Fun fact: Bran's main influence was Ozzy Osbourne's guitar player Randy Rhodes. He decided to play guitar the day he heard that Randy died, decided it was too hard, and picked up the drums instead. He taught himself, became badass at it, and has a drumset that's decorated with Randy Rhodes's signature white-on-black polka dot design.
Brann Dailor the entire Blood Mountain album. Every bit of that album is worth listening to closely. He, as someone else mentioned, sings lead on a lot of parts. He is a lot like Neil Peart also, in that he writes most of the lyrics, and he also conceptualizes the stories being told by the lyrics, including 3 concept albums that have great stories behind them.
Check out "Brann Dailor plays Capillarian Crest (Mastodon)", a more interesting song choice. Lots of creativity on the hi hat, the snare ghost notes and the ride accents.
Capillarian Crest is a great example of his drumming capabilites. Also a newer version of him playing Oblivion might be worth checking out. Playing this stuff while singing is just another level and it took him quite some time to not get shaken so much while playing that the sung notes vibrate but nowadays he can do it damn good. But Capillarian Crest is probably the one for jazz drummers. It has this dynamic elements in the middle part added to the complicated rythm stuff.
Check out their album Crack The Skye, songs like The Czar or The Last Baron or other songs like Capillarian Crest, Hearts Alive or Asleep in the Deep. Amazing drummer and also their singer sometimes.
Good to hear your thoughts. Dailor's a good, tight player... Personally, I think you've got to look at Jon Theodore with The Mars Volta. Something from the first album like Drunkship of Lanterns or Inartiatic ESP, although all three of their albums he played on (De Loused in the Comatorium, Frances the Mute, and Ampitechture) are essential listening in my opinion. I always thought of The Mars Volta as a jazz band, just a really aggressive, dynamic, latin-tinged avant-rock one.
Hey man, really enjoy your perspective on metal drumming. I've watched a bunch of your videos and subbed, great stuff. I recommend checking out a drummer called Lille Gruber, a technical death metal drummer that brings a lot of jazzy stuff to his music. I'd say the drum cam of the song "A mesmerizing light" would be cool.
oh yeah, lille is amazing! I think his father is also a jazz drummer, thats where he got that from... and his main musical knowledge as well, i mean he plays guitar, ppiano and composes and stuff as well, he is not just a drummer...
Brann has never had a drum lesson. He’s about 6’2”-6’3” When I played on Brann’s kit- I found his symbols were quite a reach (I’m 6’ even). However, that was right after Mastodon’s Remission album, so it’s possible that he moved them closer later on. From a drummers perspective- ‘Hearts Alive’ has some good drumming... m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qp1dRh2FVVs.html
Sounds right. If you’re into his drumming- here’s an old pre-LifesBlood demo. 20” bass, 15” floor (6-piece). m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TeC0DDVlPp0.html
On the Crack The Skye dvd, he mentions hanging out with guitarists instead of bass players so he had to follow all this busy guitar work. That explains why he’s constantly playing fills throughout most of their songs. I thought that was interesting.
For me one of the best things about Bran's playing is his fills, the more I listen to Mastadon the more I realise just how drum lead they are. A lot of metal/rock bands you hear are all abou the guitars, but Mastadon sound different and it's his great fills that I really starting to pick out as I listen.
jim Jennings I’m pretty sure I read an interview with Brann a while back in a drum magazine that he learned drums by basically copying the guitars because he thought that was what he was supposed to do and then learned how to be the backbone to a band. I could be totally wrong though.
You want to hear how Brann got his start, check this out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jEJgwsoFSUA.html // He was 16 or 17 here and all the members of this band are now legends. Bill of Mastodon also on this Lethargy record.
1. Check out Aqua Dementia and Capillarian Crest, I find them more impressive than Blood and Thunder. 2. Change the title to MastOdon so you can get more views!
Use to rehearse at the same studio as Brann and Bill in Rochester NY before they moved to Atlanta . You Should checkout Brann’s old band Lethargy before Mastodon was formed.
I'm not a drummer, but the thing I like about Brann's drumming is the constant fills that are really fitted around what the guitars are doing. Maybe the proper recording of the song would've made that more easily apparent.
