Alex Van Halen
only a surfer knows the feeling
Ya know what ...he has a trigger on his snare so that when he hits it once, it
doubles up....kind of lame... so his snare chops really "aren't all that" ....and
supposedly the big gong behind him is cardboard and is just another trigger....I
haven't heard very good things about Alex from other drummers....oh well...we all
know who is better....but what was a worse comparison was back in high school was
the big debate over who had the better drum solo...Neil or.....the other person
in the Pamela Lee video....."well can Neil play upside down???" I always got that
respsonse....
monst...@geocities.com wrote:
> Has anyone been to a Van Halen concert lately? I just came back from one and
> the drum solo was very similar to Neil Peart's; complete with the orchestra
> 'spurts' and everything. :-( I expected something a little more original
> from a band that stands in their own reich. Still, not a bad performance
> from an old man in a neck brace.
>
> -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
monst...@geocities.com
Rmlac123
Neal could play a percise and emotional drum solo in the cargobay of the space
shuttle in zero gravity better than anyone
this reporter has seen....... And yes I was at the last Van Halen
show at Irvine Meddows.... What a rip off. Eh... Hovis.
Herns
james smith
only a surfer knows the feeling wrote:
>
> Ya know what ...he has a trigger on his snare so that when he hits it once, it
> doubles up....kind of lame... so his snare chops really "aren't all that" ....and
> supposedly the big gong behind him is cardboard and is just another trigger....I
> haven't heard very good things about Alex from other drummers....oh well...we all
> know who is better....but what was a worse comparison was back in high school was
> the big debate over who had the better drum solo...Neil or.....the other person
> in the Pamela Lee video....."well can Neil play upside down???" I always got that
> respsonse....
>
> monst...@geocities.com wrote:
>
Good grief!Tommy Lee?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
james smith
Atwas2112 wrote:
>
> To me, VH's rhythm section has always ranked just slightly ahead of the
> Partdrige Families.
Except Hot For Teacher,by the REAL VH!
Atwas2112
St2112
>only a surfer knows the feeling wrote:
>> Ya know what ...he has a trigger on his snare so that when he hits it once,
>it doubles up....kind of lame... so his snare chops really "aren't all that"
>trigger...
I have seen Alex Van Halen play solos, and the guy has great
chops.. he also has one of the best tones I've ever heard..
LOL, the gong is NOT cardboard; it's a Paiste gong..
Jeff Blanks
<Sano...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I haven't heard very good things about Alex from other drummers....oh
well...we all
> know who is better....but what was a worse comparison was back in high
school was
> the big debate over who had the better drum solo...Neil or.....the other
person
> in the Pamela Lee video....."well can Neil play upside down???" I always
got that
> respsonse....
But Tommy wasn't the first to do that--Carl Palmer was. But then, that
happened in THE '70s, and _no_one's_ supposed to mention _anything_ that
happened back then, at least in the public sphere (unless it has to do
with disco, of course).
only a surfer knows the feeling
>
>
> But Tommy wasn't the first to do that--Carl Palmer was. But then, that
> happened in THE '70s, and _no_one's_ supposed to mention _anything_ that
> happened back then, at least in the public sphere (unless it has to do
> with disco, of course).
well i was still in single digits back then so....I don't remember anything
from that era.....
David Tremaine
In article <356A6DE0...@ix.netcom.com>, Debora wrote:
>Alex VH is not a bad drummer at all. 'Hot For Teacher' is an extremely
>difficult (and athletic) song to keep straight time to. What always strikes
>me as a bit odd is that his drum kit is HUGE. Complete with 4 bass drums and
>6-8-10 roto toms (going by memory from an old photo) which I've never heard
>played on any recording.
I'm pretty sure he uses the roto-toms on _1984_ on songs such as "Jump"
and "I'll Wait". Also, I think those 4 bass drums actually function as
two. I believe the two on the right side of the kit are connected in some
way...same with the ones on the left. Can anyone shed some light on this?
