This coming Thursday night I will be playing Steven Adler in The Rocket Queens!

The Rocket Queens is a world class Guns N Roses tribute band. Oh, yeah, AND it’s an
all-female band. Well, except for me in this case. I DID offer to dress in drag (I really did–I’m not joking), but Lily Maase, the band’s leader and guitarist who easily rips the guitar leads in her role of Slash (no small feat, mind you), quickly declined. I think she somehow noticed that I would not be a “passable” cross-dresser.

The Rocket Queens’ Axl and Slash!

So, we’ll be playing a healthy dose of “Appetite,” plus more goodies that you’ll know and love.

We’re playing on the Rocks Off Cruise, a luxury party boat that motors around Manhattan while you drink.

Here are the Details:

• When: Thursday, August 21, 2014. The boat boards at 7pm and departs at 8pm
• What: Rocks Off! Concert Cruise Aboard The Jewel
• Where: The luxury yacht named “The Jewel” which ports at the Skyport Marina on East 23rd St. & FDR Drive (the east river) Map & Directions
• PURCHASE Tickets Here Via Paypal

There are cash bars on board so make sure to swing by the ATM on your way to the boat. There will be food available for purchase. All cruises are 3 hours unless otherwise noted. If you have any questions about the show or your purchase, please contact Sancho Dominguez at sancho@rocksoff.com or check out our FAQ page on www.rocksoff.com

Please note that all shows are 21 and over and ID will be required upon boarding the boat

*RAIN OR SHINE!*

So, don’t miss this. Party with me and an all female Guns N Roses band that rips it. And…as a BONUS…Andrea Montgomery from MANCIE is playing Izzy.

On Saturday August 9th, I will be playing drums on a recording session for artist Noah Thomas at the famed Inner Ear Recording Studios in Arlington, Virgina. Noah is a very talented artist and he is being produced by Don Zientara. There is a lot of great history at Inner Ear.

Here are just a few of the artists that have recorded there:

• Foo Fighters
• Minor Threat
• Fugazi
• Bad Brains
• Jawbox
• Shudder To Think
• OAR
• Bob Mould
• Bikini Kill
• Jimmy Eat World
• White Zombie
• Mobius Strip
• John Frusciante
• Holy Ghost

By the way, Don Zientara, who originally opened this studio in his basement, is well known not only as a producer of many of these bands, but as a friend of the music community in general. He is an important figure in the history of independent music and continues to produce and make music at Inner Ear. He recently produced a track that will be on the Foo Fighters upcoming album, “Sonic Highways.”

Updates as they develop.
 

I am not in NYC as I write this but my friend Lauren Stockner keeps telling me people are texting her the word “dolphin” and she wants to know why.

It’s because we described her as a “dolphin” in the Q&A we did for The Music Building feature we did in The Deli Magazine that just hit the street a few days ago.

Here’s a photo:

Thanks to Roget Lerner of The Music Building for making this happen.

It excites me to be able to play different styles of music. I’ve always felt that being able to play many varied styles well would allow me to play with more people. Plus, I love so many different styles of music and I just plain love music so much that it was easy to immerse myself that way.

So, here in this first of a new series I’m calling “Feldie’s Featured Tracks,” I present two tracks on opposite sides of the spectrum.

First, is my jazz trio, The MF3, with a version of “The One Step,” one of my favorite Chick Corea songs (the original, of course, featured Steve Gadd, one of my drumming heroes). We recorded this in 2010, the year that I began working intensely with jazz drumming great John Riley to get my jazz playing together. I was really lucky to have Kerong Chok on piano and Desmond White on bass for this recording session.

