Finding time to blog

One of the things keeping me out of EVE - my best creation to date :)

Hello! Yes I'm alive. I've just been so busy with all sorts of stuff and projects that I barely have time left to update my blog anymore, and when I do have time I just chill out and become a massive couch potato. Needless to say lots of things have happened since the last post so it'd be hard to tell everything in detail; hell sometimes I have trouble remembering what day we are! Let's do a paragraph-by-paragraph recap and let's see where it goes.

EVE Online

Though I am still in the same corp, there has been a change of alliance after some nifty drama. Thankfully our old alliance mates now make for some juicy targets. The downside of the alliance switch is that we have gone through a lot of moves in a very short time and with a few people (myself included) becoming very busy activity has dwindled. Hopefully the coming holidays and the new expansion will set this to rights and we shall gleefully blow shit up soon. The times where I do get to log on are usually fun though, and this corp is the best corp I've been a member of in my soon-to-be 6 year career. I don't see myself moving out of this corp unless we keep moving every other week, but we have been promised that our current HQ should remain the same for a bit as we are pretty close to a lot of fun places. I haven't experienced the new expansion a lot; the new SOE ships are still pretty exhorbitantly priced and my interceptors are out in Null-sec. I did get to fly a Wolf to a system next door this morning and I could see the warp speed difference. I like a lot!

TrackMania

Speaking of speed, I've been falling deeper and deeper into this community of high-speed eSports, not only as a driver but lately as a map maker, which is a total first for me. I'm aiming to build competition-style Tech tracks but I still have a lot to learn before I reach the level of the tracks seen in TmT, ESL and ESWC competitions. As a driver it's the style of map I prefer to drive; I don't find any fun in the super-fast Full Speed tracks where a very subtle slow-down in a particular part of a track can mean that some jumps or sections are impossible to pass. I've been idling in the Twitch channel of one Acer|Frostbeule, one of the best players in the game and I must admit, these are very laid-back guys. On a side note, the current and newly-crowned World Champion is a Quebecer; Dignitas|Carl Jr, je te salue!

Drums/Drumline

I thought I'd be taking a break after the CFL season, but the drumline has my soul apparently! No seriously, when word came out that the Rockline would be participating in another fundraiser Metal Show of Pure Awesome after skipping this year's edition, I couldn't pass it up. So in mid-January we'll be starting the long process of rehearsing the 6 tunes from the 2012 show and learning 5 more. I should still be on the bass line but there's a chance I may move to the snare line if the line is not populated enough. Unlike this summer where there's wasn't a lot of time for actual teaching, this time there will be so come mid-October 2014 when the show arrives I would be more than capable of playing even the trickiest parts.

In another musical subject I am also starting a band with some old friends. I haven't played in a band setting in way too long and I just can't wait to see my drum kit set up again. But there will be an adaption period even here; to get our music machine going we chose a bunch of covers to practice and two of them require double bass drums, or at the very least a double bass pedal. So I went out and bought one! Coming from the John Bonham School of  Single Pedal Speed Freaks, I will have to relearn and start playing the bass drum as i would with my hands, doing rudiments and stuff. Things will get interesting!

Now, does anyone wonder why I sleep so well and why it takes me 4 coffees to wake up? :)

Fly busy... it's less boring that way!

o7 

My paintjob of choice for my Trackmania car

My next tool of the drumming trade :)

Friday's Extra Video - Super Debile Ecoeurant Malade Mental Epoustouflant Yeah! Edition

A year's work condensed in 1h 19m. For the kids. Enjoy the fuck out of it :)

o7

"Arabesque", by Wishmaster's Alexis Serré and The Rockline

Yeah. We rock. >:)

A Night To Remember!

