I have been playing kit drums for over 20 years. I play small kits with two cymbals and a single kick. I have played Thrash, Progressive Metal, Big Band Jazz, Classic Rock and a host of other styles. I have listening skills and an understanding of musical structure that few drummers can match.
Education
I trained privately with Jazz greats Marv Dahlgren and Floyd Thompson for over 4 years. All such training focused on drum kit technique. I have no particular expertise in hand drumming or tuned percussion. I do, on the other hand, have extensive experience in drum sampling and programming of all sorts.Influences:
Classic: John Bonham, Bill Bruford, Ginger Baker, Zigaboo Modeliste.Modern: John Stanier, Danny Carey, Matt Cameron, Dave Witte.
Audio examples
- Smoke is a swung slow groove rock song by a (defunct) band called the November Criminals. The drum performance is an unedited single take.
- Boilermaker: Same band as "Smoke". The drums are an unedited single take.
- 5x3x4: a polyrhythmic solo composition for 5 piece drum set with no cymbals or snare. It is played live in real time. Composed by John.
- Tool in a Box: Progressive noise metal-fusion. Composed by John.
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Composer
No, Really.
Education
Time spent long ago, in libraries and used book stores and roach infested apartments, studying scores by and/or recordings of....Influences:
Bela Bartok, Johannes Ockeghem, J.S Bach, Arnold Schoenberg, Duke Ellington, Charles Ives, Edgard Varese, Robert Fripp, Gyorgi Ligeti, Frank Zappa, Lou Harrison, Balinese Gender Wayang, Pierre Boulez.Audio examples
- Day Break: Short, charming, intricate, and vaguely reminiscent of a commercial for an insurance agency.
- Safari: Short, charming and exotic, featuring rare ethnic percussion instruments.
- A Fearful Symmetry: Short, but somewhat less charming and more complex: a polymetrical palindrome. Originally written for string quartet.
- Weeping Metal Heart: Longer, and even less charming; a study in noise and darkness.
- The High Tech Action Show Theme: Pretty self explanatory, really.
- Dance Against Bulgarian Rhythm: An older recording: dense polyrhythms executed on a rare player harpsichord.
- Dance of the Captive Maidens: Another older recording; part of an unfinished large scale work.
Availability and Contact Information:
I can be contacted via email at: john_gump@hotmail.comI am available for online drum recording services at any time. Just send a recording of your song, with or without a 'scratch' drum part, and we will provide a recording of the drums, using classic recording techniques, in an acoustically 'dead' room, on 6 or 8 separate tracks. Email me for details.
