Say what you want about the band or even Tre; he has always been an inspiration in not only musicianship and ability, but also showmanship.  You can spin around up in the air on a drum riser all you want and that’s cool, but Tre knows how to shock, entertain, and captivate a crowd with little more then his drum set, sticks, and wit (sometimes a flame and some lighter fluid help too ala Woodstock).

Tre’s sense of humor is easily shown in the release of Greenday’s live DVD/CD release Bullet In A Bible in which most of the time he is being interviewed, he is in full Canadian Mountie uniform and not even acknowledging it.

At age 12 Frank was given the name Tre Cool by Lookout! Records owner Lawrence Livermore.

From Tre’s bio on greenday.net:

Tre decided to drop out of high school his sophmore year. However, he did pass an equivalency test and earned his GED, and he even began taking classes at a nearby community college. He had to drop out of college however, when the demands of Green Day’s touring intensified. Tre’s father, who owns a small trucking company, overhauled a used bookmobile, and even served as the driver on three seperate tours. “I watched them go from a bunch of kids to a group of musicians with work ethic,” says Tre’s father, Frank Wright. “On their first tour or two, it was more of a party than anything else. I still scratch my head and say, ‘How in the hell did they make it?’ They used to practice in my living room here — a lot of the songs they did on Dookie. You hear it coming together, and you don’t expect people are going to go out and buy it. But when it does, you just say, ‘Wow, that’s so cool.’” (Rolling Stone, January 26, 1995)

A quick search on youtube will yield tons of videos of Tre’s antics on and off the stage.

Tre has used the drums of different companies. Tré currently uses Leedy drums and Zildjian cymbals. In the past, he used DW,Ludwig and Slingerland drums, currently he is still listed as an endorser in Ludwig’s website.

Drum kit: Leedy custom maple set in White Marine Nitron with Remo heads

• 18″×22″ Bass drum
• 9″×13″ Tom
• 16″×16″ Floor Tom
• 16″×18″ Floor Tom
• 6.5″×14″ Leedy Broadway Standard Snare

Cymbals: Zildjian

• 14″ K Constantinople/Z Special hi-hats
• 19″ K Dark Crash Medium Thin
• 19″ A Medium Thin Crash
• 22″ A Deep Ride
• 21″ A Sweet Ride
• 20″ Oriental Classic China

Drumsticks: Zildjian Tré Cool Signature

So that’s my quick write up on the drummer that most influenced me to get behind a kit.  Let me know down in the comments section who it was that inspired you to start playing drums and why.

On September 29th 2009 the hardback edition of Stewart Copeland’s new book “Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies” will be released.  If you are a fan of Stewart’s or the police, the book looks like it will be pretty interesting.

From Amazon.com:

When Stewart Copeland gets dressed, he has an identity crisis. Should he put on “leather pants, hostile shirts, and pointy shoes”? Or wear something more appropriate to the “tax-paying, property-owning, investment-holding lotus eater” his success has allowed him to become? This dilemma is at the heart of Copeland’s vastly entertaining memoir-in-stories,Strange Things Happen. The world knows Copeland as the drummer for The Police, one of the most successful bands in rock history. But they may not know as much about his childhood in the Middle East as the son of a CIA agent. Or be aware of his film-making adventures with the Pygmies in the deepest reaches of the Congo, and his passion for polo (Brideshead Revisited on horses). In Strange Things Happen we move from Copeland’s remarkable childhood to the formation of The Police, their rise to stardom, and the settled-down life that followed. It ends with a behind-the-scenes view of The Police’s extraordinarily successful reunion tour. It’s a book of amazing anecdotes, all completely true, which take us backstage in a life that is fully lived.

I plan on getting the audio book as soon as it comes out. Since I don’t find much time to read, I like to listen to the books while driving.  If you are interested in getting your pre-order in you can Click Here to get it off of Amazon.

For more information on book signings and other appearances – check out Stewart Copeland’s official website www.stewartcopeland.net

Photo By maryelle st. clare on Flickr

Edit: I just noticed this was announced in Feb., but it looks like most of the offers still stand.

If you’ve been playing drums for any amount of time, you’ve had to of heard the name Josh Freese.  He’s played with everyone from Katy Perry, To Guns and Roses, To The Vandals, and Nine inch Nails.

Recently Josh has released his new CD – “From 1972″ and with this release has come a whole new way to sell CD’s.  Josh has setup a tiered pricing system that gets you everything from a digital download to

“Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from TOOL’s Lamborgini OR we play ‘quarters’ and then hop on the Ouija board for a while.”

