THOUGHTS ON BRAIN...BASED ON DEMOS

[Ready2CrashandBurn]

he's probably using electric drums, not a drum machine. I dont think he would like the songs are done by a drum machine

[lizzybeth1]

http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Brian_Mantia.html

Watch the Go-Go Beat video.

Pwnage

Has anyone seen his DVD??? It's hilarious, i really enjoyed it, and his drumming is great. I'm not sure however if he is a "rock" drummer, i feel his heart lies elsewhere, and i still say his drumming at the beginning of YCBM sounds shite, unless it's the way the sound was set up?!

LIZ

[KBear]

I don't really know much about drums but that won't stop me from giving my opinion.

I don't mind the drums on these tracks though I agree the drumming sounds like a machine. I think it actually is Brain though in many parts, because if you compare the actual sound of the drums, and also the fills, to what we heard in 2002 from him...well it sounds the same.

It seems kind of machine-like, and the actual drum hits are really toned down from what I am used to with Matt and Steven. And I tend to prefer that more explosive sound. I don't really care if Matt or Steven are considered "great" drummers, or "technically great". I thought they did the job very well for the music they played on.

That's not to say that Brain won't...I'm looking forward to hearing his playing.

Edited March 25, 2006 by KBear

[Forsaken]

http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Brian_Mantia.html

Watch the Go-Go Beat video.

Pwnage

Yeah I was about to post that link. Brain is awesome.

[Anagram Of Oral Sex]

Your not allowed to play for Primus if you suck.

[Guest SOLGER]

NEW AXL PIC

http://people.aol.com/people/galleries/0,1...5268_16,00.html

[F*ck Fear]

NEW AXL PIC

http://people.aol.com/people/galleries/0,1...5268_16,00.html

It's been done to death now,give it a rest please.

[MetaSouL]

90% of the replies on this read are simply incorrect. Brain is drumming on the songs.

He is big into sampling, as was Matt, although Matt limited his sampling to acoustic sampling. Many artists, like Brain and Matt, sample the acoustic drum sounds individually (like the kick drum for example). In this way, they can work on a specific tone they are after. Once they have achieved their ideal sound, they create a sample from it and then use their acoustic drum set to "play" the song, but a trigger produces the sampled sound rather than live sound, which gives them consistency from kick to kick and also gives them that exact sound they were after for the particular song in question. The same can be said of the toms, etc. The same can be done for an electronic/synthetic sample that wasn't created from an acoustic drum, but rather software generated.

This doesn't mean that its not Brain playing the music. He may be recording it live with electronic samples triggered by the acoustic set or he may be playing it live with acoustic samples or he may be playing it live with the raw acoustic set sound or yet he may be using an acoustic or synthetic sample library that he created and then programmed into the song without playing it on a live drum set. It's to simple for people to assume its just a drum machine or its really him playing his acoustic set. This is what gives people like Brain the versatility and creativity to compose drum tracks that each achieve a specific and original sound. It should really stand out on the final album mix. Just listen to TWAT, the intro sounds like an electronic sample and when the first jazzy breakdown occurs, the live drums kick in. Same with CITR, its a live sound, then in the middle with the synth breakdown it switches to an electronic sample. IRS has electric samples with acoustic drum overlaying them. Better samples the intro then kicks in with acoustic.

Give it a listen.

[SaskGunner]

he sucks... adler was better when was strung out on smack

[DCGNR]

90% of the replies on this read are simply incorrect. Brain is drumming on the songs.

He is big into sampling, as was Matt, although Matt limited his sampling to acoustic sampling. Many artists, like Brain and Matt, sample the acoustic drum sounds individually (like the kick drum for example). In this way, they can work on a specific tone they are after. Once they have achieved their ideal sound, they create a sample from it and then use their acoustic drum set to "play" the song, but a trigger produces the sampled sound rather than live sound, which gives them consistency from kick to kick and also gives them that exact sound they were after for the particular song in question. The same can be said of the toms, etc. The same can be done for an electronic/synthetic sample that wasn't created from an acoustic drum, but rather software generated.

