i hope you have all had a nice summer so far. two days after my holiday started, i got the news that CHRIS COLEMAN can not attend our drum festival due to unforeseen developments in his band's schedule. i guess we are not immune against these kind of last-minute changes, are we? i needed to act quickly on this and within a few days only we found an equivalent sub for chris. i can now proudly announce that FELIX 'D-KAT' POLLARD will play two shows on sunday september 07 (main performance and the masterclass). the updated program can be seen on meinldrumfestival.com.

felix pollard plays with lionel richie, taylor hicks, jessica simpson, clay aiken, and many others.

dutch drum magazine "slagwerkkrant" has just released their national readers poll results (september-october issue). i am proud to share some of the results with you:

hardrock / metal drummer benelux:
>> # 1: stef broks (textures)
>> runner up: dirk verbeuren (soilwork)

drummer's drummer and rock drummer benelux
>> runner up: norman bonink (blof)

best band benelux:
>> # 1: blof (norman bonink)
>> runner up: textures (stef broks)

cd of the year:
>> # 1: textures (stef broks) - "shilhouette"

congratulations to norman and stef for the wonderful votes!

Wednesday, August 13 began like any other day. I woke up at 5 am, had my usual bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats (apparently a healthy dose of fiber is important when considering that diseases of the colon are just around the proverbial corner...Sorry, I digress...) and a strong cup of coffee. Then I enjoyed feeding my baby daughter her usual 10 ounces of formula, playing with her for a little while, then putting her back in her crib for her first morning nap. After that, a shower and a shave, a fresh change of clothes, and I'm on my way.

Where might I be on my way to you ask? Well, after all of that morning normalcy, it's only obvious that I'm going to hang with headbangers, earth-dogs, rivet-heads, hell-rats and all other various sorts of people whose lives are dedicated to metal and all the glory that it entails. And where might this hang of metal take place you ask? Well, in Noblesville, Indiana, right outside the city of Indianapolis, at a large outdoor amphitheater run by Verizon Wireless (can you hear me now?). And what might be taking place at this large outdoor amphitheater? Well, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival of course!

This year, the Mayhem festival made its debut, and OH BOY what a debut! Talk about a sick line-up. More killer metal bands than you can shake a stick at. Meinl Cymbals had cymbal artists in three of the best bands on the bill for this tour - Thomas Noonan with 36 Crazyfists, Aaron Gillespie with Underoath and Brann Dailor with Mastodon.

I went to the festival with one of Meinl's trusty photographers, Rick Malkin riding shotgun. We drove 5 hours to the festival from Nashville and got straight to work getting pictures and soaking up the vibe.

All three drummers kicked some serious a**. Thomas with 36 Crazyfists is a GREAT rock and roll drummer. Lots of groove, lots of tasty chops, lots of stick twirling, stick flips and most importantly - a lot of fun to watch. Plus, a very cool guy. Aaron with Underoath is another great drummer. Lots of red hair flying amuck, lots of bottled water being spit on him by Underoath's singer Spencer, lots of insane drumming accentuated by even more insane drum fills, and generally an all around insane show. Underoath made the cool move by playing this festival since they have always straddled the line between a VANS Warped Tour crowd (which is the type that they usually play to) and a metal crowd. Well, by doing this tour they were taking the road less traveled, and they had no problem making believers out of the crowd. Brann with Mastodon was, as usual, in total control of one of the best metal bands out there today. Mastodon's sound is so thick that one can easily become happily lost in its complexity of musicality. Really, these guys rule. And so does Brann. With machine gun precision, Brann takes traditional metal drumming and turns it inside out into a breathing, writhing juggernaut of insanity. Good stuff.

Anyway, enjoy the photo montage. It was lot of fun and both Rick and I had a great time.

Hope you are all enjoying life as we know it.

- Chris

Howdy,

Okay, I have finally consumed what I deem to be a 'respectable' amount of coffee. This means that I can give you the lowdown, the scoop, the details, the 411, the REAL POOP, as it were...regarding Meinl Cymbals' very own Nick D'Virgilio and a recent trip he made to Meinl USA's hometown of Nashville, TN for some studio work.

Nick has been working for awhile with a producer here by the name of Mark. They have a company together called Rewired Music. Funny thing...I have been to breakfast with Nick and Mark. I have been invited by Mark to get raging drunk, drive golf carts while listening to AC/DC and maybe hit some golf balls with him and Nick (which I didn't do, I swear...I stayed at home and hung out with my wife and baby that afternoon). I have eaten huge amounts of Barbecue with Nick and Mark. But for the life of me, I cannot tell you Mark's last name! That's just the way it is in this business. Things can move VERY fast. So fast that the small details, such as last names, are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

ANYWAY...Nick came down to Nashville (Joelton actually - which is a small country town just northwest of Nashville, about 20 minutes outside of it) to track drums for an album that he and Mark are putting together. A very cool album. They are recording the entire Genesis classic, "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" in its entirety. No small task. The album should be available in late 2008 if all goes according to plan and will be released on Prog Rock Records under the title, "Rewired Music Presents: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway." It will be available in all places where you can actually go and still buy Cd's and of course will be available for download at all of the major download sites.

It was really cool to watch Nick and the hired gun Nashville session musicians work their way through some major charts, recreating some extremely complex music. It's an amazing thing about the musicianship in Nashville. This session had a guitar player who was just shredding, all kinds of complicated prog rock. His main gig though is playing guitar for the Oak Ridge Boys (remember their hit song 'Elvira'?)! That's Nashville though, a collection of country fried musicians who can play any style you throw at them.

So be sure and stay on the lookout for this very cool audio homage that's being paid to one of the finest, and weirdest, albums of the prog rock era.

- Chris

today begins our well deserved summer holiday. our highly esteemed webmaster helge hamer and myself will be on vacation as of now. we will return to our desks on august 25th to make all the final preparations for the upcoming drum festival taking place early september which we are looking very much forward to.

helge is going to get married on august 09th. congratulations my friend and all the best for you and kathrin. to all of you out there, thank you so much for your support and believe in meinl. have a great summer holiday and we see you all again in three weeks.

ps: in the meantime, chris brewer of meinl usa will continue to blog from his end.