Tag Archives: Recording

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Gear 2018 experiments

I posted a little flyover from my 3/3 show but wanted to share a bit more about the gear I’m playing around with for 2018.

First off, great news that Impression Cymbals has a US presence again. I’ve been with them for 3 years now and have a wide selection of their Turkish made masterpieces. So far the very limited run I-Con series 15″ hihats and 20″ ride paired with a 19″ Traditional Crash/Ride are all perfect choices but I may add some efx cymbals or another washy crash soon.

The new music needs a different sound than my Taye Studio Birch so I’m giving the Yamaha Absolute Maple Hybrid kit a spin.  I’ve never been a Maple drums fan but the Wenge in the middle of this shell does something magical and somehow the kit sounds like Maple and Birch at the same time? Sorcery. I’m using a Big Fat Snarebourine for a little extra snare chunk and an LP micro snare and click hihat tambourine for some spice.

Stickwise, Vic Firth has come out with this Modern Jazz collection and I’m loving the MJC3. It’s like an 8D but with an oval bead instead of an acorn and it feels perfect in my hands. I’d been an SD4 guy forever but for some reason I move to it for drums and away from it for sticks?

My new electronics rig is a work in progress but so far I’ve got all of the atmospheric vocal effects and additional keys/strings/blips and boops running from Ableton Live out of an iConnectAudi02+ to the house and also with a headphone mix to me via the amazing FutureSonics G10 in ear monitors. The iConnect has a software mixer that allows me a lot of control to route of out Ableton and even though were only using two right now we could easily push 4 and I’d still be able to have a separate stereo headphone mix.  I love that lil robot!  I’M also using a Keith McMillen Instruments Bop Pad as the start/stop controller and since it has 4 zones I can trigger a sound or two per song if needed.  And it all fits in one case! wooo!

It’s been fun to jump back into music with an electronic component and our new set of songs definitely have alot of new colors and textures to make them come to life.

More experiments to come…..

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Good Times to Outweigh the Bad – 2017 edition

My site has been a little neglected what with everything that happened in 2017 so here’s a little listicle of highlights and pics that made it a little better.

June 4 – We played The Brewtown Rumble in the shadow of the lovely Pabst brewery in Downtown Milwaukee. It was HOT!  We did a second set without the suits and I put my hair up haha

June 10: I love the swirly stage at Company Brewing
(Thanks Luke for the backline drums which allowed me to fly in and just jump onstage and play)

 

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Repost @sheaavril ・・・ Devil Met Contention absolutely killed it at Summerfest, yesterday! Thank you so much to everybody who came out and rocked out with us! 😍 I was too busy at the merch stand to run back up to the stage and get any pictures of the guys performing, so here's a picture of pre-show Ehson. If you got any cool shots of the guys, last night, please share away! We would love to see them! . . . . . #MKEDMC #americana #rock #folk #wisconsin #milwaukee #local #midwest #DevilMetContention #Yamaha #drums #Acoustic #Drummers #Taye #Ludwig #Impression #Alvarez #Telecaster #Fender #Guitar #Menswear #Suit #Suits #Beard #Beards #summerfest #summerfest2017 #summerfest17 #festival

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June 30: We played Summerfest AKA The World’s largest Muic Festival as part of their Emerging Artists series (Ehson lounging backstage)
http://milwaukeerecord.com/music/a-guide-to-milwaukee-acts-playing-summerfest/

July 26: We played Chill on the Hill – it was a perfect night albeit a little buggy.  Ignore my love handles and just enjoy this photo for it’s epicness.

 

August ?: Speaking of epic! I hate photos of myself but someone shared this online and I think I’m ok with it  😉

 

September 9: We played Rock the Green on a 100% pedal powered stage!
http://www.rockthegreen.com/single-post/2017/08/07/Get-to-Know-Devil-Met-Contention
http://www.rockthegreen.com/single-post/2017/09/12/Rock-the-Green-2017-Recap
“Milwaukee’s Devil Met Contention, was the sharpest dressed band of the festival, with each of the members donning a matching dark suit.  They brought their southwestern tinged tunes to the Pedal Power Stage, riding into their set with a unique sound and soulful energy.  Lead singer/songwriter Ehson Rad’s deep vocals and storytelling helped lead almost the entire crowd at the festival at the time over to the Pedal Power Stage for their late afternoon set.  Equal parts musically rocking and lyrically poignant, Devil Met Contention are a band on the rise who held the audience in the palms of their hands during their forty-five minute set.”

October 12: National Tastemaker 88NINE Radio Milwaukee included us on their Pledge Drive CD gift called “Live From Studioo Milwaukee, Vol.7”. Had we known at the time that we would end up rubbing shoulder with Old 97s, Aimee Mann, Robyn Hitchcock, The Magnetic Zeroes, Brett Dennen and Mike Doughty we would have played better haha!

November and December: we carved out a little bit of time to demo, track and produce two new songs for release in 2018. They’re definitely a move into new territory for us and I hope people will be into them as much as we are.  I can honestly say this is the first time that I never once got tired of hearing the songs throughout the entire process which is rare I think.

