#153 Brendan Buckley- Drummer for Shakira, Perry Farrell, Jeff Chang and More
This week’s guest is Brendan Buckley. Brendan is a freelance drummer based out of Los Angeles, CA. Over the course of his career, he has worked with the following artists: Perry Farrell, Shakira, Tegan And Sara, Miley Cyrus, Damien Rice, Shelby Lynne, Daniel Powter, Leighton Meester, Roberto Carlos, Minnie Driver, The BoDeans, Aleks Syntek, Leehom Wang, Beto Cuevas, Idina Menzel, Melissa Ethridge, Alejandra Guzman, Julio Iglesias, Emmanuel, Dallas Austin, Gustavo Santaolalla, Alejandro Sanz, Debi Nova, JJ Lin, Brie Larson, Ozomatli, Madame Recamier, DMX, Nil Lara, Chayanne, Jeff Chang, Michael Miller, Fulano De Tal, Gloria Estefan, and MIYAVI either as a drummer, percussionist, music producer, or songwriter. He grew up in Mount Arlington, NJ, and went to college at the University of Miami’s School of Music. Brendan is also a faculty member at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA.
Gig Alerts
On Dec. 20th Damon will playing at the 10th annual Christmas Jam at The Vault Music Hall & Pub at Greasy Luck in New Bedford, MA. If you can’t make that date the same show will be performing the next day, Dec. 21st, at The Grog in Newburyport, MA.
Kilo continues his stint with Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre on 47th and 8 ave playing the show Guaracha written by Luis Rafael Sánchez.
Alfredo Rodriguez, Richard Bona, and Pedrito Martinez are having a South American Tour!
Eric Clapton will honor Ginger Baker with a special tribute show at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on February 17th, 2020. Kilo suggests to google the feud between Eric Clapton and George Harrison.
The NBC Tree lighting will take Wednesday Dec. 4th!
Educational Spotlight/Product Reviews
Damon has a couple book recommendations:
Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story by Tony Scherman
As mentioned last week, the Percussive Arts Society is hosting a drum set competition. You do not need be a member of PAS and there is no entry fee! The ages to compete are between 18 and 30 and the deadline to submit is Dec. 15th. Third place gets $2,500, Second place gets $5,000, and if you win first place you get $10K!!!
Friends of the Show Paulo Stagnaro and Marcos Lopez Launch Timbale Lessons on Congachops.
If you’re in NY check out Zildjian’ K Day Event at Maxwell’s Drum shop!
“800 pounds of special one-offs and more, designed for Steve by Paul Francis!”
“If you’re a drummer and visiting NY for one of the first times you need to visit Maxwell’s Drum Shop.” - Kilo. Damon ran into Brian Blade and Bill Stewart while going to purchase the Miller Machine.
Iconic Recording
This week’s Iconic recording is “24 dias” by Issac Delgado (1997) This recording includes Ruben Rodriguez (Bass), Papo Pepin (Congas), Chino Nuñez (Timbales), Ray Colón (Bongos). This recording features Papo’s playing around 3:52 where Papo lays down some really out tumbao variations while maintaining a deep pocket throughout the section.
Mail Time
Georgi from Bulgaria reached out for advice on his trip to Cuba! Damon and Marcos were super happy to hear about the artists Georgie met on his trip. Shout out to three amazing musicians he was able to study with.
Jose Angel Blanco - ‘El Negro’, Rolando 'El Nino ' Palacio, and Leandro Alfonso.
Social Soundbyte
Not feeling the holiday spirit? No worries! Damon and Marcos made a playlist just for that!
Here’s the Vic Firth video of Henry Cole that Marcos mentions
Music News
The Modern Drummer’s 2020 Reader is open for suggestions! From Dec 1st - Dec 24th you can go online and suggest your favorite nominees for all their categories.
The Grammy’s announced their 2020 nominees! You can watch in on CBS on January 26th hosted by Alicia Keys.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its nominees to be inducted.
Musicians have reached a tentative deal with film and television studios, despite not getting their most pressing demand: residuals for streaming, which they had fought for through their #BandTogether campaign.
The Guinness World Records have just awarded pop superstar Mariah Carey her third record relating to her Christmas classic, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Brendan Buckley Interview
“Did You Fall Asleep” by Volumen Cero (with Brendan on drums) is the song leading into the interview.
Damon and Brendan met at The Blue Whale in Los Angeles. They also hung out at the old DW/LP office which was located above the previous location of Steve Maxwell’s drum shop in Manhattan.
Brendan is a great fan of coffee before soundcheck. Cappuccino, or Cortado/Giibraltar is his drink of choice. Despite the different names, the only thing that distinguishes the Cortado from the Gibraltar is which coffee shop you order it from. Cortado is a Spanish drink of espresso "cut" by steamed milk (cortado is Spanish for cut). It's a small drink, only slightly bigger than a macchiato, served in a 4-ounce glass. The name Gibraltar was coined by a Blue Bottle Barista (a San Francisco-based café) in 2005 and refers to the type of glass in which its served a Gibraltar glass. The drink might not always be on the menu, but any barista worth their salt will be able to prepare this little drink. Brendan might even go for a macchiato.
Shout-out to Rafael Padilla for helping get Brendan hooked on searching for the best coffee in the city or town that he travels to. Also, shout-out to Barcelona food truck for introducing Damon to a great food dish.
Brendan was on tour in Taiwan with Jeff Chang when this interview was recorded. Leehom Wang is another artist that Brendan sometimes plays with that was the introduction for him to play with some different Asian artists.
Here’s an ARTICLE talking about some of the different festival sizes.
iCal, is Brendan’s scheduling calendar of choice. Picking a few things each day instead of overloading himself is how Brendan can be so effective during his days. He also mentions the book, “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Damon brings up Slack, which is not what Brendan prefers. He also mentions having to be on top of multiple messaging services. Brendan prefers the Notes app and Damon prefers Evernote.
Family time is important to Brendan and he talks about ways to deal with traveling and distance as well as his schedule.
Current books Brendan is reading “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin and “Las ventajas de ser invisible” by Stephen Chbosky and Vanesa Perez-Sauquillo and “Principles” by Ray Dalio. Brendan adds to his list of books by checking out the Tim Ferriss podcast.
Damon is currently reading Ari Herstand’s second edition of “How to Make it in the New Music Business” and the “22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Here is info on the AIDA sales funnel.
The two videos Damon mentions he did for LP a while back for singer songwriters are here: Video 1 & Video 2.
Brendan does some MMA, but does a pretty good amount of Jiu Jitsu.
Brendan grew up in Roxbury, NJ and later attended the University of Miami (as well as many of our previous guests of the show). Some of the UofM alumni Brendan crosses paths with are Jason Sutter, Kevin Stevens, Jeff Babko, Matt Hankle and more!
Brendan gives a lot of examples of skills you need to master outside of playing the drums. From scheduling, planning, negotiating organization and more! Lots of Pro-Tips!
Brendan talks about getting the gig with Perry Farrell and the Kind Heaven Orchestra, and crossing paths with Stephen Perkins (drummer for Jane’s Addiction).
Brendan uses DW drums, Sabian cymbals, Remo drumheads, Latin Percussion, Vic Firth sticks, Roland electronics, Low Boy beaters, Drum Dots, Cym Pads, Tackle bags, Big Fat Snare Drum, Canopus snare wires and Reflexx practice pads.
Brendan talks about playing with the 8G band on the Seth Meyers late night talk show as well as what went into his first PASIC clinic.