Here goes:

Now let’s go literally to the other side of the moon. I’ve played a decent chunk of shows with Electric Black Horse, a wonderfully over the top metal band. Their music is firmly based on the circus antics and music of KISS and Queen. KISS was one of my favorite bands growing up and I took my share of criticism and mockery for being a fan as a youngster. But I never apologized. As a thirteen year old, I walked from the apartment I lived in with my parents to Madison Square Garden, where I scalped a ticket to see KISS. I went by myself, and I sat in the 16th row on the floor right in front of the stage. It was one of the best concerts I have ever seen in my entire life.

So, here I am playing drums with Electric Black Horse, on their track “Cheap Party Favors,” from their EP of the same name. And yes, the album cover is clearly a tribute to the art from KISS’s “Rock N Roll Over.”

Hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoy playing!

Last night I was out for dinner with my girlfriend Andrea and our friend Birdie, who happens to be an astrology expert.

“You know,” Birdie said, “tonight the moon is out for you–something good is going to happen.” I don’t really believe in Astrology, but there was something about the moon and the fact that I’m a Sagitarius that meant Birdie predicted I would have some good fortune coming my way.

We sat down to dinner, I glanced at my phone, and noticed that the good people at Vic Firth had posted my little 15 second video, which I also included in a blog post here a couple of weeks ago.

The power of social media becomes much more apparent when you are given a platform. With almost 40K followers on Instagram and 700K likes on Facebook, Vic Firth, the #1 stick manufacturer in the world, whose sticks I’ve proudly endorsed for over twenty years, definitely has a platform. So when they posted my video on Instagram and Facebook, stuff happened quickly.

I could hardly believe the speed with which I received over 1,000 likes on both Instagram and Facebook. PS…I think Twitter is dying….no one seems to respond to anything on Twitter anymore.

Here are the photos. Facebook is on the left, and Instagram on the right. As seen on my iPhone.

That was an awesome lift to my day. Maybe there IS something to this astrology stuff after all. Hmmmm.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the remote studio drumming venture that Ben Rice and I have been working on together.

We will be creating professional quality custom drum tracks and making them available to producers and musicians here in New York AND around the world.

The live drum tracking will take place at Degraw Sound, the recording studio that Ben owns and operates in Brooklyn, New York.

We are in the process of figuring out the pricing and the details of the work flow and production.

We don’t have an official launch date, but we are working diligently to get this service ready as soon as possible.

Very exciting. Stay tuned.

Here’s a video I just recorded for Vic Firth’s new “15 Seconds With…” series that they’ve been promoting with their artists. Hope you like it. Short and sweet.

It is with great excitement that I tell you about the new online/remote session drumming option that I will be offering shortly.

I am working with Ben Rice, an amazing audio engineer, Pro Tools expert and the owner of Degraw Sound in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Ben and I have a history of working together over the past few years. I have done a bunch of recording sessions at his studio.

This will allow you to have me play drums on your recording no matter where you are in the world.

We’ll be doing the recording at Ben’s studio, Degraw Sound, a fully equipped facility with top notch gear.

Take a look at the photo above for a view of Ben’s Trident Series 24 Console. Nice, huh?

More details to come shortly…

Thought I would share this solo from last Thursday’s show at Spike Hill. It’s from our version of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want To Make Love To You.” The song has a long history. Many great artists have covered the song: Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones, Etta James, Meat Puppets, April Wine, Foghat, The Yardbirds, The Kinks and The Grateful Dead. There are more.

Our version is more like the Foghat version; it’s on the heavier side.

I will often solo at the end of the song. The solo is “open,” meaning that the time is free. There doesn’t have to be a real pulse in an open solo. In rock, I think of John Bonham’s solo from the end of Led Zep’s “Rock N Roll” as a good example of this type of solo.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Here goes…..

Writing with WordPress for iPhone (yes, I am a dork!) from the fabulous DeGraw Sound here in Brooklyn. MANCIE is recording a new track, “Time Is All We Have,” with Aaron Shadwell producing and Ben Rice engineering.

Here is a shot of me and Andrea Montgomery relaxing between takes.

The song is coming out really well…. Can’t wait to hear the finished master….