F.Y.I.: The song playing right now is me and my bizand!
Check out my website, BoiseDrumLessons.com
Music
Pink Floyd, Tool, Beck, Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Bjork, Beck, Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, the Shins, Beatles (especially George!) Deftones, Beirut, Bill Frissell, Chet Atkins, Carl Perkins, Les Paul, Merle Travis, Johnny and Santo, Tortoise, Ween, Tenacious D, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Pinback, Broken Social Scene, Ravi Shankar, Portished, Elysian Fields, Meshuggah, Andy Dick and Bitches of the Century, Stephen Lynch, Sean Cullen, Wilco, Jon Brion, Nick Drake, Aphex Twin, Grant Lee Phillips, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, the Melvins, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, System of a Down, Ray LaMontagne, Brett Dennen.
! If you are at all like-minded I'd love to schedule an audition/jam. My favorite drummers include Danny Carey, Jimmy Chamberlain, Tim Alexander, Joey Waronker, Matt Cameron, Nick Mason, Ringo, Keith Jarvis, Tony Williams, Trilok Gurtu, Elliott Smith (most underrated drummer ever), etc. Favorite local bands everyone should know about are in my friends section. Ellis Ashbrook (space prog-funk psychedelia w/ soul, I guess you could call it if you had to label them), the Whiskey Saints and my band of course, Thomas Paula and Friends.
Movies
Battlefield Earth, Children of Men, The Flaming Lips: Fearless Freaks, The Devil and Danial Johnston, Wilco: I am Trying to Break Your Heart, Blood Diamond, Girls Will Be Girls, the Endurance, Tibet, Orgazmo, Spinal Tap, Hudsucker Proxy, Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii, all Cohen Bros., David Lynch, Kubrick, Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson of course., Hijacking Catastrophe, THE GROUND TRUTH, The Fog of War, I Heart Huckabees, Human Nature
Television
House, Flight of the Conchords, Arrested Development, Mr. Show w/ Bob and David, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Upright Citizens Brigade, Simpsons, Seinfeld, Daily Show, Colbert Report, South Park, Ultimate Fighter (guilty pleasure!) and Entourage (because i'm in episode 24 called "A Day in the Valley"), City of Men
Books
A Fighters Heart by Sam Sheridan, Lucid Dreams by Stephen LaBerge, Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival, Quinn's Ishmael and the Story of B, Jung's Autobiography, Alex Grey's Transfigurations, Camous' the Plague, Zinn's A People's History, America: the Book. A New Earth. I should read more probably.
Heroes
Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua, Nick Diaz, Jeff Monson, Josh Barnett, Fedor, Bill Hicks, Tool, Carl Jung, a select group of teachers from Bizerklee that made life tolerable like Dr. Stephen-Wolf Foster and Mark Shilansky and Scott McCormick, my last drum teacher Dave Dicenso, my first drum teacher and longtime friend/mentor Andrew Poling, my parents... have I mentioned Tool yet? Umm... David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, cool teachers from the Academy like Bucher (furry buddy) and Giles Pennington and Mr. Meek, last but not least my select group of friends that still call me after all these years..
About me: Rockout Lessons, Quality Drumset and Guitar instruction. You are listening to me rock the casbah right now with my band, Thomas Paul and Friends, YOU CAN HEAR MORE BY ADDING MY MUSIC PAGE, SEE "blakedurst" IN MY TOP 12!
I'm a professional musician.. I stress being a musician above labeling myself as just a drummer, because I think thinking about music cohesively as a whole is much more important than any one instrument's part. This philosophy has made me move away from focusing on "chops" and more on making music have meaning, to evoke thoughts and emotions...I moved to LA after studying/teaching drums and playing (gigging and doing studio work) in Albuquerque and Boston. Now I'm back in my hometown of Boise.
