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Ty Dennis Blog
So, I'm sitting on a plane on one of those epic, mega hour flights to Europe, and this really is the 1st time that I've had any time to add any kind of update to my website in months.I'll try to keep up on it better! Here's what I've been up to: Just finished recording the drum tracks for the next record for the ultra-cool band Firebug which I know is gonna be killer. Firebug also just played at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas which is such a cool music town; there are so many live music clubs to play. It's great, and I wish L.A. was more like that. Firebug has a great MySpace site by the way, www.myspace.com/firebug. Also, recorded the drum tracks for a new release for the ultra talented artist Tishara which is some really cool down home rock and roll...looking foward to hearing that. Check her out: www.tishara.com. I played a couple tracks for my guitarist friend Mike Hoffman's solo project that are totally cool..sort of "Joe Satriani-ish", if you will. That was fun. Last but not least, I just cut the drum tracks for my band 'Three From None' here in Hollywood. Our EP should be out by summer- I'll keep you posted. Really cool guitar power trio stuff!--TY Thought I'd do a sort of year-end round up for 2005... Did a really fun 'Doors' tour in Februrary and March all over Australia that ended in Hawaii. That's a great time of year to go over there; I met some really cool drumming friends while I was "down under", too. I made more new friends during the summer on the 'Strange Days' tour with The Doors of the 21st Century (Riders on the Storm), Vanilla Fudge, Pat Travers, and The Yardbirds. The Vanilla Fudge guys are all so cool and sound friggin' killer, and Pat Travers and his band are all great, too. I did a lot of playing with the band Firebug as I have for the last 5 years...wow! In July & December I recorded the tracks for the new Firebug record that will be out in early 2006. Can't wait to hear the final results... the new songs are the best stuff we've ever done, and I'm really happy with the studio tracks. I played a bunch of shows with my friend Tina DiGeorge who I've played with for something like 8 years!! She is a a super talented singer/ songwriter, and I love her songs. Last but for sure not least, I formed a band with my friends Larry Marciano and Ian Solomon called 'Three From None'. It's a total POWER guitar trio. Gotta love the guitar trio..(Hendrix anyone?). (I've been playing with Larry off and on for years; I played the drums on his really good solo record 'The Way It Used To Be' a few years back.) We've been writing some new songs that we're going to record in early 2006. The musicianship is really high in this band, and I'm totally digging the direction we're going in...bluesy, progressive, groovy, riff rock. Looking forward to many great developments for 2006.--TY So, I was just in NYC again a couple weeks ago with the band Firebug where we played a great gig at the legendary club CBGB'S. The club is most likely closing down soon, so I was glad to have the opportunity to play there one more time.( CBGB'S is where The Police made there U.S debut back in 76' or 77'--lots of history there. ) I never mind getting back to NYC ...great food and great sights.
I think it will be hard to beat this as my "Spinal Tap moment". Backstage in Virginia, somebody actually brought an artificial leg that we autographed. See for yourself
So we taped the 1st show of this new series for VH1 called 'Decades'. The stage at Trump Taj Mahal really was unbelievable with a set up that looked like it was meant for the Grammy's! The video screens and plasma T.V.s were all syncd up with just the coolest imagery and video stuff--really, really world class. We had a couple of very, very well known 'rock star' guest singers guest sing with us for the show. I was once again reminded that being what is considered a "rock or pop star" singer doesn't necessarily mean that the individual is actually any better of a singer than most of the mediocre vocalists out there. "Rock star" is about the whole package, the actual vocal ability minimum standard of talent is subject to said "rock star's" degree of that 'whole package' of desirability--said performer's persona can overcome the actual ability one might just assume a world famous "star" vocalist would possess . "Show biz". All the string players and horn players were totally great though, and the killer string section arrangement added to 'Spanish Caravan' was an especially great addition. Since it was for T.V., we did have to repeat quite a few tunes due to "technical difficulties" with all that equipment. As I'm writing this I've got VH1 Classics on the T.V. and they just showed Don Johnson's 'Heartbeat' video. Remember that?? So bad it's good. Actually, worse than bad. Just got home from the 1st leg of the Strange Days tour with The Doors, Vanilla Fudge, Pat Travers, The Yardbirds, and Steppenwolf. How was it?? It all went smoothly--all the different bands and crews were all very pleasant and friendly. Carmine Appice who plays with Vanilla Fudge really is quite a legendary drummer in rock and roll, and I really enjoyed watching him from the sidelines. He wrote a classic drum instruction book called Realistic Rock that many drummers including myself studied. We played the DTE Center again in Detroit and Jones Beach in New York, both great venues. (When we played DTE previously, some of the audience got up on stage for the encore and ended up stealing some of our gear, including one of my favorite snare drums! No more audience participation this time, so my gear was safe.) We got in to see Santana at the DTE Center the night before our show there, and playing drums with him was none other than Dennis Chambers, who is without a doubt one of my biggest influences for sure. Carlos was informed that Ray was at the show, so he called him up to come sit in and play. Ray made it up to the stage through the crowd and played 'Evil Ways' and some others, too. I finally caught the newest Star Wars, and I gotta say that I was really, really surprised at how good it is especially compared to the last 2 bombs. Also caught the new Batman which is without a doubt the best one of the movies they've made so far. Home for 2 1/2 weeks then we play a local show here in L.A., then off to Canada for the next leg of the Strange Days tour. See you there...Ty
I just played a show with Firebug at a really cool club out here close to Hollywood called The Echo. I was really pleasantly surprised and impressed with the band that played before us named The Section Quartet. They are a string quartet that performs arrangements of songs normally meant for your standard rock band format. They are awesome players and the arrangements are wicked. They did their version of Zeppelin's 'Heartbreaker', and the violinist exactly duplicated Jimmy Page's solo at the end of the song where's he's all by himself. He nailed every nuance and lick exactly like Jimmy plays it. They also played great versions of Muse and Radiohead songs. Our Firebug set was good considering there was no sound check, so we had to make do with not hearing particularly well on stage. I always look foward to playing the song 'Packin' Shoes', not only because it's a cool song but because the drum solo section at the end is always a challenge every time. That section of the song is never the same way twice. We take it somewhere different every time, and sometimes it ends up more inspired than others. There are not a lot of rock bands where you get to play a drum solo in 5/4 time for as long as you want. Lucky me.
