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Tuesday, 06 October 2009 00:00 |
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“Skeletons in the Closet Tour 2009” - October 6th, Seattle, Washington
By: Derrick Nau of Skeletonwitch
 Back in Seattle. We recorded out latest release Breathing the Fire (out October 13th) so coming back to Seattle was like a weird homecoming. Good to be back. We picked up the new record today and I am super excited about how good the vinyl looks. Gatefold and everything man. I am stoked. We had them shipped to our friend and producer Jack Endino and it was great to see him again. Quirky son of a bitch!
Working with Jack was great. We had five days to record the drums this time, instead of two, the studio we were in was awesome (studio litho). The sound Jack got was so natural; it sounded like a person playing drums in a room instead of a typewriter or something. Hats off to Jack Endino! I think most modern metal records’ production is heading in the wrong direction. The drums are so perfect and all sound the same. I like a little more character, I like to be able to listen to the record and imagine the drummer sitting in the room next door playing his ass off.
Last time we were in Seattle we made up some stupid bullshit Broadway song about it. Singing in annoying vibrato: “Here in Seeeaatttlllleee! Get a Macciatoooooooo!” We are mature adults.
The show was cool. Seattlites definitely rival the shit house Canadians. The Showbox is a cool venue but there are too many rules about where you can and can’t have beer and such. I love going out into the crowd drinking a few beers and talking to anyone who feels like hearing me blather about some dumb shit. Hah. I don’t like it when the venue tries to keep the fans and the band away from each other. Fuck that. So all you readers, (all three of you) don’t be shy, I’m not as pretty as the rest of the guys but you can still buy me beers. Ladies (all zero of you) I’m a perfect gentleman! (be sure to leave your boyfriend at home).
I managed to sneak some beers in my pants out to the drinking area and drank with some friends I met on the Danzig tour. We got pretty loaded doing shots and began shouting about how big our muscles were and “hhnngggggnobigdeal!” I don’t think security liked us much. I came back stage to smuggle another beer and I caught Nate and Scott midway into a photo shoot. Nate was modeling his newest fashion idea: the triangle top. Genius.
I’m finishing this up on the way to Portland. Another great city! We have been to the Roseland and few times and it is always a good time. I recommend the strip club Mary’s the chicks there got serious style! Last time I was there I think I spent about $300 or so. Yikes!
D
p.s. At the end of the night security walked into our dressing room and asked, disgusted “Do you think you guys could have trashed this a little more?” and I glibly replied “Yep!”
p.p.s. We had some extra food at the end of the night so we gave it away to the homeless folks out front
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Monday, 05 October 2009 00:00 |
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“Skeletons in the Closet Tour 2009” - October 5th, Vancouver, BC
By: Derrick Nau of Skeletonwitch
 Today, sadly, is our last day in Canada. The great land of maples has been very good to us and I’m torn between being bummed about leaving and stoked to be coming back to the good ol’ USA! Everything is expensive in Canada, especially smokes, but the fans are fucking awesome. It’s great to see a room full of people who are so genuinely excited to be at a show and supporting heavy metal! We have never been to most of these places in Canada but the rooms are full and the kids are rabid when we take the stage. It’s an awesome feeling.
We are playing at the Commodore Ballroom this evening and I’m hoping it will be a blow out. I need to go right now for sound check, but I’ll finish this afterward...
I am now sitting in a Flying J restaurant eating hash browns and drinking coffee trying to remember what happened to me last night. The show was killer and I think the band played really well. Then disaster struck. Well, not exactly. We had some vodka and jager from the night before and that got sucked up pretty quickly. We were all feeling pretty buzzed up and then Bodom decided to up the ante. We have been hanging out with them on and off during this tour but last night was the big leagues. Alexi started pouring shots of Jameson and Henkke made sure I never had less than two beers at a time. I’m surprised I didn’t leave all of my belongings in the dressing room. I’d shit my pants if I could not play Zelda for the DS in the van.
Bodom got us drunk. Chance and I had a food fight and were whipping oranges at each other all over the venue. I think Chance juiced an orange all over my shoes while I wasn’t paying attention and I sent a hail of pulpy missiles at him. None of them hit of course. Bodom got us drunk remember? Chance and I have a habit of throwing shit at each other when we are drunk. Weird.
The Black Dahlia Murder used their heads and had left by this point. So of course we ransacked all their catering and demolished whatever they had left. I think that’s what led to someone (who shall remain nameless) throwing up between the van and trailer, which I pissed on to “wash it away.”