Wishmaster, The Rockline and the Diplomates horn line

After seven months of regular practice, and pretty hardcore at that in the last month, The Wishmaster OES 2012 event may now be a thing of the past, but the memories from this most awesome day will remain forever. Even though we had to work hard the entire day from 8AM up until show time, it was great to do so in the comfort given to rock stars. And as we had planned, the effect of having the marriage of Drum Corps and Metal was absolutely devastating. From the opening punches of Scaretale to the gigantic finale of Ghost Love Score, everything was dead-on with the precision of an atom clock. And the power... ZOMG the power! Having my already ridiculously powerful bass drum miked and hearing it assaulting the venue's walls was a truly awesome feeling. I would definitely do this again! It put a serious time constraint on my schedule but with results like this I'd be stupid not to do it again.

And hey, I can say I've realized one of my dreams: I am now part of a top-flight drumline that played the equivalent of FOUR Drum Corps shows in one evening. And wait till you see the drum feature! I'm waiting for a good video of it to come out, and I'm sure it will, to post it here. The house had already been brought down by the two opening bands, Opened Fist (tribute to System Of A Down) and Alcoholica (tribute to Metallica) so what we did was blow the remains of the house clear across Ste-Catherine street :))

And now I can go back to a somewhat regular schedule. The Rockline will be taking a well-deserved break and we'll see where it goes after. I've heard that we may skip 2013 for the big event because Wishmaster is also going on hiatus after a 25+ show summer tour, guitarist Tony Batal becoming a dad to a little girl, and drummer Alexis Serré's girlfriend expecting a baby soon™. But I'm keeping my eyes and ears open. In any case if there's a gig for the Rockline (without necessarily 45 minutes of drumline parts to learn), director & instructor Jacques Charbonneau has my number and he knows he can count on me on the bass line.

In the word that has become the Rockline slogan, it was totally SDEMMEY !!!

o7

I'm on bass #4 this time, stretching my neck to see the drum major!

The crowd, with EVE MTL pilots Ilinane and Cartboard Box up front and center :)

Meet La Drumline Rockline! Yours truly is on the far left.

Edit for Facebook users: Here's links to all of Quebec Metal's photos...

The lighter: Opened Fist

The dynamite: Alcoholica

The explosion: Wishmaster


Edit #2: Concert review !!!

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - French Boy Edition

As busy as fuck as I am less than 48 hours from the event that's taken over my entire life, I just had to post this Friday's video. I guess some French kid decided he had enough of the "white flag" thing. He picked up a guitar, and now he's on a mission to utterly destroy your brains!

For those interested, on Monday when I log back in EVE it will be as an active player. I hear can-flipping is interesting these days... >:)

If you're not flying with the volume at 11, you're not flying.

o7

The last straight

You may have noticed I skipped the Friday video post. Sorry about that but as the meme says, shit just got real. The fruit of the drumline's labor is in sight with only seven days to go before showtime and until the final punch is hit next Saturday night that's where all my energy will be focused.

And on Sunday afternoon whenever my body decides to wake up, I will have to sacrifice a few ships to The PvP gods.

Flying safe sucks ass; just don't do it.

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - Rockline Edition

Yes I know. The sound is bad, we can't hear Anissa really well, etc. But still, this is an idea of what to expect at the Wishmaster OES 2012 event. Yours truly is on the 32 inch monster bass drum nicknamed "The Beast". It will be awesome :)

Enjoy!

o7

Attack of the Little Black Dots

Not even two and a half weeks to go until The Big Show, and it totally feels like it. Over the next two weeks we will have two ensemble rehearsals, two sectionals (at least for us in the bass line) and the general with everybody involved, which means Wishmaster, The Rockline, the dance troop, the circus troop, and the Diplomates horn line. A lot of my spare time is spent listening to the six Nightwish tunes over and over, playing my parts whenever I can, and for our drum feature I also have some steps to memorize to make sure I don't ram someone when show time comes. Yeah, after the show is done it's gonna be great to take a break from music and start the pew-pew antics in EVE.

