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I saw Zach Hill play with his very first band “Legs on Earth” in college back around 2000. It was mind-blowing. Some random Thursday at about noon on a tiny outdoor stage while people were walking to and from class. I had no intention of watching a show, but I watched the entire effing thing. Better believe I bought a CD too. Had Zach sign it about 10 years later on a solo tour through my town. He asked where the hell I got it. I told him and he said he totally remembered that show. Even he said it was a super weird show. Zach Hill has gone on to release tons of insanely original music and play with other absolutely world class musicians, and I saw him at the very beginning of it all. Cool.
Jazz Drummer first time listening to Hella: "Whoa... this is crazy" Everyone else first time listening to Hella: "Whoa... this is crazy" Zach Hill, the equalizer
Lol, my friends told me that Hella sounded like someone had just wrote 100 different riffs and decided to play them all back to back. But I still listened to them all thru the 2000's. there is no 666 in outerspace
“Organized chaos” well said. The fact that he can replicate every song without missing a note every time he performs speaks volumes on how intricate and how much effort he’s put into his work.
That's a great point. I hadn't thought of this til watching this video actually. What he does is amazing, but many others could probably improvise something similar. So few could actually write and play these sounds. It's on another level
I think some metalheads acknowledge math rock being complex and wha not, like, I think Meshugah said his favorite albums Don Cab's What Burns Never Returns
Oh man do Brian Chippendale from Lightning Bolt if you haven't already, he gives off a similar high-energy improvisational boundary-pushing vibe and they're such a blast to watch play live
Justin Bennett I was at the knitting factory the first night Thomas saw Zach. His mind was blown. Thomas is an absolute beast but Zach changed the course of TMV’s music.
Hold Your Horse Is is one of the most formative albums of my childhood. So glad this dude is getting recognition by real drummers this many years on....single kick pedal!!! Also, i would argue that these songs are not improvised.
That album is hugely influential to me. Ive listened to it atleast a hundred times lol. One of my all time favs. I've hurt my neck so many times headbanging to that shit.
i dont agree with the "creating music on the fly" statement, listen to Hold Your Horse Is and youll see its all written how its preformed. Theyre insane, very talented artists
I remember hearing in the documentary of the tour they did in Europe that they did a fair bit of improvisation on stage. Their performances are definitely looser live. Let's just say I get the guy's impression
@@Vantier Obviously they improv a little sometimes live, but listen to this version of Biblical Violence and tell me it's not almost identical to the album: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jdMDcG3zAEI.html They can replicate these songs to a T, but sometimes they have some fun with tempos and improv, such as the video being reacted to here.
That's so rad that you said "this is jazz", thanks so much for saying that. I got into punk first, jazz after that for the same reasons. It's all so similar when you look at it that way. -Huge Hella fan and huge jazz fan
I remember the first time I listened to Hella. It shook me to my musical core. I literally was messed up in the head for weeks! I couldn't understand why I couldn't stop listening to it. Made me feel like I was crazy. Turns out I'm OK. Just had to get into their heads space musically. Getting over the hurdle of unfamiliarity with their music has contributed to my appreciation of so much music. I have to thank Zach for making my head explode.
I think listening to Hella’s studio recordings helps to understand that they are perfectly playing together all along and not just here and there. I love to listen to Zach supporting Wavves on tour (not his band, and a band that is normally not drum centric at all) this is how he digest music and add his energetic touch : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AAKFjnvPHTA.html
I saw Hella in Austin, TX years ago. After the show I sat outside and talked to Zach, he was super humble and chill and very cool. Two interesting tidbits: he said he sprained his ankle during the show and he played with one low top Converse (kick foot) and a flip flop (high hat). What an absolute unit he is.
Try Been a Long Time Cousin, there is a fantastic live video that shows a bit more of his technique. It sounds like there is a lot of chaos, but it is actually, quite controlled.
"For a moment you think its nonsense and then they do shit together" There is almost no nonsense even in the live show. The guitar is sort of the guide and the drums freely follow but I'd say he's playing closely to what's on the album much of the time but with lots of flourishes. You can try to boil it down to some basic structures but he's basically got some really original grooves going on with everything in between completely filled in. Should probably mention this is my favorite band and album of all time.
You actually will love Don Caballero. Its got healthy doses of JAZZ, some ridiculous drumming and yet more... concise songs. They're wild jams for sure, but they were, I'd say, less about playing everything as fast or crazy as possible, and more about making every song distinct in time and feel in unique ways. Every song is like a study in rhythmic possiblities, while still feeling more like a song.
I am shocked he hasn't seen Ben Koller yet! Let's make it happen guys! Oh and Kenneth Schalk from Candiria. He is a jazz drummer after all so I wanna hear his thoughts. Btw, this was Hella cool... OK I'll show myself out.
Aw shit! I almost forgot about Kenneth Shalk. Candiria's best records are worth buying just to get the last track alone. Because those songs are that fucking good.
Yo I was totally not expecting a Kenneth Schalk mention in these comments. Candiria is one of my all time favorite bands (they really fell off after their tour accident years ago but I will always love them to death). He is an absolutely amazing drummer and would love to see a reaction. Also had the pleasure of smoking weed with guy before one of their shows in Poughkeepsie, NY back in the mid 2000's. Total sweetheart.
I've seen Hella before... met him once or twice. His kit is definitely lower, and at probably over 6ft he towers over the thing. Dude's jacked from such a visceral and ferocious style of playing. Check out his Death Grips rehearsal clips.
Zach Hill's drumming got stripped of a lot of his "crazyness" with Death Grips. I love everything he does there, simple but not basic by any means, more listenable than Hella but a lot of crazy good ideas. The drum beat of "The Fever" by Death Grips is forever on loop in my head.