This doesn't mean that its not Brain playing the music. He may be recording it live with electronic samples triggered by the acoustic set or he may be playing it live with acoustic samples or he may be playing it live with the raw acoustic set sound or yet he may be using an acoustic or synthetic sample library that he created and then programmed into the song without playing it on a live drum set. It's to simple for people to assume its just a drum machine or its really him playing his acoustic set. This is what gives people like Brain the versatility and creativity to compose drum tracks that each achieve a specific and original sound. It should really stand out on the final album mix. Just listen to TWAT, the intro sounds like an electronic sample and when the first jazzy breakdown occurs, the live drums kick in. Same with CITR, its a live sound, then in the middle with the synth breakdown it switches to an electronic sample. IRS has electric samples with acoustic drum overlaying them. Better samples the intro then kicks in with acoustic.

Give it a listen.

Metasoul: Thanks for the info bro. I'm actually learning a lot from different posts, but yours may take the cake. Like I said in the intro, I'm no musician, but I was pretty sure the beginning of TWAT sounded a little "different" so I thought it to be machines, but I could have swore he took over the actual sticking at some point, and according to what you're saying , maybe I was correct afterall? Either way, this post went exactly as I hoped and for that I really thank everyone who posted -

[invisible_rose]

I dont like his drumming on the demos..sound like Whitey from oasis.

Hardly!! Brain can actually pick up a pair of sticks and beat some skin in time. Whitey couldnt even manage that. Trust me.

Starky is almost as bad.

NEW AXL PIC

http://people.aol.com/people/galleries/0,1...5268_16,00.html

Seriously, what is your point? No...seriously what is the point of you. Nothing. Thats what. Nothing. Shut the fuck up and go the fuck home. No one wants to hear the verbal shite that flows from your mouth.

Edited March 25, 2006 by invisible_rose

[Guest SOLGER]

I dont like his drumming on the demos..sound like Whitey from oasis.

Hardly!! Brain can actually pick up a pair of sticks and beat some skin in time. Whitey couldnt even manage that. Trust me.

Starky is almost as bad.

NEW AXL PIC

http://people.aol.com/people/galleries/0,1...5268_16,00.html

Seriously, what is your point? No...seriously what is the point of you. Nothing. Thats what. Nothing. Shut the fuck up and go the fuck home. No one wants to hear the verbal shite that flows from your mouth.

aaaahahhaahahahaahahahaahahaa!!!

[DustInTheWind928]

To me Brain sounds like a machine!!!

haha just a bit

I belive that some stuff is a drum machine, like the begining of "better" and "IRS"....also, Brain is an employee really of AXL. He is going to do what Axl tells him to do or maybe the producer may say for him to do. You can't judge a drummer off recorded tracks really. you can't tell how good someone is from playing someone elses stuff. Tom Waits is a singer/songwritter. I am a "drummer for hire" myself....as a drummer I would say that Josh Freeze was the best drummer Axl had, then Brain, then Steven....Matt dead damm last. Yeah I'm a newbie, but so what.....so what I have better things than to sit on line all day and "dream up sh*t" about my favorite rock star.....like what if Axl died.....what if????....well boys and girls, he will someday, we all will. I do love reading thsi stuff as I have for over 4 years now!!! just don't say anything...because most of this stuff is adolesant. (and No, I can't spell!!)

Well said. But it's probably done on an electric drum set or something. I guess it will really come down to what we hear in the live versions. For example, Joey Jordison from Slipknot runs his acoustic drum set through their sampler (Craig Jones)'s equipment. It gives Jordison a very electric drum set sound, but it's still acoustic. This can be demonstrated on "Eyeless". But on the demos, I definitely think that "Better" and "I.R.S." definitely is an electric drum set. But on "Madagascar" i.e. it sounds absolutely like a sample.

[mr-fukaji]

Brain's used a MIDI/electronic kit before live, wouldn't suprised if there's a lot of programming going on on these demos either.

the 'live' issue, of course the sound is going to be absoloutely crap on a bootleg, even on a soundboard, the drums arent going to be fully coming through, which is why there's a complete lack of thing's like floor toms.

