Well ... guess who I saw last night?
I got a last minute call from a percussion friend of mine telling me that the band
Tunnels was in town, playing in a small club here in Nashville in less than two hours! Through the entire night, there could not have been more than 25 people there ... if that! Amazing.
Anyway, if you're not familiar with Tunnels ... you may be know of
Percy Jones, bassist and composer for the 70's English fusion band,
Brand X. Phil Collins played in this group, as well as Kenwood Dennard.
Tunnels- Marc Wagnon - MIDI Vibes (malletKAT)
- Percy Jones - fretless bass
- Frank Katz - drums
I had a nice talk with all of the musicians, and spoke at length with Marc and Frank.
Frank is a fine musician and has a real nice touch on the drums. He teaches at the Drummer's Collective in NYC when he's not on the road, and has a self-published book/CD coming out soon ... with plans of sending me a copy to review and hopefully available here at the Drummer Cafe. Incidentally, Frank studied with a variety of people ... one of which includes Kenwood Dennard. By watching and listening to him play, I was going to guess he had studied with Morello and/or Gottlieb ... so I think you get the idea ... WOW!
Drum wise, the night was full of syncopation and odd meter ... and I think I can count on two hands the number of times Frank used his toms. Kick, snare, ride cymbal, hihat ... with the occasional crash ... that about sums it up ... and I was never bored. If you like Jack DeJohnette or Tony Williams, you are going to dig Frank.
You need to check these guys out ... they'll be in a town near you very soon! I know they will be in Louisville, KY tonight!
To find out more, check out their own label:
www.BuckyBallMusic.comThey are re-releasing a lot of Brand X material as well.
