Here’s a brief update on some stuff…

- – Recently I was back in the studio (Zippah) with the gifted singer/songwriter Jody Blackwell, adding more drums & percussion to her forthcoming album.  Stay tuned for more news about this project.  I must say that Brian Charles is once again doing an outstanding job recording this album.  The tracks I’ve heard thus far sound tremendous!

- – I’m happy to report I’ll be playing a string of gigs this summer with guitar virtuoso Bobby Keyes in his trio (which also includes bass virtuoso Marty Ballou).  I’m a lucky drummer! Check the gigs page for dates/times, etc.

- – In addition to our upcoming performance {1st time} @ Chanti on May 7th, the Tough Love Trio is also back at the beloved Acton Jazz Café on Saturday July 3^rd.

- – For fans of the annual summer concert series {out on the back lawn of the ‘Great House’} at the Crane Estate/Castle Hill in Ipwich, I’ll be there again with Orville Giddings (with his extended ensemble) on September 2^nd.

- – The ‘Wet Paint’ reunion concert is still in the works! All five original members are “in”, and the gig will be the 1^st time we’ve all played together since 1991-ish.  We’re still trying to secure a venue and sort out the various schedules, etc.

I do try my best to keep the gigs page updated on a [somewhat] regular basis… please check-in for more area performances.

~~~ Here’s wishing you all a wonderful summer! ~~~

Best…. Steve

Jody Blackwell, Annie Hoffman, Steve Chaggaris, & Brian Charles; Zippah Recording, 25th April 2010.

I had bags of fun at Zippah recording studio in Boston last month, playing drums for singer-songwriter Jody Blackwell’s forthcoming album.  I’d met Jody about three years ago – at her wedding!  Jody had been taking some guitar lessons from Mike Mele, and naturally had heard Mike play with the Ken Clark Organ Trio.  When it came time for wedding plans, KCOT got the call to perform the reception.  So apparently that’s where the seeds were sown for my involvement on her latest project.  Joining me in the rhythm section for these sessions was Joe McMahon on electric bass. I’d played with Joe a few times over the last decade, but mostly in jazz situations [with Joe playing brilliantly on acoustic bass].  But earlier this year I got to hear Joe’s rock playing with Will Dailey at the Cutler theatre – on the opening slot for Pete Yorn – and not surprisingly – he blew my mind.  He was thoroughly tasteful and entirely grooving on the whole gig.  Needless to say, it was an honour to work with Joe in the studio, helping to lay down the foundations for Jody’s songs.  I can’t wait to hear the finished project!  Zippah proprietor Brian Charles was engineering the sessions, and I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that he did a fantastic job with the drum sounds.  I used my orange Eames kit with my raspberry vistalite snare drum for her entire album.  I typically use a number of different snare drums in the studio, depending on the songs, production, etc., but this drum seemed to work best at Zippah for the whole of Jody’s album.  Brian achieved an incredible bass drum sound with his double-mic-ing technique.

A couple of months back I was fortunate to get a call from veteran guitar virtuoso Bobby Keyes for a gig with his trio up at the Ellacoya Barn & Grille on Lake Winnipesauke.  Bobby has worked with Ken Clark over the years and likely heard of me through Ken. Marty Ballou often plays electric bass with Bobby, and I was psyched that he was on this gig as well!  Marty & I had played together a bunch in the early years of The Soul Band, when Marty was the 1^st call bass sub.  Marty is the kind of musician I’ve been striving to be for years.  He’s a masterful chameleon; a bassist who plays a bunch of different styles and plays them all amazingly well.  Marty gets deep into the nuances of what makes a genre work, and knows just as much about what not to do as about what to do.  He prepares fastidiously, and always shows up to the gig ready to play.  He is also one of the nicest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing…I simply cannot say enough good things about this man.  Bobby Keyes is an absolutely amazing musician.  A totally original artist; Bobby sounds like no other guitarist I’ve heard or worked with.  He writes magnificently original instrumental music, and his crossbred style and commanding use of dynamics makes for a truly special & enjoyable live show. This gig keeps me on my toes!  His CD ‘Lady Luck’ is brilliant; definitely check it out.  Just around the corner, on 12/19, I’ll be performing with the Bobby Keyes Trio again, this time in Portsmouth NH at the Dolphin Striker.  {Ed. note: Steve is back @ the Dolphin Striker w/B0bby & Marty on Fri. 15-Jan-2010!}

The Tough Love Trio had another gratifying show at the Acton Jazz Café on 11/28.  Greg Loughman was in on bass, subbing for our beloved Blake Newman (who was in New York performing for the show Orpheus X), and as usual Greg did a tremendous job.  [As mentioned in my last missive, Greg & I had a blast playing together over the summer in Kendall Square for vocalist Celia Slattery].  Once more the house in Acton was full, and we are enormously thankful for that. AJC proprietor/host Gwenn Vivian is an extraordinary human being and does a fabulous job running that venue, and as I told the audience that night, we don’t take her efforts for granted…we try to do our part as well.  We had such a nice mix of folks in attendance, and it’s always enjoyable for us to see so many friends from far & wide.  We’ll be back (Blake too!) at the AJC on the 3/13, playing the early show again – 7pm.

