Esau
Group: Members
Posts: 16
Joined: Oct. 2003 |
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Posted: Oct. 21 2003, 12:24 |
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Just wondering if anyone has heard of this great band from the USA,I had the honor of booking them at the club I work at and see them 5 times so far,simply amazing concept and great musicians,very dark at times but great instrumental music.Check em out!
Drums & Tuba~
History
Drums and Tuba was originally formed sometime in 1995. Tony Nozero (drums) and Brian Wolff (tuba) were working at an unhealthy health food store in Austin, Texas making smoothies together when they came up with the idea of creating a stripped-down marching band (the best laid plans often go astray). Tony had played drums for many years in a variety of rock, punk, and jazz bands. Brian had just recently discovered the tuba (having played trumpet and trombone previously), and was just beginning to explore the possibilities of the instrument.
Initially going by the moniker "Just Drums and Tuba," the two young men took their creation to the streets of Austin performing weekend nights on downtown sixth street for tips, pocket change, and other assorted odds and ends. Brian and Tony soon realized that their ensemble was missing some important element. The addition of Neal McKeeby on guitars was the essential ingredient needed to complete their trio. The band decided to drop the "Just" and to go by the simple name "Drums and Tuba."
Without any master plan, the trio pursued some kind of amalgamation of their extremely varied tastes and backgrounds. Wolff is from New York, Nozero is from Madison, Wisconsin, and McKeeby is from Knoxville, Tennessee. The three musicians never intended to create something original or different or unique. For all their pyrotechnics, they are not a novelty act. They simply create music with a strong emphasis on songs and structure as they hear it. The result is music that is not easily described or categorized, but which is extremely accessible to a wide and varied audience. At a show, punks, dead heads, and indie-rockers, both young kids and old folks will find themselves standing together listening to a music which makes them feel both confused and happy. They may not know quite what it is or what it's called, but they do know that they like it.
Drums and Tuba has played in all kinds of venues and all kinds of situations from tiny shows to crowds of over six thousand and to the continuous surprise of Tony, Brian, and Neal the music always goes over well. An old union worker in Providence, Rhode Island will even praise the band. Says Wolff, "the kind of person who I expect to tell us 'what the hell are you guys doing up there and whose dumb idea was it anyway' will tell us, 'that was nothing like I expected but I really dug your sound.' And that's the kind of thing that makes me realize we're on to something-- when someone who is completely not into experimental music of any kind enjoys what we do simply because it's good music, not because it's impressive or complicated, but just because it sounds good."
The band plays a variety of different sounding music, encompassing rock, funk, punk, electronica, and other styles. All the music is extremely rhythm-oriented, with Nozero's drums taking front and center. All three instrumentalists will at one time or another play both rhythmically and melodically. Sometimes the guitar is a rhythm instrument and sometimes it carries the melody, and often it does both at the same time. Either McKeeby will play two guitars at once or Wolff will sample him live. The band does a lot of live sampling (nothing is prerecorded), using a variety of digital delay machines. For instance, McKeeby will start a song with a riff and before you know it he's been sampled and has moved on. With the addition of more live samples, the group is able to create songs with dense layers of sound. The tuba can lay down a bass line and then, with the use of a variety of guitar pedals and delay machines, play a swooping melody over the top of the ensuing groove. In addition, this frees up Wolff to play the trumpet as well. Thus, the band is far more than the sum of its parts. All this is done with the express purpose of serving the song. It is all founded in the basic fundamental principles of music. Drums and Tuba is not a gimmick.
Drums and Tuba has played hundreds of shows all over the United States opening for such acts as Ani DiFranco, Galactic, uze Jsme Doma, Daniel Johnston, and Spaceheads. They have completed four full length cds, one cd ep, one vinyl seven inch, one music video, a whole slew of compilations, and a variety of movie soundtracks.
Drums and Tuba is:
Tony Nozero..Drums
Neal McKeeby...Guitars
Brian Wolff....Tuba
Discography: 1997...Box Fetish (My Pal God Records)
1998...The Flying Ballerina (My Pal God Records)
1999...Flatheads and Spoonies (My Pal God Records)
2000...Borscht 7" (Grey Flat Records)
2000...Cairo ep (Self Released)
2001...Vinyl killer (Righteous Babe Records)
Videos:
Fists of Spaghetti (Mike Baird 1997)
Soundtracks:
No Early Birds (Stan Steen and Mike Baird 2000)
Compilations:
Hole in the Wall Free For All (1997)
KVRX Local Live Vol. 1 (1998)
Holiday Record 2 (My Pal God Records 2000)
Radio Shows:
KUT Live Set (1996)
KVRX Live Set (1997)
Tours:
Spring 97 "Loteria Tour"
Fall 98 "We Do Bachelor Parties"
Winter 98 "The Great Escape"
Spring 99 "Support the Local Man"
Fall 99 "Hammer Toe"
Late Winter 00 "House Man"
Spring 00 "The Metrics"
Fall 00 "Can You Prove It"
Winter 00 "Across the fruited plains/the return of Matthew"
Notes: Spring 99 was support for Ani DiFranco..average attendance 3500. 24 shows. Total approximate attendance 70,000. late winter 00 was support for Galactic. All shows sold out.
