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Drums & Fire!

Started by TaAqPrMaSa, May 17, 2005, 09:09 AM

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oxford

I played at a big beach party when I was in my 20s and we had two drum sets set up. The guy next to me (pre-med student) wanted a big ending to "My Generation" so he made a smoke bomb, placed it on his floor tom and lit it at the end of the song. It was cool for about 15 seconds but the smoke began to overwhelm him and fill the big tent covering us, then his FT head caught on fire and things got outta hand as flames started to get going and the FT started burning. Next --  garden hoses are blasting his kit.

I had to bail because of the smoke and the party ended.

It was a cool ending but a bad idea.

ox

drumwild

In the clubs here, if you try to light a candle or incense, you are ejected and told to not return.

Dave Heim

Quote from: TaAqPrMaSa on May 18, 2005, 11:12 AM
i went here looking for answers and i got them but i was mostly looking for people that have done it before and i think one person said they had. i wanted to know what happened mostly and was thinking this through using the forum. i was almost positive the school wouldnt let me so i was mostly looking for answers to my questions.
check this out (thats not me btw)



It's good to have photos like this.  The insurance company will need them.

TaAqPrMaSa

so....drums....fire bad, drums good.

TaAqPrMaSa

though non intentionally i think i did good qwith my first post, 60 replies or so

Ranman

Ya, we are all trying to look out for you dude...Welcome to Drummer Cafe

Rhyvven

Somewhat surprised to see this thread still going - But good in a sense in that you were finally dissuaded from a stupid act. I understand that "youthful determination and need for acceptance thing",but since you are graduating High School - try and graduate from that too. I am pretty sure I read all the responses but I don't think I saw this mentioned:

It seems you did not even think about what would happen when you actually struck said drums and/or cymbals. Last time I checked these instruments tend to vibrate just a tad when struck. Being a near High School graduate I believe you can surmise what might have happened to the substance you applied to your instruments. One would think you would bring confirmation to "For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction" statement.

Glad to see a "spark" of common sense finally overtook you...........



....and hear I thought the Forum had become stale with many repetitive "non-searched" questions.....jeesh :P

James Walker

Quote from: Rhyvven on May 19, 2005, 07:22 AM....and hear I thought the Forum had become stale with many repetitive "non-searched" questions.....jeesh :P

I can see it now...six months hence...

"Does anyone know the exact temperature at which paraffin starts to burn?"

"Dude, c'mon - use the search engine - we've talked about this in the past..."  ;D

Steve Phelps (Shoeless)

Hey TaAqPrMaSa I've heard of this band that you'd be perfect for. They seem to have a problem holding on to drummers.

http://www.jotdot.net/joeandellen/images/spinaltap.jpg


felix

This was the FUNNIEST thread I've read here in a long time!

I've been in bands where we have used flash paper as cheap pyro and it does a good job.  You still need a small spark to get it to go off.

In reality- I would just play your solo without all the hooplah.  But if you want to- hell, go for it with alcohol/151 rum- that's what I'd do.  I'd combine it with some fog, black light and flash paper though.

JerBear

151 rum? Why waste it and besides he maybe under age. Now you have a under age pyro with booze. Save the flames and bring on the coca cola. ;D

TaAqPrMaSa

well...booze...uh. nah, i am good i know that and i was planning to rely on my skills and just add the effects but no one in the school has ever heard anything like this so i should be perfectly fine going on a suicidal drum solo. meaning im going to die trying my hardest, i get all pumped up when i play in front of people.

felix

That's what I'D do.   Just play.  Yeah, we NEVER drank 151 in high school.  WHAT was I thinking.

Jon E

Remember, it's not knowing how to set them on fire that is important.  It's knowing how to put them out!!

DougB

If you do go through with this, please follow proper ettiquette and provide enough marshmallows for everyone in the audience.      ;)

smoggrocks

wow, man -- you did do pretty good for a first post!

my first thought was that the idea wasn't good from a purely aesthetic standpoint, and that it'd just be too hot [temperature-wise] to play comfortably. but from a safety and logistics point, everyone here has brought up important issues.

i vote for flash paper, too. great effect, and no heat or flame. but you have to really time it well, because the light is intensely bright, and you can go blind for a while [if not forever].

in his recent book, pink floyd's drummer, nick mason, discusses all the hurdles he had to overcome in the early days of their stage pyrotechnics. everybody was always getting injured and burned, and with their crude equipment, they often couldn't pull off a lot of effects. later on, he had one rather groovy gong that had gas ignitors [as on a stove] built into the rim of the gong. it looks great, but i can only imagine the heat. in any event, it's probably the only safe way to pull off something like that, but undoubtedly, quite expensive.

if there was a way you could pull it off safely, cheaply and effectively, i'd say go for it. but there's a lot of timing, choreography and regulatory stuff involved, so i guess you'll have to dazzle them with your chops.

i understand your motivations, though. it's cool, and keeps the audience from falling asleep during the drum solo.

;D

LaelsMom

TaAqPrMaSa,

I didn't read this thread until this morning, but then I read the whole thing at once.  You generated a lot of really great responses that boil down to "don't do it."  Lael just played her middle school talent show last Friday.  She didn't have any tricks or effects, just really great musicians playing with her.  She didn't win -- because they wouldn't let her compete.  (Which means she really DID win the one thing that counts.)  So her combo played as guest artists while the judges determined the winners.  Feet tapped, heads nodded with the music, bodies swayed, and the applause was thunderous.  And the winner was . . . Two boys on two drum kits playing along with a CD in tandem.  They didn't use any special effects either.

It's about the music.  Tricks generate smiles, laughs, and talk.  Good music generates respect (and gigs!)  If you managed to get permission and do your fire thing (and everybody lived through it), do you think they'd be talking about your great drumming ability next week?

TaAqPrMaSa

 my solo was pretty awesome, I got a standing ovation. two poeple were in the audience that were decent drummers and they knew it was an improv and thought it was good even though i screwed up two or three times which sucked alot but no one but me noticed really. im going to post a link to the clip of me playing but it isnt very long and my friend cut off the first 20 or so seconds of the solo which kinda ruins it because it had a really good beginning. but otherwise effects werent needed, yet as usual would have been cool.

Dave Heim

There were chairs, right?   Standing ovations don't count if there were no chairs!  :)

Just kidding.

Congratulations.  Sounds like you had a good time despite the lack of special effects.  It's good when the playing is special enough to stand on its own.

stapes2260

BAD IDEA.

I knew people who died in the "Station" bar fire in Rhode Island a few years back (I'm from RI). It happened because the idiots in Great White decided that pyrotechnics would be cool, and proceeded to burn the place down and kill 100 people. If i saw you doing that during a performance indoors i'd run up on the stage and beat you.

Don't play with fire. If you're gonna do something like that, do it at an outdoor show, with someone with a fire extinguisher standing by.