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Seven Against Thebes drummer Bruce Burgess recently teamed up with Seattle percussionists Arturo Rodriguez, Marco Zonka & film composer Kevin Christensen for "Drum Dynasty". Drum Dynasty is a radical, cutting edge drum CD that showcases advanced odd measure drum compositions meshed with world techno music. This self titled double CD explores African, Algerian, Haitian, Greek, & Arabic rhythms. During this interview over some Seattle espresso we discussed among other things drums, a passion for all things primal, & the 3 Headed Monster known as Drum Dynasty. Here's the interview....   

So how did Drum Dynasty get started? Well over the last few years I composed a bunch of different drum compositions to be used by my students as rhythm exercises. Many of these rhythms explored odd time signatures from 3/4 rhythms to more advanced 26/16 rhythms. I accumulated between 50 to 60 of these cool off-time drum pieces so I thought to myself why not record some of these and use it as a teaching aid. Well it wasn't too long after that my fellow band mate Cyrus (Seven Against Thebes) suggested I record all of these as drum songs with Arturo & Marco backing me up on the percussion side & present it as a full length drum CD. The next thing you know Kevin (Christensen) got involved with some of the the background melodies, & the rest is history.

So this is a double CD? That's correct, we came away with so much material, & believe me when I say we could have made it a 4 CD set. I was blown away at how much musical depth there was between us three as drummers. Each CD has a separate name which represents a different musical journey. Disk 1, or Mystic Sunrise is a mystical journey that takes you through many parts of Southeast Asia or the Middle East. Disk 2, or Dark Continent is much more primal & tribal exploring Africa. Mystic Sunrise is extremely melodic, & spiritual while Dark Continent is much more dark, primal & centered primarily around the drums.

Which Disk do you prefer? It actually depends on what kind of mood I'm in. That's what I love about both these CD's. Such a wide variety of music to get into.   

What was it like teaming up with Seattle percussionists Arturo Rodriguez, & Marco Zonka? Where do I start. I would say the most amazing thing about this collaboration was having such a wide variety of percussion styles & rhythms to dabble in. I call it The 3 Headed Monster. I mean we all bring so much to the table its freaking scary. (LAUGHS). But seriously Marco & Arturo are incredible players, it was a whole lot of fun coloring outside the lines with them both. To be able to create something primarily drum oriented between myself a drummer & two world class percussionists, it doesn't get any better than that. It's like I died & went to drum heaven.

How do Marco & Arturo they differ as percussionists? Marco definitely brings many of the the Eastern & Indian percussion styles to the table, & let me tell you he is one incredible Tabla player. Arturo brings a lot of the Caribbean, Cuban percussion styles to the project like Santeria. But besides all the Caribbean styles Arturo has had exposure to traditional African rhythms like Hemiola, & Bembe. He even spent some time over there. Both Marco & Arturo have alot of passion & experience. All of us definitely share a whole lot of musical depth as drummers.

How easy is it for you to lose yourself spiritually while listening to Drum Dynasty? That's pretty much the concept. I guess it all depends on how much of an open mind you have as a listener. For me; a drummer it's easy to close my eyes & lose myself spiritually in either Mystic Sunrise or Dark Continent. To get the full effect of Drum Dynasty listen to both CD's from beginning to end. Just sit back, close your eyes & see where this musical journey takes you. Some of the songs on Dark Continent are primarily drum songs all by themselves, but I like to think of Drum Dynasty as an open dialogue not only between drums, but between cultures. If you think about drumming it's a very primal language mankind has been speaking for centuries. It's universal, everyone can get into it. That's why the drum is such a spiritual instrument to me. I believe the first song ever written by mankind was probably on a membrane drum somewhere. Heck it may even have been the first language ever spoken by mankind. When one listens to Drum Dynasty you can hear the drums speak to one another, feed off each other. Drum Dynasty takes us back to our roots. Having said that yes it's easy for me to lose myself spiritually in some of these songs & rhythms. I'm sure alot of drummers out there can identify with Drum Dynasty song for song.

What was it like collaborating with film composer Kevin Christensen? Kevin is an extremely dynamic writter. Dynamic in the sense that he has a lot of depth when he writes. He can take you literally anywhere around the world with his writing, that's why he's the perfect composer for Drum Dynasty. He definitely puts a solid musical background behind our drumming which gives the whole thing it's solid musical structure. What I like the most about Drum Dynasty is its a radical combination between Kevin's world & mine, Arturo's, and Marco's world. Techno, chill out type music meets primal drumming. Some would say the two don't belong together, but I'm here to tell you they can & do. I admit it's a radical combination but it gives this project it's cutting edge. Industrial music meets primal drumming - I love it! 