For those on the South Shore/Cape Cod, there are a pair of gigs at the venerable Harry’s Blues Bar in Hyannis with legendary blues singer & diva Michelle ‘Evil Gal’ Willson, on 1/16 & 3/20.  I’ve had the pleasure of performing with Michelle on several gigs this year, including the 2009 Honesdale Roots & Rhythm Festival in Pennsylvania.  It rained like mad all day, but that didn’t keep the blues loving folks away.  [I put up a few pics from that festival here.]

I try my best to keep the gigs page updated on a [somewhat] regular basis, so check there for more area performances.

For any interested drummers, check out the bottom of the gear page for a piece from me about Eames Drums.

Happy Holly Daze!

Michelle 'Evil Gal' Willson @ the '09 Honesdale Roots & Rhythm Festival

Recording @ Zippah for Jody Blackwell, with Joe McMahon on his '73 Gibson bass

Firehouse Theatre, Newburyport MA, 11/09

Hello! It seems as though summer is just getting started here in New England despite the fact that it’s now August. And here I sit, once again, staring at this screen and scrambling with an attempt to update my most ravenous fans (all 7 of you – you know who you are!) with whatever it is that comprises my life in the music world, as Genesis’ excellent album ‘Wind & Wuthering’ (Dec 1976) plays on in the background.

~ recap of the recent past ~

Major thanks to all who came out to the Tough Love Trio gig at the Acton Jazz Café on the 18^th of July. Blake, Mike & myself are exceptionally grateful for such a remarkable turnout. You made us feel very appreciated and at home, and we appreciate that! It was especially a treat for me to see so many friends from various circles and periods of my life. As a journeyman freelance drummer, the chance to play music with my own trio is (thus far) not something I get to do every week. I don’t take the opportunity for granted, and I must say that the show of support we received in Acton is also something I don’t take for granted. Thank you again! We’ll be back at the AJC on the 28^th of November, playing the early show again – 7pm.

This summer has brought me several gigs that have all required quite a bit of homework on my part. I’m always grateful for the gigs, and thankfully the homework involved was a labour of love. One in particular I’d like to mention was an outdoor concert in Kendall Sq. Cambridge on 4-August where I filled in for the legendary Dave Mattacks (who was touring the UK at the time). I was called to back-up singer/songwriter Celia Slattery, and DM had played drums for most of the tracks on her latest studio recording ‘Cast of Characters’. I was thrilled to get the call from Celia to do the gig, and humbled by the prospect of filling in for one of my drumming heroes – and a great friend. I made sure I did my homework! Also on the gig were the fantastic Mark Shilansky on keyboards & vocals, and a bassist who’s made quite a name for himself in the Boston area – Greg Loughman. Greg has subbed for Blake before with the Tough Love Trio, so I was familiar with his brilliant playing and very pleased he was on the gig. Mark and I hadn’t played together since we were both at NEC in ’92-’93 – - and trust me, Mark was amazing back then. Well, he’s truly become a master now. Mark is not only an incredible pianist, but has also become a well-respected producer in his own right, and his production prowess is all over Celia’s ‘Cast of Characters’ album. Thankfully the homework seems to have paid off, as the gig was not only a success, but also extremely fun (and enormously rewarding).

