J-Zone Interview w/ Nostalgia King
Did a quick interview with DJ Skeme Richards of Nostalgia King about how I’m operating musically during the pandemic and the age of social distancing.
The Wild World of One Shots!
After 4 drum break libraries and 6 years of frontin’ on producers requesting one shots, “social distancing” has inspired me to take on the arduous task of curating a library of high quality one-shots from my arsenal of drum sets, snare drums and assorted cymbals and percussion. The engineering, nitpicking, gruntwork and trial and error of creating a one shot library requires time – a lot of it. And with our current global health crisis keeping all of us indoors, I was finally able to laser focus and put in the necessary undistracted hours to come up with 100 killer sounds for your beat-making/composing needs. 31 snare drum sounds, 17 kick sounds, 21 hi-hat/cymbal sounds, 9 tom and percussion sounds + a bonus folder of a 22 of the kicks, hi-hats and snares run through an Akai S-950 sampler for a 12-bit sheen (courtesy of sound designer, Bullyfinger) – it’s all there!
Chopping up drum breaks isn’t for everyone, and part of being a working drummer is catering to the needs of the artist and producer. Combine that understanding of drums from the perspective of the drummer, engineer and producer – you get The Wild World of One Shots! Now I can go spend April working on boring yet essential practice pad exercises. Enjoy.
Buy The Wild World Of One Shots exclusively at THE DRUM BROKER
New Music! The Du-Rites: “Pigeon Spikes”
While we wait for our next 7″ to be pressed (should be out in May) and the world’s gone mad with Coronavirus hysteria, Pablo and I camped out in our home studios to put a new tune together. “Pigeon Spikes” should hold you funk fanatics over till the next 7″ – and it’s a taste of where album #5 is going.
And watch a video below of us putting it together. Enjoy.
Back In the Groove with Ben Pirani + The Means of Production
January and Februrary were writing and adjustment periods for all bands I’m in, but things are picking back up. Ben Pirani + the Means of Production are back at it in rehearsal and we ended up jamming the other day. New music and back on the road later this year. Here’s a taste…
J-Zone Meets The Media
I was interviewed by Plus One Me about a lot of different things but mainly drumming, teaching college, my outdated studio gear, the economics of drum break records and a SXSW gig gone wrong that changed my entire musical path!
Enjoy.
The Du-Rites: Live at Brooklyn Bowl (Jan. 3, 2020)
Here’s about 65% of The Du-Rites live show from our gig with The Skatalites at Brooklyn Bowl last weekend. Enjoy and hopefully we’ll be in your town soon!
The Du-Rites: “The Man With The Golden Tooth” (Live at Brooklyn Bowl)
The Du-Rites had a very funky and fun show over the weekend opening for the legendary Skatalites. Here’s a full clip of “The Man With The Golden Tooth”…a lil’ smooth funk, a lil’ Go-Go breakdown, a lil’ film score, a lil’ everything! More clips from the show to come.
Break Bonanza Promo Video Excerpts
Here’s a few preview videos from a forthcoming mini-doc on Break Bonanza and the lessons I’ve learned behind the scenes over the years. One on woking with established artists and knowing what and what not to play – and the other on abandoning being a jack of all trades to put more practice time into drumming. Full video will go live next week. Pre-order the 7″ vinyl for Break Bonanza here. Check both videos below.
Break Bonanza 7″ Preorder Live!
Break Bonanza drum break 7″ pre-order up now! Shipping around Dec. 11. Package deals available. Order your copy on Bandcamp here! Check out snippets on YouTube here. If vinyl ain’t your thing, get the digital files at The Drum Broker here. Or, you can check out the test press playing on Instagram below and scroll through the slideshow to get my random commentary. Ouija board tournament!