8-19-2009 Greg: Influenza

8-19-2009 Greg: INFLUENZA
The first song I can recall ever hearing (besides lullabyes n such) is Frank Sinatra's "Let Me Try Again" blasting out of my parents room while I bounced around in the crib. I can still hear the strings clearly and my mom singing along with 'the voice' at the top of her lungs. Sinatra was always present in the house but what really influenced me at a young age is the music blairing from my 3 older brothers' rooms... this is the 70s, Ladies and Gentlemen,(dating myself), for this was a world where KISS roamed the earth as horror comic book heroes, Alice Cooper outdid the foursome all on his own with the spectacular 'Welcome to my Nightmare' touring stage show, the true master of theater and rock n roll......... Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were still on smack, and still writing great songs with no outside help (I really wish they'd relapse), Led Zeppelin were absolutely destroying every venue Peter Grant could book (and every hotel room as well), Mick and Keith were lamenting Taylors departure and breaking in 'the new boy' Ronnie Wood (he's still called 'the new boy' today, 33 years later). Stevie Wonder was making the greatest recordings of his career (in my opinion, of all time). E.L.P., Yes, and King Crimson were releasing masterpieces each vying for the progressive crown, the latter appropriately taking it IMHO. Judas Priest were finding their image and Black Sabbath were losing control of their batty frontman while RUSH were giving the finest performances of their career. The ladies were kicking ass as well, Carly, Joni, Carole, Aretha, Nina, Chaka, all making major impacts on female artists who would still influence me immensely today.


This is just a small example of the vibrant and exciting music scene that was the 70s and still my favorite period in popular music. The 80s were like kryptonite to artists like Stevie Wonder, Alice Cooper, and many more. I have to say I didn't enjoy any of the new MTV stuff and synthesiser music, I missed real drums and keys, and felt very little emotion or inspiration from any of the new age bands. I was barely pubescant and I knew I would always prefer 'the old stuff'. The main saving grace for me was the growing metal and thrash scene, bands like Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Kreator, Overkill,and many more made up for the horrible failure that was MTV and gave us a break from pastel colors and brought it back to black. The 90s are known for grunge and modern alternative rock and I must admit it took a while for me to break the 'I only listen to old stuff' routine. I have a big appreciation for bands like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and although not a Nirvana fan at all, I really like the Foo Fighters. I developed a huge taste for female singers in this period (playing drums for Jeanne French didnt hurt). I am a huge fan of Tori Amos (over 1000 tori songs on my ipod) and I also rather enjoy Fiona Apple, Heather Nova, Nikka Costa, Concrete Blonde and many more. The more I age the wider my influences range and I appreciate being in a band with so many diverse influences. I think that all adds to the finished product. I also appreciate the respect I'm shown by Deb and Mark to make my own musical decisions be it tracking or live. I've never had that kind of mutual respect in a band. I'm usually handed a list of 'do nots' before a gig or recording session which ultimately hurts the performance. The case with Ten Year Vamp is the opposite and the result is the best drums Ive ever played and the best tracks I've ever layed.


Here are some of my favorite albums off the top of my lid.

Kiss-Alive
The Rolling Stones-Exile on Main Street
Stevie Wonder-Songs in the Key of Life
Alice Cooper-Love it to Death
Frank Sinatra-Watertown
Tori Amos-Boys For Pele
Slayer-Reign in Blood
Megadeth-Peace Sells
E.L.P.-Tarkus
King Crimson-Red
Chick Corea Ackoustik Band-Alive
Return to Forever-Romantic Warrior
Iron Maiden-Killers
Judas Priest-Unleashed in the East
Yes-Tales From Topographic Oceans
Temptations-Ball of Confusion
Steely Dan-Aja
Sheryl Crow-The Globe Sessions
Jeff Buckley-Grace
Nikka Costa-Pebble to a Pearl
Prince-Musicology
Mick Jagger-Wandering Spirit
Black Sabbath-Sabotage
Stormtroopers of Death-Speak English or Die
Miles Davis-Bitches Brew
Mother Love Bone
Sacred Reich-Ignorance
Witchfynder General-Death Penalty
Aerosmith-Rock in a Hard Place
Ace Frehley-Ace Frehley 1978
Motley Crue-Too Fast For Love
The Police-Synchronicity
Jeff Beck-Wired
Barry Manilow-Live 197
Anthrax-Spreading The Disease
James Brown-Live at The Apollo 1968
Fastway-We Become One
Concrete Blonde-Walking in London
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles-Dealing With It
Led Zeppelin-Presence
Deep Purple-Machinehead
Camelot-soundtrack with Richard Harris
RUSH-Carress of Steel
Madonna-Like a Prayer
Styx-Pieces of Eight
Bill Withers-Live at Carnegie Hall
Bee Gees-Best of
Billy Joel-The Stranger
Elton John-Madman Across the Water
Wasp-Wasp
VoiVod-Dimension Hatross
Veruca Salt-American Thighs
Cheap Trick-Live at Budakon
Venom-Welcome to Hell
Triumph-Allied Forces

There's a few anyway,I also like classical, lotsa jazz and even a lil opera.
My lil Marianne is also a huge influence and inspiration, not to mention her mama Monica.