I just finished recording some new music with the guys out here in L.A. at a very, very well known studio called Ocean Way. The producer working with us is Ken Scott who has an incredibly impressive resume', believe me. I really only got to hear mostly rough tracks so far because the goal for the 4 days I was there was to nail down the drums and bass tracks. I will say that I think there is going to be some exciting new music from D21C. Looking at all of the pictures in the hallway at Ocean Way of all the different artists that have recorded here over the years is ridiculous, from Nat King Cole way, way back in the day to Miles Davis and everybody in between.
I love Australia. It is the most like the U.S out of everywhere that I have been. This tour was killer, and it was the 1st time The Doors ever played in Australia. We played a couple festival shows, so I got to meet some new drummer friends from the other bands. Graham Hawthorne is a great drummer who plays with David Byrne, and I found out that he also plays with Paul Simon when Steve Gadd can't do it! Can you believe that? Amazing. Clem Burke was in town with Blondie and my pal Rick Brothers was there with Gretchen Wilson (that 'Redneck Woman' song). I met another Los Angeles drummer named Mark Shulman who was playing with Cher. By the way, he is a very cool guy. At our hotel in Melbourne I hung out in the bar with a couple of the guys from Velvet Revolver who had just played earlier that night... Duff, the bass player and Matt, the drummer. The Doors 21C singer Ian worked with Matt for years in The Cult.
South American fans are fantastic and very enthusiastic to experience the music. I got to see a couple different extremes here in Brazil. The massive city of San paulo looks very 3rd world from the road leading from the airport to the hotel, and going into downtown San Paulo was some of the absolute worst traffic I've ever experienced, maybe the worst. We stayed at a beautiful hotel in Rio with a great ocean view and a private beach. Rio has beautiful beaches, and no wonder songs are written about this! What a contrast between San Paulo and Rio. One thing that will always stick out in my mind about Brazil is the great food...meat and french fries. I thought I died and went to Heaven.
Completely sold out venue! 10,000 plus very enthusuastic music fans. We could have easily played more nights here, and what a great audience! Phil, Ray, and I had the priveledge of getting a fantastic tour of the pyramids just outside of Mexico City. What a great experience...and so interesting. Our guide was a decendent of some of the ancient peoples who created these world wonders, and so we really got some great insight added to the experience. Next, we're off to South America. Can't wait.
I hope that everybody gets the opportunity to come here. It is really amazing. Just being in the presence of the ancient structures here and knowing how many generations have come and gone since these buildings were constructed is fantastic. The views in Greece are sensational, and the sea and the beach is perfectly pure. The Greek people are so cool, and the show in Athens was a highlight for me. We played in a really awesome outdoor amphitheater. The show was completely full, and surrounding the outside of the venue, right outside the fence are these rocks that people climb up on so they get a great, free concert experience. What a cool set-up. The whole band got official football jersies (soccer to us) with our names on them that we wore on stage at the encore, and the crowd went nuts. Their Greek team had just won the world championship.
