Todd Sucherman – Methods and Mechanics 2 (Life on the road, songs, solos, stories and lessons)

Hudson brings us the newest 2 DVD set from Todd Sucherman, which serves as a companion piece to the book of the same name, and a sequel to Methods and Mechanics 1.

Overall this is an instructional DVD but with a twist, you get all various live performances, concepts, exercises, ideas that you would expect, but in this DVD Todd also serves as kind of a life coach for musicians. The tuitional exercises are interspersed with handy tips and ideas for life on the road and generally the thought processes and morals needed to be a successful and happy musician.

Todd talks about topics like how to deal with airport staff, checklists of things to do when checking into a hotel, common courtesy on the road and at airports, appreciation for your drum tech, fans and employers and general well being on the road. All of these concepts ring true and it’s really great that someone who has been through it all and done it over and over again is willing to just give out these handy tips that will help up and coming drummers no end. Saying that, the production is very ‘American’ in its style and borders on the cheesy sometimes ( don’t even get me started on some of the backdrops that Todd is playing in front of ), and when Todd brings up the subject of wiping down remote controls in hotel rooms with antibacterial wipes and what to wear at airports it gets a bit tedious.

To move onto the subject of production, I’d better mention how great Todd’s kit(s) sound, he plays a custom Pearl Masterworks (with 24 carat gold plated hardware) throughout the bulk of the DVD which sounds awesome, the bass drum and  floor toms really sound low and phat, with the snares and a selection of mainly bright sounding cymbals also sounding great, one of the best drum kit sounds  heard on a DVD for ages.

Overall it’s a really entertaining and insightful DVD. Todd is a very likeable and easy character, he presents some great ideas, and the tips for life on the road etc. make this DVD stand out from some of the others on the market.

Ashley Hallinan

Hudson Limited

$29.99  (4 hours ,13 minutes)

Billy Martin’s Life on Drums DVD

Billy Martin (probably best known for his work with Medeski, Martin and Wood) brings us his ‘Life on Drums’ DVD masterclass through Vongole Films.

Throughout the 90 minutes of footage on this disc, Billy takes us through his approach to the drumset and his various inspirations. In one sense this is a tuitional DVD but its rather different from what you might expect. Billy is joined by his mentor and teacher Allen Herman, and the bulk of the DVD is these two chatting about approach, feel, time, soloing and generally finding a personality as a drummer.

There are no technique exercises or rudiments here,something which I find refreshing from a modern drum DVD. The emphasis is more on the mental side of things, training the brain instead of the hands. There isn’t even that much playing being done (although there are some additional performances in the bonus section).

The danger with this is that the lack of flashy exercises and chops could make it sound really boring for all the young, hungry drummers out there. However, there really are some valuable lessons to be learnt from this, not in the conventional sense of exercises but more overall life lessons that can only be learnt through experience.

Ashley Hallinan

2010 Billy Martin/Vongole Films