Blas Elias of Blue Man Group at the 2012 John Wackerman drum festival. The video was recorded with a GoPro camera in a waterproof case so the audio is not great.
Nice guy....and one of my favorite drummers for feel and showmanship. The Slaughter stuff always had a smile on his face. Don't forget he was in the movie "Rock Star". He should have been the lead!!
That was from five years ago (a lot of things can happen to one's appearance in five years but as you can see in this video from just this year, Blas is hotter than ever with the most beautiful smile I've ever seen: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ij1PV1hqA7I.html
Blas and Dana strum need to bottle their fountain of youth elixer. They have not aged at all. Incredible! Would love to see blas playing with the slaughter guys again.
I loved Blas back in the day, and not only has he aged like a fine wine that remains ever so yummy, he is a fucking beast when he's behind a kit. I am blown away after watching this video. Point blank and simple, Blas Elias is the man.
Just by happenstance, I worked in a place that made drum kits for drummers. And drag bikes that did almost 200 mile an hour. My boss was clever like that he branched out. And I got to have dinner with blaz and he played the most incredible drum Latino that you'll ever hear.
Blas Elias you are my Drum Idol... the way you play since the Slaughter days has mezmerized my brain ...the way you make you sticks spin, ,the hair waving, i mean hahaha it looks so fucking easy and sounds amazing...and then you realize,how much work and effort one has to put in his drumming,in order to get such a result!! You Great !
this guy everything you want in a rock drummer...his style is unmatched...nobody looks cooler than this guy and in rock that really matters! rock is about attitude with technique...most technical drummers get lost in chops and lose the feel and groove...
Obviously there are a lot of more technical drummers out there nowadays, but I'll always prefer the entertaining playing ability and swinging groove of drummers like Blas Elias, Tommy Lee and Tommy Aldridge. Come to think of it, it's obvious that Aldridge was Lee's main influence. They have a similar feel, do lots of stick spins, and hit the drums harder than a motherfucker!
Yeah that Zoltan or whatever his name is? He is a douchebag. He overplays and moves around for the sake of moving around. It’s had to watch and is a total stage distraction. Blas is a beast and has done just fine without Slaughter (pronounced like laughter).
Blas, you are my favorite drummer. Solid, extremely clean and technical at the same time. You never 'over played" anything, you wrote/write the perfect grooves and fills that fit so natural like, adding to the songs more depth and beauty. Definitely, thee perfect blend of awesomeness, an example of drummers, really. I aspire to be half as good from a musical stand point, never mind all of the flawless stick tricks and ability to put on a truly entertaining performance. thank you for being such positive influence and challenging the hell out of me. You are the best!!!
I can see why Blas Elias was best friends with Eric Carr (Ex-Kiss). The hung out a lot and jammed a lot. Both have the same drumming skills. Very impressive!!!
Saw Slaughter open for Poison back in '91 and Between Blas and Riki Rockets solos, Blas was by far better. Poison had the better light show, but slaughter blew them out of the water.
Matt, have you Blas ever seen Drumming as were in Slaughter? He is a very good Drummer.Doy you know , he is now one of the drummers in Blue Man Group in Las Vegas..He is a Awesome Drummer..That what Matt is drumms , Blas can do it also, he played drums since he was 12 years old, get a proffessional at the age of 18..OK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Drummers know how to play things which impress non drummers as can be clearly seen here. If I throw in some Bonham triplets at the end of a song I can guarantee the crowd goes wild but it is simple standard drum fodder which sounds amazing but most drummers are playing this by the age of 16. The start of Fireball on one bass drum is impressive. I spent a long time practicing the drum notation on that one.
Only problem here is he's been around a long time. He made it to the big time and is very well known. Hence why a lot of "drummers" have come here. So you can learn to play but it won't make you famous. Sometimes just giving respect seems so hard to do.
He did good times pretty good of ya ask me. Hes in the blue man group! Slaughters drums are very tastefully more technical than anything tommy Lee did! I'm a drummer and know both of their music very well.
I think you should listen to it more closely and then listen to the original in particular the bass drum parts. He adds more fills for effect but it does not cover up the bass drum deficiencies. Slaughter were just a basic rock band who liked to be up all night and sleep all day.
I guessed that from your name and also guessing you are American. Hooligan's Holiday has some good drumming on it. Tommy is like Keith Moon perfect for his band and no one else seems to fit but limited technically but one thing which does edge him above some of the more basic average drummers is that he does have a nice feel. Also some of Tommy's playing when he uses the cowbell in his solos is pretty good but obviously neither of them are Jojo Mayer or Terry Bozzio or Stewart Copeland.
Tommy Lee's best work was on the Corabi record. Tommy does have a VERY good swing, not technically amazing but he keeps a deep pocket. *Just reading the comments, as a star licks video of his lead me here. These cock-rock dudes though..their kits are hilarious, huge kits to fit their giant egos. NONE of the hair metal dudes can compare with the current generation of metal drummers. They've all grown up with the internet, unlimited access to music and some of them like T.J. Childers from Inter Arma might be from another planet.
Blas Elias is a good solid drummer who was a good showman but I am sure he would agree himself he does not have the finesse of a Terry Bozio or a Vinnie Colaiuta or the feel of a John Bonham but he was good with Slaughter and one of the better soft metal drummers although anyone who can play will tell you out of that group of bands Tommy Lee was the best hands down. Obviously I think some people below are measuring drumming talent on hotness and believe me that is not a measure for drummers because the best drummers like John Bonham were not measured on hotness.
+Yooperdrummer No for me he is in that tier of drummers like Tommy like Vikki Foxx like Lars Ulrich like Tre Cool like Dave Grohl. If you watch the Blas Elias covers John Bonham's Good Times Bad Times you can hear the difference. Blas Elias was sloppy. He is in the good drummers league but he will never break into the league of great drummers. He is average and about the level a rock band needs. The difference with Tommy is he is Motley Crue. I was at a Crue gig once and Tommy did not play and they were booed off. For great drummers look at Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion or Matt Cameron from Soundgarden and Pearl Jam or my current favourite drummer Mario Duplantier or going back a while Bill Ward from Black Sabbath and Ian Paice from Deep Purple.
+John Fink Now you are getting into a different level of skill with Rod Morgenstein and Greg Bissonnette. I am talking average rock drummers. Tommy is a very good example of an average rock drummer. He is at the better end as Motley can not function without him. The drummers you mention are serious premier league players up there with drummers like Brooks Wackerman. The comparison us unfair. You could compare Tommy to Tre Cool for example or Lars Ulrich but drummers like Rod Morgenstein and Greg Bissonnette no as they are too good. Blas Elias is not in that league either. Nick Menza was though and if you listen to OHM you can hear it. A lot of Tony Williams on the ride and Bill Bruford in his groove.
