So much coffee
Deep Purple’s drum tech Cimi Mezzano posts a vlog summarizing his day on tour with the band.
Check out his youtube channel regarding further insights on how to set up Paicey’s kit, tune his drum heads, and bring him new sticks.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse4.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse.jpg)
Deep Purple’s drum tech Cimi Mezzano posts a vlog summarizing his day on tour with the band.
Check out his youtube channel regarding further insights on how to set up Paicey’s kit, tune his drum heads, and bring him new sticks.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
When I noticed the ‘blanket’ over the drums I immediately thought that Bob Ezrin must have just checked in. Sad I know, but how can I resist. Cheers.
July 24th, 2024 at 23:19I’ve been listening to the album on and off for a week and no one can convince me that the sound of the production is good. What a pity.
July 25th, 2024 at 05:11Really bad.
Great insight to the crew life on DP tour.
July 25th, 2024 at 08:03Now we need to see how the big guy live before and after the shows and on the road.
This a multi million machine and that’s where the people earn their living.
That’s why I really take all the album sales figures with a pinch of salt.
DP is a scary big organisation that has to be run and oiled well to keep things going smoothly.
And it has been going smoothly and may it last for years to come.
Peace ✌️
LOL!!! Good one MacGregor!! 🙂
July 25th, 2024 at 10:42AndreA@2
July 25th, 2024 at 11:05The sound mixing and production is not good because sadly you can’t bring back Martin Birch from the dead.
This is as good as it gets because DP sound is so complicated toget right when you have 5 guys fighting to be heard the loudest.
This album mixing reminds me a lot of Bananas and it’s the only album that Steve Morse guitar was heard the loudest.
Peace ✌️✌️✌️✌️
what an amazing life!
July 25th, 2024 at 11:40obviously all the roadies and sound engineers aren’t lucky enough to tour with Purple!
I should have had this life 25 years ago, but I ended up working in TV and that’s it
I agree one hundred percent with andreA. The production and mix is not good at all. And I can’t stand the sounds of the drums. I miss those ludwigs. That’s my opinion and i’m sticking with it.
July 25th, 2024 at 17:17A couple of observations and one question:
1. @ 00:11 & 04:16: good aim, bravo!
2. Purple’s crew doesn’t sustain itself on junk food – ok, ok, the pizza was perhaps not exactly classic health food …
3. A thorough dental hygiene regime is high on Cimi’s agenda, all those espressos do taint the teeth after all …
4. Dumb question: Are the drum techs of lefties like Little Ian always lefties too? Do they have to be or do they actually learn to drum both left and right so they are more flexible in taking on assignments? Herr MacGregor will you please share your profound knowledge on this with us?
July 25th, 2024 at 18:39Yeah, wonder what happened with the mix. Such a shame given the great music. Many engineers involved going by the credits, but at the end of the day “produced and mixed by Ezrin”. The album’s barely been released, yet there’s a strong need for a remix. How is it possible to have the ROTD scenario happening twice?
July 25th, 2024 at 18:50@8: No, they need not. If you are a drummer, you can see in this video that he it’s not used to playing left, except for all the times he has soundchecked IP’s kit though of course. Also, if you check other videos on his channels where he plays his own kit, he is playing right-handed.
What I would like to know is why roadies play “Rockin’ in the free world” during soundcheck? The other day I saw a tour vlog from the sound engineer of some British metal band. At the end of their show, they invited the crew band to play on stage. What did they play? RITFW!
July 25th, 2024 at 22:55@ 8 – Uwe as Svante @ 10 says, it is more something they (a drum tech) have to do. Most drum techs are very good drummers & have been known to fill in at a gig in an emergency. I used to try playing (practicing) left handed to see if I could do it & just to see how awkward it felt & it did feel awkward. I was also intrigued by Simon Phillips (who is a right handed drummer) & his approach as he changed to playing the hi hat with his left hand & the snare drum with his right hand. There are also other drummers who do that. That ‘leftie’ approach is a little easier to do. More a ‘natural’ feel according to Simon & it makes sense. No cross over with the hi-hat arm getting in the way & no twisting of the back etc. A more central & straight ahead sitting approach facing the kit. A much more ‘zen’ approach & no doubt Osteopaths would probably agree with that. That is my take on it anyway. Drum clinic over Uwe & my invoice is in the mail. Seven days to pay or else, he he. Cheers.
