Virgil's first video that I know of filmed live at the Grain Store in Melbourne 1986. Back in the old Loose Change days.... Nearly wore this video out watching it.
Our time with local home grown live music has past. Will never be the same as every Tuesday night at the Grainstore ( which does not exist) The Swan hotel...... The Last Post......
well... he's the technical pinnacle in drumming. I don't know any other drummer that can outdo him technically. So technically he is the best drummer so far.
have more video of virgil but waiting for a better capture device. Some really Good footage of the days with Southern Sons and other instructional stuff...thought I would start with this and gauge the reaction.
Jellybeantiger Likewise. Have very fond memories of those days. Mark was and still is an extraordinary player. Was there for the recording as well. Man I loved climbing those old stairs to see such a kickarse band !
Awesome band - before "Loose Change" it was called "Changes" with John Barrett on everything woodwind, and Mark Domini on Guitar, Steve Hadley on Bass and can't think of the Keyboard players name. They used to play in a tiny place in a laneway around the corner from the Grainstore ..... called Number 19 I think??? Wow, that was the 1st time I heard them play Cruise Missile .... phenomenal musos !!!!!
Well, I haven't heard that song at the start in a very long time.! The little snippet at the beginning is actually a band called "The Cutters" soon to become "The State" and then "Southern Sons". Virgil was always a monster player. He programmed all the keyboard parts as well.
Honored that you commented Phil, check some of my other videos of you playing in the sons live on Australia Day. I have the EP from The State in my record collection, (prior to the advent of CD's) I followed you guys around the Melbourne gig scene in my youth... Huge fan of Virgil, went to a lot of his seminars and of course have copies of all his tutorial videos. What are you up to these days?
I'm glad you put those Australia Day vids up! Great memories and one of the last performances of the band. Thanks for that! Presently I am working on a very intriguing project. Keep an eye on my channel for updates.
Phil Buckle can’t wait! Will keep an eye out. Wish the sons could re release some of the hits and put some ‘balls’ on it, your music was always much better live... ‘we are one’ never got the traction it deserved....
Ha-ha! that Grainstore era was a great time for me, an aspiring drummer. Great playing. The wildly superior Sonor product of the day and a chance to see The State, The Gnomes, Loose Change, Three little basement dwellers, Valen and Southern Son's debut and subsequent gigs. No better town to grow up in and great songs to accompany a life into adulthood. Grounded, inspired, committed. Interesting, I am familiar with song 'I'm In The Middle' but it must have been Cutters material and so not on The State Elementary, GREAT ALBUM OMG. Such great songs, the emergence of Sons who I cover myself and a benchmark of quality un-equaled in the world. Thank you Virgil, Phil, Geoff, Jack and Peter. Hope all is well for you all.
@guangosdude Yes, but as most other drummers he has been with a range of different companies. He went from Sonor to Remo to Premier to Pearl. (I am the moderator of his website :))
Been looking for their album on vinyl for years and just found one in perfect nick. Amazing. Couldn't believe it. Paid for it first then told the dude behind the counter how rare this is. He didn't look cool.
Es un documento historico increible... que destreza, que maestría, cuanto feeling, cuanta mágia en cada compás. Virgil creando su propio Olimpo... el mejor de los mejores.
Awesome. I have the original LP that they sold from one Loose Change concert with all who attended listed on the inside sleave. Steve Vai and others as well. It's also on ITunes remastered in 2008 fyi if you weren't aware.
I saw Loose Change a few times at the Grain store back then, Mark Domini used to shred Steve Morse like a son of a Bi,,,, Cruise Missile to start with. Also remember Hans Valen with Jack Jones [Irwin Thomas] on guitar, these guys stood out from ALL the wanna be hot guitarists in Melbourne. Jo Cool used to kick ass at covering guitarists songs, like Vai, Satriani, Rhoads, etc, etc, etc, . Another unknown guitarist of the time, who could EASILY cut it with Mark Domini, was Robert Anderson, my guitar teacher, he is still teaching in Bendigo now a days.
Depends on how and what u mean by best. Does he have the best hands? In my opinion I'd say weckls r slightly better. I'd say Lang has slightly better feet but when it comes to both I'd say donati gets it. He's the busiest of most drummers and plays the most complex patterns of most drummers out there. It's hard to say blah blah is the best. It's an opinion. Makesfor a great conversation
Agreed. I know your comment is 10 years old now but we have an entire decade of his playing since then. I used to really enjoy him a lot but I prefer his older stuff now. Can’t really stand his monotonous technique and music he writes these days.