I will also get my baptism of fire in Airsoft. All summer long I was seeing the invites for various games from my buddy Moogy over at Taktik Airsoft and most of the time it was conflicting with either my rehearsal or my parenting schedules. Not having to memorize an entire binder full of little black dots will free up a lot of time, but I do have some basic gear I need to acquire before I even think of going to an Airsoft game. For starters I need the obligatory protection gear and some cheap clothes I won't mind getting dirty; I intend to play Airsoft the way I play Quake, which means I'll run a lot, fall a lot, die a lot, etc. I've been told there's always room for suicidal nutcases like me in Airsoft teams and I intend not to disappoint! I'm also working towards the purchase of my Umarex H&K G36cv replica and all the gadgets surrounding it, which means batteries and charger, spare mags, maybe a red/green dot sight and tactical grip, and of course a carrying case or bag; one does not simply walk around with an assault rifle replica! After I have the basics I'll start looking at better and more practical gear but there will be no pressure and no rush. In any case, I can't wait to play a live-action First-Person Shooter :)

On the EVE front the arrival of the colder weather will mean more activity. Cartboard Box and I will start stoking the fire of his corp, Chez Stan. The main purpose will be The PvP but we're not sure which kind of The PvP yet. Will it be Null-sec based? Will we go into Faction Warfare? Will we do wardecs? Will we go full pirate? It's all up in the air right now. On my side I've been logging in sporadically these days to keep in touch with the game, but I haven't had the chance for say a full evening of EVE since the end of my vacation. This will be dealt with as soon as the show is done. I've taken the Monday and Tuesday following the show off because I know the post-show adrenaline high will make me go to bed late on Sunday morning, giving me self-induced jet-lag. What will follow the show will be two days of Sweet Fuck-All, or in gamer terms, a 48h gaming session. I will definitely paint killboards red, with both kills and losses :)

Anyway, 16 days to go before the show and excitement is reading high on the OMFG-meter. It's a lot of work but I can't wait to hit the stage and get it done!

Fly loud

o7

A picture is worth a thousand words

This was my weekend!

Crunch time

One thing is absolutely certain, my vacation is over. In the three days since my return to business-as-usual I've gotten up earlier than ever because I had to help out my ex with our boys who crashed at my place on Monday night after their karate session, taken my drumkit apart in preparation of an eventual band project (I has one), gotten on top of my work (one good thing of taking three weeks vacation, people have no choice to cover for you and when you come back it's not so bad; I've had worse returns after only one week), and practiced drums with the drumline. And this is far from over because we are now just over three weeks before The Big Show.

We've now gone from one rehearsal every two weeks to every week, with two weekend events planned on top of it. The last and obvious one is the general rehearsal for the show with all the participants basically to setup the stage positions and a quick run-through, but the most important one will be happening this weekend is what we lovingly call the Death Camp. Two days of nothing but cleaning and refining the six tunes the drumline will be playing on, including a totally kick-ass drum feature. It was supposed to be written simple to be learned quickly, but Michel Pilon, who's been a drumline head instructor at the highest level of the sport, and knowing he was dealing with a bunch of DCI vets (me excluded), couldn't help but throw a few curve balls. He also helped Wishmaster's drummer to build his drum solo so it fits seamlessly in what will become a true drumgasm!

With all the drumming, studying and rehearsing I have to do, all games are going on the back burner. Of course, when one has been a gamer for as long as I have, "One does not simply stop gaming" as the meme goes. I will still log onto EVE for skill flipping and maybe some quick romps through space. I will probably shoot stuff and/or explore places in various other games I play because you can only look at little black dots while listening to a click track for a certain amount of time. The Wishmaster OES 2012 event will be happening on October 20th, and I will be taking a few days off work right after so I can cool down and game like I haven't gamed in a long time.

Let's make this show awesome :)

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - Spacey Edition

Last Tuesday I got to see Mr Vai in action, and let me tell you, I'm still slightly radioactive from his powerful electric guitar antics! He even joked about this himself as he told a young girl who got on stage for the audience participation bit of his show by telling her "you might want to step away from my amps if you want to have children someday XD". All in all it was an awesome performance, with a lot of humor in it - It shows that Steve went to the Frank Zappa School of Hard Knocks!