July 25th, 2024 at 23:42Rocking In The Free World is to my thinking a political statement as well as a easy going rock song to play. Where the other Rocking All Over The World song is probably popular too & just as easy to play, but not being in any way political. If that is any help at all. Cheers.
July 26th, 2024 at 00:10Yo,
Those with issues regarding the sound of the new album, set all your EQ settings to Zero, the middle, neither + or – on any frequency, the middle-notched position…
On your computer, make sure your EQ is turned off, or positioned as above, & all the other bollox off.
Those with 5.1 / 7.1 home theatre systems, turn off all amp-pre-sets / programs, & leave everything natural, treble & bass dials in the notched positions, with your whoofer(s) at your preferred set-point, say 50% on the dial.
The sound will appear like a sphere in your minds-eye (with your eyes closed when listening), that leaps out left or right, above & below from time-to-time. It’s a really good mix imo, everything is crystal clear, without being over-polished. I personally prefer a wide-band-panoramic-stereo view, but the mix is a 3-D sphere that stretches & retracts from all around you.
And you can never have too-much-coffee lol !
Peace !
July 26th, 2024 at 02:34All this talk of a ‘leftie’ drummer reminded me of the very first time (1973 era) I noticed the photo of Ian Paice on Made In Japan. ‘What, this drummer has his drum kit around the wrong way’. It was almost a shock I do recall, as I had never noticed a leftie anywhere playing the drums. Hendrix & Iommi were lefties & seeing images back then of those two had me used to seeing the odd left handed guitarist, even though the upside down Strat did raise a few queries back then. Uwe, have you ever tried to play a leftie bass guitar, you may own one or two, do I recall you saying that? Cheers
July 26th, 2024 at 05:45Thanks Svante and Herr MacGregor, I live for and learn from you! 🥰
No, I don’t have a leftie bass, but I played with the idea for a while, I once held one in a shop and it felt of course world upside down. As your mind knows what to do, just your fingers don’t, learning leftie is probably quicker for an already playing-experienced righty once the initial necessary adaption has been made.
I remember an interview in the 70s where Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush, a Hendrix buff and a rightie, revealed that he had learned leftie in addition “to see what it was like for Hendrix”.
And then there are people who play leftie guitars strung rightie, ie with the string sequence upside down, thin to thicker: EBGDAE (rather than the conventional EADGBE), the late Paul Raymond of UFO was such a guy, a consequence of course of sharing instruments with righties in the beginning of his playing career, he would flip the guitar around easy, but he couldn’t flip the string sequence quickly. Michael Schenker always said that made Paul Raymond’s rhythm guitar sound and complement Schenker’s lead guitar like no other because every little chord sounds then a little different. If you squint your eyes you can catch a few glimpses of Paul and his unconventional fretting here (he’s on the far-right):
https://youtu.be/v3HhHdcPSZc
There are also bassists like that, Jimmy Haslip, who played in the Tommy Bolin Band as a successor to Reggie McBride (who left because he couldn’t bear witnessing Tommy’s death spiral of a drug habit any longer), is such a guy.
https://youtu.be/EhodJb1a5pM
July 26th, 2024 at 14:12I was never aware of that, Herr McGregor, how Simon Phillips has “switched arms/hands” for operating snare and hi-hat. Ergonomically, it makes perfect sense. Why don’t more drummers do it then and why did the traditional approach come about at all? And, more importantly, do I at least get a rebate if I tap on your wisdom more frequently?
Rocking In The Free World is indeed easy to play and bears a message, it has become a sort of standard jamming encore, much like Knocking On Heaven’s Door.
