Today is a sad day in the world of William Covert. My favorite drummer, and quite honestly my favorite musician has retired from performing live music. Bill Bruford whose professional music career started in 1968 is hanging up playing live. Growing up and listening to all the bands Bill played with whether it be Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, UK, Earthworks, Chris Botti, I always thought one day I would get the chance to see him perform live and that dream will now never be fulfilled. Bill Bruford is the most important influence on me as a musician and an artist. I did my senior thesis in college on the drumming style of Bill Bruford and how he's changed drumming not only in rock and pop music, but also in jazz and electronic music, but I could go on all day about that.
My tribute to Bill is just some of my favorite live photos of him playing and a video of one of my favorite live drum solos of his, which is unique in that fact that it's entirely on electronic drums and Bill was one of the first musicians ever to use sampling and sequencing technology and though the video is from the 80's I find it's still ahead of its time in terms of the use of electronic drums as a melodic instrument.
I've been scavenging youtube recently and found some live video gems.
I make no secret that my favorite drummer, one of my favorite musicians, and one of my heroes is Bill Bruford.
I have always admired Bill for his willingness to venture into unchartered musical waters and his creative drumming style .
Bill is the most creative drummer and one of the most creative musicians I've ever heard. He constantly reinvents himself as a drummer. Bill will probably be featured numerous times on the War On Music because his career and musical style is vast.
The clip below is one of my favorite examples of electronic and synthesized drums used to write music. Bill didn't want to just use drum machines when the electronic drum wave came out in the 1980's. Bill is actually one of the first musicians on the planet to dabble in sampling, and it led Bill to create what he called "Chordal Drums" where he programed electronic drums to play notes and then played the drums melodicly and literally wrote and performed melodies on drums. Not too many can say that.
The tune is called "Stromboli Kicks" and is performed by Bill Bruford's Earthworks.
I've been pondering lately what direction in life I want to go in. I had been hellbent for sometime about relocating to Chicago, but now I'm not as hellbent now as I once was. Changes can be hard to decide because you don't know what the outcome will be. I'm always trying to put myself in a situation to better myself, and I'm not totally sure what direction to go in.
A large problem I have is being a musician. Playing music is the greatest and sometimes also the worst thing that's ever happened to me. Like so many other people my age I wish I could just go get a job and be happy or go off to grad school and be happy, but I wouldn't. I want to do something with my life that involves music. I want to make people happy. I want to creatively inspire people. I've been posting some songs on my myspace page recently and the feedback I've gotten has been phenomenal. It's really encouraged me to maybe stick my neck out a little more than I normally would as far as taking my music more seriously.
I think my musical career is ready for another change in its constant reinvention. I'm a believer that once you somewhat master something and get a grasp of what you're doing then it's time to move on and try something new and different. I've been playing in rock bands for almost 8 years and I love rock music, but I often find myself thinking about well what if I was doing this with music instead. I want to maybe explore jazz and/or electronic music more. I use to play with a hybrid drum set featuring both electronic and acoustic drums, which was my most productive writnig phase. I think it might be time to get experimental again.
Where I move will also depend on what happens with my musical reinvention. I'm tired of playing in bands and playing music that sounds like something, I want to create something new that people haven't heard before. I have to put myself in a situation where I can find and play with musicians who think the same way as me. I also want to put myself in a situation where I'll be happy outside of what I think and do with music.
Socially I'm ready for a change as well. I'm tired of smalltown Michigan. I want to meet more people like me. My social circle and influence is dwindling. I have made some new friends recently, which has also helped me open my eyes to the fact that change can be good, and change is what I need.
Below is a video I find on youtube of my favorite drummer Bill Bruford. It has a little boring introduction, but once it starts I think it's the most melodic, danceable, and most creative drum solo I've ever seen. I wish I wrote it, and this song was the main influence my song "Bill's Boogie" which is a melodic drum solo I wrote and recorded which is on my myspace page. http://www.myspace.com/williamcovert
I find this video to be a reflection of the kind of music I wish I was playing now. Where's jazz fusion musicians when I need them!
The past two days I have spent a good deal of time messing around with my brother's 16 track Yamaha digital recorder, and I have some fruitful results from that chaos. I put a new song up on my myspace page www.myspace.com/williamcovert that is a newly recorded song I just finished today.
From this previous weekend it had got me thinking about different types and kinds of music, and I started messing around with drum beats that were in 3/4 time signature or what classical dancers would call a waltz beat. Out of messing around with a waltz beat I wrote out some drum parts and recorded Acrylic Waltz. Some parts of it are polyrhythmic where I take a 3/4 beat with my feet and play 4/4 on top of it with my hands or vice versa. I had been listening to a lot of Bill Bruford and Gavin Harrison recently (more so of Gavin because he's on the cover of this month's Modern Drummer Magazine) and both of them were influence in my drumming on the song and the whole idea really to play in an odd non 4/4 time signature for the base of the song. I'm hoping to maybe get some more music recorded and online as well, I don't know though we'll see how the creative process goes.