A List of Some Cities Played:
El Paso, TX. San Diego, CA. San Francisco, CA. Seattle, WA. Dallas, TX. NY, NY. Brooklyn, NY. Burlington, VT. Newark, DE. Charlotte, NC. Atlanta, GA. Kansas City, MO. Lafayette, LA. Pittsburgh, PA. Montreal, PQ. Penland, NC. Buffalo, NY. Chapel Hill, NC. Columbia, MO. Detroit, MI. Milwaukee, WI. Denver, CO. Portland, OR. Santa Barbara, CA. Eugene, OR. Chicago, IL. New Orleans, LA. Houston, TX. Providence, RI. Orono, MN. Washington, D.C. Knoxville, TN. Birmingham, AL. Charlottesville, VI. Bloomington, IL. Syracuse, NY. Ottowa, ON. Indianapolis, IN. Cleveland, OH. Cleveland Flats, OH. Iowa City, IO. Cincinatti, OH. Columbus, OH. Boise, ID. Arcata, CA. Eureka, CA. Madison, WI. Denton, TX. St. Louis, MO. Austin, TX. Durham, NH. Portland, MN. Athens, GA. Oklahoma City, OK. Athens, OH. Asheville, NC. Memphis, TN. Lawrence, KS. Bloomington, IN. Guelph, ON. Fayatteville, AR. Fairfax, VA. East Lansing, MI. Kalamazoo, MI. Atlanta, GA. Asheville, NC. Philadelphia, PA. Rochester, NY.
Press Quotes:
Billboard:
Drums & Tuba Vinyl Killer (Righteous Babe)
Unconventional and unexpectedly appealing, the New York City-based instrumental trio Drums & Tuba utilizes -- you guessed it -- drums and tuba (plus guitar) with splendid consequences. Produced by Andrew (Goat Boy) Gilchrist and righteous babe Ani DiFranco, Vinyl Killer, D&T's fourth long-player, finds members Tony Nozero, Brian Wolff and Neal McKeeby fusing classic rock, futuristic jazz, and heartfelt funk. Head trip "The 10 Attacks of Dagger" is rooted in spaced-out prog-rock, a sprightly "Royronus" is fueled by a noodling surf guitar, while "The Donkey and the Walrus" and "The Sauce Maker" head into dark, unexplored yet strangely communicable musical territory. With their focus primarily on rhythm, be it from the horns, skins, axe or all three, Drums & Tuba have amassed a brilliant and essential exercise in modern sound experimentation. Killer indeed. (LUERSSEN)
Rolling Stone Online:
Reviewed 1/20/01
DRUMS & TUBA
Vinyl Killer
Producer(s): Andrew (Goat Boy) Gilchrist,
Ani DiFranco
Luckily for audiences, there's a small group of pioneers working to maintain color, vitality, and freshness in music. Such vanguards include Ani DiFranco, who smartly signed the band Drums & Tuba to her label, Righteous Babe Records. "Vinyl Killer," the trio's label debut, is a testament to any musician and/or group who's a bit off the beaten path. It's also one of the most creative releases to drop so far this year.
The tuba is not an instrument usually associated with rock, jazz, fusion, or any remotely similar category. However, these styles, and others, are what you'll hear on "Vinyl Killer." Influences from New Orleans-style funk and the steamy jazz sounds of Miles Davis imbue the 13 songs on the recording. The Davis-esque snare and cymbal work plus trumpet playing, in addition to trippy guitar lines, build on the tuba grooves (and they certainly groove), which are generally live sampled loops. Electronic swirls, buzzes, space echoes, warbles, and other colorful sound bytes are also tastefully thrown into the mix, compliments of racks of effects equipment.
The set opens with "The Diagram," a tribute to the surf and spy music of such '60s television shows as "Hawaii Five-0," but with an electronica sensibility. "Topolino" and "The Sauce Maker" are also highlights. Overall, "Vinyl Killer" chalks one up for the musical nonconformist. A great album.
