#336 Chris Berry- Drummer for AJR, Iggy Pop, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, and More!
This week’s guest is Chris Berry. Chris has performed or recorded with AJR, Iggy Pop, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, Holy Ghost!, Joakim, Roosevelt, The Juan Maclean and many more!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to Julian Loida! Called “one of the Boston music scene's most valuable players” by The Art Fuse, Julian Loida is a percussionist, composer, and producer. Loida’s musical curiosity and open-mindedness has propelled him towards a wide-range of sounds, genres, and artistic endeavors. He’s performed jazz, folk, and classical, collaborating with dancers, visual artists, songwriters/composers, and musicians of all stripes. The thirst to participate in and experience this range of sounds is partly a product of Loida’s synesthesia. Music is a full- body experience for him, with sounds often invoking involuntary sensations of color, texture, or even taste.
Loida often writes and arranges for his projects and ensembles (the Cuban/Brazilian band INÃ, jazz quintet Mojubá, chamber-folk band Night Tree), and his music has been featured in film, ads, and dance performances. His interdisciplinary projects aim at breaking down artistic barriers. The evening-length solo-project Recital of Dedications incorporates speech, visual media, and music into a series of dedications to individuals, historical moments, and more. In 2018, he released the album Bach LIVE!, featuring J.S. Bach’s music arranged for percussion. Loida’s 2019 release, Wallflower, marks his solo-album debut, and also provides the clearest distillation of his voice as a composer to date. Loida’s discography continues to grow with singles and EP’s featuring vibraphone and electronics to solo piano. Julian is preparing to release his second full-length solo record in the spring of 2023.
Loida has toured internationally as a featured artist at Korrö, Sweden’s largest folk music festival, and played some of the most prestigious music festivals in the U.S. such as Spoleto, New World Festival, the Exit Zero jazz festival, Caramoor American Roots Festival, and Round Top Music Festival. He has performed with groups such as Alarm Will Sound, Castle of Our Skins, Parsonsfield, the Callithumpian Consort, Tonina Saputo, Fabiola Mendez, Veronica Robles, Taylor Ashton, Alkinoos Ioannidis, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, The New Bedford Symphony, and MassOpera.
As an educator, Loida shares his scores and deep rhythmic knowledge with students of all ages. In 2017, he received his Master’s Degree in Classical Percussion from New England Conservatory.
Happy Birthday to Ian Hale! Ian received degrees in percussion performance from the University of Calgary and the University of Massachusetts Amherst where his teachers included Dr. Glenn Price, Eduardo Leandro, and DCI Hall of Fame member and past Associate Director Thom Hannum. Ian was a member of the music faculty at UMass from 2007-2008 and has served as a percussion instructor and clinician ever since. He was the Assistant Director of Bands for the Calgary Stampede Showband from 2009-2011 and has served as Percussion Director for Spirit Winter Percussion from Orleans, Massachusetts since 2012. Ian has worked with many national and international ensembles including the Calgary Stampede Showband, Spirit of America, Thomas Jefferson High School, Dartmouth Indoor Percussion, United Percussion, Boston University, University of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band. He was a member of the percussion staff for the Madison Scouts, Carolina Crown, and the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. He is currently on the percussion staff for the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps. He can be reached at ihale@umass.edu.
Happy Birthday to Marcus Santos! A contemporary percussionist and educator, Marcus, is a native of Bahia, Brazil. He commits his life to the study, teaching and performance of his hometown's Afro-Brazilian music and heritage.
Marcus performed with several world renown artists such as the Gypsy Kings (Spain), Daniela Mercury (Brazil) and the Brand New Heavies (England). He has also performed for the president of Brazil, TEDx and with the “One World Band” produced by MTV. Marcus also played at the Sony Pictures Oscar nominated movie ‘Rachel's getting Married’ with Anne Hathaway. He has been honored with the 2013 KOSA Recognition award, Outstanding Arts Performer Award by the Brazilian Immigrant Center (2008) as well as Outstanding Percussionist Award by Berklee College of Music in 2004.
Marcus currently teaches in the Boston area at New England Conservatory, Middlesex Community College and Somerville High School. He is the author of the DVD ‘Modern Approach to Pandeiro’ and performed in the music education DVD ‘Musically Speaking II’ by BOSE. Marcus has lead workshops on Afro-Brazilian percussion and music for Social Change in festivals, universities and conventions around the world such as Fiesta Del Tambor (Cuba), Carnegie Hall (NYC), PASIC (USA) and Harvard University. He is currently the artist director of the Grooversity global drumming network project that includes twenty four drumming groups from the US, Canada, Germany, Mexico and France.