OK. Time to go. I immediately fall into a drunken sleep (probably with my mouth wide open catching flies) on my bench seat and we drove the short distance to our hotel. I don’t remember any of this. Apparently I refused to leave the van again. Nate was shaking me and shouting at me to go into the hotel. I was trying to be sneaky and would slowly pull my sleeping bag back over my head (if I did it slowly, he wouldn’t notice right?) Eventually I think he tried to pick me up out of my seat and I struggled with him and told him to “fucking relax man!” This probably annoyed him because he then said something along the lines of “well fuck you then,” and slammed the door and went inside.
I woke up bleary eyed and confused with no idea where I was. I was wrapped up in a tangle of everyone else’s sleeping bags but mine and a wicked headache. I earned it I suppose. Seattle or bust!
D
p.s. Bodom got us drunk
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Sunday, 04 October 2009 00:00 |
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“Skeletons in the Closet Tour 2009” - October 4th, Day Off
By: Derrick Nau of Skeletonwitch
 So… knowing that I had a day off today, last night I ended up totally loaded on Jagermeister. Always a great idea. I woke up at the hotel with Scott shaking me awake in the van. I think I told him something along the lines of “ffhuck off shhscott, right hear issh where I am and heresh where I'm gonna sleep!” It was definitely below freezing and he talked me into coming inside. I put my shoes on the wrong feet and stumbled inside. I think I talked some more shitty gibberish to the other guys and feel asleep on the floor somewhere. Classic.
I woke up today feeling pretty good though. I watched They Live on my laptop and it was horrible and great. Roddy Piper at his finest. We made a pit-stop at a Wal-Mart today and we saw an older man working on those things that you put your shopping cart in. Suddenly the entire thing toppled over and I thought he should have the thought bubble above his head “Awww Shit!”
Most of today I spent reading the Motley Crue book The Dirt. Although I’ve read the Heroin Diaries I am still pretty blown away but their insanity. I don’t know how they lived through it. Makes me want to redouble my efforts, or not.
Nothing too exciting going on today. The Canadian Rockies were cool and I kept hoping I’d see a bear in mid-swipe catching some salmon in the rivers, but no luck. Maybe tomorrow.
D
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Saturday, 03 October 2009 00:00 |
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“Skeletons in the Closet Tour 2009” - October 3rd, Edmonton, AB
By: Derrick Nau of Skeletonwitch
 I'll start today with an example of how dumb endless hours in the van can make you. As we we’re leaving the venue last night Metallica’s “King Nothing” came on the radio. I was kind of drunk and I thought it would be funny to make up new lyrics about shitting your pants, and in a very clever moment, I changed the title to “King Butt Cheeks.” Skeletonwitch and BDM shared a greenroom today and we all sat around and added butt cheeks to Metallica songs: “Master of Butt Cheeks,” “Trapped Under Butt Cheeks,” “Hit the Butt Cheeks,” “The Four Butt Cheeks,” “Enter Butt Cheeks,” “Jump in the Butt Cheeks,” ad nauseum . Hilarity ensued.
Anything to occupy the mind I guess.
The place we played today is nestled in the largest mall in North America. Evan (our bass player) and I wondered around in the China Town area of the Mall. Seriously, this place is mind boggling. They had all kinds of stuff which I’ll never understand the appeal of: pig snouts, chicken feet, fish heads, and all kinds of weird little shellfish. It smelled like my cats breath. Yuck. We did get some good Vietnamese food and I got Sriracha in my eye. Fuck!
The show was great, a lot of kids and they were super energetic. I even heard someone yell “you’re drummer is a god.” How wrong is that guy?! AMIRITE!? Chance (our singer) then called me a “Hobbit looking son of a bitch,” which I’m sure made all the ladies swoon. Met some cool folks out the merch area and drank too much Jagermeister. Again. At least there is a day off tomorrow.
Now, back to warming up. I sit on a chair or my throne and start pretty slowly and just do some kind of 8th note pattern with both feet. I slowly speed up and angle my ankle back and forth so some of the time my entire foot including my heel is touching the ground and some of the time only the balls are touching. This seems to work pretty well, it stretches the muscles I use to play enough to make feel comfortable on stage. Right at the end of my session I’ll try to bash the ground as hard as I can to get really fired up before we play. You gotta get MEAN!
D
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Friday, 02 October 2009 00:00 |
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“Skeletons in the Closet Tour 2009” - October 2nd, Calgary, AB
By: Derrick Nau of Skeletonwitch
 Today we are playing a venue that is smack in the middle of the sprawling campus of the Unversity of Calgary, The MacEwan Hall Ballroom. 1700 or so presales I’ve been told, and I believe it, this place is huge. Nate (our red haired bear of a guitar player) commented “they could build airplanes in here,” and I think he is right. Tonight was a lot of fun is what I’m getting at.
