The Gig Log: Ragnar Wasatch Back

I remember the first time I ever saw the word "Ragnar" on the back of a vehicle. It concerned me slightly that after my first sighting, I caught it probably fifteen more times that day. Wasn't sure if I was seeing a new gang sign or was missing out on the coolest thing since sliced bread. Turned out it really was the sliced bread thing.

Anyway, fast forward a couple of years, and I played a gig with the band Lokalgrown at the finish line party at the Wasatch Back, part of the Ragnar Relay series.

The view from my seat.

Honestly, there's not much to say about the gig. We were in a tent, had a small but enthusiastic crowd, and played nearly non-stop for four hours. (As a side note, I'm getting more comfortable with my V-Drums, which is a very good thing.) The actual playing was a blast. Very fun gig.

But the best thing about this gig was the people we got to interact with. All these Ragnarians, people who had spent the last thirty or so hours pushing themselves to their physical and mental limits. Some looked absolutely exhausted, and some still had the energy to dance and party it up with us.

One of the hallmarks of most Ragnar teams is crazy outfits, themes and matching shirts. A couple of my favorite sightings from today are, "Half Fast," and "It's my Ragnar and I'll cry if I want to!" We also saw lots of Superman, Wonder Woman, Speedo, cartoon and movie characters, fairies, pink beanies, wigs, Harden's beards, tutus and spandex.

The driver's seat, as it were.

For me, I was very inspired by the people I saw. Some looked like stereotypical athletes, but very many of them were average people - men and women who took the challenge of the race to push themselves out of their everyday life and into a place where they could become better and stronger. Man, I admire that.

I hope I get the chance to run a Ragnar Relay. I know that my physical fitness will benefit, but I also believe that my ability to handle life and music will improve, as well. You and I can both do hard things, and we should.

Run hard. Play harder.

The Gig Log: Salt Lake Chamber's 125th Gala

I've always wondered what it would be like to play in a house band for Letterman or Leno, and the other night I got a taste of it. One of the bands I play with, Lokalgrown, was hired to sit in as the house band for a talk show themed gala for the Salt Lake Chamber's 125th Anniversary celebration.

As the drummer, I literally became a cast member. I was asked to "kick" jokes and generally respond appropriately to the conversation and banter between the host (Curt Doussett) and his guests.

As a band, we were about as well-choreographed as you can get. Tunes were started and stopped on a dime, commercial "bumps" and "fades" were timed exactly, and every song clip was specifically chosen for its mood, tempo, tonality and overall effect.

It was a lot of work, but it was very rewarding. I say this to my students all the time, but the harder you work for it, the better it feels when you perform it well.

And for all you drummers playing live TV, you have my respect.

Happy drumming!

Friday Feature: Aaron Ashton

ANNOUNCEMENT: Aaron Ashton, Ryan Tilby and Keith Sorensen (and possibly another special guest or two) will be performing an exclusive house concert in Cedar City this Saturday night, February 4, 2012. Details on the Facebook page.

Pretty darn excited to introduce you to one of the premier musicians in the intermountain area. Violinist Aaron Ashton has traveled many musical paths, and isn't afraid to blaze new ones. His repertoire ranges from classical to celtic, from folk to funk, and from jazz to just about everything else.

I first met Aaron when he was the concert master in the Utah State University Symphony Orchestra and I was the timpanist, circa 1999. It's sort of a funny/embarrassing story, actually. Aaron approached me after rehearsal one night and told me he was forming a band to play jazz and celtic music, and was looking for a drummer who might be interested. I pointed him in the direction of one of the guys in the department that I respected. (You know the closing scene of "Dumb and Dumber?" Yep, not so smart was I!)

Luckily for me, the other guy moved out of the area, and a couple of years later I ended up playing for Aaron's band, In One Ear. Not only did I get to know Aaron and his playing, I was introduced to many other great players and a mind set of playing, performing and composing both in and out of the box.

Since then, Aaron and I have worked together on a ton of projects, recordings, bands, shows, etc, including The Aaron Ashton Band, Hillside Nine, Lokalgrown and many more.

But all of that doesn't begin to scratch the surface of Aaron's career and accomplishments. He has played on countless film and TV soundtracks and video games, made cameo appearances on roughly a gazillion albums, and produced and engineered a gazillion more.

He was also a member of Enoch Train and founded Blue Sky Music Camps, a premier summer workshop for aspiring musicians.

Oh, and one more thing - Aaron is both an Aggie (Bachelor's degree from Utah State University) and a Cougar (Master's degree from Brigham Young University). True story.

By the way, I'm sorry if this sounds like a eulogy. Dude's not dead. In fact, he's well this side of forty, and still growing and evolving as a musician and as a person. I just respect the guy as a colleague and friend, and can't say enough good about him.

(I'd better stop myself. This is getting embarrassing.)

Just visit his webpage, buy his album and catch a concert. I'd say "or," but you should really do all three.

This was one of my favorite shows I've played with the Aaron Ashton Band. Great players all around.

The Gig Log: Lokalgrown at Zermatt

On Thursday, January 12th, Lokalgrown had the privilege of performing for Miro Industries, Inc. at the amazing Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah.