Happy Birthday to Clifford Koufman! Clifford is a Nashville-based, award-winning drummer who founded Sound & Rhythm Drumming School in 2000. With over 20 years of experience, Clifford carries a world of experience to every scenario, whether creating music, performing or teaching. He's honored to be the recipient of multiple grants, the Thrive award to build community through community drumming classes, performances, and drum circles, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council professional development grant to study music in Guinea, West Africa. He's toured internationally, throughout the US, and in Alaska. Clifford has spent time living and learning from master musicians in Ghana and then Guinea, West Africa, and has performed, taught, and worked with thousands of people as well as working with numerous bands, songwriters, and composers throughout the United States. In an effort to share in his musical experience, inspiration and to connect with creative people through conversation, he began "Clif Chats" where he's has conducted over sixty interviews of creative people at the top of their fields. Clif Chats can be watched on the Sound and Rhythm YouTube HERE
Clifford teaches people in Nashville as well as traveling to schools, colleges, and universities (pre-pandemic) as well as teaches internationally online. He creates play-along tracks for drum circle facilitators as well as making music for licensing. Clifford embraces the spirit of collaboration in Nashville, performing and recording and writing, collaborating with songwriters, bands and composers. He is continually experimenting with a hybrid drum set, incorporating percussion and drum set elements with various hand drums. He facilitates leadership development events using the drum circle as the vehicle. Clifford continues to teach students all over the world and is excited to collaborate with songwriters, bands, and composers. He continues Clif Chats and is always looking to geek out about people living creatively, drums, art, and music.
Happy Birthday to Joe Bergamini! Joe maintains a diverse career as a drumming performer and educator. Enjoying various styles of playing, he is known for his progressive rock drumming in the bands Happy the Man and 4Front, and he is the current international touring drummer for The Doo-Wop Project. Based in the New York area, Joe has worked extensively on Broadway. In 2018, he held the drum chair for the Broadway production of Gettin’ the Band Back Together, and he has also performed at over 15 other shows including Movin’ Out, Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, In the Heights, Beautiful (The Carole King Musical), Hamilton, The Lion King, Million Dollar Quartet, and others. Joe has also appeared on the first national tours of Movin’ Out, Jersey Boys and Beautiful, and with major symphony orchestras including the Philly Pops and the Detroit, Nashville, Seattle, San Diego, Indianapolis and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.
A best-selling drum set author, Joe has won four Modern Drummer Readers Poll awards for his drum books, including best drum book of 2013 for Neil Peart: Taking Center Stage. He is also the author of The Working Drummer’s Chart Book, Stewart Copeland: Drumming in The Police and Beyond, Drum Techniques of Led Zeppelin, and several other books. As the Senior Drum Editor for Hudson Music since 2009, Joe has worked closely with many of the world’s greatest drummers, acting as editor on books with Steve Gadd, David Garibaldi, Steve Smith, Liberty DeVitto, Mark Guiliana, Tommy Igoe, Stanton Moore, Todd Sucherman, and many others. He is also the co-owner, with Dom Famularo, of the independent publisher Wizdom Media, with books distributed by Alfred Music. Since 2015, Joe has also been Education Consultant for Sabian, designing and directing the Sabian Education Network for drum teachers.
Recognized internationally as an educator, Joe has given hundreds of drum clinics in schools, retail stores, and conventions. He has appeared at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) multiple times, the Ultimate Drummers Weekend (Melbourne, Australia), the Cape Breton Drum Festival (Nova Scotia, Canada), KOSA (Vermont, USA), and the Sonny Emory Drum Camp (Atlanta, USA), and has done two clinic tours for Tama Drums. He has been teaching privately at his own studio for over 30 years. Among Joe’s many private students who have gone on to pro careers is world-renowned jazz drummer Mark Guiliana. Joe proudly endorses Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Evans drumheads, Latin Percussion, and Cympad.
Happy Birthday to Monette Marino! Monette is a world percussionist. She spent the majority of the last 20 years studying under Master Drummer Mamady Keita from Guinea. In 1999 she received her Teaching Certificate from Mr.Keita and opened a branch of Tam Tam Mandingue USA in San Diego, California. From 2004–2012 she managed Mamady’s world tours, assisted him in teaching master classes, and performed with his ensemble, Sewa Kan. She received her diploma from Mamady Keita & Tam Tam Mandingue in 2011.