This trip was a whirlwind. We touched ground on so many different countries in just a few weeks. We played Wembley arena again in London for the 2nd time, and this time it wasn't quite as full of people as our 1st show there in 2003. Wembley is one of the highlights in the world to perform at as an artist..very renown. We got to spend some time in Cologne, Germany which is best known for the Dom cathedral which is about 750 years old! This is a truly fantastic structure and is gorgeous inside. There's a nice shopping area surrounding the cathedral, and you can take some nice walks around. We barely had any time in Austria, but I did take a walk behind our hotel in the very, very nice courtyard which has lots of shade trees, flowers, and ponds. In the day, Beethoven was fond of coming here to write some of his symphonies. Warsaw, Poland is a lot like you imagine it to be it you've ever seen movies like Schindler's List, among others. Parts of Warsaw still look like it was 60 years ago, and to me it feels repressed here and kinda gloomy. I think there is still a lot of communism left over residue here. It was a strange audience at the show. I think they liked the music, but they were quite subdued and docile. Other stops this tour were Paris, Belgium, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, and Greece (check out the entry about Greece..I love it there!)
This theater is only a few years old. This is where they have events like the Academy Awards and some of the American Idol shows! Needless to say, it is a nice place looks wise and sound wise. The band is sounding especially good since we just got back from playing a string of really good shows in Europe. Tonight is being recorded for all eternity by this company DiscLive which enables the fans to purchase a CD and receive it after the show that night!! Pretty cool. Happy New Year. Welcome to 2004...Ty
Robby and Ray have not performed together in Europe under any 'Doors' name in decades, so there is bound to be a lot of anticipation and excitement about the shows over here....Well, the 1st show was in Spain at a bull ring, believe it or not. It was an outdoor venue, and it was absolutely pouring rain down in buckets. Some rain water got on the monitor mixing board and it stopped working...not good, so it had to be taken apart to see if it could be fixed by showtime. There was a question if it would work or not, and luckily it was usable for show time. After sound check, the promoter treated us to a very nice dinner at a restaurant in town before the show. The fans braved the weather, and it was a good show. In Paris we played 2 shows. One of them was at a small, intimate club called Le Scene which was a nice change from the usual, big, mostly impersonal shows. The venue in London was none other than the very well known Wembley Arena! This, our 1st show here, sold out with 12,000 plus attendance, so that was a spectacular 1st time there! This tour we also played Manchester, England, Brussels, Belgium, and Lisbon, Portugal.
Red Rocks in Denver is an amazing venue. It seems to be carved right out of the side of a mountain, and you get such a great view of the whole audience from the stage. We played a packed festival show here with Korn, POD, Evanescence, Government Mule, 50 Cent, and some others, and the show had a really great spirit to it. As if cued for a movie scene, it started poring down rain, and I mean pouring!! That was the perfect opportunity to kick into you guessed it, 'Riders On The Storm'. That couldn't have been cooler, and the crowd loved that moment. I guess they are used to this weather there because it didn't seem to phase anyone in the audience. As we were jamming on 'Riders', I looked over to the side of the stage, and there were a couple of the chaps from Korn getting into our set.
We took the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo. Japan's technology is terrific. The train arrived virtually silent! It rides somehow on an electro magnetic track, and it goes extremely fast at times and is a completely smooth ride. Directly next to our hotel in Tokyo was a temple that I walked over to and investigated. It looked like it was right out of a movie, but this was the real thing. Both the Osaka and Tokyo shows were festival shows, so we played with other bands including Radiohead, Sum 41, Blondie, Mars Volta, AFI, Stereophonics, and a bunch more that I don't remember. I hung out for a while with Derrick, the singer/guitarist for Sum 41 who is a Doors fan. He was telling me how he used to play Doors records in his bedroom when he was 14, and he asked me what it's like to play with Robby and Ray. He told me he was too nervous to go up and talk to Ray when he saw him at our hotel. The Japanese people are very good and smart music fans and big supporters of music from the U.S. They really are the absolutely most polite people in the world!
Japan is one of my favorite places in the world. I got to spend most of my time this trip in Osaka, and you know what? There are alot of bicycles here! I logged some serious miles in my tennis shoes here walking and checking out all the great shopping. I went to the 'American Village" area which is kind of like an outdoor shopping mall which goes on for many, many blocks...lots of cool clothes here. Something we don't have in the U.S. that is popular over here in Japan is the pachinko slot machine parlor. It's a little bit like a vertical pinball machine. There ia a strong Western influence over here, especially with the younger MTV age group that you can see in the fashion styles. It's also really popular among the youngsters here to dye their hair this kind of orange-ish, blonde color. I noticed that a lot. Speaking of Western influence, you can't imagine how happy I was to find McDonalds, Wendy's, and Starbucks. For me, the major challenge over here is the food because I don't eat seafood at all (cooked or sushi)! The language barrier is really a challenge, too. In Osaka there aren't very many people who you can communicate with in English, and I know nothing of Japanese.
The studio where this show is taped is right down the hall from 'The Price is Right' studio, and outside in the CBS studios parking lot there was aline of folks with their name tags on waiting to get inside to try their luck with the man, Bob Barker. I realized at the sound check that I'm gonna have to play behind a plexi-glass shield because it is quite a small studio and the drums can get too loud in there. The plexi-glass makes it VERY loud back behind the drums...wish I had brought some ear plugs. We played 'Break on Through' and 'Love Me Two Times'. The other guest on the show was Jeff Goldblum.
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