~ upcoming do-dads ~

Immediately around the corner (and speaking of gigs with lots of homework ;) I’ll be playing with another fantastic singer/songwriter named Alizon Lissance – again at the Acton Jazz Café – this Saturday the 15^th of August. Alizon is a gifted pianist, singer, songwriter, and has been a member of the venerable Boston band The Love Dogs for 15+ years. She has an excellent solo CD out called ‘So What About You’ and we’ll be performing some cuts off of that album plus a ton of other material. Check Alizon out here.

For those on Boston’s North Shore, the annual summer concert series continues on Castle Hill, at the Crane estate in Ipswich MA. I’ll be there once again on the 3^rd of September, backing up Ipswich’s own Orville Giddings. Orv will have his extended ensemble that night; a full horn section joins his regular quartet, along with a few esteemed guests. Info is available here.

As always, thanks for your interest!

The Igloomaster - 6" x 14" grape acrylic snare drum, edges/beds/assembly by Michael Ambroszewski of Ptech (Percussion Technologies) in Quincy, MA

Stay tuned for a separate page devoted solely to my jazz group, the Tough Love Trio.   Also, be sure to check the ‘Gigs’ page on this site for all upcoming performances… now organized chiefly by artist first [especially if I’m playing multiple dates with the same artist/band].  Performances will only be listed here on this website, as I’ve completely burned out on entering things twice (like also over on my myspace page.)  In fact, my myspace page now serves solely to direct any interested party to this website!

And now, onto my typical business of blathering about drums….

While I’m kind of known for being a dyed-in-the-wool Eames player, I do tend to use some different snare drums from time to time, depending on the musical situation, the venue, my mood, etc.  Some of my favourite snare drums in the cache have been cobbled together by a combination of spare parts & TLC from the right technician. And often, I’ve found that some of the more complicated boutique-like snare drums can be a bit more work than they’re worth.  In my world, sometimes simpler is better.  Even with my #1 Eames snare drum {the Master Model ‘Monster’} I had Joe assemble it with simple tried-and-true parts that work, and are not over-designed.

Recently I came across (rather economically, always a +) an un-drilled acrylic shell, known by its marketing name in the drum world as ‘Vistalite’.   I’m told that the manufacturer of this shell is the same company that makes the Vistalite line for Ludwig. Up until this year, I’d had fairly little experience with acrylic drums, and certainly never owned one.  Sure, I thought Bonzo’s orange Vistalites were visually outstanding in Led Zeppelin’s concert film The Song Remains The Same – and we all know that Bonzo could make music on any set of drums – but any chance I’d had over the years to sit-in on a kit of acrylic drums had not truly impressed me.  This has all changed for a couple of reasons.  1st, my friend Dave Mattacks (who I regard to be Master Yoda of snare drums, in addition to his legendary drumming) let me check out an acrylic snare drum that he’d newly assembled.  I was pleasantly surprised with it.  It had a darker timbre, as compared to a metal shell, though not as warm as a wood shell.  It had a very distinctive and robust bark, and it was very musical.  It definitely had its own unique voice that, for the sake of taxonomy, I’d place somewhere between a copper shell & a maple shell. However – and this brings me to the 2nd part of this: as DM stressed in our conversation about this instrument [and snare drums in general], the bearing / beveled edges & the snare beds are critically important elements of a snare drum’s sound & response.  This is why one employs somebody who really knows how to deal with these critically important elements!

