Unquestionably, one of the tightest bands live to come out of the 90's alternative scene. Stanier is virtually a cyborg on drums---he never deviates from the drum parts laid down on the studio recordings, and executes them with incredible precision.
HELL YES!This is probably my favorite Helmet song ever.I've noticed there are no versions of fbla II from the new linup, hmmm wonder why lol. As always John completely puts on a drum clinic,demonstrating why he should be mentioned with the best drummers,Pert,Bonham etc.This was also the best sounding lineup of helmet, with Rob on guitar, they had thier poop together on the Betty tour, I saw them 8x on that tour, helmet never had an off night, which is amazing considering the timing complexity.
Saw them several times, most memorably a year or so before this show at a place called The Showcase on the west side of San Antonio, Texas in Feb, 1994. Got my ever-loving white ass kicked all over that joint. Greatest night of my life!
Thanks for posting this!! I actually saw them on this tour, a band called Orange 9mm opened for them in Poughkeepsie, NY. I also spent quite a few hours trying to learn Stainer's solo breaks at 2:50 when I was a kid:)
Fuck I love this song! Stanier is The Best rock drummer ever, the rhythm is relentless, great synchro/dichotomy between guitar and drums. I play this in a band, its alot of fun. A great band in their prime. Takes me back to when music was quality, not like the crap that gets churned out these days. shame aren't still together. Does anyone know what Stanier is doing now?
Helmet is still together. Not this line up but there is still a band with Paige Hamilton in it called Helmet. Stanier is in a band called Battles. Fun stuff but absolutely nothing like Helmet.
Stanier's main gig these days is Battles, with former Don Cab guitarist Ian Williams and experimental musician Tyondai Braxton. Check my profile, I have a live performance of the song Atlas in my favorites. Stanier also played drums on all three Tomahawk albums, a band that also features former Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison and vocal madman Mike Patton.
they are a great band...I have almost all of their discography...is there any official DVD of their videos...I'd appreciatte any good answers...thanks a lot dudes...and Helmet Rocks!
Helmet is so underrated for all of their hard work they put in to give the mind blowing music they do . The music of today sounds like the something. The music critic's don't give Helmet their good just due but the music critic's are all over the mainstream cermmercail
The only songs I have are this one and Street Crab (check my profile). I wish there was more. The footage was shot by a local MTV-type tv station that only needed a few minutes of action, just enough for their story on Helmet the next day. Thanks for the comment!
Before I saw them live, I pretty much agreed with you, I didn't see how it would work and having seen some recent youtube vids, was less than convinced. However they kicked ass far more than I expected them too when I saw them the other month. Not as good as the Bogdan/Stanier era, but still a great show.
@mufc1970ok He has never used a piccolo snare for Helmet. Just use a regular sized (like 14"x5") Metal or Brass snare. Then put on some clear drumheads on it (like Remo ambassador clear) and tune it as high as possible!! (Don´t use any damping!) Now when You play Rimshots Your snare will sound like Staniers snare on the "Betty" recordings - THE BEST SNARE SOUND EVER
Yeah i've noticed Kyle Stevenson is doing a nice job, much better fit then tempesta, thats for sure. He seems to have a little stainier in him, but its not fair to try to compare any of these guys to Stanier,hence I've never felt comfortable with the "new" helmet.The Bogdan/Stanier combo is sorely missed, imho anyways.
Brad Castine sorely is an understatement. I don't consider the new helmet to be the real helmet. I'm just thankful I got to see them once with the original lineup.
Helmet have been playing all of Meantime on recent shows (including the one I saw i Australia) and FBLA II was included. The drumming was good, though not as good as Stanier...
I thought Tempesta was awful with Helmet, just not his style, his playing displayed no syncopation that made the original Helmet beats brilliant, and offered no beats to exemplify Page's Staccato riffs as well. Was just too "straight forward" and was too much speed vs. style imho to be Helmets drummer. Stanier set the bar rather high as well, can make good drummers look rather bad.
