Tony Royster With ASAP

Tony Royster with ASAP, this is very nice.

spanky, that was killin ! Glad to see what Tony has progressed to with his playing. Smokin. I'm gonna look for some more ASAP. Thank you for that !







Peace, TED

Usually Tony's playing bores me, but this was fun though still a bit over the top for me in the groove sections. Nice to see and hear him actually working within the confines of some music. I wasn't all that thrilled with the tune, but Tony was fun... Kudos.

See, this is what I can't get my head wrapped around.... but I guess that's how it's done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZI9YvM02L8

Yeah I saw that one before Don, young people like that stuff, and a lot of it is for show, with feel to it too. I have noticed that young people like to see drummers exert a lot of energy, like the drummer Thomas Pridgen, for the rock group, The Mars Volta, now this guy puts out some force and he is good at it, and the people love it. There is also a video where Thomas plays with Tony on Gospel Chops, I will see if I can find it. Found it. I think that Tony Royster's playing with ASAP, was top notch playing, that's just my opinion. Tony is a certain kind of drummer and I can get into him, because I understand him. I can't do all of what he does, but I can feel and understand him to the max, and it is the same with Thomas Pridgen. What I mean is, I understand what they are trying to, and do project. But they are not for everybody, but I think Tony is one of the best drummers on the planet, and for what 26 year old Thomas does for his type of music, with The Mars Volta, he is one of the best.






Now the new Mars Volta drummer does not make any sense, this is to much energy, and at the end of the show he is bent over the drums, in exhaustion. The New drummer is in the 3rd video. He is hitting them drums way to hard, but young people like to see that stuff.

I've been doing this quite a long time, Spanky. And I recognize that Tony has chops. but he's FAR from being one of the best on the planet.... Not even close! All I've ever heard him do is play chops. One dimensional. You listen to all the diverse music out there and all the different ways to approach playing it, And in the end you realize that Tony Royster has touched on almost nothing. How is he in jazz or playing a slow ballad, or playing in a situation where he may barely be noticed but the music is escalated to unbelievable heights because of the ability to play like that? Steve Gadd is a master at this. Tunes like "50 ways to leave your lover" and "Aja".

Billy, Dennis, the same kinda thing.

I'm just not one to get caught up in all the chops fest hoopla. To me, the best drummers are the ones that can blend so well that they really make the music come alive. All the look at me playing just bores me. Granted, Tony did a good job with this ASAP clip but it's pretty par for the course when it comes to what he does. Nothing surprisingly new or unexpected. He's been doing this stuff since age 12 at least, and there's been virtually and maybe even literally no change in his diversity (or lack of it) in what he does behind the drum set. There is a vast gap between really being able to play and being popular and marketable. It's a sad thing that most of the really good players struggle just to make ends meet.... Money, money, money!!!!

As for those clips... There can't be any playing longevity in that.... Just plain stupid in my opinion.

I've seen that gospel chops clip before... Haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Maybe I should have said, at doing what he does, because this cat can do some chops, and he can play straight jazz and stuff with out all the chops, he just refuses to do so. I like chops, but they have their place. But on the ASAP, thing I think he did a excellent job. But as for me learning all kinds of stuff to do with drums, and stuff I have never heard or thought of before, I learn a lot from this cat, as I do with other cats.

Spanky,

I hear you and understand. You like what you like, man, and that's all good. I just think that putting him in a class as a world class player is a bit premature. Billy is a world class player.... WHATEVER musical situation you put him in, he's gonna make it work. and he's going to play for the music.

The way I see it there are two classes of players. There are those that find musical situations that best suit them where they shine the brightest, where they can hit the hardest and play the fastest and the loudest. And then there are the ones that have the midas touch and they make whatever musical situation they find themselves in work and work well, chops or no... In my personal opinion, the latter are the ones that are the true genuine world class players...

Heck, you can go on youtube and find kids barely out of diapers blowing tremendous chops. In the grand scheme of things all it says is that they have chops. I'd just like to hear some of these kids play some real music without beating the hell out of their drum kits. Sometimes the softest voice makes the more powerful sound.

Don have you seen this yet ? I just ran across it.

Dennis Chambers/Billy Cobham/Tony Royster, Jr.: Common Ground Inspiration
http://www.amazon.ca/Dennis-Chambers-Billy-Cobham-Royster/dp/B0001NBLMM

I have that DVD. Tony does a nice job on it. I couldn't get behind what Dennis did. Billy is a one on one interview only, no playing.

that ones been out for about 8 years at least spanky ! It's where most of us first heard of Tony royster, at least I did.







Peace, TED

I never knew about it, go figure.