-- Liana Jonas
CMJ:
One commonly criticized aspect of Ken Burns' ubiquitous documentary series, Jazz, is its blind-eye turn to any of the form's post-'60s outgrowths, including fusion, jazz-funk, avant-garde and the like. If you had to give Burns one recording to demonstrate the era's influence on present-day forms, you couldn't provide a much more colorful example than Vinyl Killer. As created by the drums/guitar/tuba (and a few extras) trio of Drums & Tuba, the album takes an everything-goes approach to style appropriation - big-band marches, sci-fi sound effects and rubbery funk all easily intermingle here - but keeps the focus on its complex rhythmic drive. The result is a kind of post-rock take on New Orleans groove, a heady, multi-textured workout whose furious interplay relies as much on the traditional precepts of jazz and funk as the space-synth whir of prog or punky chord-crunching. "Royronus" skips with all the loose-limbed, organic interplay of a jam-band instrumental, despite the fact that its three prime ingredients Ñ a plump, slow-moving sousaphone belch; a hyper guitar noodle-a-thon, and sputtering, time-signature defying drum rhythm Ñ all seem to come from opposing sources. This stuff is even more astounding live, where a rack of digital effects allows the group to loop and layer its sounds in real-time. Vinyl killer, indeed.
- Colin Helms: CMJ New Music Report Issue: 699 - Jan 29, 2001
Gigmania
DRUMS & TUBA
8.30.00 Knitting Factory New York, NY
"Wanna hear where the future of electric music is headed?
Despite the marching band connotation, Drums & Tuba are an undeniable presence in the contemporary musical vanguard. Besides, what most of us common folk think is a tuba, is really just a big ol' sousaphone. Yep, that's right, a concert review and a music lesson all rolled into one tight package - only here, at Gigmania. The music of My Pal God recording artists Drums & Tuba burns with intense energy, innovative ideas and irrepressible enthusiasm. Listening to their 1999 album, Flatheads and Spoonies, one would never suspect that the tidal wave of sound, strutting, bumping, and flowing from the speakers, originated solely from this trio of guitar drums and tuba.
Though most bands only dream of duplicating their studio sound on stage, D & T make it happen by utilizing a rack of digital effects that allows them to time delay and loop tracks infinitely. The various arrangements evolve alternately into jungle-beat funk, tender and ethereal flights, bright and brassy anthems, and goofy polka-tinged barnburners. Most songs begin with each guy laying down a basic beat or bass line that is then immediately recorded and looped by tuba blowing front man Brian Wolff, who does the live sound engineering. The resulting multiple tracks of sound enables drummer Tony Nozero to build technically difficult, seemingly impossible polyrhythms. Once the tuba groove (never thought those words could go together) is set, Wolff takes advantage of his freedom by adding long, lingering trumpet themes to the increasingly complex tapestry of sound. Double axe-slinger Neal McKeeby takes advantage of his two-guitars- at-once talent and can be just as percussive as he is melodically and harmonically minded. When he chooses to focus on just one guitar, watch out, his solos are smokin'. Since opening up for Ani Difranco last year and playing all over the country on their own tours, Drums & Tuba have amassed a considerably large fan base. By all means, you should make the effort to catch their live show; you just might find yourself becoming part of that growing following." - Parrish Ellis
The Washington Post. Monday, December 25, 2000.
"High-quality digital samplers have become more and more affordable over the past decade, making what was once a tool of big-budget acts a part of the sonic arsenals of independent bands. One of the most ingenious outfits to make use of the technology is the New York City instrumental dynamo Drums and Tuba, which sampled masterfully during its invigorating show at the Black Cat on Friday night.
Drums and Tuba has a guitar player, too, and string-bender Neal McKeeby is central to the trio's melodic and sampling concerns. Along with tuba man Brian Wolff (who is burly enough to handle his B-flat behemoth without looking as though he may have a double hernia at any moment), McKeeby states a phrase, captures it in his sampler and plays it back in a loop, freeing him to play other chords or melodies.
Wolff's tuba often takes the bass role, but his second lines, twisted and squeezed by electronics, often sound like a synthesizer or keyboard. Funky drummer Anthony Nozero's whip-crack beats propel the whole conglomeration into a swinging sound that is a giddy combination of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Booker T. & the MGs and sterling instrumental band Pell Mell.
Friday night marked the final show of drums and Tuba's winter tour (the group spent much of the year opening for die-hard fan Ani DiFranco) and it churned with a combination of relief and adrenaline. The band balanced older material with previews of its upcoming album "Vinyl Killer," in the process affirming its status as a wholly original and groovy live act that should be placed at the top of any thinking fan's list of must-see live acts in 2001.----Patrick Foster
Time Out New York, Jan. 20-27, #226
"The band's show was a crowded merry scene--how could one not be merry when confronted with a dude honking a tuba in such a rocking manner? Drums and Tuba's virtuoso antics are compelling enough to watch, while also creating the perfect backdrop danceable rock in a casual bar setting."