There was a pretty good party in the Black Dahlia Murder dressing room which was cool. Some people from Prosthetic Records and Metal Blade made the trek up to hang out. Dave Ellefson happened to be there too which is fucking cool. We had a bunch of Budweiser, Vodka, and some Canadian beer called Kokanee. Kokanee kind of tastes like swill and that’s why I like it.
So I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time talking about drinking. Maybe I should elaborate that catching a buzz isn’t the only thing I do on tour. I never drink before I play and I always spend about an hour before we go on warming up. I warm up my hands and feet for about thirty minutes each if I can. I have some of the Vic Firth Corpsmaster practice sticks (you know, the ones with the rubber practice pad material tips). I think they are cool and are really good for getting that burn going in your fore-arms, but, I prefer to warm up with the sticks that I am going to use onstage. I think a lot of drummers are pretty superstitious about what makes them play well, and I am definitely one of these. I worry if I warm up with different sticks it will give me a false sense of security and then when I get up there to play it’s as though I hadn’t ever hit a drum before.
I usually start my hands on the practice pad and do 8’s, 12’s, 16’s, 32’s …etc. I’ll run through paradiddles (doubles and triples too), single stroke rolls, and doubles. I try to keep my stick height to full strokes through all of this to really get stretched out. You want to hit your drums, not tap them after all! I will then remove my practice pad from the equation and try to find something like a couch cushion or a padded chair to pound on. Eliminating the stick’s ‘return bounce’ in your warm up I think really builds control and finger strength. Sometimes if I can’t find anything to bash on I will just swing my sticks in the air, propelling them with my fingers only and I think this works pretty well. Maybe this stuff is all common knowledge but I’ve never been much of an instructional dvd watcher or magazine reader so I just come up with stuff on my own that makes sense or borrow ideas from other drummers on tour.
I don’t want to bore you readers too much so I’ll get to my feet exercises tomorrow. Plus, there is a fridge full of beer eyeing me right now and I think I need to make sure it knows who is boss.
D
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Thursday, 01 October 2009 00:00 |
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“Skeletons in the Closet Tour 2009” October 1st, Saskatoon, SK
By: Derrick Nau of Skeletonwitch
 Well, I suppose I should introduce myself for the multitudes of you who have no idea who I am. My name is Derrick Nau, but most people call me Mullet Chad (I’ll explain that later) and, most importantly, I play drums in the band Skeletonwitch. We are on tour with Children of Bodom and Black Dahlia Murder right now; we’ve been travelling with them since September 18.
It has definitely been a blast so far. We started in Providence, RI and then made our way up into Canada, got drunk there for about five days, dipped back into the US, got even more drunk there, then headed back to the land of the maple leaf. Oh yeah, we played some kick ass shows along the way.
The folks on this tour are a solid bunch of heavy metal animals. Everyone has been super cool and that is always a great perk when you’re out on the road. Not only is everyone cool, but I get to watch Shannon Lucas and Jaska Raatikainen nail it every night. Not too shabby. It’s been a pretty relaxing, laid back tour, with plenty of time for set up, sound check, and hanging around watching paint peel. Err I meant practicing.
I am playing on my usual rig this tour: a ’95 Pearl Export six piece. Two 22” Kicks, 10, 12, 14” toms, and a Trick 13” Snare. I am using my Trick Pro1-V pedals, Meinl Cymbals, and Vic Firth 3AN sticks. I use a 16” Mb10 heavy crash, a 17” Soundcaster Custom powerful crash, a 14” Mb10 medium top hi-hat with a heavy bottom hat, a 22” Mb10 heavy ride, and last but not least an 18” Mb8 China.
We drove through eight hours of rain today on our way from Winnipeg to Saskatoon. Well, actually Nate (one our guitarists) drove and I sat in the back seat and played video games. Tough day let me tell you. Today we are playing at the Odeon Events Centre. We got into the venue at 4:30 pm mountain time and sound check took forever due to some kind of phantom power issue. Whenever there is a problem its always due phantom power it seems. Needless to say my drum tech is in big trouble. Well, time to get my warm up in.
I tried to keep this first tour diary/blog entry short, but I guess it turned out to be kind of long. You now know a couple things about me, but there will be much more to come. This tour is going be a ton of fun and I’ll let you in on all the secrets.
P.s. Yes Alexi does indeed shred.
D
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