Sendai Enn playing night
12/11/2008

SENDI, JAPAN “Enn”                                                                                                11/12/08

Finally, we get to try this kit called the Phoenix and I forget to bring the right drumsticks………… Was I frustrated when I applied stick to metal only to learn once again that I cannot make a fair trade off for sound, reaction of the stick off the surface of the drum or cymbal when it comes to using maple in place of hickory, It just doesn’t work. When we left home I had this false feeling that the sticks I had put in my stick bag (maple) were new and would last the week or so that I would be here. That was a mistake because maple is a softer wood in the way that Vic Firth presents the ‘end product’ – it has a warm, hollow sound to it that when working in a small room like a cocktail lounge or small club behind a singer with a dark voice, one can get away with a utensil of this nature, if you know what to do. Playing with Spectrum is not what I just finished describing so I began the night in a bit of a negative bind. Couple that with the fact that I had asked Sabian to get me a specific set of cymbals for this project which they said had been confirmed by the distributor here, in Japan. Upon arrival in Japan, I visually checked the cymbals and found that they were not what I requested but since it was Sunday and I could not get to anyone before Monday morning to see about making this correction I let it slide. Letting things slide became pure forgetfulness and the end result was me playing on an awful set of Fusion hi hats that did not come remotely close to complimenting the performance environment of the rest of the cymbal set up and much less that of the overall musical presentation in the ENN club in Sendai. With all of that against me I thought that the drums themselves held up pretty well anyway. Of course, they are relatively new and detune pretty rapidly but I am assuming that this will change in time and in performance. I found out many things about the kit but one that got me was the pureness of tone from each drum: How long the drums held their tone (decay fall off)? I prefer this concept as I believe that I can control the overall presentation better if I have more than I need as opposed to not enough as relates to the sound characteristics of my drum set. There are some new pedals for the bass drums and a new hihat stand but the jury is still out on that one……… maybe later?.............. After the show I became more sensitive to the head configuration and found that part of the problem in playing a drum set of this nature is that I had not committed to a drum head configuration to make a fair assessment of it’s character but now, I have done so and played in two venues where I feel progress has been made, naturally in the area on me becoming mere comfortable with the overall tonal presentation of the drum set. Although I am still working on becoming more comfortable with the lower floor toms (16” & 18”) as regard their tuning, I am certain that I will become one with this kit. So, ‘let’s see what tomorrow brings’ in Nagoya.

Bill C.



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