Apart from that I'm slowly coming to terms with the sad fact that my vacation is almost over, and Monday will be the return to harsh reality. I am also less than one month away from the big Wishmaster event and this week we even got the thumbs up from Nightwish! You see they were also in town this week and the Wishmaster band members and a few members of the drumline were attending, and some of 'em were crazy/hardcore enough to wait just outside the tour bus to meet Tuomas Holopainen and Marco Hietala. Yes Montreal is great like that :)

So for the next few weeks I have to concentrate on a lot of drumming as we'll get into the clean-up part of our rehearsals and next weekend is our Death Camp, a drum corps style camp of musical immersion. Should be epic. And of course I'm already thinking about the break I'll take right after the show: I will be taking at least the Monday and Tuesday off (maybe even the entire week, because I can) and will do an EVE Orgy. We will decide what we'll do with Chez Stan and where. I cannot wait :)

Fly loud!

o7

Weekend of Drums & EVE Alliance Tournament X

Wishmaster and The Rockline

What a crazy summer I'm having! Putting aside some gaming to get better at drums is starting to pay off not only in terms of drumming and musical skills but also in terms of new experiences. Last weekend was a big one for the Rockline drumline as we had our first public appearances since the official foundation of the group. On Saturday we went to a Drum Corps revival event in Sherbrooke Qc; the activity is far from what it used to be in the 80's, but it does seem to be slowly creeping out of the darkness it fell into in the late 90's and early 2000's. I personally don't think it will again reach the heights attained in the mid-80's, but at least it's fun to know that Drum Corps is getting some exposure again and new generations of players and performers are being groomed.

That said, the Rockline was performing the last number of the evening before a traditional Drum Corps retreat, playing two tunes with the band Wishmaster ("Scaretale" and "Romanticide") with whom we'll be playing with at the big fund-raiser Metal show in October. Our almost brand-new drums had been the talk of the day as we got small groups of spectators at rehearsal, when half the group was busy in the senior corps Les Diplomates du Quebec. My bass drum especially was a head-turner by its size and its deep boom. I can safely say I play THE largest marching bass drum in the entire province :) We also had our timpani player with us for the first time and he did a great job even though he had never played with us before. And the performance itself? Mind-blowing is the only word I can think of. If you listen to "Scaretale" you know it starts with as series of punches after a soft intro, right? Well those punches were echoing in the valley below the stadium like cannon shots! The older and more traditional-minded people in the crowd weren't too sure but could do nothing but notice the quality of our drumline. Those who like Metal literally freaked out! I can now safely say that Drum Corps Metal not only works but is a total percussive orgasm :))

After the retreat all the participating corps and any Drum Corps veteran who was interested was invited to get on the field for a 200+ player mass band rendition of "Can't Take my Eyes Off Of You". The mass band had praticed it during the afternoon at the same time we were practicing our stuff, but that didn't stop about half our drumline from participating, with me and my monster bass officially nicknamed "The Beast" representing the bass line. I had to grab some bass drum players from other corps and ask "WTF do we play?"... boom click boom-boom, click boom-boom... wow, that's hard! and of course at the right spots people were improvising left and right so I didn't disappoint! All in all a great night, if a bit insanely hot as a heat wave is currently hitting the South of the province.

On Sunday we had another public appearance in the form of a parade in my hometown's Percussion Festival, in Longueuil Qc. This was my first ever parade, and I have to say it was a slightly painful one. As you see in the Rockline picture, I usually play with the bass drum mounted on a stand (yes, this is me at far right with "the Beast"), but for a parade I have to carry that thing. And I did. Ow my back! Well, I didn't suffer too much and I ain't dead, but I do still have a few aches even two days after the event. It was a lot of fun, nobody played perfect but everyone was in a festive mood. I do admit that the last two street corners were the longest and very hard and I wanted to stop but I made it. I even found the energy to take part in an impromptu jam session with a bunch of percussion groups that closed the parade. Kids big and small got to play on our drums, total mayhem. A perfect finish for my drum weekend!

