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Drum Brothers catch up with Bodo Stricker at Frankfurt and asks him about his cymbals and his unique set-up. Here is a transcript of the video: We are here with Bodo Stricker and we just saw his performance here at Frankfurt Messe. Tell us about your performances, your projects that you have going on what you are doing. I am currently in a band, its a metal band and we just played at the trade show here, really early in the morning 10:30. we thought no one was going to be there. The curtains opened and it was a big crowd. I was a little worried because our singer couldn't make it and we had to play instrumental. Everyone loved it and we had a great time. Sound was amazing everything was so well organized. It was a pleasure to play. We are in the process of release the new EP. We recorded earlier throughout the summer and it is going to come out June the 8th. So we are looking forward to that. We are going to play some shows and hopefully you will be there. How is your set-up. Regarding the cymbals. Is there any cymbal that you like. And if you can describe it in three words. Three words is going to be tough. I play a wild mix of different cymbal lines. I have some Ks, some K Customs. I am using Z3 Mastersounds because the K doesn't cut it for metal. The regular hat is a little too thick. So the Mastersound is just right. My good friend Paul Francis at Zildjian comes up with all these great new ideas and he made me a few prototypes and I described to him a china sound that I was hearing in my head. It;s basically a Z3 Ultrahammered China but it is a 17" instead of a 19" and he put a different cup in it. He calls it the indent cup. It is round but it has 3 dents in it. And what it does is make the decay a little shorter. It has a lot of bite since it is a Z3 but it has short sustain. So that is my favorite cymbal. Three words to describe it would be Raw, Fast and Nasty. Why does your set-up fit the music that you play and has it changed throughout the years? My set-up is a little strange to some people, because if you are a metal drummer you are a hard hitter. But I am not a hard hitter, it's just the small movements. More of the technique instead of laying into it. Because you can't do an hour show laying into it. So most people would think I would play the heavy thick cymbals but I like to play the thin crashes and people think, don't they break?, No they don't! If you have the right technique and you don't play a 2B, it works fine. What I like about these cymbals is you don't have to hit them hard to sound great. You have a thick crash you have to lay into it. Especially if you play smaller clubs. The acoustics aren't that great and it takes away from the music. So I like my crashes to be there when I hit them to crash and then that is it. No wash. So I like the darker sounding thin crashes. They give me the sound I like without having a constant level above the music and it really hurts your ears and that is what most people don't like about it and I have tried the heavy crashes when I first started doing this music and on bigger stages they do fine but on small gigs the sound is too much and you can't play them hard and if you can't play them hard. They do not sound well. My set-up has changed to smaller sizes and my biggest cymbal is the 18" Fast Crash and I use a set of small splashes like 8" A Custom to 10" A Custom because when I do a drum fill I put bells and cymbals in between. Which sound spectacular but it is not hard to play. It is very unique. I like smaller Crashes and Splashes stuff like that so I can accent stuff when I play fills. People will look at my set-up and say that is not a metal set-up but it works for me. So I guess it is a little special.

Drum Brothers catch up with Bodo Stricker at Frankfurt and asks him about his cymbals and his unique set-up. Here is a transcript of the video: We are here with Bodo Stricker and we just saw his performance here at Frankfurt Messe. Tell us about your performances, your projects that you have going on what you are doing. I am currently in a band, its a metal band and we just played at the trade show here, really early in the morning 10:30. we thought no one was going to be there. The curtains opened and it was a big crowd. I was a little worried because our singer couldn't make it and we had to play instrumental. Everyone loved it and we had a great time. Sound was amazing everything was so well organized. It was a pleasure to play. We are in the process of release the new EP. We recorded earlier throughout the summer and it is going to come out June the 8th. So we are looking forward to that. We are going to play some shows and hopefully you will be there. How is your set-up. Regarding the cymbals. Is there any cymbal that you like. And if you can describe it in three words. Three words is going to be tough. I play a wild mix of different cymbal lines. I have some Ks, some K Customs. I am using Z3 Mastersounds because the K doesn't cut it for metal. The regular hat is a little too thick. So the Mastersound is just right. My good friend Paul Francis at Zildjian comes up with all these great new ideas and he made me a few prototypes and I described to him a china sound that I was hearing in my head. It;s basically a Z3 Ultrahammered China but it is a 17" instead of a 19" and he put a different cup in it. He calls it the indent cup. It is round but it has 3 dents in it. And what it does is make the decay a little shorter. It has a lot of bite since it is a Z3 but it has short sustain. So that is my favorite cymbal. Three words to describe it would be Raw, Fast and Nasty. Why does your set-up fit the music that you play and has it changed throughout the years? My set-up is a little strange to some people, because if you are a metal drummer you are a hard hitter. But I am not a hard hitter, it's just the small movements. More of the technique instead of laying into it. Because you can't do an hour show laying into it. So most people would think I would play the heavy thick cymbals but I like to play the thin crashes and people think, don't they break?, No they don't! If you have the right technique and you don't play a 2B, it works fine. What I like about these cymbals is you don't have to hit them hard to sound great. You have a thick crash you have to lay into it. Especially if you play smaller clubs. The acoustics aren't that great and it takes away from the music. So I like my crashes to be there when I hit them to crash and then that is it. No wash. So I like the darker sounding thin crashes. They give me the sound I like without having a constant level above the music and it really hurts your ears and that is what most people don't like about it and I have tried the heavy crashes when I first started doing this music and on bigger stages they do fine but on small gigs the sound is too much and you can't play them hard and if you can't play them hard. They do not sound well. My set-up has changed to smaller sizes and my biggest cymbal is the 18" Fast Crash and I use a set of small splashes like 8" A Custom to 10" A Custom because when I do a drum fill I put bells and cymbals in between. Which sound spectacular but it is not hard to play. It is very unique. I like smaller Crashes and Splashes stuff like that so I can accent stuff when I play fills. People will look at my set-up and say that is not a metal set-up but it works for me. So I guess it is a little special.

