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I hit things with sticks for a job. How ridiculous it THAT!
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the latest
Talk about over due,.. i'll be the first to admit that this update is extremely delinquent. I'm trying my best,.. sorry.
Okay, first of all, the season has come to a close. I can't say I'm surprised at the outcome. He did a great job from top to bottom and he's a total bas-ass. I'm sure Lucas will do an exceptional job. Now, if it's quite alright, could you Canadians give another country a chance to win,.. GEEEEZ!
Look for "The band formerly known as Supernova" on tour in the new year. -BUT WAIT... there's more... -also on the bill ya got Panic Channel, AND could it be, the HOUSEBAND! That's right, you can hear 'TBFKAS', Panic Channel, AND the ROCKSTAR HOUSE BAND, coming to a venue near you, this January and February. The HB will be fronted by Hurricane Dilana, King Magni, powerhouse Toby "Strike Up the Band" Rand, and The Perfect Storm. What more could you ask for? It promises to be quite an adventure.
Just in case you can't possibly wait until January, you will have an opportunity to see the house band in the Fall behind Paul Stanley. Paul will be on tour supporting his solo CD and he has enlisted the help of Paul, Jim, Sasha, Rafa, and myself. Find the date nearest you and come out and party. It's guaranteed to be a rockin' good time.
Yet more news, I just did my first gig as a front person. My band, DOOTYBUG played The Mint here in Los Angeles. It was off the chain! My first time in front of the drumset, up there running around with the mic in my hand, singing, rapping, jumping up and down... i must admit it was somewhat addicting. -I was teased for being drunk on power. Bwah ha ha ha! Rest assured, DOOTYBUG will definitely be returning to the stage, hopefully sooner than later, although at this point I have a fairly busy schedule just banging on stuff behind people.
Paul Stanley's tour will run October 21 - November 14, then starting November 18th I will be performing with legendary session guitarist Buzz Feiten in Japan for a week at the Tokyo Blue Note. If rumors are true, you might even catch the HB the first week of December performing in Iceland with Magni. I hear they've ordained Magni the KING OF ICELAND. Must be nice. I doubt he'll ever have to pay for a meal, a stitch of clothing, or a movie, ever again. Long live the king!
December promises no rest. I will be in the studio recording with, among others, my boyeez in the HB. Not sure where it's all going yet, but suffice it to say, it's time for us to get together and be creative. January it will be time to rock stages opening for "the band formerly known as supernova", and that'll take us up to March. Right now there's nothing for certain on the schedule after that, and I might even be home long enough to enjoy NCAA MARCH MADNESS on the couch with a margarita and some Pizza Hut. I'm not counting on it. March is a long time away and there's seldom rest for the weary ya know. No complaints. I will NEVER complain about work... VERY bad karma.
Welp, that's about the size of it. If you haven't picked up the DOOTYBUG CD, Playground Philosophy, what are you waiting for? It's available at natemorton.com as well as on CDBaby.com.
Thanx for checking out the site, and i'll do my best to keep you updated!
ROCK ON!
nate morton 
The Mysterious Human Brain
The human brain is an amazing thing. At once capable of complex calculations and expansive imagination. The combination of the two has put a man on the moon, built sky scrapers that stretch toward the heavens, given us pyramids, the wheel, the internet,.. it’s pretty spectacular when you think about it. In spite of this, the brain still remains a mystery in many ways, sometimes leading us down paths that leave us scratching our heads puzzled, or shaking our heads in disbelief. Well, I must admit, I’ve been in shaking my head in disbelief mode lately.