There’s No 666 In Outer Space by Hella shows them with more instrumentation and vocals but still keeps that raw chaos if you’re missing it from Death Grips
At first listen it sounds like Zach has toned his drumming back in Death Grips (and for a lot of their discography he definitely did dial it back), but his craziness is still very much there it's just now hidden behind electronic drum resampling things. Every single thing you hear (other than the vocals) in the entire first half of their Powers That B album is done on an electric drum kit and it features some absolute insanity
Thankyou for being so open minded Garrett. There's too many reaction channels that are just about whether they 'like' it. I love how you react to each drummer on their own terms, without any predisposition for how things 'should' be.
Thank you sooo much for this. I was laughing hysterically at your reaction outside of store while watching this, people were tripping on me for sure! Reason being, I've been hyped on Zach Hill for a good 15 years and he's kinda a cult figure in the music community I would say. Fans of his are kinda rabid, myself included. Your reaction was priceless, but AMEN to the second take you had with your aha moment that this is jazz 100%. "This is fucking with my worldview" - Garrett Miller ^^^ That shit had me rolling when you said that!
Hella are always on the absolute cusp of losing control... but are always IN control. It's fucking beautiful. Makes alot more sense on the studio recordings :)
I'm so glad you finally got to this haha Zach Hill is my all time favorite drummer, organized chaos is what he does best & he's an absolute beast & master at his craft. After Hella he's also most notorious for playing in the experimental Hip-Hop group Death Grips (Give em a listen when you have the time) & he's done a bunch of work with other artists including: Les Claypool from Primus, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez from The Mars Volta, Nick Reinhart from Tera Melos, Wavves, & Marnie Stern to name a few. You should definitely give drummer Brian Chippendale from Lightning Bolt/Black Pus a listen next too, he's got a similar high-energy erratic style. Kenneth Topham from the band Giraffes? Giraffes! is also a great watch as well!
I don't know if I'd say they're similar. G!G! is way more digestable and pleasurable to listen to, Hella is a chaotic orgasm. They both push the envelope but in different corners.
Hella is really crazy envelope pushing math rock a lot like Tera Melos, I really really suggest you check out an old math rock band called Piglet if you want to hear something a lot more melodic and palatable that still has the math rock complexity and attitude. I think you'd actually dig than a lot.
Welcome to the world of Math Rock, dude! Zach Hill is a BEAST. If you want to see some emotive drumming if whole different order, I highly recommend taking a look at Kashikura Takashi from the math/post rock band Toe. Three favourites: Goodbye (album version), All I Understand is That I Don't Understand, and C.
Hella were tail end of the “math rock” movement, which as you correctly identified, was kind like jazz as expressed through the punk rock filter. Other bands in the genre worth looking up include Don Caberello, Polvo, Battles, and on the softer-emo-ish end of the spectrum, American Football. These days Zack plays for the experimental hip-hop act Death Grips.
Really enjoyed that vid. The way they balance on the edge of structure and chaos is cool. Sounds insane, but there's repetition and a deep order to what they're doing.
I really appreciated the honest reaction. You didn’t act like your mind was being blown like every other reaction video. Hella can be kind of hard to digest because they’re so fucking wild, and your reaction was pretty much my first reaction as well. Those dudes make art and sometimes great art doesn’t sink in immediately. Anyways, keep it up! I just subbed.
Listen to the Studio version. Everything is way more structured than it seems. Very unique music language. You should listen to more math rock stuff. Nuito, Giraffes giraffes too
if you like that you gotta check out his other stuff, and other math rock more broadly. john clardy from tera melos and ken kennerson from giraffes? giraffes! are great examples of adjacent stuff to this that's a little more digestible
"this is jazz" - hell(a) yeah! and a live evil reference for good measure? sheeeeeit check out the live video of Screaming Headless Torsos' "Smile in a Wave" - it's beautiful blistering jazz fusion at its ass-shaking peak 🤘
hot take at the end! love that man, great discussion about a brand new territory of music for you (and me). love the content bro keep it up. also watch David Diepold of Cognizance please :)
This is the appropriate response to hearing hella for the first time XD Btw i seriously recommend the first hella album gets 10 ish listens, then one makes it’s way back in the building ;)
@jvalex18 no it's just unusual/advanced and requires your brain some repeated listens to understand the time signatures. it all depends on what you're used to listening to. Meshuggah was like that for me at first too and modern day the band Car Bomb is famous for it's strange songwriting that takes a bit to recognize the patterns and remember them
When i first heard Hold Your Horse Is i had pretty much the same reaction as this, but then i listened to it every day for 6 months. I just couldn't stop thinking about it!
I promise you all that craziness makes sense and every hit is there intentionally haha. You can definitely find patterns if you listen closely. That dude has of the fastest right foot I've seen. Edit: I'm laughing my ass off at your reaction. That's honestly how I was the first few times listening to this and kinda to this day.
Thank you!!! Most people will laugh at it or mock it as just noise due to their own ignorance of what music, skill, and talent is. It’s hilarious these people who talk like they are experts in music and what skill, talent, etc is has never taken the time to learn any musical instrument themselves. Once you pick up an instrument and learn how to actually play your mind expands and you will have a greater understanding/appreciation of music that you normally wouldn’t listen too like Jazz, Funk, Technical Death Metal, Mathcore, etc . Of course these styles of music are not going to be most peoples cup of tea but atleast learn to respect it because it takes a lot of practice, skill, and talent. The majority of Mainstream Music and these so called “Talented Musicians” who make millions don’t even write there own music nor the lyrics they sing. They are basically just selling an Image with a voice that’s Autotuned because guess what happens when there is no Autotune on that voice? It sounds like 💩 because they cant sing. Excellent comment Byron. Bravo 👏
