Lou Dog "Long Live the Kottonmouth Kings" the Eleventh Chapter in the Kottonmouth Chronicles COMING 2010 Posted at 12:00 AM Nov 10 from Twitter view more
High,
I'm Lou Dog your host and welcome to Lourider via MYSPACE.
I play drums exclusively for the Kottonmouth Kings. I've been playing
and building drum sets for a long time, and I've been building and
designing bikes even longer: lowriders,
beach cruisers, BMX and now "drum-trikes." In 1997, as the legend
goes, the concept of building a hybrid of a drum kit with a lowrider
trike came to me naturally one hazy day when I was cruising on the
beach tapping along to Bob Marley rhythms in my head. I stopped to
exhale and in the puff of smoke I saw for the first time the concept
of attaching drums and percussion to the handlebars of my 1964 Schwinn
trike. This
vision became the protoype and eventually the original drum-trike.
It made it's video debut on the "Suburban Life" video which was being
broadcast daily on MTV during it's promotion of the "Scream 2" soundtrack.
So now I'm touring with KMK and ridin' high around the country with
my drum-trike. Drummers and fans like Tommy Lee, Travis Barker and
Gwen Stefani are coming to shows to check it out and requesting their
very own custom drum-trike.
In 2001, I teamed up with Orange County Drums & Percussion to build
and design the second kit called "Chronic Green Machine." O.C.D.P
took me to the highest levels of quality in drum building. Adolf Jimenez
from the STYLE car club in Pomona, CA hooked me up with H & R Classics
for paint and bodywork. He also introduced me to the world famous
airbrush and tattoo artist "Fonzy." His talented artwork can be seen
on all future creations. The airbrush allows me to tell a story and
really personalize and customize each creation and achieve "concept
art pieces" as well as fully functioning drum kits.
In
January 2004, I began to work on "Heaven is a Third Wheel." With this
project, I wanted to spend more time on the bodywork of this 1970
Schwinn Stingray and "tattoo" every inch of of space on both the frame
of the bike and shells of all the drums. I designed and layed out
all of the artwork, and Fonzy took my pencil sketches to the next
level. The paint job is truly custom. The effect was achieved by multiple
layers of gold and green paint tones and sprinkled lightly with a
gold micro-flake. The photos don't do it justice, so come to a show
and see it up close in person. This time with the drums, I was personally
hands on at the O.C.D.P. factory and helped design, drill, sand, and
assemble the drum kit. ( Click Here to Read More )
Lou Dog Takes a Trip on
His New Rolls Royce to Cloud 9
The concept for my ninth Kottonmouth Kings drumtrike, "Cloud Nine," came to me in early in 2007 while I was sitting at the computer studying pictures of a 1933 Rolls Royce Phantom.
As I was researching,"gangsta party" by Tupac and Snoop came up on my Ipod and the vision and goal became clearer. I wanted to create something that was"classy with an edge" and to "keep it gangsta."
The earliest design concepts that came to me was the logo and then shaving the crank hub. By transferring the pedals to the front wheel I not only went deep "old-school" front-wheel drive but, it allowed space for a running board.
I picked up the 1973 Schwinn Town and Country trike from Tick-One in the valley and then off to Gerad for framing and fabrication. Once it began to take shape, I took it to Stretch at Streetmachine for some hand-shaped body work and priming.
As always, Orange County Drum and Percussion hooked up the drums and Fonzy got down on the airbrushing. Inspired by this classic illustration of Biggie Smalls, Fonzy went back in time to create a 1930's gangster vibe for all the band members portraits.
After the grafx, the next phase was the colorizing.
Steve at ALSA corp. laid down the green candy on top of a base coat of "Eclipse" thermal-reactive / color-shifting paint. At 75 degrees or cooler the paint is dark emerald green and changes to a lighter shade of green when it heats up from the sunlight. You can even touch it and leave a temporary handprint.