Enter Michael Ambroszewski, who runs a company called Percussion Technologies, or simply PTech, out of Quincy Massachusetts.  When I acquired my own acrylic shell, I immediately contacted Mike for his expertise.  Mike took a look at her and quickly determined that her bearing edges needed an ‘outer cut’, and that the snare beds were way too abrupt & short for today’s Mylar drumheads.  He made the snare beds more gradual & even, and added a nice outer cut to both bearing edges.  As a result, the heads went on & tuned up with ease, and the drum is an absolute pleasure to play.  I’m actually shocked that I like it as much as I do.  I never thought I’d feel this way about a synthetic shell!  Here she is in all her raspberry glitter glory:

5" x 14" acrylic snare drum in raspberry glitter

A couple of shows worthy of note: The Ken Clark Organ Trio is performing in Portsmouth NH on December 21 at one of our favourites — The Dolphin Striker. We consider that week to be ‘holiday week’, so no doubt there will be some Hammond B3 versions of some Xmas favourites that night… (You won’t have to twist Ken’s arm too far to get a performance of “The Grinch” that night!) Check out the Dolphin Striker @ www.dolphinstriker.com

A bit further on, I’m excited to be playing with my own jazz group – the Tough Love Trio – on February 28 at the Acton Jazz Café in Acton MA. We’ll be playing the dinner set, starting at 7pm & finishing up at 8:30pm. Do hope you can join us for this one! The Acton Jazz Café is one of the most highly regarded venues for live jazz & blues in New England. In addition to offering live music every night, they have a full bar & restaurant. Great food, drinks, & atmosphere, and just 24 miles west of Boston. Check out the AJC @ www.actonjazzcafe.com

A couple of new additions to the drum den:

1.) An Eames 12” x 18” 9-ply bass drum, in Cherry Wine, to match the other drums in the ‘Workhorse’ kit. Once again, I’ve gone 2 inches shallower than ‘traditional’ in depth, as this provides additional articulation (as proven by my 12” x 20” bass drum) – in addition to the nice round tonality so desired from a bass drum. Using solid heads (no front port), & a playing technique that refrains from “burying the beater”; I’m able to get the best of both worlds out of these 12” deep bass drums. Joe MacSweeney (he IS Eames Drum Co.) is once again the “bomb diggity” of craftsmen, and produced an absolutely gorgeous instrument – both sonically & visually.

2.) An MDK 6.5” x 14” snare drum in natural mahogany – finished with tung oil. This drum was beautifully crafted by Craig Winston of MotorCity Drum Kitchen. The idea was to begin with a ‘vintage’ Mahogany-Poplar-Mahogany shell, but instead of using the traditional Maple reinforcement rings, I had Craig install Birch re-rings. One of my old favourites is a 5” x 14” WFL snare drum from 1958, which is the Mahog-Pop-Mahog shell with the Maple re-rings. I thought about this snare drum, & what I’d like to hear differently if presented the opportunity. The first idea was to get a bit more air in the chamber, thus the new MDK is 6.5” deep. The second idea was to use Birch instead of Maple for the reinforcement rings. I’m very familiar with Birch as all of my Eames drums are made of Birch, so I know that Birch (to my ear) provides a bit more…attack. That species seems to have more top & bottom end in the frequency spectrum than Maple – which is more of a mid-range sounding species (again, to my ear). So I figured that Birch might be a nice counterpoint to the warm ‘fatness’ of the Mahogany shell. I’m pleased to report that this experiment was a success! As well, Craig did an amazing job on the bearing & beveled edges, & also finished the drum with a vintage Ludwig air vent badge. Excellent work Craig!

And for those who simply cannot get enough of my obsessive-compulsive rambling about drums…

Regarding my Eames cherry wine “Work Horse” drum set, I’d previously mentioned (gear page) that my 8″ X 12″ mounted tom utilizes the Yamaha Y.E.S.S. system. According to Yamaha, “This rod clamp system allows attachment of the drum to the tom holder without the need of a hole in the drum shell for the rod to pass through. The YESS clamp is attached to the shell at the nodal point with two bolts so as to allow the shell to vibrate freely without degrading the shell’s dynamic range and sustain. The nodal point is the location on a shell with the least amount of vibration allowing for the mount to have minimal affect to the resonance of the shell.” Well, after several years and countless gigs using this YESS system, I’ve decided to abandon it and go back to using only the traditional Yamaha tom bracket. I’d had Joe @ Eames Drum make a black 8″ X 12″ for me several months ago, and decided to opt for the traditional Yamaha bracket as opposed to the YESS bracket I’d been using on my other kits. Joe mounted the bracket a bit higher on the shell – I suppose using the so-called “nodal point” of the shell that Yamaha talks about (debatable if one truly exists, in my opinion.) One change we did make, however, is the use of nylon washers between all the contact points. These nylon washers act as ’spacers’ and separate the square metal bracket from the shell ever-so-slightly. The drum sounds wonderful and does not leave me craving for ‘enhanced resonance.’ This was such a success that I’ve decided to dispense with the YESS mounts altogether, on all of my kits.

