Ok, so first off... I dropped the ball on this blog series. Last entry 2016 = fail. So I'm getting things back on track by talking about the autobiography of Bill Bruford. You can pick it up on Amazon, (Prime) or if you get lucky like me, the shelves of Cheap Thrills here in Montreal. [...]

aka Drum Dances Mov. 1 by John Psathas Having very recently picked up my first electronic drumset, the Yamaha DTX920k, I thought I'd record Drum Dances, a piece I originally recorded acoustically for my album 'Katana of Choice - Music for Drumset Soloist'. My acoustic setup included a collection of Splash cymbals, China, 2 Crashes [...]

Recording for Katana of Choice by Nicole Lizée is just around the corner.  The title track to my solo drumset album is a concerto for drumset and percussion quartet. I'll be joined by the one and only TorQ Percussion ensemble with Ray Dillard producing at Canterbury Music Company studio in Toronto. Here's a clip of my solo [...]

I’ve been doing the same drumset warm up for the past 5 years and probably will continue for as long as I can hold sticks. I figure, don’t mess with a good thing! My initial interest in this particular exercise came from my decision to learn the drumset solo Ti-Re-Ti-Ke-Dha (1979) by James Dillon (check out [...]

One session down (I'll post clips from the Ligeti/Cossin session soon) and I'm pumped to be onto the next one this Monday. Up next is Architek's (well... really Ben Duinker's) arrangement of Drum Dances by John Psathas. Back in the day I recorded two movements of this work with my friend and killer pianist Andy [...]

I am thrilled to be including a new arrangement of "Drum Dances" by John Psathas on my upcoming album Katana of Choice: New Works for Drumset Soloist. Originally for drumset and piano, this will be the premiere recording of Architek Percussion's very own arrangement for drumset and keyboard percussion. Architek member Ben Duinker has done an amazing [...]

This morning I've been re-exploring the amazing collection of The Ludwig Drummer magazines that were compiled and reissued by Centerbook Publishing. As mentioned in the preface, The Ludwig Drummer was published intermittently for over fifty years, starting in the mid-1920s. Articles focus on many areas of percussion: performance, pedagogy, percussion ensemble, orchestral, marching, drumset, keyboard, recording techniques. I became obsessed with this [...]

I’m gearing up for my first of many recording sessions for my upcoming album Katana of Choice: New Works for Drumset Soloist. On May 6th I’ll join David Cossin at his home studio in New York City to record the drumset duet “Lakoni in Kazonnde" by composer, Lukas Ligeti. David and I have performed this [...]

It is finally going to happen... I begin recording my first album of drumset repertoire in a few months! Thanks to the support of The Canada Council, my new album "Katana of Choice - New works for solo drumset" will be available hopefully by fall 2016. Music and performers will include: Train Set by Eliot [...]

It has been 2 months since the release of Nicole Lizée's "Bookburners" LP and CD. Check out "Son of the Man with the Golden Arms" here: http://youtu.be/s8rsNGt86ss and get the studio version here: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/nicole-lizee-bookburners/id938762960