Eric Choi of We Came As Romans plays Mis//Understanding from some unique and interesting angles. Here is Eric's Set-up: - 14" A Custom Mastersound Hats - 10" A Custom Splashes - 10" A Custom Rezo Splash - 20" A Custom Crash - 19" A Custom Crash - 21" K Crash Ride - 21" Z3 Ultra hammered china -(2) small 6" zil bels

Casey Grillo plays his kit in studio and shows us the versatility of his set-up. Here is his equipment list: 19" K Custom Hybrid China 13" K Custom Hybrid Trash Splash/ with a 10" A Custom Splash on top.. 2 x 18" A Custom Crash's 16" A Custom Crash 8" A Custom Splash 10" ZXT Trashformer 10" ZHT mini Hats 15" Azuka Latin Multi-Crash 14" K Constantinople Hi Hats 20" K Custom Dry Ride The drums are Pearl Reference toms 10",12", floor toms 14" and 16" bass drum 22" gong bass 20" snare 14"x5" Vic Firth 5b extreme (Kamelot/Casey Grillo signature) Drumheads Evans EC2 on the toms/floor toms Power center on the snare Emad 2 on the kick EQ1 on the gong drum with drumstatic artwork

See Keith Carlock playing highlights of the first half of the tour.

Adam Nussbaum talks about the 22" K Constantinople Renaissance Ride that he helped develop with Zildjian. The Ride is the winner of the 2012 MIPA Award for "Best Cymbal". Filmed by the Drum Brother.

TOCANDO 3 DIFERENTES GENEROS MUSICALES, SESION PARA YAMAHA, SHURE, ZILDJIAN, PROBANDO EL NUEVO EQUIPO, GRABADO EN MEXICO DF 2012, EN ESTUDIO DE SAJITH REGALADO Y ALEX GOMEZ, CONTACTO alexbataka@gmail.com

We meet with Tracy Broussard and he takes us through his journey with Blake Shelton from playing bars to selling out venues. Here is a transcript of the video: I started when I was 10 so that means I have been playing drums for 10 years, uh, no. Where going on 30 years now and I will never forget the starting to play drums, my brother played drums and I watched him play and see what he was doing. I was in fourth grade I went up to him and said Todd look I can play drums and he said what about your feet? What do you mean my feet? I have to do that too? A weird accident happened at school, I was in fifth grade and a lot of complications. I broke my left arm, had to have a plate put in there. Vascular damage. Long story short I was week away from having my left arm amputated. So luckily everything worked out great and then around sixth grade I was able to hold my left hand stick and that is when I got my first kit. And my brother had Zildjian cymbals so I stole all of his cymbals and used them and got scared to death I tried polishing one and I didn't know it turned black first. April and May since The Voice is going on we will be home quite a bit. Summer time we will hit all the festivals and fairs. Then we will do the same tour again but with different opening acts. This tour for me is the reason I read Modern Drummer and that is what I dreamed of doing is to be there and the people are here to see the guy you are playing for and it's just like a dream come true. I get to play and leave it really and truly an opportunity to look at the list of the things you want to accomplish and check that one off. And we hope it just continues. So far we have had 10 shows and 9 sellouts. So it's really exciting and to take it from where I was with Black 10 years ago, playing in every bar and bowling alley,. Literally we played on a bowling alley in Canada once for the 4th of July. Like the stage was ply wood over the bowling alley. To see where it was at to now was truly amazing. A dream come true.

Matt performs Empire live and we show three views of the drummer and their feet. Matt talks about the song and why they open with it. Matt's Set-up: 14" K Custom hi-hats 18" A Custom Crash 20" A Custom Crash 21" A Custom Anniversary Ride 12" Oriental Trash China 18" Oriental Trash China 19" K Custom Trash Smash 9" Oriental Splash 6.5" Bell 9" Bell Here is a transcript of the video: First song we are playing tonight is called Empire. We wanted to come out to a huge opening song. About 45 seconds into the song is a part where there is this big gang vocal part. It kind of builds, builds, builds opens up and there is huge gang vocals. Our lighting guy Josh lights up the whole crowd and you can see everyone singing along and I love looking at this part and seeing kids faces as they are screaming and their fists are pumping in the air. It is like one of my favorite parts of the song in set. It's a minute into the hour and fifteen minute set list.

Back in 1989, we signed Mike Mangini. Here's a video of an early visit to Zildjian HQ and a look at what a Zildjian endorsement is all about.