THE “REAL DEAL” DRUM MAGAZINEISSUE 1 JANUARY 2011

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK!

JORDAN GOES BACK INTO THE STUDIO TO RECORD CAULFIELD’S FULL-LENGTH

EXCLUSIVE ARTICLE

LARS ULRICH

ON TUAN, DISCUSSING CONSTRUCTS’ NEW MATERIAL

IS HE A GOOD DRUMMER?

MY FIRST BAND

TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE

Welcome to the first issue of TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE.

I am the editor, Tuan Nguyen, and drummer for the local

Hardcore/Metal band, Constructs. This magazine is basically

about me. It also includes articles on famous and local

drummers, advertisements for drum gear and much more!

What inspired me to make this magazine was my passion

for drumming. I’ve been playing drums for about 6 years

now and I’ve improved dramatically. Now I start to see what

it takes to be a real drummer. I’m not saying that I think I

am, but I’ve noticed how a lot of my earlier influences aren’t

as good as I thought they were. I’m also very into the local

Burlington Hardcore/Metal music scene so I included pictures

and information on some of the talented local drummers out

there. I hope you enjoy reading the articles in this magazine,

and checking out the sweet advertisements I created.

Tuan Nguyen

THE NEWS!................................................PG. 3

LARS ULRICH......................................PG. 5-6

MY FIRST BANDS............................PG. 7-8

WORST ALBUM....................................PG. 9

Photography by:

Gray Richter

Samantha Armstrong

Lauren Mazzotta

Taylor Cooke

Kayla Bates

TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE

Albums to listen to!

TUAN NGUYEN // CONSTRUCTSAfter lead vocalist, Geoff Daniel, left Constructs in August 2010, they went on hiatus. Since then, guitarist, Thoai Nguyen, and drummer, Tuan Nguyen, have been writing new material and trying to recruit new members to Constructs. Shortly after a few jam sessions, they decided on “the perfect sound”, and added three new members to the band. They’re very much excited to show off the new material because according to them, the old stuff was crap. Critics said that on Constructs’ Decomposer E.P. Tuan didn’t put enough effort into writing the drum parts and that they were too “boring”. Well, when new Constructs comes out with their demo E.P. people will be greatly surprised by how much the writing of the drums and music have improved. As of right now, the new line-up stays unknown, but the music is said to be more heavy and melodic hardcore. Stream Constructs’ entire E.P. here!

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JORDAN SPEER // CAULFIELDThe “Foot in the Grave” E.P. made a huge impact on the Burlington hardcore/metal music scene. Caulfield were few of the first local bands to actually go into a professional studio for high quality recordings. Jordan Speer brought back the heaviness and agility of metal drumming in the local scene when it died out for awhile. He has gone back into the studio to track Caulfield’s full-length so stay tuned, and be super stoked!

URIAN HACKNEY // ALIVE & WELLIt has been nearly a year now, and Urian’s band, Alive & Well are still in the studio recording their full-length. People are wondering why it’s taking them so long. The answer is, they want to make it perfect and will not settle for good. Clips from the new un-mastered album are phenominal. Urian Hackney set the highest standard for local drummers in Vermont. His style is so unique and creative that it absolutely blew my mind. Alive & Well should be releasing their untitled full-length in April of 2011.

-CONSTRUCTS, DECOMPOSER

-A PLEA FOR PURGING,THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL

Tuan Nguyen @ 242 Main, Burlington, VT

-THE GHOST INSIDE, RETURNERS

-FOR THE FALLEN DREAMS, RELENTLESS

A N C H O R S A W A Y C L O T H I N G L I N E P r e s e n t s :

2/4 Burl ington, VT @ 242 Main

2/5 S .Burl ington, VT @ H igher Ground

2/6 Manchester , NH @ Rocko’s

2/8 Manchester , NH @ JFK Col iseum

2/9 Suncook, NH @ Ground Zero

2/10 Dover , NH @ Dover Brick House

2/12 Worcester , MA @ The Palladium

2/13 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

2/15 Boston, MA @ Revolut ion Rock Bar

2/16 S .Norwalk , CT @ Bar Eleven

2/17 New Haven , CT @ Drop Zone

2/18 New Haven , CT @ Lounge 215

2/20 Br istol , R I @ G illary ’s Tavern

2/21 Providence , R I @ The L iv ing Roomhttp://www.myspace.com/constructsmusic

WORST ALBUMS ON PAGE.9

TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE

LARS ULRICHGOOD OR BAD DRUMMER?

etallica is one of the biggest names in the Thrash Metal music scene, but it seems as though people do not acknowledge the fact that their drummer lacks a bit too much

compared to the rest of the band. Most people consider Lars Ulrich to be one of the greatest metal drummers ever. Do you want to know my opinion on Lars? I think he gets way too much credit for his drumming, and his drumming isn’t good. I can honestly say that he’s a pretty bad drummer, especially since he has been playing pretty much all of his life. I’m going to start off by saying that he lacks the most in timing and creativity. If you listen to every Metallica record, you’ll notice that he is slightly off time in almost every song, and some of the drum beats don’t mash well with the guitars. He’ll do this thing where he’ll make a drum beat a little off time to try making it sound more interesting and “tricky”, but it just ends up sounding really bad because Metallica isn’t the type of band to be technical metal, or write technical parts. They’re clearly a thrash metal band, so it’s all about speed and intensity. Lars sure does have the right drum beats for some of the songs, but he overuses them too much. I can’t think of one song where

he uses a completely different drum beat. To be a real drummer, you have to excel in creativity, otherwise you’re just a person who can hit things. Lars is a really lucky guy. He’s lucky that thrash metal wasn’t popular until Metallica started. He’s lucky that they recruited him

TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE5 6

“The ‘not-giving-a-[bleep]’ meter is as far into the red-zone as ever before.”

into their band as soon as they did. People listened to them for the heaviness of their music, and how their music stood out from the other music that was around at their time. What people didn’t realize, or cared to realize was how Lars was obviously bad at what he did. I mean, I guess it’s easy to look past that when the guitarists, bassist, and vocalist were good, but that’s how lame it is. Normally, the band depends on their drummer. In Metallica, they depended on the guitarists. The thing is, their guitarists aren’t that great where you could tune out the drums if you wanted to. The whole band together did not have the same level of abilities, which made his drums stand out, but in a bad way. They got to where they are now because back then not many people cared a whole lot about abilities, and it was the fans who got them

famous, not a big label.