I have a CD of my original material that I have recently released on my website, natemorton.com. The band is called DOOTYBUG, and the CD is titled PLAYGROUND PHILOSOPHY. I pored over every detail on this thing... recording the songs took ages because I wanted the parts to be just right. I gave my mix engineer fits because I obsessed on effects and levels. I repeatedly proof read endless drafts of the insert, dissecting it, searching for misspellings or omissions. After obsessing for weeks over every minute detail, I finally sent the artwork and music off to the duplication facility. After receiving the first pressing in the mail, I cautiously opened the first box, hoping it was done right. I opened a CD and read the insert, no spelling errors, ‘least i couldn’t find any. I played the CD. The track order was correct. I was able to breathe a tremendous sigh of relief. I sent out several CDs that day to people who had pre-ordered it.
Cut to: Two days later, I wake up out of a dead sleep and realize, “I FORGOT TO PUT THE NAME OF THE BAND ON THE FRIGGIN’ CD! ! !” Can ya believe it?!?! The name of the record is right there on the front of the thing, but somehow the little detail of including the NAME OF THE BAND was overlooked. Amazing. After all that, I forget perhaps the single most important thing. It’s at times like these when you really find out if you have a sense of humor or not. I like to think I do, so as irritated with myself as I am, part of me is laughing my ass off at me.
The point is, the name of the CD is Playground Philosophy and the name of the band is DOOTYBUG. Once more, the name of the CD is Playground Philosophy and the name of the band is DOOTYBUG. It is currently available for purchase on my website, natemorton.com. I’m definitely distributing the nameless, semi-anonymous CD because even if you look at it and wonder, “What was this band called again?” at least you can enjoy the music. The brain,.. awesome. LOL
OUCH,..
Twisted ankles ain't fun. I'm currently elevating and icing my left ankle,.. maybe i shoud think twice before stepping on the court again,.. who am i kidding? I rarely think twice before doing ANYTHING. So today after rehearsal the HB took on the contestants on the B-Ball battlefield. Man, what fun! It was a blast. Representing the HB were your's truly, nate diggity dawgg, along with Jimmy McG, Paulo Mirk, and Hafa Mo,.. we took on Ryan, Toby, Magni, Lucas and Josh. Quick game recap,.. game #1, Jimmy was ON FIRE,.. HB blows out the contestants,.. something like 13 to 4,.. 5 maybe. Nate contributed D and drained a long range three,.. woo hoo,.. maybe that'll make the REALITY episode. Game 2, nate dawgg spins a friggin' ankle and has to go to the bench,.. the ever gracious magni chose to chill with me for minute, got me ice and everything. Magni is the cat,.. i love that dude. I hobble back into to game, but i was likely more a liability than a help at that point, hobbling around, doing my best to play D. HB went down that game,.. they handed us a stinging defeat. Game three,.. HB got blown out. No real explanation. That was enough for me,.. watched game four from the bleachers,.. i think at that point it was Jimmy & Paulo, the "keyboard club" vs,.. i don't remember,.. some contestants,.. it doesn't matter because proudly representing the HB, they exacted an appropriate revenge. LOL All told, the contestants and the HB split a total of four games. Can we say "REMATCH",.. i mean after i recover and get of the injured reserve list,.. oh yeah, and i have a show to tape tomorrow. No bother, it's only my hihat foot. It's a rock music show so i rarely close the hats anyway. If you see my face and think, "Wow,.. It looks like nate's crying. He must be really into the music." No,.. i'm just in excruciating pain. LOL
A LITTLE INTRODUCTION
Heading into week four on the show and things are rolling right along. Regrettably we bid a fond farewell to Jenny Galt. As the weeks progress it will no doubt become more and more difficult to send anyone home. Maybe no one else should be sent home... maybe we should just keep everybody and do the show year 'round,.. i mean, i don't know what's scheduled in our time slot for the fall, but could it ROCK this hard?
