help you along the way. All the etudes are written in the bebop style and based on jazz standards to get you used to the idiom, and each one has three CD tracks to go with it: each etude is played once through firstly on guitar, then sax, and then just with the rhythm section alone for the full length of the piece for practice purposes. Guitarist Mike Allemana, who plays on the CD, provides an in-depth analysis of the style, articulation, ornaments, voice leading, references, enclosures and sequences to help you with understanding the etudes and how to study and practice them. As well as the notation, tab is included as a guide, with essential advice on experimenting with fingerings in order to see the subtle changes in nuance and phrasing in finding your own route through the etudes, as well as trying the tunes out in every key.

George Case’s unauthorised biography of the ever-reclusive Jimmy Page first appeared in 2007, offering a welcome respite from the sex, drugs and rock & roll excesses of other Led Zep chronicles by more opportunistic authors and their word processors. Worthy but slightly flawed in places, the 2009 edition brings the story up to date and includes details of the Zeppelin reunion gig at the O2 centre, and the rather embarrassing ‘mime along’ at the end of the Beijing Olympics. Reading the new edition, I’m struck by the amount of detail here, with faithful (as far as possible, given the reclusive nature of Mr Page) coverage of the full story, with all the highs and lows of a life lived on the very edge of rock excess and all that that entails. At times it can make for sobering reading, and perhaps should be required reading for any musos with delusions of rock deification as to what can happen when common sense deserts you. Perhaps (and thankfully?) those days have gone, never to return.

Despite all this, we have the music and the legendary performances, carefully documented and commented on that truly reveal the measure of the man in all his facets. There’s a careful analysis of his fascination with the life and work of magician Aleister Crowley, and also a particularly perceptive analysis of his influence on other hard rock guitarists. This one section alone is worth the price of the book, offering insight and context to Jimmy Page’s work and contrasting his approach, style and musical heritage with the work of many others.

As before, the author has gone to a great deal of effort in research for this book, correcting dates and making educated guesses where two reported facts contradict each other, and as the author is a guitarist, you’ll find an excellently presented musical analysis on JP’s guitar parts for some of the most famous songs.

Even though this is a revised edition, the same errors that I criticised on the original edition still apply: Freddie Mercury’s passing is still claimed as 1993 (it was ’91); other musicians’ names are miss-spelt; the story of XYZ (the ill fated attempt to get Plant and Page — and reputedly John Paul Jones in a keyboard role — together with Yes members Chris Squire and Alan White) is dismissed in a sentence and awaits the full story; Phil Collins’ unhappy performance with Zep at Live Aid has been covered in much greater detail elsewhere; and really should have been expanded on from the paragraph that is included here; and the author has still omitted the fascinating story that Jimmy Page has written a guitar concerto, but said that he “hadn’t the bottle to perform it”, according to sources in Yes.

So overall, this is probably the best of a bunch of titles on the life and work of Jimmy Page (and, by inference, Led Zeppelin). In many ways it’s excellent, well researched and non judgmental in the story telling. Even so, it still bears the annoying errors that really should have been corrected, and the fascinating stories that could have been explored and expanded upon still remain undiscovered territory. A very good book in many ways, but still rather flawed.

It’s sobering to think that the Modern Drummer Festival is now well into its second decade, and easily the top event around the world, often imitated but never surpassed. This two-DVD, four-hour-plus retrospective set is thus timely and appropriate as it shows how the world of drumming has developed and blossomed out of all recognition from the earliest days of the festival. Here we have a representative selection of the best performances and workshops from 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2006, with some footage available for the first time on DVD. Looking at the list of players, you can see many who have gone on to produce their own Hudson titles and become drumming legends in their own right: Jojo Mayer (featured in two different years and displaying his colossal technique as well as his techno ‘street beats’), Drumbassadors, Antonio Sanchez, and the master of metal, Jason Bittner, all show how their MDF appearances were innovative and influential. In addition there are the established legends: Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernandez (the master of Latin beats), Ian Paice, Stuart Copeland, Dave Weckl, Jack de Johnette and more, although the bouquets obviously go to the master of them all, Steve Smith, with his 2000 masterclass on snare sounds and the 2006 jazz set finishing off the DVD with a roaring version of ‘Night In Tunisia’.

MDF is nothing if not catholic in musical tastes, and you won’t be disappointed here, as there’s plenty on offer. There’s lots of fusion, as you might expect: Will Kennedy’s performance with Yellowjackets is a gem, Rod Morgenstein and Jordan Rudess provide a superb prog workout, while metal styles are taken care of by John Tempesta, Charlie Benante, Dave Lombardo and Chris Adler, who all have a different take on the style and execution. Jeff Hamilton shows some exemplary jazz brush styles with his trio, while in total contrast Mike Portnoy gleefully leads fellow members of Dream Theater through a DT medley with the world’s largest drum kit — two of them! You have to see it to believe it: more really is more.

As with musical idioms, so with techniques: you’ll see plenty of demonstrations of grips, patterns and approaches both new and old, but look out here for the more unusual stuff. To say that Hip Pickles are different would be an understatement: their highly choreographed ensemble routine is infectious and unique, while Billy Ward demonstrates hand (rather than stick) technique on a kit, Glen Velez shows how the bodhran can produce far more in the way of sounds than you might expect, Keith Carlock’s unusual stick bounce technique will provide food for thought, and Airto shows percussion approaches as only he can.

There’s far more here to explore, but essentially there’s something for everyone to watch, listen to, absorb and be entertained by. It’s a tribute to the world’s greatest drumming festival and the musos who provide the myriad styles that make up today’s drumming world. There’ve never been so many terrific players offering so much guidance in so many different musical idioms. Fantastic stuff.

Books & DVDs

Essential Reading/Viewing