The Retreat; Rockline is in the foreground, in our "Black-out" uniforms; I'm the second in line from the front

EVE Online Alliance Tournament X

I knew that this weekend wouldn't be an easy one so I took a couple days off this week, and I needed the break, especially yesterday where my back was hurting. So I took the time to catch up on this little game that got me into blogging called EVE Online. With Alliance Tournament X in full swing I got to watch Day 5 and Day 6, and I have to admit it's making start to miss the game! A few things have changed since last I played and a whole of  modules I have no clue about have appeared (Ancilliary Shield Boosters?). I do plan to get back in the game in mid/late September but with so many changes I will have some adjusting to do. Hell I don't even know if the fits I know still work! And the Vaga... the poor poor Vaga that has been circumcised by mad vikings... :*( Oh well, I guess I'll fly the Cynabal more. I also have a crazy Fleet Stabber fit I want to try!

But back to the tournament I was happy to see that the alliance I want to join (Purple Alliance, Red vs Blue) is doing so well, and in the same bracket as Rote Kapelle (hi Cerui and Ripard!) and Pandemic Legion (hi Mintchip!). And that last RK vs PL match... with the Bhaalgorn flagship and FOUR Malice assault frigs... Holy Shit !!! Gratz to Rote Kapelle on that win, and gratz to Pandemic Legion for the size of those testicles XD It'll be kinda hard for me to catch the end of the tourney live as I will have my boys with me and do plan to go outside and do some stuff, but I do plan to hit YouTube later next week and catch all the action. Now that I've made my peace with ISK making (meaning I won't try much) I'm actually anxious to come back to EVE and do what I love to do most, blow some shit up!

Fly balls to the wall !!! (actual aviation term)

o7

Mine. My own. My precioussssss :)

Got boom?

Sorry about my lack of postage, but this "little" orange toy has been keeping me quite busy. Here it is on it's first official rehearsal night on June 26th. Our drumline is slowly getting tighter and tighter, and this weekend will mark the first gigs, with a Drum Corps revival event in Sherbrooke Qc on Saturday, and the Percussion Festival in my hometown of Longueuil Qc on Sunday, where we will actually parade so I'll get to wear this baby :)

Again, sorry about the lack of updates; expect a wall-o-text post at some point!

Fly loud!

o7

We're not in Colorado anymore...

Oh no you're not. Bienvenue au Québec câlisse !!! :))

PS: Yes I shall post a pic of my Bass #5 as soon as I get one :)

Thursday's Percussive Lunch Hour - ZOMG Edition

Yeah I've not been posting this week for a good reason: on Monday my weakening 4 year old video card finally died a horrible overheated death, and on Tuesday as I was on my way to my drumline rehearsal I remembered that 2-3 years ago, my best buddy Letrange had given me a spare video card that happened to be nearly identical to my own, an Asus GF8800 GT with 512mb of RAM (mine had 1024 though). So yesterday I went through my 'puter stuff boxes, found it, swapped the old one, and spent a good 3 hours on Skyrim XD

But more important in this post is the video. Now why would I, CozmikR5, die-hard fan of Santa Clara Vanguard and Phantom Regiment, be posting a Blue Knights video? Well, the reason for this post is not about the drumline, but the actual drums themselves. You see, my instructor and drumline director Jacques Charbonneau got tired of waiting around for sponsors, not to mention got tired of practicing on wooden beams. So after holding a survey to find out how interested us members would be in going on after the Wishmaster fund-raiser show, he took a dive head-first and went out to buy THESE VERY INSTRUMENTS! I don't want to know how much he paid for 'em or how much blood he gave in exchange. All I know is that at some point around the 20th of June the drums will leave their previous home at BK HQ in Denver Colorado to their new one in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Quebec.

As I've mentioned not too long ago, I myself will be at the helm of Bass Drum #5, which is a 32 inch monster of a drum. My parts aren't too complicated, but it will be fun as hell, especially on the fortissimo excuse-me-while-I-destroy-your-kidneys parts! You can be sure that at the first occasion we get to play on the ex-BK drums there will be an impromptu photo session and I'll be posting a few for sure.

