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

I had scheduled a group shot of all of the Meinl Cymbal artists on the tour that day to meet Rick and me in the press room by the production offices at 4pm. Rick has been after me for a few years now to make this type of shot happen, but I never really got it together until this year. Well, I'm glad I did, because it was fun hanging out with all of these guys in the same room.

Here in the Sunny South we have an expression..."herding cats." That's what it was like getting a hold of a couple of these guys to make this happen. Now I firmly believe that in their heart of hearts, they wanted to be there. But they just wouldn't be who they are if they were there, on time, ready to go. I think this must be the same thing in their x-factor that makes them an "artist".... Anyway, they certainly aren't uptight and bordering OCD like me, and that's a good thing! :-)

5 out of 7 were on time. One was in an interview with a television station. This took awhile. People in the press room were waiting for us to get out of their way. Rick decided that enough was enough when he heard the television interviewer start to discuss politics with these guys, so he jumped in the middle of the interview and asked if he could "borrow" the drummer for a second. Ha! It worked. We got one of our boys. One more to go.

Well, the other one was a toughie. Not only did he get into his mariachi costume for the shoot, but he had also had a seriously bad prank played on him by his band mates while he was trying to get over to us. This involved a policeman, handcuffs, threats and the poor drummer puking...again...this time from nerves. Poor guy. So he finally made his way to the press room, I had herded all of the cats, and Rick got his beloved group pics. Life was fairly close to perfection at this point.

After a fun hang for the aforementioned shoot, Rick and I set up for pics of Ethan Luck with the band Relient K. What a good band. These guys are just dripping with lush harmonies that ooze warmth and fun. Ethan had been drum teching for them previously. So when the drum chair opened up, he got the gig, not only because he knew the guys already, but also because he's a really solid drummer (he's also one of the guys you want to strangle because he can pick up ANY instrument and play it well in about 5 minutes...). I have to also say that Ethan has been keeping me stocked up on coffee. His wife works at a local Starbucks here in Nashville. Apparently she gets more free java than she knows what to do with. So every time Ethan comes by the office, he brings me a new pound of some choice brew. This has made him my new best friend. :-) So we snapped pics of Ethan playing with Relient K to one of the largest crowds of the day, then made our way to another stage to check out Moe Carlson.

Three words. Moe is awesome. Moe plays with Protest the Hero, a Canadian band whose most recent album debuted at #1 in the Canadian charts until Jack Johnson knocked them off the top rung of the ladder. Not bad...It's even more insane when you listen to these guys. In my mind, they are the new progressive rock music. These guys are doing algebraic back-flips in their minds while they are playing their instruments. I mean, literally it is nuts to listen to and watch these guys. Oddly enough, their music still sounds very human and organic, despite the undercurrent of a mad machine taking out its frustrations on drums, cymbals, guitars, bass and a microphone. Moe is polite, gracious and quite the student of sci-fi. So if you meet him, bring him something reeking of sci-fi and you will probably be on his good side. More pics, more killer rock and then Rick and I are on our way to the last stage of the day to check out our last cymbal artist of the day.

I felt like I had left VANS Warped tour and gone backstage to a Molly Hatchet show with the Charlie Daniels Band opening up. This is what it's like to be around Matt Clark and his band Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. Matt just recently came onboard and this was the first time I was able to see him and his beard in action. Man, these guys all look like grizzled Civil War Confederate veterans that picked up modern day instruments and decided to mix their brand of four on the floor stomp with some current melodies, a little bit of hollering and a whole lot of fun. MATSOD were cool as could be. Matt played like the ghost of Bonzo making a cameo during some Appalachian moonshine party. Strange likening it to that I know, but that's pretty accurate. Groove, swing, accuracy along with an authoritative swagger that says "don't mess with this." Matt was great and it was really enjoyable to see him and his band do their thing.

So that was the end of the day, and from there Rick and I had to make our way back to Nashville, all with a few layers of sweat, sunblock and dust on us. We arrived back in Nashville late that night, but were really glad to have been down in Hotlanta for the fun day that we had just had. Rick is a pro at what he does and I don't think he has ever met anyone that didn't become his friend in 2 minutes or less. That's a quality that most photographers need. Rick has it in spades.

Hope you all enjoyed my babbling on and on about VANS Warped. It was a good line up and a good time. You should check it out.

Chris

So here I am again, with another good night's worth of rest and more coffee in me than should be legally allowed. Yesterday I reminded those who know and hipped all those in the dark about the rock and roll animal, Jorma Vik with The Bronx. Today I am here to tell you about Daniel and the two Nates.

