It’s Be A Rough Couple Months & A New Challenge!

Now that all the Black Album Project videos have been released, I am going back to my monthly YouTube channel releases.  I have completed two drum covers already; one for March and one for April.  I was beginning to work on the drum cover for May when my buddy Frank messages me and says, “You need to cover this new song and release it before the bands upcoming record drops”.  I actually was going to cover the song; a few months down the road. But I like a challenge…sometimes!  So there we were with about 5 weeks to go before the bands new album comes out, I’m learning the song, and it’s going rather well.  Then BOOM!  I get the flu.  At this point I don’t want to play the drums at all. My breathing is all fucked up and I ache everywhere.  Not to mention I just had COVID in the middle of January… (that was a piece of cake compared to this flu shit!).  

Today I finally sat down on the throne again and tried to get back at learning the song.  It went ok.  I still remember some of the parts.  Need work on some of the fills.  But my breathing is still laboring and my arms/chest hurts from coughing so much.  I got about 2.5 weeks to finish learning and filming this cover if I am going to release it by Maarch 17th -which is my next scheduled video release date.  If I can’t make it, you’ll see one I previously recorded and I obviously failed the challenge!  I don’t plan on that happening!

 

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Half Way Through The Black Album Project

 

Today marks the half way point of the Black Album Project releases and so far, the comments have been super positive!  This project just might be very difficult to top and it could be all downhill from here.  ??  I just finished the March drum cover the other day and it is so basic in comparison that I almost scrapped the release.  But why should I do that?!

I have plans for some good drum covers in the upcoming months; some basic, some that slay on the drums.  Let’s just hope I can actually play them.  LOL!  Not too much going on otherwise…just wanted to drop a quick note as it’s been a month since my last post.  Just remember every Friday @ 12pm (CST) a new Black Album release comes out.  6 more to go!

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Enter Sandman Premiere

We currently sit at 45 minutes before the premiere of Enter Sandman in my year long quest to recreate the entire Black Album project on the drums.   I feel nervous and excited; probably for no good reason.  I have fielded a bunch of comments and emails about the sound of the kit I created which have all been positive.  I am going into a new adventure and selling the Superior Drummer 3 preset I created for this project because I feel there is no other person out there (that I have seen) with a kit that sounds like it!  You can find this preset in the downloads section.

Today I also finished filming the last song for the project, The Stuggle Within.  This is by far the toughest song on the entire album and I had many challenges (and takes!) to overcome. I think it turned out great, the beginning was fun -even though some people made fun of me for it.  ? 

New videos from the project will be released every week which will take us to the 2nd week in February where I might skip a March release and go straight to the April one.  Hard to say.  I don’t think I can stop making covers for very long so maybe by Christmas I will start working again.

Until then, keep checking the YouTube channel every Friday for a new Black Album release!  ?

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The Black Album Project Has Been Announced!

Ok, here it is…my BIG project!  ?  I hope I didn’t hype it up too much but this was a labor of love for me with countless hours of perfecting the drum sound, learning all the drum fills, and numerous video out-takes.  Even as I complete the finalizing of the drum videos themselves, I am finding the earlier videos from almost a year ago don’t sound as good as the latest.  This is because I tweaked some elements of the sound as I progressed through the project.  I have been going back and tweaking the mix on these earlier recorded songs so you may notice some of the end credit sample videos sounded different.

Since you have so graciously made your way over to my website, I will share the order & dates of when each video was shot, just in case you were ever wondering.  

        1.   Enter Sandman (12/21/21)
        2.   My Friend of Misery (01/01/22)
        3.   Sad But True (02/01/22)
        4.   Nothing Else Matters (02/21/22)
        5.   Wherever I May Roam (04/10/22)
        6.   The Unforgiven (06/07/22)
        7.   Of Wolf & Man (06/25/22)
        8.   Holier Than Thou (07/17/22)
        9.   The God That Failed (08/17/22)
        10.   Don’t Tread On Me (09/12/22)
        11.   Through The Never (10/09/22)
        12.   The Struggle Within (11/25/22)
Enter Sandman is the song I knew the best and have played since day one, so naturally this one would come first.  However, this is not the first song I actually recorded.  I initially recorded My Friend of Misery first for a project my buddy Frank wanted me to do the drums for; this was back in the beginning of October.  I already had the idea to work on this project (being it was the 30 year anniversary of the album in 2021) and began the early stages of creating the drum sound.  I completed that drum track and that’s when I decided to go all in and start filming in between my normal drum cover releases.  But eventually, I had to take the summer off from making covers to focus on this project.  The first 7 songs I filmed are songs I knew how to play just from over the years, so that left the ones I did not know (and probably some of the hardest) for the end.  Needless to say, I got through it and I am SUPER PUMPED at how it turned out.  

You can expect new drum covers from this project released every week; which should last until early February 2023!  Thanks for stopping by…be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel!  Huge shout out to Frank for being my outside ears as he got to hear and view this project as it progressed.  He gave me a lot of valuable information and I trust his opinion.  Thanks buddy!

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It’s Going To Be A Little While Longer

When I released my drum cover for Griftwood back in May, I mentioned at the end of the video that I would be taking the summer off and would return around September/October.  Well, I am going to push this back until November.  I am very close to finishing the project that I have been working on and will begin to release it the day after Thanksgiving.  Look for an official announcement on October 31st via YouTube and Instagram.  I am really excited for everyone to check this project out, it’s some of my best work!  ?

 

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