Hit the nail on the head. This is the very first song on the album. Later on they do get into that higher tempo groove that's hinted at here. And boy does that pay off. Listen through the whole album and read along with the lyrics. It's an amazing experience every time they do a concept album.
Hey Bro dig your reactions. I'm a guitarist but love drums. Colony of Birchmen by Mastodon is nuts. They've actually got a lot of songs that are nuts. That's why I love Mastodon! Metal for musicians...
I just want to point something out: 1) blood and thunder is 99% of the time, if played, Mastodon's closing song; so you can figure this is the last song out of maybe 15-23 songs he just played, some exhaustion, 2) blood and thunder is Mastodon's most over-hyped song; I might even argue B&T is one of Mastodon's top 5 least-liked songs by me...It is a great song, particularly the performances and the breakdown etc, but cmon, it is overplayed, and to me, a HUGE Mastodon fan who has seen them over 8 times, not really representative of their discography as much as it is just "associated" with them as a name. Let this guy listen to Aqua Dementia, or March of the Fire Ants, or Ole Nessie
Please react to Extremophile Elite by Between the Buried and Me. There is an excellent live version you should be able to find relatively easily (from the DVD Live at the Fidelitorium)
Let's visit some more straightforward metal. Look up the following title so we can hear your thoughts on the Godfather of Double Bass! Slayer - Lombardo Drum Cam Angel of Death HD (720p)
Can you do a reaction for a band called Yautja? The drummers name is Tyler Corbon, he's a machine. Small kit, single kick foot blast beats, and a lot of jazz influence.
Back when everything Brann did was fills and getting to the next fill, and before he started doing vocals with it. You should watch one of the ones from their Emperor of Sand release. Maybe Steambreather or Ancient Kingdoms.
"Anticipatory Feel" Mastodon's earlier stuff ("Remission" thru "Crack the Skye" before they went full prog) always created a feel like I would call restlessness. Brann is so SO busy in those earlier records...as busy as the guitars get. I think he even mentioned that's his intention. Most of these bands always riff along with the bass drum (is that syncopation?). Mastodon always felt inverted because of that. Fills where there should be none and straight forward where you would expect flourish. The newer stuff is getting better technically, but it doesn't feel the same. Brann is probably the least disposable member of Mastodon....and every one of them shreds. I'm just saying how unique he is. Another Vta County resident right here btw...salute!
Brann is such an amazingly colourful drummer IMO To answer about the kick, it’s a double kick but on a single drum Also I’m sure someone already told you elsewhere in the comments but for future is Pronounced like “Brawn” Can’t wait to see more mastodon and prog metal in general
Brann Is A Bad Ass ! And I Love Prog Rock .. Almost 60 Here.. Check Out Crack The Sky Songs.. And Go Deeper in there Music... I Just Love Brann and MASTODON ! They are Great Live !
Check out John Kew on RU-vid. I think he’s the best prog drum cover player online possibly. He’s stuffs recorded well and he also now has some prog rock orginals you can check out. He covers tool songs note for note too.
please return to Brann dailor capillarian crest drum cam is the best song. its the same drum studio that you done the Danny carry video on when its just him playing drums to a backing track
Reacting to the description of your video : you should react to "Life Metal" from Sunn O))) ... haha ! Btw, I think "Crack the Skye" album from Mastodon is one of the few milestone metal albums post-2000's. Give it a listen ! More progressive, very rich in instrumentations and arrangements, while keeping that "straight to the point" feel (which is a challenge on this album in my opinion).
All the musicians in this band are odd dudes. Which makes sense because their music is odd, which is perfect for the style of metal they play, prog. He's a bit of a lanky dude, but plays this really compact kit, which is polka dot patterned, an homage to his favourite guitarist, Randy Rhodes (Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist in the 80s). Again, odd lol. Their music is awesome and I don't think there's anything like it, and there wasn't anyone playing the way Brann does
Good to hear your thoughts. Dailor's a good, tight player... Personally, I think you've got to look at Jon Theodore with The Mars Volta. Something from the first album like "Drunkship of Lanterns" or "Inartiatic ESP", although all three of their albums he played on (De-Loused in the Comatorium, Frances the Mute, and Amputechture) are essential listening, in my opinion. I always thought of The Mars Volta as a jazz band, just a really aggressive, dynamic, latin-tinged avant-rock one.
