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The Primus auditions were a niche-international-sensation. Thousands of audition videos from all over the universe were all over social media, featuring at least 3 podcast guests and some of my favorite drummers throwing their hats in the ring for this beloved band.
Over the past few months, the band itself has released edited versions of all the finalists’ auditions, including that of (spoiler alert) eventually “winner” John Hoffman. And podcast guests Thomas Pridgen and Stan Bicknell also did amazing jobs!
The subject of today’s video is primarily what I learned from Thomas’ audition, and in particular from a seemlingly-offhanded comment Les Claypool and Ler LaLonde made about it. Yes, I’m going to tease you, and to find out, you’ll have to watch the video! Sorry!
But I will go into what that comment inspired. Because it turns out it’s a concept I’d been toying with ever since my latest Meinl video came out.
And it has to do with something very fundamental to humans: what makes us Dance.
How do you play an accent pattern on the drums that, in principle at least, sounds more “danceable” than some others. It’s not as easy as it seems, because you’re dealing with improvisation. So it’s a little like “how do you remember this thing in a dream”.
Luckily, I’ve been workshopping this all winter. In the Cave.
And in this video, I’ll also “unveil” some of the latest “8020 sh@#” that’s been working for me and my students.
It all started with something Les said in the Primus auditions. If you’re curious how it all fits together, I invite you to take the ride.