As a drummer it’s obvious you’ve had a lot of multicultural exposure to music, what specific cultures have you studied, & how has that helped you develop as a drummer over the years? Well I listen to a lot of different kinds music from all around the world, Caribbean, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, African, you name it. I think the day I realized that America is only a small portion of this world it opened my eyes a little musically. I think more musicians should do the same. I realized I was missing out on alot of great music, & I'm so glad I lost the tunnel vision. Many Americans will never get exposed to music abroad simply because our record industry just doesn't work that way. It's unfortunate because they are missing out on alot of great music. Imagine if all you ever ate was American food, see my point? Take Africa for instance, depending on what region your talking about there are literally hundreds of different musical styles, & rhythms to get into, & that's just one continent. As a musician I believe that kind of exposure can only make you a better musician overall.

What specific types of cultural rhythms did you guys explore on Drum Dynasty? Traditional African, Algerian, Moroccan, Haitian, Greek, India, & Arabic rhythms. More specifically - Yanvanlou, Elleggue, Samba, Bembe, Masmoudi, Adowa, Hemiola, Santeria, just to name a few. Many of the African rhythms Arturo & I dabbled around with have their origins from the Yoruba Culture of Western Africa. Arturo has actually spent time over there, while I had the privilege of studying under the master himself Babatunde Olatunji. As far as time signatures we dabble in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4. 5/4, 6/4, 7/8, 9/8, 10/8. 6/8, 11/8, 13/8, 12/8, & even 5/16, 26/16.

Since were on the subject you’ve had the privilege of studying under some impressive names like Louie Belson, Bob McKey (Tonight Show Band) Mark Rozier (Cleveland Symphony Orchestra) and Jazz great Jim Payne, but tell us what was it like being a pupil of Nigerian Drum Master Babatunde Olatunji? Well the first thing that surprised me about Baba was how short the guy is, I guess I expected some kind of an African giant or something. (LAUGHS). But studying under Baba is something I'll never forget. Learning techniques from a drummer who grew up in Western Africa was definitely uncharted water for me & a big culture shock. For example most western drummers count rhythms on 8th and 16th note tablature, but in Africa, drummers like Baba counted off these notes in a "One Mississippi Two" style fashion. But the actual doing it like Baba did wasn't as easy as it sounded. It took a lot of work, but after a while I got into it. Another thing he thought me was to totally relax while playing. I can't explain it but compared to Baba most drummers look a little tense when they play. For Baba drumming was a calm, therapeutic thing. Watching Baba playing some hi-energy rhythms while he was in this trancelike state taught me something. Playing any instrument from a totally relaxed state over time can lead to true self expressionism. We call it playing from the soul. This was something I never really thought about before, but over the years I've discovered it to be absolutely true. Think about it - in order to reach your full potential in anything you must learn from a relaxed state. This means mentally & physically. Only if you do this can you reach your full potential.

Who have been some of your major drum influences over the years? (LAUGHS) There’s no way I can boil it down to just one guy. (PAUSES) If we’re talking strictly rock music I have to say Neil Peart (RUSH) is one of my all time favorite rock drummers. Anyone that listens to RUSH knows how spoiled one can get listening to his drumming compared to other rock drummers out there. Neil Peart is an extremely dynamic player/writter, always changing, constantly moving, and never playing the same rhythm for a very long time. Rather than play just a beat, he plays drums in a very dynamic fashion. For me I could listen to just Neil Peart’s drumming alone without any music in the background and be totally entertained. Your definitely getting your moneys worth listening to him play. He's very dedicated, constantly evolving and looking at new innovative ways to re-inventing his playing style. Another rock drummer I really admire is Terry Bozio (Missing Persons, Frank Zappa). As far as Jazz drummers go I have to say Tony Williams is one of my all time favorites. Anyone who has ever heard Tony play either live or in the studio knows exactly what I’m talking about. There are only a small handful of drummers in the world that can do what he did. Tony Williams is a passionate performer, and really plays the drums like the their meant to be played.

Give us a step-by-step approach on how compose?  Basically I create musical boundaries that correlate with the flow & ebb of the music. When I compose a drum part I actually overplay my parts as much as possible & over time gradually cut them down until I get to a place where I say - yeah that's it. I was delighted to find out players like Terry Bozio & Neil Peart (RUSH) write their drum parts in a similar fashion. Of course I also listen for dynamics & fill in the peaks & valleys, push the natural accents, & I always try hard to deliver something that fits the music yet is totally unique.

So what's next for your Drum Dynasty? Actually we got a follow- up CD on the drawing board already called "Machine Messiah" for a 2008-09 release. It will be a musical journey theme again, but this time we are exploring more spacey, eerie, trippy type sounds & rhythms. To go along with that some of the drums & percussion on "Machine Messiah" will be electronic along with acoustic. I think overall it will have even more depth than this project. I promise "Machine Messiah" will be the most far out drum experience you could ever imagine.