David
KevinD2112
I agree that Alex is not a bad drummer. As far as I know though, when Hot for
Teacher was performed live the bass parts were sampled in. I did not see it
first hand but that is what I've heard from other drummers.
Alex was using the big kits in the early to mid 80's when big kits were the
look. He has since gone to a simpler kit which he uses more effectively. I
think he has improved alot since the mid 80's. Compare the drum work on 5150
(ugh) to the say Balance or III and there is a noticable difference.
>Alex VH is not a bad drummer at all. 'Hot For Teacher' is an extremely
>difficult (and athletic) song to keep straight time to. What always strikes
>me as a bit odd is that his drum kit is HUGE. Complete with 4 bass drums and
>6-8-10 roto toms (going by memory from an old photo) which I've never heard
>played on any recording.
>
>I've always enjoyed watching Tommy Lee play. He hits so fkn hard (his wife
>can probably testify to this) and has got a very smooth style. His chops are
>simple, though, but in the world of 80's metal, looks are everything. I
>reeaaaallly miss the big hair days. And I'm actually serious.
>
>Debora the Drum Rat
JonnoPeltz
David Tremaine wrote:
>I'm pretty sure he uses the roto-toms on _1984_ on songs such as "Jump"
>and "I'll Wait". Also, I think those 4 bass drums actually function as
>two. I believe the two on the right side of the kit are connected in some
>way...same with the ones on the left. Can anyone shed some light on this?
Actually, I think he has 8 bass drums. Each "drum" is really 2 drums hooked
together. So it looks like he has 4 bass drums that are extra long. His
pedals are also hooked together so each time he steps on one pedal, it hits 2
heads with 2 drums apiece. So 4 drums per foot. Pretty ridiculus if you ask
me. I can't remember ever noticing his amazing bass drum sound. You'd think
if he went to that much trouble it would make a big difference. I remember
this from an old Modern Drummer, so perhaps he has "slimmed down" since, or
maybe I remember wrong. Look at the "Jump" video. I think you can tell. I
know that in a lot of their later videos, he plays a stripped down kit, but
that may not be what he plays live, so I dunno.
As far as his playing, I recall from the same article he has a background in
jazz (which certainly shows in "Hot for Teacher." Too bad it's such a stupid
song. The music is outrageous! Why couldn't they have some decent lyrics to
back it up?). He is clearly a great drummer. Having never seen them live, I
couldn't comment on his solo, but if it in any way mimics Neil's, then that is
lame.
And yes, you can hear the roto-toms in "Jump" and "I'll Wait." I used to have
some roto-toms. I thought they sounded pretty stupid and got rid of them. I
guess they sound ok in those songs, though. Maybe if I'd kept them I'd be rich
and famous now...
jonno
Debora
Yep, you're right. The rotos do come up on those songs (I've been yelling for
Linus for help on this, but his headphones are too loud). I had rotos too, Jonno,
did you have the shells with them? If you didn't , it's probably why you got rid
of them. Also, to mute them, buy a roll of window stripping. They're a hell of a
lot cheaper than those customozed 'drum mutes' that fit specific sizes of heads.
They're basically the same stuff. All you need is a scissors (but don't run around
the room with them).
Alex VH builds his own drums, doing most everything short of cutting down the
tree. Cool.
Debora the Drum Rat
Debora
That's the only way he'd be able to do it, as the very beginning of Hot For
Teacher were sampled bass drums, made to sound like a Harley revving up. The
rest of the song live was strictly him. It's a lot of fun to play, and I doubt he
would've passed it up.
SailorWhitch
Debora <deb...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in article
<356A6DE0...@ix.netcom.com>...
> Alex VH is not a bad drummer at all. 'Hot For Teacher' is an extremely
> difficult (and athletic) song to keep straight time to. What always
strikes
> me as a bit odd is that his drum kit is HUGE. Complete with 4 bass drums
and
> 6-8-10 roto toms (going by memory from an old photo) which I've never
heard
> played on any recording.
P'raps it's some twisted drummer's form of "compensation"?
<grin>
--Whitch
MarkM
Debora wrote:
> Alex VH builds his own drums, doing most everything short of cutting down the
> tree. Cool.