Also, Daniel Holter is our new champ behind the board and its been such a pleasure to watch him work.

SEE YOU IN 2018!

 

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SoFar Sounds Indy style!

We did one of these last year in Milwaukee and it was fun but not nearly as epic as the Indianapolis version.  A flash flood rolled through Broadripple about 2 hours before the show. Power was out and it seemed like we’d have to cancel but thankfully everything sorted itself out in time for a great show.   Plus, I got to see some family which was a bonus. I’m that Uncle who is also a rock star, haha!

(Edit: 23-10-16.  The video is up!  https://youtu.be/zmtSG4c6SPQ)

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“Fuel The Lights” out now!

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It’s Alive!  haha

Stream and Download Fuel The Lights, the new album by Devil Met Contention today!
https://devilmetcontention.bandcamp.com/alb…/fuel-the-lights
Or you can find them on Spotify, Itunes, Youtube and everywhere digital music is sold.

Also,  a HUGE thank you to Milwaukee Record for the exclusive early stream and kind words about the new music. We love our local press!

Exclusive: Suit up for Devil Met Contention’s debut full-length, ‘Fuel The Lights’

http://milwaukeerecord.com/music/exclusive-suit-devil-met-contentions-debut-full-length-fuel-lights/

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Music For Time Travel!

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After about a year of various sessions and a single release last year of “Summertime”, this release is ready for the world.  It was an honor to join Victor DeLorenzo, Janet Schiff, Rob Wasserman, Monia and more special guests by contributing drum set and percussion to this release.  If time and venues permit, I may even get to join V & J onstage in the future to play some of these tunes live!.

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Devil Met Contention live on “Hear Here Presents” Music Series

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Back in November of 2015 DMC was invited to take part in a live loft recording series called Hear Here Presents. It was a blast and you can hear folks from the crew and other bands that took part in the evening’s sessions.  I played this show all hopped up on flu medicine but at least my hair looked good!

From a gear perspective, I was trying out some new Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple drums (snare and floor tom) along with a Taye Studio Birch kick with the Woodshed Percussion logo head. Those sick 16″ hihats are Impression Dark series. So slinky good! And don’t forget the cool Big Fat Snare drum snare-bourine to get that fat 70s thump on the third track.

Watch and Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXwPKM0VrXs

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Dickie on Iowa Public Radio’s Java Blend

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Found out recently that Host Ben Keefer and the good people at IPR posted audio of our November visit to the Java Blend program.  They record the show live in the back room of a very small coffee house on a very small stage (as you can see by the pic.)

I played the whole show using VF Tala Wands but my Yamaha Tour Series drums and Impression cymbals sounded pretty darn good.  It was tough to get a feel for how loud the loops were since the show goes direct to hard disk but I balanced it the best I could.  That’s showbiz!

Listen Here: Dickie combines dark content with light pop

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2015 Keeps on Rolling!

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It’s already April!

Starting to fill in the Spring and Summer dates of 2015, here’s what is on the books so far:

With Nineteen Thirteen
April 4, 2015 @ 7PM – George’s Tavern – Racine, WI
April 17, 2015 @ 7PM,  w/ The Shift & Parallel – Linneman’s – Milwaukee, WI
June 4, 2015 @ 8:30PM – The Bay – Whitefish Bay, WI
June 13, 2015 @ 1PM – Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) – West Bend, WI
June 20, 2015 @ 4PM – Lakefront Festival of The Arts  (MAM) – Milwaukee, WI
July 12, 2015 @ 5PM – Bastille Days: Cathedral Square Stage – Milwaukee, WI
August 7-8, 2015 Mile of Music Festival – Appleton, WI

With Devil Met Contention
April 11, 2015 @ 9PM, w/ The Local Strangers & New Boyz Club – Club Garibaldi – Milwaukee, WI
April 30, 2015 @ 8PM – Linneman’s – Milwaukee, WI
May 1, 2015 @ 8PM – Club Garibaldi, Milwaukee, WI
May 5, 2015 @ 5PM – Live on 91.7 WMSE Radio – Milwaukee, WI
May 28, 2015 @ 7PM – UWM Honors Martin Jack Rosenblum – Milwaukee, WI
May 30, 2015 @ 7PM – The Great Unknown Radio Fundraiser – Appleton, WI
July 11, 2015 @ 7PM, w/ New Red Moons & Tree Party – Club Garibaldi, Milwaukee, WI
August 7-8, 2015 Mile of Music Festival – Appleton, WI

With Dave Fitzpatrick Band
April 23, 2015 @ Harley Davidson Museum – Milwaukee, WI

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In the studio with Devil Met Contention

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More intimate details to come but the short story is we gathered together to cut as many tracks as we could on Sunday, October 12 at the fantastic Howl Street Recordings with Milwaukee legend Shane Hochstetler at the helm.  And we are very tired today but also very happy with the marathon tracking session.