Until next time, fly loud!

o7

Meeting the band

Wishmaster is:

Philip Charbonneau: keyboard, vocals
Anissa Bélanger: vocals
Tony Batal: guitar
Daniel Tremblay: bass, guttural vocals
Alexis Serré: drums

Yesterday I was invited to a nice little happening that has to do with the Wishmaster show I'll be playing cymbals on this October. It was the media launch for the band's summer tour as well as the presentation of all the heads of departments for the October 20th gig. Present were a few local journalists and photographers, representants for the supporting acts (not really supporting acts, more like co-headliners), and representants for the dance troop and drumline (yay us!). Reps from the circus troop and Les Diplomates drum & bugle corps were also invited but Real Life did its ugly thing, but at least the drumline's director was able to cover a bit as he is also with the "Dips" as we call 'em here.

So basically it was a little party with Wishmaster presenting the new tunes on their set list, a miniature show in essence, followed by a small press conference and question period all done in a very easy-going manner. Following that I got to have a good chat with singer Anissa, and of course with drummer Alexis. The former was quite interesting despite the massive age gap (I'm 22 years her elder) because we have very similar musical tastes; I'll never get used to being called "Mr Gauthier" though! Do not let her young age fool you: this girl can SING! She doesn't try to imitate the Nightwish singers but her own voice works wonders. The drummer talk was also great because again our tastes match up not only musically, but also in drum set-up, a 7-piece DW placed almost exactly like my Mapex and also afflicted by cymbal addiction :) It's not every day that two drummers get together and talk Zappa and it happened yesterday as Alexis was taking down his kit.

But I had also an unexpected surprise waiting for me there. Apparently I made a good impression at the drumline's first practice because I was told by the director's wife that they felt sorry they couldn't put me on at least the bass line and that there wasn't time for a multi-tenor crash course. The fact that everybody from the bass line returned this year meant there was no room, and multi-tenors take a set of skills I have never practiced. But as I said before I don't mind all that and I'll have a great time. On the other hand, they told me that there is a spot open on the number three bass in the Dips. Mmmm... I may need to do some serious calendar juggling and possibly some hard discussions with my ex. Some practices fall on my parenting weekend, and only one in three practices is in the Montreal area. Not to mention the massive head-cramming I'd have to receive to catch up with the rest of the line. But even though I'm not sure if it's possible it was very uplifting to receive the invitation.

So the project is slowly starting to take shape. The venue is reserved, the people are booked, and work is under way. All we need now are actual drums and cymbals to play on :))

Drum Corps Metal for the kids and for the win!

o7

Wishmaster practice #1

After two weeks of anticipation and practicing on my own as time permitted (which wasn't as much as I wanted), we finally got the drumline together for the first official practice of the Wishmaster 2012 fundraiser show. We played on practice pads, cross-sticks for the cymbals  and the snare line on 2" x 8" wooden beams but do not let the lack of actual instruments deceive you; despite doing this for fun (and the kids of course) and having no intention of becoming a competition drumline, the Wishmaster line-up is boss!

I was welcomed very positively in the gang with one of my cymbal line mates telling me "What the hell are you doing on cymbals?!". I did mention my unknown status and the lack of space on either the snare or bass lines. Even though I'm not the same caliber of this snare line (again, we are STACKED), I did prove that I wasn't exactly a slouch when it came to sticking; I was the only cymbal player able to play the entire snare line warm-up. Without wanting to boast too much, it's already clear that I will be the pillar of the cymbal line. I even put an exclamation point on this as the practice came to an end; one of the snare girls played one last lick at full power on our table, and I replied by replicating her lick note for note much to her surprise, after which she told me "Hey! That's my job!". I was a great moment that loudly said "welcome to the family" :)

But the drumline practice wasn't the only great thing yesterday. These days Montreal is having a quite unnatural heat wave and for the first time ever I was able to ride my bike in shorts and a T-shirt on the first day of spring! We aren't just destroying temperature records up here, we are writing a new book! Temps are supposed to be coming back closer to normal as the weekend approaches but still, I never would have believed that I would be able to ride my bike so early and so comfortably, except maybe for my ass that needs the early season hardening XD

