Through the years, The Outlaws have lived in the Southern Rock shadow of Skynard’s fame. In their day, they were ignored by the critics and dismissed by music hipsters. In the 70’s, I must have seen The Outlaws seven or eight times, usually at The Capital Theater in Passaic, NJ. Their shows still remain on my “Best Of” list. Check out this video and ask yourself, “What happened to real Rock? In the last two decades, what bands come close to playing Rock ‘N Roll, in the manner displayed here, with some god-damned balls, for Christ’s sake?! Why have we forgotten how good Rock can be, and instead, ingest current songs that can’t duplicate, but can only reference this era?” (Kid Rock: Skynard/Zevon) When you come up with some answers, please let me know. We need to return to musician’s playing real instruments in ensemble situations, playing real Rock ‘N Roll!
I attended a few shows on the same tour as this video. As you watch you’ll notice an abscence of posturing, styling, mugging, prancing, referencing or acting. Refreshing.
Emedin Rivera and I have gotten some press recently in the Paiste Newsletter and in the Vic Firth Newswire. For the full story click here or on the image below.
The last date of the very last M2M tour. This is a video of soundcheck, shot by the parents of guitarist, Marius Graff. Weeks earlier, Marion and Marit of M2M invited a former fan, Michelle Branch to our rehearsal studio in NYC. Michelle’s first album was just released and she was exited to share her success with her new colleagues of M2M. She invited us to play a show with her in Central Park months later, and the girls of M2M were excited, believing they were going to headline the show. Up to this point, we were on tour as the opening band on the Jewel tour. Can you imagine the girls of M2M singing Jewel songs during soundcheck, while Jewel is cringing in her dressing room?
When we arrived in Central Park it was obvious that Michelle Branch was the headliner (her record was on the top of the charts by then) and not suprisingly, she was nowhere to be found when the girls of M2M needed “clarification.” Marion and Marit were stunned and dejected. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Marit, Marion had just inked her own deal with Atlantic Records, with the objective of severing ties with her life-long business partner (Marit) for good. Until that point, the only conflict that I witnessed between them was when Marit wanted to play The Strokes cd on our tour bus. Wanting Britney Spears instead, Marion stormed off to the back of the bus and locked herself in the rear lounge.
This was our soundcheck before our final show of the tour, and the last M2M show ever. That’s me on the drums!
This and many other loops, downloadable for free. Just click on “Downloadable Drum Loops” from the menu to the right. Choose the loop you wish to download, and click on the down arrow on the right of the player. The download will begin. Afterward, import into iTunes, Garage Band, Pro Tools, etc., and enjoy!
Someone told me that you can download all 3 of the live Silos discs (AKA Flipping The Bird) from our 1991 US tour here. If it’s true, I’d recommend it. If it’s the same version I have, it’s the ONLY representation of the real RCA-era Silos, and it’s slammin’! If you haven’t read my three-part series on The Silos, from my perspective as the band’s drummer, begin with Part 1. You’ll find parts 2 and 3 in “related posts” or under the “My Life In Music” category to your right. With the cd set and real-deal story, you will finally have the entire picture.
Other Rarieties
Someone also told me that you can download the never-heard-before debut recording by Kevin Salem here. This recording preceded Soma City and was scrapped for “career” calculations that are unknown. Recorded at Water Music by John Sicket and Adam Lasus, and featuring KS, Greg Asfar (bass), Dave Dunton (keys) and Brian Doherty on drums. Until now, this collection HASN’T BEEN HEARD BY ANYONE, save for those who worked on it. My sources tell me that there is a bonus track by Madder Rose’s Mary Lorsen which is allegedly her very first demo (produced by Adam Lasus). I can’t wait to check this stuff out!
Percussionist Emedin Rivera and I are featured in the recent Paiste Newsletter online (click on screenshot below, or click here for link ). For many years, we worked together with legendary and late violinist, Noel Pointer. There have been a few tribute concerts, but to our knowledge, they have not included the members of Noel’s band, from the late 1980’s; Brian Doherty, Phil Hamilton, Norbert Sloely, Rick Cutler, Emedin Rivera and Michael Bearden. I think it’s time to put this version of Noel’s band together again, to play tribute to his music.
Winning Team! Emedin Rivera and Brian Doherty. Photo by Morgan Trinker
