How to Cover By Fire by Hiatus Kaiyote - The 80/20 Drummer

Alright. I get it. For about the past year I've seen glimpses of this new band called Hiatus Kaiyote in my social media feeds. "Hmmm - lotta drum covers of these guys..."

But I couldn't be bothered. There gospel...um...idioms to be learned, I was a busy guy. What did I care what the hipsters were up to?

Serendipity found me when I needed some new music to listen to while working at a coffee shop. The bar had been getting pretty low. (The Lido cover, etc.) On a lark, I decided to check out this spacey band from Australia with the weird name and a lead singer with a penchant for welterweight headgear. And I'll be honest: I didn't get it at first. Like most of the deepest stuff, Hiatus didn't hook me from the get-go, then get boring fast. I was intrigued, and each subsequent listening revealed more layers.

So now I'm a fan. There are artists with deep music who are hopelessly pretentious. There are bands with a "devil may care" attitude, then their music sucks. Or they're nihilistic assholes. But I can see why the world's falling in love with Hiatus. They write and play their assess off. Their music is deep but joyful and unpretentious. And you get the sense they'd be cool to hang out with. Like, despite her many intimidating tattoos, Nail Palm (not her real name) would be nice to you if you ran into her at Quizno's.

So this week I bring you a cover of just one of Hiatus' many great songs: By Fire. There's so much depth in their catalogue I hope I eventually get around to covering many more standouts: Shaolin Monk Motherfunk, Breathing Underwater, The World It Softly Lulls, and Molasses just to name a few. (Those should get you started.)

Without further ado, the lesson!

N

Benny Greb Inspired Warmup - The 80/20 Drummer

Man am I excited to release the next two lessons.

The past few weeks have included a little travel and a lot of drumming. My lesson about Hiatus Kaiyote drops next week.

But today I want to share something a student inspired. One of my coaching students recently (or maybe not so recently by the time this airs) returned from a drum camp with Benny Greb. He (my student) was demonstrating some of Benny's permutation material, and that sent me on a deep dive checking out Benny videos.

As usual, the lesson's not a literal transcription of Benny so much as a concept inspired by the type of stuff he's doing. I'm not usually big on warmups. Anyone who's familiar with the channel knows that. But playing around with permutations and microtime in 6 led me to the discovery of the warmup in this lesson. And now I want to share it with you.

Attention to detail, guys! Make sure those limbs are locking up. Make sure those offbeats aren't rushing!

Enjoy this one. Back next week with the Hiatus cover.

N

Play The Hidden Camera like Richard Spaven - The 80/20 Drummer

Ok, I'm sold on Richard Spaven.

He actually had me at Jose James.

But his new cover of Photek's The Hidden Camera is fire.

One reason I like Richard so much is he applies creative constraints. All his innovation and creativity is focused into the name aperture of feel and phrasing. And it works.

For this lesson, I didn't transcribe Richard. I didn't even try to play exactly what he plays. Rather, I tried to capture how he feels.
 

Hope you enjoy!

N
 

How to Drum Cover Work by Rihanna - The 80/20 Drummer

Certain dream gigs you don’t need to justify. Erykah Badu. Lupe Fiasco. And, I humbly submit, Rhianna. Get beyond the obvious. I’m married. Really - I’m ashamed of you guys.

Rhianna actually has a long string of very drum-able hits. Drummers know what I’m talking about. A certain combination of tempo, texture and syncopation. You hate yourself for tapping along to Shut Up And Drive at the laundramat, or Umbrella at the gym, but you do it all the same. Oh, and Nick Smith and DMile covered Confidence, as if you needed another reason to appreciate Confidence. Out of the gutter, guys. I’m talking about the rhythm;)

Anyway, Work had all the hallmarks of drum-cover-gold: newness, being a killer song, and not having drums! God bless all these new albums with essentially drumless tracks. Drum Cover Christmas. So in this lesson I’ll take you through how to play the groove I played, and a little hot lick if you want to pull out your...chops.

Also, teaser: May is upon us, and that means Austin Clinic. I’ll be emailing shortly with more deets.

N