What really gets to me is the fact that Lars has so many really good endorsements. I mean, people consider him like an icon to the metal music industry, but he’s so bad that it doesn’t even make sense to me. I’m glad that nowadays it’s harder to get endorsements unless you’re truly good at what you do. Now getting back to Lars, he got endorsements pretty much when Metallica wrote their first record. He had, and still has TAMA Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, AHEAD Drumsticks, TAMA Iron Cobra Hardware, and Remo Drumheads endorsements. Those are all extremely hard to get endorsed by, unless you’re really good at drums and have a purpose for endorsements, or if you’re in a famous band. In his case, he got super famous. In an interview with Lars done by Hatebreed’s lead vocalist, Jamey Jasta, Lars quoted,

By: Tuan Nguyen

Sometimes it’s almost as if he knows he’s not a good drummer, but he enjoys doing it for the fun and excitement, especially since his band got extrememly big in the metal music industry. It’s pretty obvious to tell my opinion on Lars’ drumming. Though I could honestly admit that I used to think he was one of the greatest drummers and I considered him to be one of my favorites. But when

I started to play drums more and got better at it, I realized how bad he was. Looking up to him

was probably the biggest joke ever and it only helped me to become a bad drummer

and have bad drumming habits, so that wasn’t much “help”. The bottom

line is, Lars Ulrich, of Metallica, is quite possibly one of the worst

“famous” drummers of all time.

TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE7 TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE 8

By: Mark Callaway

In the beginning of 2008, Jordan Speer and Geoff Daniel formed a band called, Forever They Said. They were one of Burlington’s first metalcore band that actually sounded “legit”. They were a tight band, even though a few of the members were still beginners. In the summer of 2008, they kicked out both of their guitarists and went on a search you new band mates. Vocalist, Geoff Daniel, got on guitar and they recruited Dylan Hughes on vocals and Thoai Nguyen on second guitar. From there on, they became one of the biggest names in the Burlington hardcore/metal music scene. they used to practice in Thoai’s basement about 4 times a week. Constructs’ drummer, Tuan Nguyen, who is also Thoai’s brother and band mate now, learned a lot of his technique from Jordan. He used to hang out at their practices and watch them write new songs and what not. If

Jordan Speer @ Higher Ground, S. Burlington, VT

Urian Hackney joined Black Night Vengeance in 2007, after their drummer and close friend, Sam Cohn, passed away. Urian joined in memory of Sam, and to keep that musis going. BNV was pretty much the start of Forever They Said. They played tons of locals shows, and even played with Our Last Night (NH metalcore band), who are now very well known and signed to Epitaph Records.Urian was one of the first drummers in Burlington to be able to do “blast beats” on the drums very well. In a lot of peoples eyes, he pinoneered the intense death-core style drumming in Burlington’s scene. When BNV broke up, Urian decided to try guitar out. He started playing with Young Denver, a pop-punk band. Eventually, he missed playing drums too much that he joined, The New Tony Bennet, after their drummer was kicked out. In that band, he got to use his death-core/death metal drum style to incorporate into their music. After TNTB broke up in 2009, he formed Alive & Well.

Urian Hackney @ 242 Main, Burlington, VT

Rafe Bouchard @ Boys & Girls Club, Burlington, VT

At the age of thirteen, Rafe Bouchard joined a death metal band called Compassion Forsworn. He had been playing drums since he was eight years old, but Compassion was his first “real” band. Before he was their drummer, his brother, Keenan Bouchard, played drums for them. When he left, they thought it’d be a great idea for Rafe to take the spot. This was a great opportunity for him. They played tons of shows with popular bands like Emmure and The Jonah Veil, and toured around New England for a week. It was almost a teenger’s dream come true until they had to let him go. Their music was going into a different direction and they didn’t feel that Rafe could move along with them. After he was kicked out from the band, he started a pop-punk band called Young Denver, with Nick Giordani and David Lagerstedt. He felt like his passion for music and drumming leaned more towards pop-punk than any other genre so it kind of worked out for the best in the long run. Now Young Denver is touring around the U.S.

it weren’t for Forever They Said, Constructs and Caulfield probably wouldn’t be bands right now. Jordan’s sense of style on drums attracted large crowds every time they played. All of the upcoming metal drummers wanted to be as good as him. Soon after FTS ruled the music scene, they broke up because guitarist, Geoff Daniel and bassist, Kyle Dattilio, were unreliable. They had to find new members, so they recruited Ethan Burke on second guitar and Chris Ward on bass. They then formed, The Things He Carried. THC were a more melodic and heavy version of FTS. They dominated the scene with their great live performances. They were just full of energy and really got the crowd going. Jordan improved dramatically when THC started up to add a longer lasting affect on people who came out to their shows.

CONT.

“BROKEN FRAMES” - EYES SET TO KILL

TRUE DRUMMER MAGAZINE9

...The future of electronic drums