As this is my first blog entry, I'll make it somewhat of an introduction. I began playing drums when I was four. More accurately, I began playing pots, pans, buckets and boxes with wooden spoons, tree branches and/or pencils. Tired of moving my junk yard band contraptions out of the living room, and searching the house for missing dinnerware, my parents bought me a Muppets drumset from Sears,.. which I promptly dispatched. It was replaced by a "real" drumset the next Christmas,..then, it was on! Some of my earliest musical influences were Kiss, Michael Jackson,George Clinton, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire and Peter Frampton among others. At that time, the drummer who really set the example was Animal from the Muppets. At 5 years old, watching Animal pretty much defined the roll of the drummer. In my opinion, the drummer's primary job description can be describe in three words. DRIVE THE BAND. First and foremost, we provide the motivation,..the impetus behind the groove. That's what I attempt to bring regardless the musical context. Even if you're playing a jazz ballad with brushes, the forward motion has to come from somewhere and that responsibility most often fall on the shoulders of the drummer.
Re: Technique, you won't find any extensive discourses on hand or foot speed simply because I'm not that guy. College was probably the period during which I did the most practicing, but the majority of my pursuits had less to do with technique and more to do with exploring different styles, working on my time and attempting to develop a comfortable feel in a variety of musical settings. I was fortunate to get pretty busy playing in different bands around that same time so I was able to directly apply many of the things I was working on. At that time, applying what I was learning to a musical context was a high priority. I never enjoyed learning to play endless pages of exercises unless I could see a direct musical correlation.
My earliest influences were mainstream Rock, Pop & R&B. As I grew musically, I was always adding to these influences. With each addition, nothing previous was omitted,.. in other words, when I decided to get into straight ahead jazz, it didn't mean I stopped listening to Grand Master Flash,... when I started getting into Rush, I was still listening to Chick Corea,.. when I started listening to Nirvana I was still listening to Stevie Wonder. It's a little schizophrenic but I consider it the silver lining to my borderline ADD hyperactive personality. Thank god for drums or I'd have definitely been a candidate for psychotropic drugs. Ultimately, you listen to what you like and over time those influences work their way into your playing. The more diverse your listening tastes, the more eclectic your influences, the more unique your style. If it's musically motivated, there's no reason why you can't play a Bonham lick while trading fours on Have You Met Miss Jones. Music is bigger than genre stratification.
As you can probably tell, I get easily bored playing the same thing over and over. For this reason, my position in the ROCKSTAR house band is a perfect situation. It not only allows me to interject diverse musical ideas but also blurs the boundaries between eras and genres. I'm NEVER bored because our set list changes every week,..moreover, contestants are constantly reaching for elements to add that will make their performances stand out. Playing in the ROCKSTAR house band is one of the most challenging and rewarding gigs I've ever done. I enjoy getting to incorporate such a wide range of influences and life experience into the songs.
The song list can vary so dramatically, for example, Everybody Hurts, Come As You Are, and Just What I Needed in the same show. I needed to assemble a drum kit that would get me through anything,.. a kitchen sink rig of sorts. It looks like a lot of stuff, but it's really simple. There's two basic kits. The primary kit is the 24" kick, 14" snare and 16" hats, but if I shift my feet wider left and right and open my hands, I can play a 20" kick with the slave pedal of a pearl eliminator twin pedal, 12" remote A custom hats and a 13" auxiliary snare. The smaller set up comes in handy when having to emulate loops or when I just want a slightly more controlled sound. There's a few more toms and cymbals up there,.. then a little electronics configuration. The workhorse of the electronics is my Roland SPD-S. It's a multi-pad trigger with sampling capabilities. I use it to start and stop loops in real time. This prevents ever having to play along to tracks. The loops can be anything from tambourines that I trigger at the chorus, to entire drum loops that take over in the verses or something. It's nice to be able to include that element, particularly as it's so intrinsic to a lot of modern mainstream music.
Well, I think that's enough for now. I hope I've provided a little insight into what i do and why. Thanx for reading!
-nate
Photo Album: MSNSpaces photos
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Recording while on tour | | 
the cockpit | | 
Gee, anger management much? | | 
Nate vs. Diana DiGarmo, clash of the titans! | 
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Photo Album: MSNSpaces photos
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Playground Philosophy album cover | |
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