Mike Keneally & Beer for Dolphins - “Potato” - playalong with drum transcription

I have had a few people ask about the opening drum fill.. here is the code.

R=right hand L=left hand F=foot

the fill starts on beat 3.

1,2, RlrlffRlRlffrlrl The capitol letters are accents...pretty easy.

I was never an official drummer for this band. I did a 5 week tour subbing for Toss Panos. I never really got the music under my belt either (a ton of hard sh*t) so I was reading from charts Toss had made for himself. We played an outdoor college gig in Farmingham? Maine arranged by Mike Gaito who I believe was a student at the time.

Anyway the tune "Day of the Cow 2" (yep that is the title) was a one page chart with unison figures and the time signatures changing almost every measure (true).

Just as Mike counted DOC2 off this big wind blew in and took my book right off my music stand. there was no way to fake this tune so I sat it out in embarrassment.

Mike wrote "Potato" that night in his hotel (actually I think it was a "motel")

and Keneally history was made.

The lyrics in the bridge are..

"We went to Maine cause we're friends with Mike Gaito and Briggs' charts blew away in a tornado"

Friday, October 9, 2009

Mike Keneally & Beer for Dolphins - “Potato” - playalong with drum transcription

I have been fortunate to have worked with some of the most creative and gifted musicians on the planet.. imo.

Mike Keneally was Frank Zappas guitarist, keyboardist and singer during the late 80’s. he has also worked with Steve Vai and a slew of others.

My short tour and recording with Mike Keneally iis among the gigs that challenged and helped me grow as an artist.

This album recieved a 5 star review in Modern Drummer magazine.

This podcast has multiple parts and is for educational purposes. This is a great track for intermediate drummers. Here is what you get. Scroll to the bottom for the rest of the files.

1.Potato with drums
2.Potato without drums

3. Potato drum track

3.Potato Drum transcription.

I have notes from the session...

Potato Session Notes

(first Published in the Art of Boogaloo, 1998 Mel Bay Publications)

Potato is the opening track on Mike Keneally's CD "Sluggo". Mike has been the stunt musician for Frank Zappa, Steve Vai and others. I thought that maybe you would appreciate some information on how this session went down, what I used and how I prepared for it.

Equipment

Drums: Noble & Cooley Horizon series: 22x18 kick, 8", 10", 14" toms \\ Cymbals: Paiste: 20" medium ride and 14' hi hats (traditional), 16" & 20" full crashes (signature)

\\ Heads: Attack: single ply coated ridge /snare, no overtone /bass drum, thin skin 2 /top toms, clear thin skin 1 ply /bottom toms.

\\ Sticks: Regal Tip 5A wood tip

1. I got a call from Mike asking me to play on this tune and we set up a morning to go over the arrangement. We went over the song at my house just the two of us and I took notes and made a ruff chart. I also made a tape which would be invaluable later because I lost my original notes. Mike had a few suggestions (like the 32nd note intro fill) but mostly he let me do what I wanted.

2. Next we set up a day to record. I picked out a couple cymbals I thought would sound good and I brought one extra snare, a Noble & Cooley Classic anniversary edition, some extra heads (just in case) and that was it...oh yeah and my chart. The chart wasn't detailed at all it just had the important hits and the structure of the tune. I did not work out any parts before hand. I allowed myself the freedom to improvise within the bounderies of the song.

3. I set up, tuned the drums and we decided on a tempo for the click track. I thought the original tempo Mike wanted was too slow and I am thankful he had an open mind. We found a tempo that felt good for both of us...meaning it flowed for me and I knew I would have no trouble getting a decent feeling take at this tempo. and Mike felt it was proper for the vocal and groove as well.

4. Time to play... we ran the song down just guitar and drums and there were no big problems with it and Mike says "thats it". I didn't want to believe that I got it on the first take, I knew there was nothing terribly wrong with it but I figured I could do it better (and I did drive 2 hours to get here and I wanted to play some more)..so we took a listen. I thought it sounded ok and Mike said "I'm not going to let you do it again" ...that was it.

Session finished.

Mike finished the overdubs later, made a special mix for me without the drums and a dub of the drum track and was kind enough to let me use it for the Art of Boogaloo book. I hope you enjoy it. I had the drum track run off without any music so that you could easily hear the use of ghost notes and the slight swing the groove has...I hope you find it helpful...FB

Potato was recorded at Double Time studios- San Diego, CA

Engineered by Jeff Forrest

Produced by Mike Keneally

Sluggo and Art of Boogaloo are currently out of print.

from Mike Types to You

http://www.keneally.com/types/types28.html

Mike Keneally

“Frank Briggs. That's the name for you to roll around in your head, for you to savor with moist anticipation, the name of the life-saving gentleman who will be the drummer for the "MIKE KENEALLY AND BEER FOR DOLPHINS 'THANKS, TOSS' TOUR APRIL-MAY 1996". Toss himself referred Mr. Briggs to me; he is a recording/touring veteran drummer, as well as a teacher/instructor of long standing (there is a Frank Briggs instructional video, released last year, available from Mel Bay Publications), and he's currently living, interestingly enough, in Chad Wackerman's LA home. Briggs has been submerging himself in Keneallyana in preparation for the tour, a tour which he accepted for the challenge and because, in his words, he "loves" the music...God knows he'd make a lot more money if he stayed home and continued teaching during that month. I can't thank him enough for wanting the take the job on, and while I regret deeply that Toss won't be available for the first real live BFD tour, I'm excitedly looking forward to developing a new relationship with Briggs. A big round of applause for Frank Briggs please. Thank you.”

Potato without drums

Potato drum track transcription

Potato drum track only

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