I'm a career musician and very meticulous and passionate about my craft. That being said, learning and playing music should be as FUN as much and as often as possible! I teach at Overland and Vista and my private lesson rate is a very affordable $30/hr, or $20 for a half hour. Get a free lesson by signing up for a month! House calls available depending on availablity and proximity.
As far as studio session work goes, I strive to be a complete professional. I stress being an effective, yet AFFORDABLE hired hand. I'm extremely easy and fun to work with and I'm a quick learner. I can read charts well and excel in getting parts down fast. I put emphasis on time and feel, doing everything I can to play what's tasteful and appropriate for each track. Last but not least, I have professional gear, including a late 60's vintage Sonor kit, DW Collector's series six piece set (as needed), great sounding Zildjian A and K custom cymbals and a sweet Anton Fig wood-hooped maple snare.
I'm more than willing to lend as much as I can to additional perucssion needs whatever they may be as well.. As for my qualfications and credentials, I've been playing for over 13 years, teaching drums privately for 8 years, played in Jazz All-State in high-school (where I won several awards of achievement) as well as doing percussion in the symphonic band, attended Berklee College of Music (concentrating in drumset performance) and have studied with many greatly talented drumset teachers including Andrew Poling, Mike Mangini, Bob Moses and Dave Discenso. I played in succesful Boston alternative rock group The Gulf (thegulfmusic.com) and local hard rock favorite, Cuddlefish. Most recently I've done session work for acclaimed producer/engineer Paul McKenna (Tori Amos, Michael Jackson) recording with such acts as Moss Bluff, and also playing live with the beloved LA pop/art rock bands Shaped Like a Gun and, The New West and Thomas Paul and Friends.
I was trained in almost all styles of playing and am very capable of playing/teaching latin, jazz and funk/fusion. I've played in numerous bands across the musical spectrum from Rock, to Latin, Funk/fusion and Jazz combos. If you would like to begin learning or continue improving your taste and skills playing the drumset, I would love to help you on your quest. Through improvising with eachother on seperate drumsets, learning songs/parts you listen to and would like to be able to play well, and critiqueing your playing in general (always in a friendly but honest and productive fashion, of course) you will ENJOY the learning process. Yes, I believe music should be FUN above all else, which means playing what you want to play...Of course I can help make you a versatlie all-around drummer able to play most styles well, if that is what you seek, but I do not believe in forcing what I enjoy on students. If you want to learn or work on reading drum music, we can work out of books and I can write out beats for you. If you prefer to learn by ear, we can have a blast doing that! Sometimes a combination of the two is best. Music is subjective and personal, so I can adapt to many differant teaching tactics/approaches appropriate to the student's tastes, learning style and the individually unique student/teacher rapport we co-create... I've had all kinds of students at all skill and age levels, so don't be shy if you're older and just getting back into drums again or just starting out. Beginners to intermediate/advanced come on down! Learning to read drum music notation/beats optional. Email me at radiodrumhead8@yahoo.com or call 208-954-3377 and leave your name, number and general availability. .
Who I'd like to meet: Musicians, Artists, Philosphers, Revolutionaries
TFA 12 Saturday September 13th!!!!! click on image to see seating chart and purchase tickets. Check out videos of what the fighters have to say about each other on our home page.
TFA 12 Saturday September 13th!!!!! click on image to see seating chart and purchase tickets. Check out videos of what the fighters have to say about each other on our home page.
;) Great German! I am still in Honduras and don..t know exactely when I will be back. But if I have time and will be back I would like to check out pengilly..s. Thanks for the invite. Take care
BUT UNLIKE YOUR BIG ASS GAS GUZZLER IT TAKES ONLY 35 BUCKS TO FILL UP AND I DO IT ONCE EVER WEEK AND A HALF TO TWO WEEKS.....what is your new band called do you have a page?
dude I love joe rogan and what he has to say in ways of dmt, isolations tanks, and dem funky green leaves. He's right about idaho but I am sure there is an active decent liberal base of sorts. come soon g