My reasons for abandoning what is supposed to “enhance resonance”:

1.) Enhanced resonance is a matter of opinion. The difference in sound between the traditional bracket (using nylon spacers) and the YESS system is very minimal in most cases. And once the band kicks in, the difference is essentially zero. Believe me; if there was a major loss of sound going back to a traditional bracket, I wouldn’t do it, even in light of point two:

2.) A drum that utilizes the YESS system is being suspended by only 2 screws at this so-called “nodal point.” Translation: the drum wobbles & dances way too much. Playing anything more than a few quarter notes on said tom-tom results in a wobble festival that is fairly aggravating. The connection with the traditional tom bracket feels much more secure and stable. Additionally, many live sound engineers insist on using ‘clip-on’ microphones for the tom-toms. Frankly I was never comfortable with the added weight of a microphone clamped to a drum that is suspended by only 2 screws.

On the ‘Tough Love Trio’ front, stay tuned for an additional page to this website that will be solely devoted to that group. For now there exists a myspace page: www.myspace.com/toughlovetrio with song samples, pics, bio, etc. More to follow. It’s always great to play jazz with Blake & Mike. Not only are they highly skilled on their respective instruments, they are the honest kind of artists who strive to get inside of the music and serve it as well as they can – no matter what ‘external circumstances’ are or aren’t happening. Anyhow, we’ve had some nice gigs at The Beehive (Clarendon St., Boston) over the past few months, but so many of those have been coming in at the last minute! And of course the private functions are always a good time. I hope to have some more public performances for this group that I can post on the gigs page in the not to distant future.

On the freelance front, I’m especially grateful that this summer’s bookings were plump with good gigs, notwithstanding the fact that so many this year have been coming in at the last minute. After discussing this with other musical colleagues, I quickly gathered that I’m not alone in this. As the economy has been markedly soft for a long time, it seems that folks are taking longer to settle on the ‘nice-to-have’ events – like musical entertainment. The arts have always been first to take a hit in a softening economy, and last to rebound when things start looking upwards. RJ Rabin, fellow drummer [NYC], recently wrote in an email “Steve, my book fills up only one week ahead of me; I never know where I’m going to be.” Again, taking stock, while always looking to do more, I’m very grateful for the work I have.

Please remember to vote on 11/4!

Sorry this update is somewhat tardy. The summer has been flying by with lots of great gigs. Recent work with Michelle Willson, Sweet Melissa & Chris Stovall Brown, and Ken Clark Organ Trio has been loads of fun. Even had a few with the Tough Love Trio, my own little jazz project featuring Mike Mele on guitar and Blake Newman on double-bass. Liz Linder’s promo shots of these disheveled hoodlums have been added to the photos page.

Up ahead – Ken Clark Organ Trio is at The Beehive on 8/15, and is also appearing at the annual Salem Jazz & Soul Festival on 8/16, 12pm set. On 8/27 I’ve got a double-bill booked at Toad in Cambridge MA. For the first show (7pm) I’m backing up the fantastic singer/songwriter Colleen Sexton. Next show (10pm) is the Ken Clark Organ Trio.

Gear-heads: I’ve updated the gear page, as the ‘cherry wine’ Eames kit is seeing the most use around New England these days.

The core ‘house’ band for the evening consisted of Dan King, bandleader, guitar & vocals; Marty Rowen, keyboards; Wolf Ginandes, bass; Duke Levine, guitar; Tony Goddess, guitar, vocals, & sound; and myself on drums.

The house band was augmented/substituted at different points in the night with Paul Ahlstrand, Saxophone; Marty Ballou, double-bass; Kevin Barry, guitar; Amy Fairchild, vocals & acoustic guitar; Adam Steinberg, guitar & vocals; Jeff StPierre, bass; Richard Gates, bass; Dennis Brennan, vocals & acoustic guitar; Joyce Anderson, violin;  and Brad Hatfield, keyboards.  I hope I’m not forgetting anybody� there was lots of shuffling going on throughout the night, with so many of Boston’s finest in attendance.  And of course we got DM up there to drum on a few numbers throughout the night, who was as always tremendous!  I truly felt how much greatness was around, and felt blessed to be a part of it.