[HOOSIER GUNZ]

Todd Rundgren

Indiana native

[MetaSouL]

90% of the replies on this read are simply incorrect. Brain is drumming on the songs.

He is big into sampling, as was Matt, although Matt limited his sampling to acoustic sampling. Many artists, like Brain and Matt, sample the acoustic drum sounds individually (like the kick drum for example). In this way, they can work on a specific tone they are after. Once they have achieved their ideal sound, they create a sample from it and then use their acoustic drum set to "play" the song, but a trigger produces the sampled sound rather than live sound, which gives them consistency from kick to kick and also gives them that exact sound they were after for the particular song in question. The same can be said of the toms, etc. The same can be done for an electronic/synthetic sample that wasn't created from an acoustic drum, but rather software generated.

This doesn't mean that its not Brain playing the music. He may be recording it live with electronic samples triggered by the acoustic set or he may be playing it live with acoustic samples or he may be playing it live with the raw acoustic set sound or yet he may be using an acoustic or synthetic sample library that he created and then programmed into the song without playing it on a live drum set. It's to simple for people to assume its just a drum machine or its really him playing his acoustic set. This is what gives people like Brain the versatility and creativity to compose drum tracks that each achieve a specific and original sound. It should really stand out on the final album mix. Just listen to TWAT, the intro sounds like an electronic sample and when the first jazzy breakdown occurs, the live drums kick in. Same with CITR, its a live sound, then in the middle with the synth breakdown it switches to an electronic sample. IRS has electric samples with acoustic drum overlaying them. Better samples the intro then kicks in with acoustic.

Give it a listen.

Metasoul: Thanks for the info bro. I'm actually learning a lot from different posts, but yours may take the cake. Like I said in the intro, I'm no musician, but I was pretty sure the beginning of TWAT sounded a little "different" so I thought it to be machines, but I could have swore he took over the actual sticking at some point, and according to what you're saying , maybe I was correct afterall? Either way, this post went exactly as I hoped and for that I really thank everyone who posted -

yeah, you were right in your original assertion. if you listen you can hear where the sampling stops and the acoustic kicks in.

[bunbury_hmr]

http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Brian_Mantia.html

Watch the Go-Go Beat video.

Pwnage

The "information" they give you there is pretty much more than basic. I knew this even when I was in Band in High School.

I try my best to like this drummer, he is good. But not good enough (again my opinion). He does some interesting stuff, but not my cup o'tea.

The sound between a Drum Machine and the real Drums are very different if you know the settings. The organic sound can be heard very well after a while of having drum sessions.

Silly wabbits.

[gnrjanus]

let's just wait to talk about Brain

the tour is about to start soon

so let's judge on that.

we're 4 years later since the 2002 tour

I'll be guessing he's a kickass drummer today.

like RObin is a kickass guitar player

and Richard 2

and TOmmy can kickass play the bass

and the rest do their own thing..

[the rush]

Alright, here are a few of my thoughts:

1. The drums on the new tracks are so popish and too quiet for hard rock/metal songs. They need more power and more creativity so that there could be something that catches your attention to say "hey, look at that!" I'm not an expert or anything but i listen a lot of music and there are so many great tracks out there that make the new gnr tracks seem weak. I think that this probably isn't brain's fault but the axl's wish to go tooo mainstream.

2. Since I don't post much I'll add my guitar review also. The guitarwork on the new tracks is terrible and I mean TERRIBLE. Again too popish and so simple that even I could play it without even knowing how to play. And again, I base this on comparison to the old gnr stuff and many other bands. IRS, almost one damn slow simple riff throughout the song - this kind of stuff doesn't make a masterpiece. Better, if only the whole song had the similar guitarwork like the middle part of the song, verse parts are child's play. twat, the solos are based on accords and anyone can do it- nothing remarkable and memorable. the better ones are ofcourse work of buckethead. the blues solo is ok. and again it may not be the guitarists' fault but Axls, dunno. I came to respect slash more after hearing this meaning slash in gnr, Slash with Axl's "supervision"

3. so the only new stuff that is good/great with respect to drums/guitar are "oh my god", middle part of "better", possibly parts of "silkworms", buckethead's solos and one or two robin's solos.

