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I've formed a new band with good vocal capacities to play songs I always liked but never could play in other bands because of vocals.
Gowan's Criminal Mind is one of them and as I was thinking about ways to make it sound less electronic, I found this Styx version with Gowan.
This is it! So powerful with dramatic playing by Todd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFjaIlp74A

Hey Tombo,

Thanks, man. That was from 10 years ago! Definitely a "Styx" version of that one. Jerry Marrotta and Tony Levin played on the record version that Gowan recorded at Tittenhurst Park. (John Lennon's old estate that belonged to Ringo at the time.) Last year I did two solo shows in Canada with Gowan and we did the entire Strange Animal record and it was quite a challenge to replicate Jerry's unique drumming. Very quirky and lots of unexpected things in the parts. I'll be doing at least two Gowan gigs in March--and hopefully there will be possibly five or six altogether. Thanks for posting that and happy new year to you!

Todd

Wow, beautiful playing by all.

wow that was great! I've always loved Gowan's stuff - nice to hear that tune again. It's been a favorite of mine for years.
Indeed, great playing by everyone too!!

that drum sound is epic.

drums sound good. sounds like triggers on those toms. lots of tone coming out from those things. todd's hitting pretty hard there. love it.

Todd,

Yes I remember that you said you were preparing for the Gowan shows at your last year's clinic in Quebec. How did the shows went?
Cool that that there will be more. Which cities will you be visiting?
Gowan has a huge fanbase here.

Happy holidays!

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

The Gowan shows were fantastic. They sold out in minutes and felt like it really was an event. As I said, we did the Strange Animal record in order and then did about another 9 tunes. We'll be doing the same thing (I think) in March where we'll do two or three dates at Fallsview (Toronto/Buffalo/Niagara market) and hopefully Montreal and Quebec City. We'll see what happens with the offers.

Oh, and there were no triggers on my dums....ever. Never used those for anything ever!

Cheers,
Todd

I would not want to try to replicate original Jerry Marotta parts, but I wouldn't want to try to replicate Todd Sucherman parts, either. LOL Great stuff, Todd.

JM is definitely coming from a different part of the brain than most other drummers. Both of the brothers, actually. I read they grew up with Andy Newmark, who is another great drummer who doesn't think like a drummer. So it must've been in the water there in town or something.

Jerry Marotta's unique style I think developed through his long collaboration with Peter Gabriel. Peter was into african/tribal music and didn't want any cymbal or hi-hat on his first albums. So Jerry had to come with a new approach to drumset playing. Also if any groove sounded like something he already heard he would ask Jerry to find something else. And the drums were mixed out front. Then other artists, like Gowan, wanted that sound from Jerry.