Marty Rowen, Paul Ahlstrand, Marty Ballou and I opened up the night with some jazz.  Paul has a superb jazz CD of his own out there called The Sunday Hang, which features DM.  I’ve subbed for DM in Paul’s quartet, and both Paul and Marty B. have subbed in The Soul Band, and Marty Rowen and I have played together a ton over the years in various ensembles.  So it all felt like home to me.  We played as the guests were filing in.  When the guest of honour arrived, Marty Rowen and I launched into the theme from Family Guy – a show that DM loves.  Needless to say, the birthday boy was perfectly surprised!

After DM’s entrance, the party music began. Dan King took the reigns and led the house band through a string of classics.  He also put together a fantastic skit, which was read aloud (and comically amended!) by DM’s longtime chum from the UK – Dave Payne.   The skit also acted as a walk down memory lane, with some prime recorded examples of DM’s contributions over the years.

As the evening progressed, a couple of first-rate singer/songwriters [that DM has worked with closely over the years] took centre stage.  It was a thrill for me to back up Amy Fairchild.  Do check her out – she writes & sings magnificently!  I joined her for two of her original songs, and then DM came up and played one with her – and spanked the heck out of it!  The man can groove like no other.

Before long Dennis Brennan was up playing a set with DM at the drums, and I was out in the audience totally digging it and bouncing along like a kid.  Caron was standing with my wife Maegan, and when I looked over I caught Caron chuckling at how thrilled I was to witness her husband lay into my drums and play Dennis’ brilliant music so impeccably!

One of the many highlights of the evening was the presentation of a plaque to DM by the Zildjian Cymbal Company’s John King & Paul Francis, in gratitude and appreciation for the longstanding relationship DM and Zildjian have shared.

Towards the tail end of the evening, I was able to take Caron aside and thank her once again for having me in the drum chair that night.  I also told her my story of ‘how I met Dave Mattacks,’ and how much her husband has meant to me over the years. It goes something like this:  About eight years ago, most unbelievably and fortunately for me (and countless others ’round these parts), DM & Caron permanently relocated from Great Britain to the north shore of Massachusetts.  Not long after they’d set up shop, my old friend and great singer/songwriter John Haydon called for me to do a gig with him @ The Kendall Caf� (r.i.p.) in Cambridge.  I couldn’t as I was already booked elsewhere with the Ken Clark Organ Trio.   So I had Mike Piehl booked to sub for me with John.  About two weeks or so before the gig, I received an email from Mike stating that he’d erroneously double-booked the Haydon gig with another – but not to worry – he would get it covered.  A few days later, Mike emailed again and wrote, �Dave Mattacks is going to cover it – you’re all set.� Knowing that Mike was clearly joking, I replied with something like �RIGHT!  Ok, so you couldn’t get it covered�� It was through the exchange that followed that I learned that not only was DM living here now; he was looking forward to playing the gig! An hour later my phone rings, and it’s DM on the line, introducing himself, thanking me for the gig, and saying he’s looking forward to meeting me.  SAY WHAT?!?!?!  This is a drummer that I’d been listening to, learning from, and admiring for YEARS!  XTC’s album ‘Nonsuch’ had been my favourite from that band (still is) largely due to the fact that DM is all over it and playing those incredible songs with the most tasteful and vital drumming.  This is the same drummer who is on the legendary Joan Armatrading’s self-titled LP (featuring ‘Love & Affection’).  The same man who is on Nick Drake’s ‘Bryter Later.’ The same man who is on a bunch of Paul McCartney records, two George Harrison albums, and Cat Steven’s last album (just before Cat became Yusuf Islam.)  Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, and all those Fairport LPs. Sept Piece. Gary Brooker. The list goes on & on!  This man is going to SUB for ME at a local watering hole.  Universe, THANK YOU!

So that’s where it began for me.  Following our initial meeting at the pre-gig rehearsal with John Haydon, I started studying with DM, taking two-hour lessons on the odd Saturday morning, a few times a year.  I’m still not done practicing stuff from the first lesson, eight years ago!  A strong friendship evolved, and I’m forever grateful to DM for all he has given me as a musician and person.

Here’s a photo Jim McGathey took of DM and I at the end of the party