July 26th, 2024 at 15:29@15: That is indeed a good question. I don’t think people realise how good it is for your drumming to teach both your brain halves to be able to do the same thing. You use both hands to play, after all, and you do all kinds of hand excercises.
When playing like he does, Phillips is able to have his hi-hat really low, making access to the toms above it easier. I believe he got the idea from Ginger Baker who was good at this but still chose to play as a regular rightie.
Some weird people I have met can even write with both their hands at the same time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambidexterity
July 26th, 2024 at 15:41“Some weird people I have met can even write with both their hands at the same time.”
Different texts or languages then?
My son has ambidextrous tendencies, he’s mostly right-handed (growing up in a family of righties, the poor thing …) though nimble with his left hand too, but has – without ever thinking about it – always been left-footed. And to this day (he’s 30 now) he has issues with reading the hands of a clock correctly (hence, he never wears or even owns a watch). I always had a hunch that the two things have something to do with each other and also steered him towards fashion design as a profession.
July 26th, 2024 at 16:25I just saw a review video by a drummer ( I guess) telling that, ladies and gents, a drum kit sounds in reality just like how Paice sounds on this album. I dont know, but that is good enough for me. Not that I care too much
July 26th, 2024 at 18:08Uwe, I was thinking about a reduction in costs, but then you asked me another question? I am not sure why drummers don’t do that switch more often than not. Is it that old habits die hard, I don’t know. Thanks for the UFO & Haslip info, I have noticed Haslip with Allan Holdsworth before & also others over the years, but I didn’t notice his setup at all. A wonderful player indeed. Ambidextrous & yes writing with two hands, I do remember the occasional school kid back in the day doing that. Talking of two hands, I remember seeing this guy online years ago, impressive. Yngwie eat your heart out. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKcTurTV2J0&t=26s
July 26th, 2024 at 22:49@ 17 – yes indeed Ginger Baker & also Keith Moon. A very low tom set up & both really busy players on anything it seemed, but the hi hat. Most of the time anyway. Moons setup at the 21.38 mark on this video shows the hi hat setup where the ride cymbal would normally be. And at around the 9 minute mark they talk about his general lack of hi hat approach. Kenney Jones & others commenting on Moon’s different approach to drumming. Gene Krupa was Moon’s inspiration for all the drama & theatrics, the expression & the out of the box ideas for drumming. This video is a really good one for looking at & demonstrating & explaining Moon’s ‘idiosyncratic’ playing & how he accomplished that & how it all worked in the songs. A different approach he had, probably a nightmare for the bass guitarist at times no doubt. Luckily the Who had John Entwistle to keep it all together in that sense. The Peter Gabriel third album from 1980 has no cymbals at all, on any song. An approach Gabriel & the producer Steve Lilywhite went for. It works really well. The first link below is about Gabriel’s no cymbal album. The second link is a really good analysis of Keith Moon’s drumming. Cheers.
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/sounding-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAQQX_SrLq0
July 27th, 2024 at 00:22In regards to the left or right, or left & right scenario. The no cymbals approach to recording on Gabriel’s third album. From the dreaded wikipedia “Peter Gabriel hired his former bandmate in Genesis drummer Phil Collins for the recording sessions along with another drummer, Jerry Marotta. He gave them one specific demand. “Artists given complete freedom die a horrible death”, he explained to Mark Blake. “So, when you tell them what they can’t do, they get creative and say, ‘Oh yes I can,’ which is why I banned cymbals. Phil was cool about it. [Marotta] did object and it took him a while to settle in. It’s like being right-handed and having to learn to write with your left.” An extension to this I found in a Drummerworld forum, although it sounds like someone trying to be funny. “In an interview for Genesis: The Sum Of The Parts, Collins confirmed he was amenable to the request, but admitted asking Gabriel what he was supposed to do with his other hand”. Uwe discipline yourself, please just once at least. Cheers.
July 27th, 2024 at 01:57