Frank Briggs - Drumming and Music Podcast

Pulsar Sound Radio Interview - Part 2 (Repost)

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 08:48:23 -0700

Here is part two of an radio interview I did with Tony Palcovic for Pulsar Sound Radio.
We discuss the composing process involved in the making of China Ranch. This was a fun experience.. enjoy.

“China Ranch” was nominated for multiple Grammys in 2008 (first round)

Ohm - Point Omega from Circus of Sound - (Repost)

Fri, 6 May 2011 09:21:53 -0700

I recorded this tune in 2008 with a local LA band called OHM. Ohm features Chris Poland (Megadeth, Damn the Machine) on guitar and Robertino Pagliarri on bass. I am on 4 tracks on this album and did a few live dates with them. This is a pretty good album. Check Amazon or iTunes if you would like to hear more or purchase. The album was released by Mike Varney’s Tone Center label, a great jazz/fusion label.

The tune is mostly in 5, the A section is in 6. The drum solo is over a 5/8 vamp. I play some over the bar phrases by playing 5/4 (and sometimes 4/4) over the 5/8. This drum track was done in 2 takes for me. I believe this is my second take. I used my Noble & Cooley CD maple kit for this session. I hope you like it.

Pulsar Sound Radio Interview - Part 1 - Repost

Thu, 5 May 2011 14:53:39 -0700

Here is part one of an radio interview I did with Tony Palcovic in 2008 for Pulsar Sound Radio. My album had been out for a few months at the time. This was a fun experience.. enjoy. Thanks to the show’s producer Stefanee Friedman

Mark Boccaccio - Spies On Vacation - 1979

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:40:55 -0700

Another song i recorded that was only recently brought to my attention. I really don’t remember much of the session, so I will let Mark discuss how the track went down. i do like it very much. Since the master was erased I never heard this until recently. This was my rototom kit and my awesome gong.

Mark is a film composer/engineer/editor, you can see some of his work here

From Mark...

Spies on Vacation

Dana Klipp : Guitar
Greg Liss : Bass
Frank Briggs : Drums
Mark Boccaccio : piano and synths.

- First song I ever wrote.

- Recorded August of 1979 at Newhouse Studio B, Syracuse University, in two 6-hour sessions.

- Recorded ass-backwards: piano first (with no click track), then guitar and most synths, then drums and bass last (except for the guitar solo and synth chordal build up near the end were added after the rhythm section left on a 2nd session). I am still amazed that it sounds like it does (thanks to your true grokking abilities as well as your and Greg's brilliant "glue")

- No real mix. S.U. student Engineer bulk erased Master 16 track 2" tape by mistake.
- This was a "faders up" unattended rough mix as we hurried to clean up studio before next student engineer came for their own 6 hour session.

- "Spies" got me into Miami University School of Music, even though i couldn't read music. They had no idea what to do with me once I got there.

Hotz Converse - High Roller - 1985

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:19:05 -0700

This is another session I forgot about until recently when I saw it posted on facebook:).
Hotz (Joel) Converse is a tremendous guitar player from Auburn, NY.
I love this track, it’s funk, blues, blue grass, fusion... it’s just cool.
If you dig this tune please go to Hotz’ YouTube Channel and let him know.
The drums i used that day were provided by my friend Pete Mendillo (Survivor, Starship, Tommy Tutone, Savoy Brown)

“I wrote and recorded this back in 1985. First song I ever wrote that I almost couldn't play! Played the bass and guitar tracks, the great Frank Briggs played the drum track in one take! And the talented Ann Adessa with her powerful voice did the vocal track, exactly like I wanted it, too” - Joel “Hotz” Converse

805 - MTV Video

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:12:45 -0700

Here is another 805 freebie as promised. I was in this band from 1978 - 1986. We were signed to RCA records in 1981 and released our first album in 1982. 805 was a popular bar band in New York State during this time. The album did chart on Billboard along with Men at Work, Missing Persons, Eddie Money etc. We peaked at #33 I think and then tanked:).. oh well.

This video was recorded for MTV in it’s early days of all Music TV. This video is funny on many levels,. I composed most of the music track and never cared for the lyrics, It was however one of the tracks that got a few major labels interested... go figure:)

Side note for drummers.. I was using a roto tom / acoustic drumset at the time. Roto Toms don’t go BOOM... I was a big Bruford/Bozzio fan and it seemed like a good idea at the time. The band was Edward Vivenzio (keys), Greg Liss (bass) Dave Porter (guitar & vocals) and myself. on the weirdness you see above.. This for the die hards still out there.. enjoy

PS I am now encoding Webcast videos in .m4v format which will play on your ipod, iphone, ipad etc. nicely. If you have trouble and/or would like to view them elsewhere change the extension to .mp4 and it should work fine.

Red Moon from Complete Modern Drum Set DVD

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:00:09 -0700

here is a full performance clip from my book/DVD package Complete Modern Drum Set (Mel Bay). This was recorded at Dauz Designs studio in Los Angeles in 1995 with Hi8 cameras and transfered to DVD in 2001. There is a complete chart to this tune in the book. This title is available at Amazon.com.

Mike Keneally & Beer for Dolphins: Live at the Bottom Line, NYC 1996

Fri, 14 May 2010 11:36:57 -0700

I did a brief tour with Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa, Steve Vai) in 1996. I was subbing for Toss Panos, I had a couple weeks to get the music together. The northeast part included a night at the Bottom Line in NYC. Someone had a tape recorder (remember tape?)... and this is some of what they caught that night. I believe this was the second set, I was happier with the first as I remember. We were doing a double bill with the Ed Palermo Big Band, who played an entire repertoire of Frank Zappa tunes arranged for big band.

Aja by Steely Dan - performed by 805 (New Years Eve 1979)

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:59:12 -0700

Thanks to Steve Signor for sending me this. This is a board tape of a band I was in many moons ago. Live at Allen’s Steak & Ale in Scotia NY, New Years Eve 1979. We played a lot of cover tunes and had a set of original tunes as well ... got signed to .... blah, blah, blah... check some of the other posts:) I love this song and since I couldn’t come up with a drum solo even close to Steve Gadd’s on this track, I tried to come as close as I could to learning his solo. This was before all the licks were readily available on YouTube and transcribed in books etc. I learned it by dropping a stylus on a vinyl album.. repeatedly. I thought this was good enough to share.. hope you enjoy it.
The picture above was taken the same year.

The Lineup was
Edward Vivenzio - keys
Ron Cunningham - guitar/vocals
Greg Liss - bass/vocals
Dave Porter - guitar/vocals
and me on the contraption you see on the right.

Live Sound mixer - Tim Rinkerman
Lights - Todd Reusch
Drum Tech - Tom “Smitty” Smith

Studio Jams Part 1 - MLB Trio - Nardis (in 5)

Sat, 3 Apr 2010 13:43:33 -0700

Every week or so I have a jam session at my studio. Sometimes I record it. This particular week it was a trio with Tommy Lockett (bass), Jeff Miley (guitar) and myself on drums and engineering, which I do with a wireless keyboard. This was fun. Here is a little taste. This is a standard called “Nardis” made famous by Bill Evans and composed by Miles Davis. Jeff created an arrangement in 5/4 subdivided 3/2 except for the B section which is subdivided 2/3. The form is AABA. Here is a copy of the chart.

All podcasts are for personal use and may not be reposted. You are welcomed to share the link.
See you next time.. - fb