Uh, Deb, I heard Al say on the VHIII album premiere that he used to make
his own drums because the sizes he wanted (i.e. those big ass kick drums
I guess) weren't available from drum manufacturers. Now they are, so he
no longer makes them himself.
I do agree with the other poster though, re Alex and his 'ripping off'
of Neil's solo. Al *is* a good drummer so I don't understand why he had
to do that. Be original, for god's sake.
MarkM
Debora
If there was any previous doubt that I remain stuck in the 80's, perish the
thought.
Debora the Drum Rat
MarkM wrote
LIBERATOR
> Al *is* a good drummer ***//// HE IS???\\\\ *** ////compared to who???\\\\
> ***so I don't understand why he had to do that. Be original, for god's sake.
>
> >
> > MarkM
William Cary Hall
>>
This is music you can listen to and feel like an irresponsible
teenager again. Although I like Rush more than VH, very few of their
songs make me feel happy and carefree like an old David Lee Roth Van
Halen song.
I think Van Halen has sucked since Sammy Hagar and this Gary Cherone
character. Have you heard "Fire in the Hole"??? It's awful. They
should be ashamed of themselves.
>>
Certainly the music and lyrics took a different swing with Haggar, but I
liked it a lot. 5150 (Haggar's second, i believe) is my fav VH album;
they got to using the keyboards a little more, and just seemed to play
better as a group. Much like the transition from the Rush/FBN albums to
Hemispheres. The sound went from raw to polished, although VH didn't
end up as high on the spectrum. The lyrics got more mature as well.
After all, look at other rock bands who didn't mature. They became
one-hit wonders or stagnant bands.
Disclaimer: In no way am I comparing Roth to Rutsey, nor do I think that
the two Roth tracks on Best of Volume I were immamture. In fact,
they're my favorite two songs after the 5150 period.
--
Cary Hall
ICQ# 6956498
Notme57
Shame on all of you to even be talking about Alex Van Halen in a Rush
Newsgroup. There is no way that he could ever be in the same league as Neil.
I never saw VH live but have heard live recordings, (i have seen Rush many
times) and Alex sucks. All he's good for is keeping time. His playing consists
of only 3 or 4 beats that he plays on every song. If you could play any 2 of
them (and most average drummers can) than you can play 75% of all VH songs.
I don't want to entirely blame Alex for this because it is Eddie that writes
songs that all sound the same (ok, not all but most of them).
Regardless, Alex has no chops. The guy is so un-original, it's sickening.
Don't even get me started on his "cardboard" sounding drums. Ask most any
drummer you know and they will tell you that his drums sound like shit,
especially that crappy sounding snare of his.
Anyway, although i don't buy VH CD's, i don't change the station when their on
the radio. And i prefer Dave on vocals.
chris...
Digital Man
Hey abc777, was you drunk when you posted these? You're confusing lyrix
from 'Everybody Wants Some' with 'Unchained'. I do agree though, those
were the days; fun lyrics with rollicking melodies. "WHERE HAVE ALL THE
GOOD TIMES GONE?"
MarkM
LIBERATOR wrote:
>
> > Al *is* a good drummer ***//// HE IS???\\\\
Yeah, he is.
*** ////compared to who???\\\\
I dunno...you?
MarkM
fkn...@gmail.com
curtis...@gmail.com
Matt Ferrari
<curtis...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:02a8b666-5935-45ce...@googlegroups.com...
> the them toured a few years ago with some pudgy, doughy, pasty kid on bass
> who looked like he'd rather be playing videogames.
bad.
curtis...@gmail.com
dd
news:1e5dfb67-a3b6-461d...@googlegroups.com...
>he was the one who got along with everybody.
>
Scall5
"dd" <yada...@yadayada.edu> wrote in message
news:fwkNs.2068$Sq4...@newsfe14.iad...
Sammy. This ticked off Eddie and he kicked him out of the band. The below
link gives many more details and probably is pretty accurate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Anthony_(musician)
--
Scall5