But you know, I still like the songs but there's that thing that, given the same melody, I come up with so many better ideas for the songs that I feel sorry that those aren't there. oh well, what can we do.

PS- to understand what am I talking about go listen to guitarwork in Extreme, or Dream Theater...

[GNR'R]

Alright, here are a few of my thoughts:

1. The drums on the new tracks are so popish and too quiet for hard rock/metal songs. They need more power and more creativity so that there could be something that catches your attention to say "hey, look at that!" I'm not an expert or anything but i listen a lot of music and there are so many great tracks out there that make the new gnr tracks seem weak. I think that this probably isn't brain's fault but the axl's wish to go tooo mainstream.

2. Since I don't post much I'll add my guitar review also. The guitarwork on the new tracks is terrible and I mean TERRIBLE. Again too popish and so simple that even I could play it without even knowing how to play. And again, I base this on comparison to the old gnr stuff and many other bands. IRS, almost one damn slow simple riff throughout the song - this kind of stuff doesn't make a masterpiece. Better, if only the whole song had the similar guitarwork like the middle part of the song, verse parts are child's play. twat, the solos are based on accords and anyone can do it- nothing remarkable and memorable. the better ones are ofcourse work of buckethead. the blues solo is ok. and again it may not be the guitarists' fault but Axls, dunno. I came to respect slash more after hearing this meaning slash in gnr, Slash with Axl's "supervision"

3. so the only new stuff that is good/great with respect to drums/guitar are "oh my god", middle part of "better", possibly parts of "silkworms", buckethead's solos and one or two robin's solos.

But you know, I still like the songs but there's that thing that, given the same melody, I come up with so many better ideas for the songs that I feel sorry that those aren't there. oh well, what can we do.

PS- to understand what am I talking about go listen to guitarwork in Extreme, or Dream Theater...

Sometimes simplicity is the key

[Funeral]

Well i have to say that i really really like Brain.....might be the best drummer ever in Guns n Roses....even though i like to original lineup more just becuse it is original......but for tecnichal skill i would rank Brain highest

Brain is what Buckethead is to Slash, (technically better than previews GNR drummers)..........hands down- The best GNR Drummer at the moment!

[the rush]

Alright, here are a few of my thoughts:

1. The drums on the new tracks are so popish and too quiet for hard rock/metal songs. They need more power and more creativity so that there could be something that catches your attention to say "hey, look at that!" I'm not an expert or anything but i listen a lot of music and there are so many great tracks out there that make the new gnr tracks seem weak. I think that this probably isn't brain's fault but the axl's wish to go tooo mainstream.

2. Since I don't post much I'll add my guitar review also. The guitarwork on the new tracks is terrible and I mean TERRIBLE. Again too popish and so simple that even I could play it without even knowing how to play. And again, I base this on comparison to the old gnr stuff and many other bands. IRS, almost one damn slow simple riff throughout the song - this kind of stuff doesn't make a masterpiece. Better, if only the whole song had the similar guitarwork like the middle part of the song, verse parts are child's play. twat, the solos are based on accords and anyone can do it- nothing remarkable and memorable. the better ones are ofcourse work of buckethead. the blues solo is ok. and again it may not be the guitarists' fault but Axls, dunno. I came to respect slash more after hearing this meaning slash in gnr, Slash with Axl's "supervision"

3. so the only new stuff that is good/great with respect to drums/guitar are "oh my god", middle part of "better", possibly parts of "silkworms", buckethead's solos and one or two robin's solos.

But you know, I still like the songs but there's that thing that, given the same melody, I come up with so many better ideas for the songs that I feel sorry that those aren't there. oh well, what can we do.

PS- to understand what am I talking about go listen to guitarwork in Extreme, or Dream Theater...

