Nine Month Wrap-Up: Alicia Keys, Fabolous, Failure Club, Europe

It’s been hard to keep up with website updates, with all the stuff that’s been going on around here. We’ve been tracking drums like mad fiends (even had the Rolling Stones’ horn section in recently for a session), finished building the new studio after the damage from last year’s hurricane, and spent a couple weeks dodging Hurricane Sandy. Here are some of the highlights:

Our resident session drummer Dylan Wissing is playing on the title track and lead single of Alicia Keys‘ latest release “Girl on Fire” with Nicki Minaj.The recording took place in June at Alicia’s personal Manhattan studio (and that’s a pretty sweet place…). The great Ken Lewis was engineering, with Indie Studio Drummer’s Matt Teitelman assisting on the drum teching. As of this writing the album is #1 on iTunes, and the single is on radio charts all around the world. Check out the video:

fabolousAnother recent session was for Fabolous and his track “SoNY,” adding old school funk fills. More work with Ken Lewis (Matt T. assisting), for Hip Hop producer extraordinaire Just Blaze. Fairly high-pressure session, as I was on the road with Blues/Soul singer Kirsten Thien when the call came in.  It was a mad dash to get back to the studio from the final show in Maine, and a sprint to get the kit miced, the parts learned, and the tracks sent to Ken.  Fabolou’s song was on the radio about three days after our parts were sent.  Check out the video, with some powerful footage from Hurricane Sandy:

On a completely different side, recently tracked the song “Wouldn’t Be a Merry Christmas” with Grammy-winning producer Steve Addabbo (Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega) for artist Elizabeth Chan.  Elizabeth is featured on Morgan Spurlock’s show Failure Club. Her debut EP “Naughty & Nice” hit #4 on iTunes Holiday Music chart, with the single in iTunes Top 25.

Indie studio Drummer’s Dylan Wissing has been on tour for several weeks this year with Blues/Soul sensation Kirsten Thien. In May, Kirsten and the band (an amazing group of musicians and people, with David Patterson on guitar, and Erik Boyd and Johnny Pisano sharing the bass chair) travelled across the US to Washington State. The band travelled to Europe in October for an amazing sixteen days of shows. Here’s live footage from a date opening for the great Dickey Betts.

After Hurricane Irene destroyed our former studio last year, we’ve spent a good part of the year building our fabulous new Triple Colossal Studios in Hoboken, New Jersey. Happy to report that, once the water receded and power came back on, our families, homes, studio and vehicles were all completely unscathed by this year’s Hurricane Sandy! Sad to say that the same can’t be said of a good deal of our beautiful little town – thousands here (and all over the region) lost everything. Please help support Rebuild Hoboken to bring this town back to life.

It’s been a great year so far (with a couple weeks of hurricane madness) at Indie Studio Drummer, with more amazing and inspiring projects coming up.

Contact us if you need drum tracks for your project, and we look forward to working together!

Six month wrap-up: Grammy nomination w/ Kanye & Jay-Z, on #1 Album “Take Care” w/ Drake, “I Love My B___s” w/ Rick Ross, and a brand new studio!

We’ve barely had time to breathe here at Indie Studio Drummer, so much has happened since August. Here’s a wrap-up of highlights:

Appearing on “Gossip Girls” with Kanye and Jay-Z, apparently…

Thanks, Musicians Union for the heads-up (several months after the fact, but that’s fine by me)…

Apparently the Kanye West / Jay-Z track “Power” I played drums on is prominently featured on the show “Gossip Girls!”  If, like everyone here at Indie Studio Drummer, you are dying to find out just what happened on the episode, it’s chronicled in exhaustive detail here:

Indie Studio Drummer - World Class Drum Trackshttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/10/gossip-girl-recap-the-greatest-aphrodisiac.html

Never a dull moment with Blair, Juliette, and Serena!

Recording for Rick Ross’ New Album

Working once again with studio wizard Ken Lewis and hip hop mega-producer Just Blaze, recording an intense sample recreation for rapper Rick Ross‘ upcoming 2011 release “God Forgives, I Don’t” (Def Jam). Can’t give away the song we’re recreating, but it’s by one of the most famous songwriters in history, and the track is apparently a single.  More news as we have it…

Recording with Josh Charles, brilliant Americana Soul!

Have been in the studio recently with amazing Americana/Soul singer/songwriter Josh Charles and the Stone Ramblers, cutting several new tunes for an upcoming release.  Josh has appeared on Good Morning America, the Tavis Smiley Show, CNN, and Voice of America, and pretty much all over the Internet and print.  Indie Studio Drummer - World Class Drum TracksAnd given the fact that his previous drummers have been Bernard Davis, Herlin Riley, and Brian Blade, and given that Josh’s mentor is the legendary Dr. John, it’s a real honor to share the stage with him!  Look for a full-length release from the Stone Ramblers later this year.

Playing drums for Glee, “The Living Years”

Working with Grammy-nominated producer Tommy Faragher on the song “The Living Years” for the show Glee, which airs tonight.  At the end of the day, we’re not sure which parts from Indie Studio Drummer ended up on the final version (a small army of musicians and producers worked on the song), but we think that the first 2:20 of the track feature our own Dylan Wissing on the drums.

Indie Studio Drummer - World Class Drum tracks

Drumming Weekly on BET’s “Master of the Mix” with Just Blaze, and a personal story

Recently cut drums and percussion for the theme song to BET’s “Master of the Mix,” featuring the one and only producer Just Blaze (Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, a zillion others).  The track called for funky 70s drumming (my favorite, I must confess), including a Curtis Mayfield “Pusherman”-type percussion vibe – very fun to do, as the soundtrack to “Superfly” is a personal favorite.  Plus, I got to actually track a set of Roto-Toms – when’s the last time anyone’s done that?!

[audio:masterofthemix.mp3] “Master of the Mix” Theme Song – Just Blaze

As an aside, when I first moved to NYC from Indiana (my home state) several years ago, I was doing construction work on the side while I established a recording and performing career in the greatest city in the world (OK, maybe I’m biased).

Anyhow, one of my construction jobs was in Just Blaze’s studio, retrofitting some equipment racks and various other audio-related construction tasks.  Just was an incredibly cool guy to work for, and very down-to-earth even though he was wearing a million-dollar watch (the thing was pretty ridiculous, more diamonds than I’ve even seen in one place at one time).  I had to work in the middle of the night, and hustle because Ol’ Dirty Bastard was coming in the next morning and power saws just wouldn’t be cool while ODB was tracking.

So, one of my first professional credits beyond touring and recording for thirteen years with Johnny Socko (my first band out of college) was that I could legitimately claim I had cut four tracks for producer Just Blaze!

Of course, the tracks held audio gear, and I cut them with a hacksaw, but as Just himself told me when I brought it up, “no one can take that away from me.”

Very happy to be recording actual drums this time, though – that construction work made my lower back very unhappy!

Playing Drums on Kanye West’s “Power” Remix with Jay-Z!

We at Indie Studio Drummer are extremely pleased to announce that our resident drummer Dylan Wissing is playing drums on Kanye West’s “Power” remix (Roc-A-Fella), featuring Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz!   Read more Playing Drums on Kanye West’s “Power” Remix with Jay-Z!

New Album “Delicious” from Blues/Soul Artist Kirsten Thien Due this Fall

I’ve had the great pleasure of playing drums with the extremely talented Blues/Soul artist Kirsten Thien for the past several years.  We’ve been recording Kirsten’s material all year, and her long-awaited new record Delicious is wrapping up Read more New Album “Delicious” from Blues/Soul Artist Kirsten Thien Due this Fall