The New Yorker, June 5/00. Daniel Kaufman
"The band--tuba, drums, and guitar--laces it's loop filled songs with New Orleans style grooves with some progressive rock guitar heroics. The result is long, intricate and often hypnotic soundscapes that build and build until the magic of the tuba and the ferocious trancelike drumming become pleasantly overwhelming."
The New York Press, Vol. 13-#21, 5/26/00
"This band composed of drums, tuba, and guitar knows it's way around a groove."
A&A #89 Reviews on Line
"A pulsating thythmically complex set of songs, each immaculately crafted and honed...That's the beauty of it. There isn't another band out there that sounds anything like this. And for this to resonate so fully as it does is simply astonishing. All hail these adventurers who did find what they were searching for. Drums and Tuba create music of the highest order."
The Washington Post 5/24/00
"The 'power trio' Drums and Tuba do a couple things wrong. First they substitute a tuba in place of a bass guitar. Second, they play only instrumentals. then they turn these faults to their advantage...Drums and Tuba's approach is cinematic, but they prefer complex moods, humor and delights of a classic B movie. Drums and Tuba's direction is so subtle, these elements work not as irony or slapstick, just as good music."
Rolling Stone 1997 SXSW Review by David Fricke
"Best Bargain: The combo Drums and Tuba (hot post punk instrumental with real oomph licks) selling their home made tapes..cost, one buck."
The Onion November 99
"The new 'Flatheads and Spoonies' sounds at first like a scaled-down version of the Dirty Dozen Brass band. The trios method slowly begins to emerge with sparse arrangements allowing the band to mess around with atmospheres, novel arrangements and effects."
Alternative Press by Aaron Burgess. Vol 13. #131
"When you can laugh at yourself and when you can work a groove as tightly as these guys do, you're safely assured the last word."
The Austin Chronicle by David Lynch. Live Shots. Feb. 28/1997
"Thankfully, once in a while something comes along that challenges our use of established categories. One good example is the Platypus. Another one is Drums and Tuba...Part Blitzkrieg Bop, Les Claypool, Bad Livers Minus vocals, and Medeski Martin and Wood, Drums and Tuba rocked hard."
The Austin American Statesman. April 3. 1997. by Chris Reminschnider
"sort of like an acid oompah band or a punk rock brass band, Drums and Tuba are perhaps so great because they are so undefinable."
CMJ. 1997
"The songs range from serious rock to incongruent meanderings, but even the more erratic songs on box Fetish are held together by strong threads. Imagine Chicago's harsher sounding experimental rock but a quirky addition of a tuba."
The Stranger. Seattle, WA. June 1996. Sean Nelson.
"Whatever it's called it's fantastic, and really ought to be heard if only because there's nothing like it around for miles."
Metro. Santa Cruz. Vol. 3 #8
"Take a maniacal tuba player equally adept at belting out German drinking songs or basslines copped from post punker Mike Watt, introduce him to a drummer who digs avant garde jazz and bubble gum pop music and plunk next to them a guitarist determined to find his own sound. Don't let the trio sleep for days and feed them a diet or sugary pastries. Now you have an idea of what compells Drums and Tuba to turn out wild music like a jukebox gone haywire."
In Pittsburgh. Mike Shanley. 10/27/99.
"Melodies slowly unfold into a rich soundscape, and produce a full sound for a seemingly minimal band. Guitarist Neal McKeeby straddles chicken scratch noises with smooth parts and Wolff does an impressive job with shifting between melodic and rhythmic duties. They leave the listener wondering who's playing what--a mark of a successful unit."
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The link below is for their website,if you decide to use the flash site,you will see 7 little circles at the top of the screen,just move your cursor over the circles for website options.
Drums & Tuba
They are a taper friendly band,meaning they allow folks to record the live shows for trading only,I have a few really exception shows,the highlight show being from a small out door festival(Come Togther music festival,Durham,Ontario,Canada a very small country town in northern Ontario,the setting for this festival is crazy,it is an actual ghosttown with the bands playing outside the back of an old saloon until midnight then moving indoors until sunrise and in 2002 during the long weekend(May 18-21 I believe) in temperatures averaging around -2 degress C. about 600 people got to witness the insanity of Drums & Tuba,still ranked to be one of the darkest,craziest shows they have played.
Check em out.
Heres a link to Frontier GhostTown,unfortunatley due to an overload of folks as this festival got more known and popular the small city of Durham stepped in and now the festival is no longer held there.The festival is geared to the jamband community here in Canada & the USA,so it is almost like a hippie fest,but some amazing bands did play there...Drums & Tuba being one of them!
There is some pictures on the site and links to other Canadian "jamband" websites also.
Come Together Music Festival
Hope ya'll enjoy. 
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After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
~Aldous Huxley
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