Did you ever see his Ghost of Karelia drum video?? PLEASE watch that one. I believe him to be the best metal drummer in the world. And A drummer, and someone who has exhausted their catalog, there’s nobody like him.
Brann never uses a double kick, he always uses just one foot. Which is really odd in metal drumming, since most used it. In an interview he talks about why he doesn’t use double. He says it’s purely out of necessity. When he was younger he had a bigger kit with lots of bells and whistles. But the double kick he had it was too big and wouldn’t fit in a car. So he had to downsize the kit and now the band enjoys a more simple version of themselves.
Brann is a special talent and a treasure of WNY born musicians. This song is great but he has MUCh more interesting songs. P much anything off of Remission! Thx for giving him some light though. He's one of the best out there and has been for many years (Lethargy?!!!)
I’d also suggest the album SCIENCE by Incubus or maybe something from Deftones. It’s not quite the heaviest stuff out there and I know heavy isn’t really your thing. BUT.....I’d also suggest Planetary Duality by The Faceless. That dude’s work on the kicks is pretty interesting.
You should check out the band bran was in before mastodon... lethargy their only album is on here called it’s hard writing with a tiny hand, way more ridiculous than
Hey, I just started watching your vids and love to hear them examined from a non-metal drummer's point of view. Mastodon, Meshuggah and all the modern metal bands that play in odd time signature's are thoroughly versed in Prog Rock. They one way or another discovered Rush which led them to the early Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, and Tull records of the 70's. I think listening/watching only drum cam angles may be doing you a bit of disservice; the drums in context to the rest of the song must surely matter. Only my two cents though. I love what you're doing, keep it up!
Pretty sure your niche is prog metal/jazz fusion. Been watching since just about day one. Currently a Patreon, and I totally get you wanting to take suggestions in an order that will please everyone. But just looking even at the views (through my own biases), the proggier stuff (Animals As Leaders, Meshuggah, Periphery, hell Snarky Puppy), the stuff that gets a little weird sometimes and pushes the boundaries of songwriting etc., are your biggest hits (Slipknot, Mastodon etc., are popular metal bands). Imo, do the recommendations if you want. But you should also throw in some hits. Like, hell, react to/talk about the Gadd/Weckl/Colaiuta solo. The whole "gospel chops" stuff of the current era, the way dilla beats made their way into live drumming, jazz fusion, hip-hop, the future of music, Steely Dan, etc., I could be wrong, but I feel like that's your money maker. Find more "Lingus" videos (has millions of views/traction/something special) that are along the same vein. Also more of the modern prog metal hits/taste-changers (a la Bleed, Matt Garstka etc.,) you have a massive potential to really pop off in that niche, I think. Get Spotify just for your personal listening, maybe get onto the playlists for prog metal/djent/fusion etc., go through tracks, find killer things, find out the popularity/if it fits etc., etc. (Great video as usual btw, just throwing that in there.)
Mastodon-The Wolf is Loose is a crazier song. But, you should check out some Mike Bordin videos, Anderson Paak, and not sure if you've seen that Gospel Chops video of Tony Royster Jr. Vs. Thomas Pridgen, that video is CRAZY!
Hey Garret I think you should try watching some vids of Des Kensel from High On Fire. Absolutely massive sound. I recommend Steps to the Ziggurat, Fertile Green, Eyes and Teeth, and Sons of Thunder
I've watched some videos now. You played all kinds of genres, but mainly jazz and you react to metal videos. Would it be an idea to make a video about jazz drummers (or drummers from other genres) that we as a viewer should check out? Perhaps with some explanation by yourself what to look for? (the latter because I don't drum myself, but I like watching drum vids to be amazed by the skillset)
You should check out August Burns Red - The Blinding Light. The drummer, Matt Greiner, performed it on the Zildjian channel, so you would actually be able to see everything he does.