Sometimes simplicity is the key

of course it is... for a mainstream success though. but like I said, I like the songs it's just that they could be a lot better and it's sad that they aren't (since they are in making for many years- and they could be more complex)

[KBear]

Alright, here are a few of my thoughts:

1. The drums on the new tracks are so popish and too quiet for hard rock/metal songs. They need more power and more creativity so that there could be something that catches your attention to say "hey, look at that!" I'm not an expert or anything but i listen a lot of music and there are so many great tracks out there that make the new gnr tracks seem weak. I think that this probably isn't brain's fault but the axl's wish to go tooo mainstream.

2. Since I don't post much I'll add my guitar review also. The guitarwork on the new tracks is terrible and I mean TERRIBLE. Again too popish and so simple that even I could play it without even knowing how to play. And again, I base this on comparison to the old gnr stuff and many other bands. IRS, almost one damn slow simple riff throughout the song - this kind of stuff doesn't make a masterpiece. Better, if only the whole song had the similar guitarwork like the middle part of the song, verse parts are child's play. twat, the solos are based on accords and anyone can do it- nothing remarkable and memorable. the better ones are ofcourse work of buckethead. the blues solo is ok. and again it may not be the guitarists' fault but Axls, dunno. I came to respect slash more after hearing this meaning slash in gnr, Slash with Axl's "supervision"

3. so the only new stuff that is good/great with respect to drums/guitar are "oh my god", middle part of "better", possibly parts of "silkworms", buckethead's solos and one or two robin's solos.

But you know, I still like the songs but there's that thing that, given the same melody, I come up with so many better ideas for the songs that I feel sorry that those aren't there. oh well, what can we do.

PS- to understand what am I talking about go listen to guitarwork in Extreme, or Dream Theater...

1. I agree about the drums. I don't hate them but they don't have the impact that Steve's or Matt's drumming had back on the old albums. We'll see what the final mix sounds like, but I don't think the sound will change a lot.

2. Disagree on the guitar work. I think it's great. GN'R always had some pop sensibilities. The one part you liked is the one I'm not crazy about: the middle part of Better. That is more un-GN'R than any of the other guitar parts in any of these songs. I don't know if it's nu-metal or thrash metal or whatever...but it ain't GN'R hard rock. IRS is a slow simple riff but it's cool. The solos in TWAT are beautiful, and the end solo is pretty epic. The solos are all very good even if they are simple...Slash was never about doing complex guitar work, he was always about conveying emotion through his guitar. I think Axl has achieved that here...maybe the guitar work is simpler than what Slash did (I'm not sure), and maybe it's flat out not quite as good, but it has the same musical qualities of a Slash solo and that's what is most important to me.

I have Extreme's III Sides to Every Story...aside from a couple of songs I wasn't impressed. Maybe the guitar work is complex, but that means nothing to me if I don't like how it sounds.

[Micks]

about your guitarwork opinion. GNR was never hard guitar work like Dream Theatre (who I btw think spend all their energy showing off instead of creating good songs). Slash would do some crazy solos once in a while, but overall GNR wasn't (isn't) hard to play. They knew when to be simple and when not to. That's why the rocked. You can't put a finger on the guitar on those new thinks. It work as it has to. Enjoy the tracks instead of comparing them to other tracks out there, there's no need for that, either you like or you don't.

[DCGNR]

about your guitarwork opinion. GNR was never hard guitar work like Dream Theatre (who I btw think spend all their energy showing off instead of creating good songs). Slash would do some crazy solos once in a while, but overall GNR wasn't (isn't) hard to play. They knew when to be simple and when not to. That's why the rocked. You can't put a finger on the guitar on those new thinks. It work as it has to. Enjoy the tracks instead of comparing them to other tracks out there, there's no need for that, either you like or you don't.

I think no matter how technical you want to get.....the guitar sounds on the new songs are fantastic....IRS

may be simple to Actual guitar players, but from those I talked to, Sweet Child did'nt exactly require an abundance of skill to play, but it just had that " sound ", and from the middle of TWAT to the end, call me crazy, but I can close my eyes and just get lost in those solos. I could not give two shits how difficult or technically advanced it may be.

Edited March 25, 2006 by DCGNR2006