After watching Jorma puke, Rick and I headed over to another stage and got ready for Daniel Williams and his band, The Devil Wears Prada. These guys had a HUGE crowd ready and waiting for them, and for good reason; they put on a throwdown of a show. It's a funny thing about Daniel. He is probably the most soft spoken cat I have met in a long time, I mean polite to a fault. But when he's behind the skins, he is one of the most aggressive people I have ever seen. TDWP have come on strong in a big way the last couple of years. They are getting good tours and are really making a lot of fans. Daniel really helps give them the extra push they need when it comes to making their live show the insane affair that it is. So Rick sandwiched himself back between the cabinets and the back of the stage and got a lot of great pics of Daniel. I, on the other hand, had to watch from the crowd since the stage was too small to accomodate me. No problem. Great show from a great band.

Because some of our artists were overlapping, we had to leave TDWP's set a few minutes early and boogie back to the stage where Jorma had played so we could catch Nate Novarro with Cobra Starship. Another extremely nice, kind and cool human being. Also, a very tight, solid and tasteful drummer. Nate is from Atlanta, so he was very stoked to play for his hometown crowd. Plus, his father was there as well. I got to say hey to his dad and tell him what a fine young man he had raised. Seriously. ANYWAY...so Nate and Cobra Starship do their thing and to quote JP Gaster from Clutch, "It's like someone turned the air conditioner on." I mean, these guys were a cool breeze of fun infectious pop in the middle of a day of a lot of suburban teen angst. Their thing is a cool mix of rap, disco, rock, pop and FUN! So we got to check out most of their set and get good pics before we had to go set up for the next Nate...

Nate Young with Anberlin was up next and man was there ever a crowd for those guys. Anberlin is only getting bigger and bigger. Their fans are really devoted. Also, I need to say that I really like working with Nate and Anberlin's management - Kyle and Jimi. All good people. So Nate - tall as a tree and skinny as a beanpole. He oozes style and cool when he plays. The first time I saw him play, he actually licked his stick after twirling it!!! Who does that??? Well, Nate does. And he makes it look cool. I suppose you could do all the stick licking you wanted to (insert joke here), but if you can't play well, then what does it matter. Nate can play. No doubt about it. He is always getting better too. Rick and I caught his whole set and then hung with him for a little bit after. Nate is a total sweetheart and a great player. Good fun.

So after this, Rick and I set off to eat crappy hamburgers. Or at least I did...We had a couple of hours to kill until we had to get all of our artists together for a group shot and then catch the remainder of the artists playing that day. All the while it was a muggy 92 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Nice.

More to come.

 - Chris

For the past few summers I have been heading to one of the dates on the VANS Warped tour (with pro photographer Rick Malkin in tow) to hang with the Meinl Cymbal artists that are part of the traveling circus, getting massive amounts of pictures and video of these cats, and generally enjoying the day hanging with our extended cymbal family.

I just arrived back in Nashville late last night from Atlanta, where Rick and I went for this year's Warped tour. We had such a fun and busy time that it would be impossible to share all of it with you in one blog. So I'll keep blogging each day on an artist or two at a time and share my impressions with you.

The Meinl cymbal artists on the tour as of yesterday were Jorma Vik with The Bronx, Daniel Williams with The Devil Wears Prada, Nate Novarro with Cobra Starship, Nate Young with Anberlin, Ethan Luck with Relient K, Moe Carlson with Protest the Hero, and Matt Clark with Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.

After getting to Lakewood Amphitheater, we hooked up with Andrew Sprague, Tour Manager for Anberlin, who was kind enough to hook us up with the All Access passes we need so as to not get hassled by the security goons that lurk at every corner. Then we made it to The Bronx's stage just in time for the start of their set.

Jorma and The Bronx are the REAL DEAL. These guys rock. Hard. They are a mix of buzzsaw Black Flag/Gregg Ginn riffage and snot-nose Iggy Pop rock and roll all rolled into one. These guys are such straight ahead kick ass rock and roll, that it's almost hard for someone who hasn't  heard them yet to figure out how to label them within their segregated, niche market minds. Anyway, no matter...because once these guys launch into tunes like History's Stranglers, all labels go out the window because of how blown away you are by them. Jorma rocked, Rick got some great shots and we then watched Jorma puke after his set from playing so hard and working up so much of a sweat. Come to think of it, Jorma puked the last time I hung out with him, again from playing so hard. Jorma rules.

More tomorrow...

Chris

The preperation for Meinl Drum Festival 2008 is going great! We´ve got our hands full. I sent flyers to music schools in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I made passes, I checked off all autograph-cards, artist posters and ordered additonal quantities. And million of other things. I tell you, it will be great! Order tickets and you are all set! Because one day is not enough... www.meinldrumfestival.com

Until next week :-)

ralf used a nice meinl setup with two custom made cymbals. click on the picture on top to see the full description.

on my way home the next day, a major accident happened on the highway and it got completely shot down for four hours. i stood there and couldn't move back or forth. the fact that there is no speedlimit on german autobahn wasn't worth anything. plus it has been the hottest day of the year so far. not good.