So all in all yesterday was a totally awesome day, and I can't wait for the next practice. This will get more and more awesome after each practice, I can only imagine what it will be like when we have instruments to play on. By the way, if you know anybody who works at a marching drum company, tell 'em that me and my 20-ish buddies will be more than glad to show off their equipment :)

Flam hard

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - Wishmaster Edition pt. 1

This is the first tune I have to learn with the drumline, so might as well put it here :) Oh and sorry about the lateness; I apparently needed a huge nap after work. I had to start one hour earlier and my body just hates earliness.

Enjoy!

o7

Drumline update #2

So yesterday evening I had a lengthy chat with the drumline's director after I requested last year's sheet music for both the snare line and the bass line. His initial reaction was to tell me "I'm sorry Ben, both of these lines are full and then some. Plus I don't really know your drumming experience since you haven't gone the drum corps way. Do you know ruffs? Flams? Hybrid rudiments?". I took all of this in stride because I knew the quality of this drumline, and I knew what I was getting myself into.

Let's see. This drumline is jam-packed with DCI vets and instructors. And not only is the entire line-up from last year returning, we are five new guys coming in. One has his job cut out for him as he is the timpani player; he has to write his own parts and stuff. Another is already marching snares in Quebec's senior corps, so he easily gets that spot. The third is a guy who was marching snares when I was a kid and he was already OMGWTF awesome, and he never stopped drumming. He'll get a multi-tenor spot and I know he's up for that challenge. The forth guy is actually a bass guitar player but he's a long time friend of Wishmaster's leader who happens to be the drumline director's son. He'll be on the bass line. And then there's me.

So to break down the drumline by section: 9 snares, 5 basses, 4 multi-tenors, 1 timpani, and various cymbals. This right there is a full-sized competition drumline, with only the pit crew missing. So because of my unknown status I will be on the cymbal line, but knowing what I can do on drums I will be a damn solid cymbal player. You see, playing on a drumline isn't about the individual but the sum of all parts. A good example of this is the Santa Clara Vanguard cymbal line, who not only perform all kinds of crazy visuals (look up "SCV viper" on YouTube) but also play stuff that would challenge the best orchestra percussionists. Modern cymbal playing isn't about crashing every other quarter note in 4/4.

But even though I won't be on the snare line itself, I simply cannot pass on an opportunity like this. I will STILL get the snare parts and practice them for two reasons: 1- just in case, and 2- just because. I will also have a look at ALL the other parts; I do have to concentrate on getting my own part perfect but I welcome this challenge with open arms. One thing is certain, I will have an awesome amount of fun. I mean, how often does one drummer get to hang out with 20-25 other drummers, some of which have vast experience? I see nothing but good coming out of this :)

Flam hard

o7

Wishmaster Drumline update

I'm in! :)

And not only that; I will get my try-out on the snare line. The parts should be relatively easy because Wishmaster does have a regular drummer, but let's not forget that this drumline has some pretty impressive people on it, with instructors and DCI vets. Plus, where last year's returning players will have four tunes to learn (three are kept from last year's set list), I will have seven. But I welcome the challenge. The point of this drumline is not to be on a DCI competitive level, but to have an unbelievable amount of fun while raising money for Opération Enfant Soleil, Québec's main foundation for children's disease help.

Last year the drumline was sponsored by a local music store for its instruments but they're looking for a new sponsor this year. This means that the first few rehearsals will happen on practice pads. Slightly less exciting but it means then when the drums do arrive we should have quick results. Be assured that when I'll get to play on a new toy, I'll post pictures :)

Rehearsals will start on March 20th, and the show will be on October 20th. There will be two opening acts and where last year Wishmaster employed an orchestra, this year we're going with a full drum corps hornline. Drum Corps Metal? Oh yes, and it will be GLORIOUS !!!

Flam hard

o7