The audience was comprised of company associates from all over the country, and they were very ready to be entertained. It was a very fun show, complete with wigs, mohawks, dancing, sing alongs, and even a guest drummer.....what?

Yep. The new idea to get an audience member involved in the show was for me to walk out mid-set on my "15 minute union break." With me gone, the band had to ask if anybody in the house played drums. It took less than 30 seconds to get a volunteer up, and he actually killed it! The band played Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" with the guest drummer, and even tried to get him to play a drum solo. It was...epic!

Overall, and from top to bottom, it was a great show. And I'd be remiss if I didn't give a huge shout out to our de facto crew for the evening, Jared and Jeremy. Thanks for all the hard work, men!

The Gig Log: LKG @ HCT 4 NYE

Couldn't resist the title of this one. Too many acronyms came immediately to mind to be dismissed. Translated into English, the title should read, "Lokalgrown at Hale Centre Theatre for New Year's Eve."

Such a fun gig. We've played the HCT New Year's party - as the pre-show for the opening of the new season's comedy - for most of the last eight years or so. The HCT crowd is always energetic, loud and kind. Truly it's one of the gigs we look forward to every year. It never gets old.

Here's the kit almost fully set. The remaining crash is on my seat. Notice the Pro-Mark cymbal rattler. I don't use it very often, but it seemed like a good idea. Turned out to be a great sound for the room.

I'm also a HUGE fan of the rug! Didn't think it would make things look so classy, but it totally did. The only problem is that the pedals and kick drum "walked" all night long. On a regular drum rug things don't move around that much. I had to keep pulling the kick back toward me.

The Hale has a very unique set up. It's theatre-in-the-round, so the audience is seated all the way around the main stage. There are three sort of mini-stages situated at the top of the seating around the theatre, and we set up on one of these. Here's the view from where I sat.

Quinn's keyboard is right in front of me, then the stage. Pretty cool place to play from.






(Right) Here's the view from a part of the audience.

(Below) The other shot may seem random, but let me 'splain.

At the end of this gig we had exactly seven minutes to get all of our equipment - instruments, sound system, etc. - out of the performance area and into the hallway. Then we had to pack everything up and move it out in almost total silence. Not so easy, friends. Not so easy. So, I took a picture of my entire rig after we had packed up.

My whole load in/out is two bags of drums (kick/snare in one, toms in the other), cymbal bag, hardware bag, bag of tricks (shakers, tambourines, etc.) and my rug, which I didn't use on this gig.





This is the number one reason I use the Yamaha Manu Katche (Junior Kit): it packs up and loads out with not a lot of effort. I drive a relatively small station wagon, and the bass player (Matt Redd) and I were able to carpool to this gig with both of our equipment in the back with room to spare.

Nice.

Anyway, it was another very fun, successful Lokalgrown gig. Thanks for taking a look!

Happy drumming in the new year!

One funny story from the gig that night. 


We usually do a little audience interaction in the form of a "Name That Tune" game. We use TV theme shows (The Office, Andy Griffith Show, Friends, Glee, Cheers, etc.) 


For this gig we decided to use all songs from musicals. It was hysterical! For the first time we actually stumped all three competitors with one song.


It was, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Miserables.


What makes it funny is that we had expected the audience to "get it" quickly and sing along. Instead, we got crickets. 


Awesome. Well played, gentlemen!

The NEW* New Lokalgrown Promo Video!

Lokalgrown is a band that started out at Utah State University in 2001. We shorten the name to LKG, although there have been many (ahem), shall we say interesting variations and pronunciations of the name. We've been through many versions of the band and had the privilege of playing with a long list of fabulous musicians.

Currently, we play a few public shows - always a blast! - but mostly entertain small, private audiences at various corporate, community and other professional functions. Overall, we're busier than ever and happy about it!

Nate (Davis) and Quinn (Dietlein) have put together a fun, interactive, creative and very funny show centered around great music from a wide variety of styles, eras and settings. It's a privilege to be a part of the LKG family, and to continue to perform at a high level.

So, on to the video. 

*This is the latest version of the "new" promo video. There have been at least three, and there may be more to come. Each version has added new footage or text, improved sound, or corrected minor errors. 

Lokalgrown's New Promo Video

The new Lokalgrown promo video is finally done. Please check it out!

Visit http://www.lokalgrown.com for more.

The Gig Log - Lokalgrown: Brigham City Fine Arts Center

On Friday, October 21, Lokalgrown played at the Brigham City Fine Arts Center as part of the "Music in the City" Concert Series. Special thanks to Austin Weyand for inviting us out. We had a great time - and talk about a friendly audience!

I apologize for the bad photos. This was another time that I felt like I just had to shoot a few quick photos. So...here they are!


From about 1/3 back in the audience.

It's a really small stage, and it's apparent that this building was used for something else before it was converted into a performance venue.

Right: A little closer up.













Below: Views from the right and left of the kit. The first kit shows my monitor, a Mackie SRM 350. Love those little dudes. Extremely hard working and great sounding.

