simon philips clinic

simon philips here, actually yesterday, i wouldnt miss it for the world! i brought a digital camera but forgot to charge the batteries =( really dumb of me.

possibly the longest wait in line i spent for a clinic. been standing outside since 4:00PM with a friend and we were allowed in at ten past 7. i was very hungry and my feet are getting numb. we took the nearest seat on the left side of simon's drum kit just to get a better view of the master at work.

vic mercado started off the night with his band bamboo playing two of their tracks with vic doing a solo on the song 'as the music plays'. great drummer, his cymbal work is very impressive. i noticed he was using a clear acrylic snare. gotta get me one of those for xmas =) i see another project coming.

well i've never seen simon philips in the flesh before, i've only seen him on dvd and an old vhs tape titled 'super drumming' which i bought from rj galleria. i almost went to the toto concert at aliw theater feb of last year but unfortunately money was tight and tickets were expensive. i really imagined he was a big guy because of the height of his cymbals and the dimensions of his kit, well what do you know, he's just like mangini the year before and with wits to match. foreign artists never get to bring their gear along for clinics, how i wished that he had his green starclassics coz that would really be a sight to see. the first song is an instrumental unfornately im not really into his fusion projects so i dont know the two tracks he played. he did do the trademark round house fills with thunderous execution and demonstrated polyrhythmic stuff with his hands and feet. i was expecting a 45-minute solo but i guess due to time constraints, he only gave a 15-minute one. the dynamics and control he displayed was simply amazing.

come q&a time, i was no longer feeling my earlier hunger. he started answering questions from the crowd and then he demonstrated some warm-up exercises. seeing that makes me wanna quit practicing. i wonder how many years it would take me to be as precise as he is? hmmm he even did a paradiddle with his foot doing the same with his hands in half time. sic. reminds me of thomas lang but lang's is lot sicker since he does it with varying tempos. simon gave advice on recording drums, muffling the bass drum, some life stories and life in the recording industry.

got to go, i have an early meeting.