House of Drumming.com

Rodge wrote:I respect him, Steve Smith too, for their dedication to the instrument, what amont of work for playing all those crazy things !!!
I respect that, really.

But I don't hear any music in his drumming, same for SS, saying this I have to give more credit to people like Dave, Gary, etc... Because they are truly some beautuiful musicians, and being a consumate musician is way harder than being an INCREDIBLE drummer.

Maybe it's cause you may not like the music he plays? I have been a TIna Arena fan since the mid 90's and Virgil played great live with her. But Virgil tends to play music that is on the loud side. I saw him with Soul Circus and the bass and guitar were so loud, Virgil had to club his drums to be heard. A lot of dynamics get lost. Just like with Holdsworth. The volume is too loud. I would like to hear Virgil play in a more acoustic setting with more dynamics.

Novak doesn't play that loud when he was playing with Allan, and I love's Allan's music.

But don't get me wrong, I really have a huge respect for Virgil.

Highlights from Haslip/Holdsworth/Donati in Amstelveen.
The sound is a bit distorted but nothing too bad.

I think that, rhythmically speaking, Virgil really fills in the gaps nicely and suits this gig very well. Obviously Allan likes playing with him and Haslip seems to feed off of Virgil a bit too. He’s certainly got his thing going on and I think in this sort of setting and because the other guys in the band are so bloody good it’s fun/easy for them to let him do his thing- I think it forces them to play differently in a good way. I like seeing Virgil playing the ride a bit more too.

I have a hard time getting into Virgil because honestly the stuff he does completely goes over my head.

Are there any clinic clips where he actually explains/breaks down some of his chops?

BTW, what ride is Virgil using for this gig with Allen?

Love the latest clip posted. Would love to see more of that show. Starting to love Vigils playing. He fits right in with Allen and his tunes. Thanks for posting.

LinearDrumma wrote:I have a hard time getting into Virgil because honestly the stuff he does completely goes over my head.

Are there any clinic clips where he actually explains/breaks down some of his chops?

If you go back in this thread to my initial post there are two clips I think fit that request.
The one called Virgil warm up, and the Chicago Clinic Demonstration one has some explanation of some
of the things Virgil is most notoriously known for: Absurd double bass drum control and vicious hand/foot combos
while messing with the time.

BTW Virgil will be touring back home later this summer with possibly THE strongest fusion outfit, OTV, this
time 'round with Doug Shreeve on bass. If any footage appear, I suspect it to be absolutely lethal stuff.

Cymbalfeltfetishist wrote:BTW, what ride is Virgil using for this gig with Allen?

- a light ride to be specific. These days he usually alternates between the light and the medium, but as you can see from
the stacked cymbals, he is not one to shy away from experimenting with different cymbal setups.

I like the sound of Virg with Allen, I'm really enjoying the vids. It's a good fit. The Protocosmos intro is slick. I was looking for a playalong minus drums version of Protocosmos. Anyone seen one ( Google failed me )?