The Gig Log - Lokalgrown: USU Party at Hamilton's

This is probably the most common type of gig for us, a private party or "casual" gig. We played for USU's Alumni Association during homecoming week.*

Pics aren't great because the sun was bright and we were in the shadows, but I played my Yamaha Manu Katche Jr. Kit on this gig. I haven't posted any pics of that one yet, so I thought I'd put it up. Please note that the snare is a Pearl 3 x 13 steel shell, not the stock 4 x 12 that comes with the kit.

Seriously love this kit. With good heads and some time finding the sweet spot, the drums sound good. The kick has taken some work, but it sounds good for a 16", especially with a microphone. The most beautiful thing about this kit is that you can load in with only two trips. 

This one is the view that I had during the gig. It was a low-key, nice party, and the sound was pretty good. Honestly, it's like getting paid to hang out with friends and practice. LOVE IT.

I took this video walking into the gazebo, and Matt, the bass player, is sitting at the kit playing the kick and hat while playing the bass. It's not much, but gives you a little better shot of the kit and the setup of the gig.

Click here to see the video.

*USUs football team is KILLING me this year! Talk about heart-breaking losses....   Can't we win just one of the close ones? Please?! Do I have to wait until basketball season to wear my Aggie gear AGAIN?!

The Gig Log - Lokalgrown: Eagle Gate College

I'm not gonna lie, it never sounds very glorious to play a rock gig in a parking lot - unless it's the parking lot next to Eagle Gate College!

Again, I play all types of events, and this was the second year we played at Eagle Gate's back to school party. Probably the coolest part was the demonstration of police dogs. Scary cool.

Pics from the usual views. Feel free to comment and ask any questions.

The above photo includes one of the police officers (on the right), and a student in the Law Enforcement program at Eagle Gate (on the left). The student is THE BEST dancer we've ever had at a gig. Bust it, man!

Again, it's a little weird to set up in the parking lot, but at least we had trees and grass. I mean, it wasn't all pavement. 

As I mentioned in the last Gig Log, this is my favorite configuration of late. I need to get a splash added (maybe a cowbell or jam block, too) soon!

The Gig Log - Lokalgrown: The Gateway for KSL Studio 5

Most of you are probably in school or at work at 11 AM, but there is a great tv show on Salt Lake City's KSL (channel 5) called Studio 5. You can check it out here. Lokalgrown wrote their theme song, which airs daily. You can check that out here.

On Tuesday, September 6th, Lokalgrown played at their Season Premier live show which was held at the Gateway in downtown SLC. We did some pre-show tunes, played a little bit live, and then played a short concert on the Plaza afterwards. The rain notwithstanding, it was AWESOME.

As always, you'll get some different views of the kit, the stage, and then an extra surprise today....

I always try to take a shot of the kit before it gets cymbals and microphones so that I remember which drums I used and in what configuration. This specific setup is starting to be a favorite. 10" tom up top, and the 14 and 16 off to my right.

The next shot is from the audience. It's a little bit of cool to have the KSL van off to the side behind the stage. At first we were talking about taking the tent down because it was really hard to see the people (us) under it, but when the rain came down we were grateful for the cover!

This was my view. There were a few more people out - and some dancers - when the show started. It was also cool to have people who work and shop the Gateway just stop and listen for a while.

The kit all wired up. Thanks to Trevor, the sound guru, who made us sound great both live an on TV.

And the view from the front of the stage. It's still not terribly clear, but this is what it looked like.

Now for the surprise. Check out the live TV footage from the gig.

The Gig Log, Volume 2

Phew! It's been a busy couple of weeks - gigs, airplanes and the like. But I'm finally sitting down to give you the next installment.

I play a lot of different events with Lokalgrown, from concerts to corporate events. This one was for the opening of a brand new apartment complex in Logan. We played by the pool for about five hours (including soundcheck), in the sun the entire time. I should have taken a picture of my sunburned face, but here you get a couple of pre-show looks of the kit and the "stage," as it were.

This shot is from the audience point of view, essentially from the pool. We had a few people lounging in the water while we played, but most were in the chairs and at the tables under an umbrella.

Complete with raffles and hot dogs, this was a typical summertime party.

Lots of fun.

This is just an up close of my kit. It's a little simplified, just the 10 and 14 inch toms. And you can't see it too well, but I used my 4 X 14 natural wood (maple) DW snare instead of the stock one.

It gives a little warmer, more open sound because of the satin wood finish rather than the wrap.

I've also started using the DW Dog Bones a little more (under the crash to the drummer left), and they are saving a little space and my back when I haul around my hardware bag.


Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying your summer as much as I am.

Happy drumming!

The Gig Log, Volume 1

Hi All!

I've been asked by some of my students about some of the gigs I play, so I thought it might be fun to post a pic or two from some of them.

This gig was last Saturday, August 6, 2011 at Delta High School for the Millard County Fair. This is one of the bands I play with, Lokalgrown. You can check them out here. These shots are just prior to soundcheck, so the stage isn't looking exactly like it did during the actual performance.

So, courtesy of iPhone, here you go:

And, from where I sit:

Please feel free to comment, and ask any questions you'd like to.