She has since branched out as a solo artist releasing her debut album “Coup d’Eclat” and also opened her own school of percussion called MO’RHYTHM. In addition, Monette Marino has created an iPhone App “Mo’Rhythm Africa – Play Along Djembe/Dunun App” now available on iTunes for iPhone/iPad/Apple TV. Prior to her involvement in West African percussion Monette studied folkloric and popular rhythms from Cuba, Brazil, and Korea.
Gig Alerts
Chris is on tour this summer with the band AJR. You can check out their upcoming tour dates by CLICKING HERE.
Summerfest is happening in Milwaukee June 22nd-24th, June 29th-July 1st and July 6th-8th.
Stern Grove Festival, summer concert season is happening in the San Francisco area between June 18th-July 23rd.
The Rochester International Jazz Festival is happening in upstate NY between June 23rd and July 1st.
Educational Spotlight
The Preservation Hall Foundation has lessons available, including some by friend of the show, Weedie Braimah.
Friend of the show, Carter McLean, has a drum workshop at Power Station New England on September the 8th.
Iconic Recording
Chris picked the album, ‘The Boxer’ by the band The National. Damon chose the song, “Guest Room” from the album. The drummer for this band is Bryan Devendorf.
Music News
Friend of the show, Bryan Carter, and several other people won Tony Awards this past Sunday!
Damon refers to THIS FAT JOE CLIP.
In the wake of increased scrutiny surrounding social media platforms and the information they gather about their users, here’s a peek at how the Instagram algorithm works in 2023.
The conversation around social media algorithms has gotten noticeably louder as state and federal government agencies debate the merits of TikTok. As a result, competitors like Instagram are eager to clarify misconceptions about how the sausage is made in their proverbial factory. The linked article is a breakdown of Instagram’s announcement on how ranking works across its system in 2023. -Article
In a victory for live music, we are happy to announce that the upcoming show at the Broadway Theatre “Here Lies Love” will use live playing musicians. -Article
Chris Berry Interview
The song leading into the interview is “Loves Missing” by Iggy Pop from the album with the same name.
Chris built his studio with the help of Tony Brett of Brett Acoustics and Wes Lachot of the Wes Lachot Design Group.
Chris talks about the design process in building his home studio.
Chris is in Easton, CT and talks about some of the rural life. Damon mentions that next door in Weston, CT Keith Richards used to be a resident.
Damon brings up how he and Chris met at an educational event sponsored by Charley Drayton.
Chris was born in Bridgeport, CT, grew up in Easton, CT and attended Fairfield Prep High School. Another alumnus of that school is singer-songwriter, Stephen Kellogg.
Shout-out to Bob LaValle and Mike LaValle.
Chris later studied with Jim Royle.
Chris remembers his musical rotation when he was in high school.
Chris talks about how he chose to attend The New School in Manhattan.
If you are interested in attending a Jesuit School, HERE IS A LIST TO CHOOSE FROM.
Chris talks about how get got into the band AJR (Adam, Jack and Ryan). Part of that was from a recommendation from Sarab Singh.
Chris talks about the Italy trip he just took.
Damon brings up the Pan Mass Challenge and shout-out to Team Vic.
Chris talks about being a guest on the Food On Tour Podcast. You can also follow him on instagram.
Damon and Chris talk about finding amenities on the road.
Damon even brings up the tagging feature in the Master Tour App.
Chris chooses the iconic recording. Honorable mention goes to Aja by Steely Dan.
Before moving back to CT, Chris lived in Brooklyn, NY.
Damon mentions a new oyster shack summer pop up that he added to the list of seafood restaurants in Fairfield County, CT. Here are some of the other restaurants Damon suggested.
South Bay (Fairfield)
The Whelk (Westport)
Sono Seaport Seafood (Norwalk)
Overton’s (shack - Norwalk)
Harbor Lights (Norwalk)
Knot Norm’s (Norwalk)
Rowayton Seafood Restaurant (Norwalk)
Elm Street Oyster House (Greenwich)
Seamore’s (Darien)
Chris uses Istanbul Agop Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks, and Evans Drumheads.
Shout-out to Ari Hoenig, (friend of the show) Jamey Haddad.
You can follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The song leading out of the interview is “Soak” by Juliana Madrid.