Here is the way the pricing breaks down (remember some of these are limited so they may be sold out at the time of this posting)

• $7 – Get’s you the digital download
• $15 – Get’s you a CD/DVD Double Disc Set and the digital download
• $50 – Get’s you:
  • Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
  • T-shirt*
  • THANK YOU phone call, from josh, for buying “Since 1972″
• $250 – This Package Is Currently Sold Out… sorry
• $500 – Get’s you:
  • Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
  • T-shirt*
  • Signed Cymbal and sticks.
  • Meet me in Venice, CA and we go floating in a Sensory Deprivation Tank (filmed and posted on youtube).
  • Dinner at Sizzler (get your $8.99 Steak and “all you can eat” Shrimp on)
• $1,000 – Get’s you:
  • Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
  • T-shirt*
  • Signed Cymbal, Drum head and Drumsticks.
  • Josh washes your car OR does your laundry….or you can wash his car.
  • Have dinner with Josh aboard the “Queen Mary” in Long Beach, CA
  • Drinks at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach and afterwards cut each other’s hair in the parking lot of the Long Beach courthouse (filmed and posted on youtube of course)
• $2,500 – Get’s you:
  • Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
  • T-shirt**
  • I give you a drum lesson. Or (for all you non-drummers) I’ll give you a back and foot massage (couples welcome)
  • Pick any 1 member of the Vandals or DEVO (subject to availability) to accompany you and I to either the “Hollywood Wax Museum”. Or if you’re not into that we can do the lunch buffet at the “Spearmint Rhino”
  • A signed DW snare drum.
  • Take 3 items of your choice out of my closet (first come, first serve).
  • Change diapers and make bottles with me for an afternoon (preferably AFTER the lunch buffet at the Strip club).
• $5,000 – Get’s you:
  • Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
  • T-shirt **
  • I write a song entirely about you and put it up on Itunes (also on upcoming record that I’m working on now).
  • Then you and I “co-direct” a video for the song I write about you and throw it on youtube.
  • *I give you and a friend a private tour of Disneyland.
  • Have Blue Margaritas at El Torito. If you don’t drink we can go to my Dads place and hang out under the “Tuba Tree.”
  • Stone from Pearl Jam will send you a letter telling you about his favorite song on “Since 1972″
• $10,000 – Get’s you:
  • Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
  • T-shirt**
  • Go on Joe Escalante’s Indie 103.1 radio show and talk about the package you just purchased. Maybe even play a few hot tracks.
  • Signed DW snare drum from A Perfect Circle tour 2000-2001.
  • Drum lesson or his and hers foot/back massage.
  • We go to lunch at “Club 33″ (super exclusive, private restaurant at Disneyland located above the Pirates Of The Caribean) and hit a couple rides afterwards (preferably the “Tower Of Terror, The TIki Room and The Haunted Mansion”)
  • At the end of the day at Disneyland drive away in my Volvo. It’s all yours…..take it. Just drop me off at home on your way out though please.
• $20,000 – Sorry, this one is sold out too
• $75,000 – Get’s you:
  • Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
  • T-shirt**
  • Come out on tour with me for a few days.
  • I write, record and market a 5 song EP about you and your life story.
  • Take home any of my drumsets (only one but you can pick which one)
  • Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from TOOL’s Lamborgini OR we play “quarters” and then hop on the Ouija board for a while.
  • If you have a band, I’ll join it for a month….play shows, record a CD together, have a swim party, etc…. or none of the above. We could also just sit in yer basement and jam old Van Halen.
    OR…
    If you don’t have a band I’ll be your personal assistant for a month (4 day work weeks….10 am to 5 pm) and then we take a limo down to Tijuana and I’ll show you how it’s done (what that means I can’t legally get into here, right this minute).
  • If you don’t live in LA but are in the USA I will come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks.
  • Take a Flying Trapeze lesson together in the San Fernando Valley and then Robin from NIN and his wife make us raw lasagna.

If nothing else, I’m definitely going to grab the digital download since Josh has been one of my inspirations for years now… Any of you plan on spending big bucks to actually go and meet Josh? Let me know in the comments.

When I learned Moeller Whip I didn’t have the honor of learning if directly from the great Jim Chapin, but the person that taught me did.

Aside from his incredible talent and knack for teaching, Jim was a great role model to me in the sense that he didn’t really start playing drums until he was 18.

Now, I did start playing at a much younger age… but I took about 5 years off from playing drums and only got back into it about 2 years ago.  Since then I’ve been pushing my self harder to get back to the skill level I had once obtained.  Knowing that Jim was able to build such an incredible career for himself after starting at 18 has been a huge influence and pushes me to try harder every day.

Jim Chapin died in July of this year… living  just shy of 90 years old.  He will be remembered by many.  Modern Drummer gives us all a quick overview of the career of the Late, Great – Jim Chapin.

View the article from Modern Drummer by clicking here