I borrowed classic Rolls Royce features like the "flying lady" hood ornament and the signature bold grill which was custom cut to fit the kick drum by Ben and Weldy at A.G.P.Turbo in Phoenix.
With burl-wood laminate I simulated the stylish woodgrain dashboard, running board, steering wheel and acccents. Big D and Todd at "the Interior Shop" cut, stitched and embroidered the fine leather upholstery. We converted the rumble seat into a jewel box for my "piece" which is a hand-blown glass replica of my autograph made for me by Steve at Chameleon Glass and Pipes.
Finally, In the rear of the trike, I designed a secret compartment to house the "spare-snare" drum which has the names of all my friends who helped me with this project airbrushed on it.I would like to give credit and thnx to all of you who played a role in this project. Look for "Cloud Nine' on tour with the Kings this year. Peace, Loudog.
The 2008-2009 Lourider "Cloud Nine" poster/calendar is now available at www.lourider.net.
Had a great time @ Janus Landing. Thanks again man! Loving the drum. Loving showing off the drum. It sounds so badass I might change out the head and use it for shows!! Hope you guys gave that Godpawn a listen while enjoying that Hindu goodness...
High,
I'm Lou Dog your host and welcome to Lourider via MYSPACE.
I play drums exclusively for the Kottonmouth Kings. I've been playing
and building drum sets for a long time, and I've been building and
designing bikes even longer: 
lowriders,
beach cruisers, BMX and now "drum-trikes." In 1997, as the legend
goes, the concept of building a hybrid of a drum kit with a lowrider
trike came to me naturally one hazy day when I was cruising on the
beach tapping along to Bob Marley rhythms in my head. I stopped to
exhale and in the puff of smoke I saw for the first time the concept
of attaching drums and percussion to the handlebars of my 1964 Schwinn
trike. 
This
vision became the protoype and eventually the original drum-trike.
It made it's video debut on the "Suburban Life" video which was being
broadcast daily on MTV during it's promotion of the "Scream 2" soundtrack.
So now I'm touring with KMK and ridin' high around the country with
my drum-trike. Drummers and fans like Tommy Lee, Travis Barker and
Gwen Stefani are coming to shows to check it out and requesting their
very own custom drum-trike. 
O.C.D.P
took me to the highest levels of quality in drum building. Adolf Jimenez
from the STYLE car club in Pomona, CA hooked me up with H & R Classics
for paint and bodywork. He also introduced me to the world famous
airbrush and tattoo artist "Fonzy." His talented artwork can be seen
on all future creations. The airbrush allows me to tell a story and
really personalize and customize each creation and achieve "concept
art pieces" as well as fully functioning drum kits.
In
January 2004, I began to work on "Heaven is a Third Wheel." With this
project, I wanted to spend more time on the bodywork of this 1970
Schwinn Stingray and "tattoo" every inch of of space on both the frame
of the bike and shells of all the drums. I designed and layed out
all of the artwork, and Fonzy took my pencil sketches to the next
level. The paint job is truly custom. The effect was achieved by multiple
layers of gold and green paint tones and sprinkled lightly with a
gold micro-flake. The photos don't do it justice, so come to a show
and see it up close in person. This time with the drums, I was personally
hands on at the O.C.D.P. factory and helped design, drill, sand, and
assemble the drum kit. 
The earliest design concepts that came to me was the logo and then shaving the crank hub. By transferring the pedals to the front wheel I not only went deep "old-school" front-wheel drive but, it allowed space for a running board.
I picked up the 1973 Schwinn Town and Country trike from Tick-One in the valley and then off to Gerad for framing and fabrication. Once it began to take shape, I took it to Stretch at Streetmachine for some hand-shaped body work and priming.
Big D and Todd at "the Interior Shop" cut, stitched and embroidered the fine leather upholstery. We converted the rumble seat into a jewel box for my "piece" which is a hand-blown glass replica of my autograph made for me by Steve at Chameleon Glass and Pipes.
