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Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:29 am
by willyz
Just my opinion- but I think he's absolutely right regarding the lack of innovation and progress in music. There really isn't many places left to go, if at all.

Everything is recycled, a lot of it is garbage, and there hasn't been anything 'new' and revolutionary in what, 20, 30 years?

I don't Jojo is applying the metaphor of innovation to himself to declare god-like status. I think it's that mentality that helps him ignore the bullshit and keeps him inspired to play. And, as it seems, in other parts of the world, he's really getting some notoriety.

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 12:50 pm
by Morgenthaler
willyz wrote:Just my opinion- but I think he's absolutely right regarding the lack of innovation and progress in music. There really isn't many places left to go, if at all.


That's really quite far out. Charles H. Duell has been credited of saying around 1900 that "Everything that is to be invented has been invented". How wrong were he?! There are millions of places to go.

willyz wrote:I think it's that mentality that helps him ignore the bullshit and keeps him inspired to play.


I think you're right there. And I think it's the only way to stay even a little innovative: To stop listening too much and start playing more.

I agree that Jojo is super innovative.
I don't agree that we're at the end of innovation. Far from it.

I think no one can claim to even check out 1% of every published piece of music every month.

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:49 pm
by Paul Marangoni
The danger with sites like YouTube, is that everyone ends up copying everyone else, so it's like a feedback loop where the end result is everyone sounding and playing the same things/way. Drummers didn't sound so much alike thirty years ago. Now everyone uses almost the same exact setup and tuning, on top playing similar grooves, fills, licks, etc.

I finished reading Mel Lewis' biography a few weeks ago. One thing that he said I found very interesting. He suggested listening to recordings of YOURSELF, rather than other drummers. It will result in you developing a stronger identity, because when you hear things that you play that you don't like, you will stop playing them. When you hear things you like, you will develop them further.

I do hear music and drumming moving forward, but aside from guys like Jojo and Mark Guiliana and a few others, it's just recycled stuff, possibly with better execution. Even Bill Stewart, who's playing I really dig, is just a fresh take on an existing vocabulary.

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:53 pm
by Julián Fernández
I bet Jojo is talking about mainstream music. In fact, in those clips you can tell there´s a massive Dubstep influence (which is a recent "discovery").
Jazz is always pushing the envelope... Zach with Mr. Barrington, Now vs. Now, Tigran, Sigur Ros, Bjork, Skrillex... Tons of new stuff.
On the other hand, when talking about Pop music, it seems that we´re still regurgitating The Beatles, The Who, Elvis, Stones and some of the other Giants.

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 8:41 am
by chrishitsthings
I think JoJo makes some good points, as have people replying to this... The whole "feedback loop" thing Paul mentioned is true... The art of drumming could be in danger of becoming one homogenised lump for sure. It's people like Zach, Mark, Chris Dave, JoJo and others who don't instantly spring to mind at present who people would benefit from transcribing to keep pushing the art forward (for whatever my opinion's worth... Just another anonymous guy behind a keyboard). I agree with what JoJo said elsewhere about using more vocabulary on a smaller setup and these are the guys that can do that. It's a very interesting topic either way...

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 8:49 am
by Old Pit Guy
The feedback loop was inevitable, I think, with youtube and net lessons. It's a group dynamic only larger. In school it was a lot like that. You have a bunch of guys coming from various musical backgrounds and playing experience thrown into a blender, and so many of them came out the other end playing and sounding similar. And it's much the same today. The hip stuff 30 years ago is still the hip stuff today. I hear it Greb's playing all the way to newer YT entries like Anika Nilles.

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:18 am
by Julián Fernández
I disagree about now more people playing more alike because of the internet... Now it´s easier to see cats playing the same stuff because everyone gets the chance to upload stuff... The were tooons of drummers for each Papa Joe, Max, Speedy Jones (let alone Buddy, Roy, Tony or Elvin) back in the day.
There will always be trends and most of us find our way inside that trend. Untill a unique cat comes along and shake things up. The spark that lights itself. :)

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 2:58 pm
by Pocketplayer
Love this line of conversation...
As far as I understood Steve Smith in the History of the US Beat, nothing is new since around '78
or so. I agree 100%. Listen to Led Zep I from 1969...written in 1968. What has changed in
rock n roll? I would argue things have regressed. Technology does not mean progression musically.

All pop music is basically the AABA format or a slight variation. Intro...verse..chorus...verse...chorus
...solo...chorus...end song. Boom. It is all about getting a new sound, usually in the guitar...I mean
drums are drums and bass is bass and keyboards, well, in the 80's they found a new sound, but don't really
hear much today different than what a keyboard should sound like.

The lead singer IS the quarterback of the band...that is the main difference. It's just life...after 40 years
of pop/rock music, where do you go? Rap broke through, but what else. Jojo tried to emulate the machine
influence and became a technique freak in the process, but in the end, if you just sound like a live version
of a machine, it is still the same musically. Of course there are nuances to all of this...this is a generalized
argument I am making.

Just my opinion- but I think he's absolutely right regarding the lack of innovation and progress in music.
There really isn't many places left to go, if at all.

--that said, I totally agree with this thinking.

Listening to EVHalen in Steve's post recently when asked about this topic, EVH said VH entered a world that
was disco and rock was dying out, BUT...VH played rock music similar to Led Zep w/Eddies stylized guitar
work and sound. It was still the AABA rock format. He really didn't break out with a new style of music at
all. His point was that music might have hit a road block today, but as VH broke out during a disco phase
so can another group today. My POV is yes, but it most likely will rehash the old rather than invent the new.
To a new generation it might sound new, but it isn't at all. The movie industry is in the same dilemma.
To a 15yo, CGI is normal, but in the end it is just a new way to make car chases easier to film or a fire escape,
or an explosion or a tidal wave more manageable. It is still the same effects MADE a new way! Because it is
new to a younger audience doesn't mean it is in any way ground breaking.

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 3:37 pm
by Paul Marangoni
Julián Fernández wrote:I disagree about now more people playing more alike because of the internet... Now it´s easier to see cats playing the same stuff because everyone gets the chance to upload stuff...


Huh? Didn't you just contradict yourself there? Where are people uploading the "same stuff" to if it's not the Internet?

Re: Jojo Mayer

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 4:02 pm
by Julián Fernández
Not at all... I´m saying that back in the day everyone was playing Gadd or Weck licks, but you didn´t have the chance to hear it unless you were at the gig at the rehearsal space with them... Now it´s more obvious, but it´s always about "leaders" and "followers"... The ones with a strong and unique vision, and us, mere mortals... :)