Billy - 8/6/09

I grew up listening to the heavies. My father was a baritone and sang military marches and some of the less intense numbers from the Methodist hymnal, but for some reason he felt compelled to buy me my first Kiss album in the 3rd grade. A short time later he bought me AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock, and out the window went the law degree right there. I never even had a chance. From there it was Aerosmith, Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Sabbath, Alice Cooper… and in the 80’s it was Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica (holy crap – I saw them for 6 bucks in a Scotia bowling alley in 1984), Slayer, Raven, Saxon, Exodus, Motorhead, The Wildhearts, Accept and on and on. Despite all of this, I was lucky enough that through the years many friends, teachers and drumming heroes stressed versatility, both instrumentally and in terms of musical genres… which luckily allows me the amazing fortune to share the stage with the lads (and lady) in Ten Year Vamp. I’ve also had great experiences playing jazz, funk, Latin and LOTS of dance music.

This, however, has not gotten in the way of my penchant for a bit of the old Hessian warfare, as we folks from Colonie (the second largest township in the US, incidentally) like to say. The future of the hard stuff is in great hands, with bands like Mastodon, The Sword and Lamb of God carry, under a blazing light, the tradition into the new millennium for scores of new, unwashed suburban maladroits who still enjoy a good fistfight with the old man over the last Meister Brau on the front lawn.

Yet, as years go by and the joints in my hands and knees heal much more slowly after such endeavors, I started to elevate the music of my working experiences and committed to learning more about what makes some of it so good and some of it so eye-wateringly terrible. I suppose on a much more subconscious level I wanted to focus on the less corporeal attributes of heavy metal and more on the “logistics of aesthetic” (metal or not) for lack of a better term. Who the hell really knows? But, what I found was a TON of great music out there that, when deconstructed, internalized, owned… not only made me a better musician, but a better human.


And, this also reaffirmed across genres what I knew all along with heavy metal. That is, for every good band – whether you like country or jazz or acid Latin disco fusion with a twist of lime – with there are about 100 really, really, really shitty bands trying to do the same thing. This is why conveniences like iTunes and in-store sampling is like manna from the heavens… you can separate the wheat from the chaff pretty damn fast. Never mind all those people who say you need to let an album grow on you. Man, we ain’t got time for that now. Not in this age of permanent accessibility, people getting pissed at you because you don’t text them back right away, egregious deadlines based on the speed of the information highway and not on human mercy. Naw… hit me hard and fast. Rip out my heart on Track One and show it to me as I slide down the wall. I’m so caffeinated right now I can’t even tell if I’m being sarcastic or not!

I know, I know. By now you’re saying… “Bill. Where the hell, exactly, are you talking aboutgoing with this?” Fair enough. This is my long-winded way of saying there is just no way that I can come up with my Top 10 favorite albums of all time. Or a Top 50, or a Top 2 for that matter. When I was in high school back in 1935 my friends would come up with these lists and debate the merits over much malt liquor but I could never do it. It changed every day… I would have made a list every day. To me it was about reflecting mood, about work, about repetition and vagaries of thought and experience. It was about the daily soundtrack to the movie of my homeless life. Waking up in your own bed and fixing yourself a screwdriver on a Sunday with no one else around requires the Scorpions’ “In Trance.” Waking up behind the backstop of a West Albany ballfield on Everett Road requires Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” It’s a living, breathing thing.

But what I can do is show you what I’ve been into lately, and there’s no doubt that many of these do reflect CD’s that float in and out of my Top 10 on the regular. Looking at this short list, I noticed that I have a thing for transitional albums in many cases. Recordings that marked a pivotal juncture in a band’s career, where there was really no turning back, where the band realized, “Uh-oh, how are we supposed to top THAT?” Well, there’s always law school.

For your consideration.


Alice Cooper – Love it to Death
Aerosmith – Rocks
Max Roach – Percussion Bitter Suite
Black Sabbath – Volume 4
Saxon – Wheels of Steel
Hank Williams III – Straight to Hell
Grateful Dead – Wake of the Flood
Kiss – Dressed to Kill
Tito Puentes – Dance Mania!
Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band – Seasons of Change
Sloppy Seconds – Destroyed
Clutch – Blast Tyrant
The Beach Boys – Spirit of America
Led Zeppelin – Presence
Styx – Crystal Ball
Thin Lizzy – Fighting
The Beatles – Revolver
Tommy Dorsey and His Clambake Seven -
The Supersuckers – The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll
Ramones – Rocket to Russia
Pat Travers – Go for What You Know… Live!
NOFX – Punk in Drublic
Corrosion of Conformity – Wiseblood
Pink Floyd – Mettle
Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes
Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Second Helping
Jason and the Scorchers – Both Sides of the Line
Motorhead – Bomber
Frank Zappa – Apostrophe
Black Dahlia Murder – Black Dahlia Murder
Judas Priest – Sin After Sin
Mulatu Astatqe – Ethiopiques, Volume 4
At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul
Black Sabbath – Sabotage
AC/DC – Let There Be Rock
Chick Corea – Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
Bette Davis – This is It!
Metallica – Kill ‘Em All
The Toadies – Rubberneck
Faith No More – The Real Thing
Alice Donut - Mule
Accept – Restless & Wild
Cheap Trick – In Color
Neutral Milk Hotel – In an Aeroplane Over the Sea
Green Day – Dookie
Prince – One Night Alone… Live!
Neil Diamond – Just for You
Miles Davis – Four and More Live
Buddy Rich Big Band – Keep the Customer Satisfied
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Mosaic

Thursday in Albany NY - Friday in Chicapee MA

Thursday Aug 6 - Bayou Cafe, Albany NY (8pm)
Friday Aug 7 - Maximum Capacity, Chicapee MA (10pm)

Wow... We'll finally be releasing our 1st full-length studio album 2 weeks from Friday! Keep watching our website, Facebook, and MySpace pages... we'll be posting lots of new stuff every few days from here until the CD release party at Vapor in Saratoga NY on the 21st.

Also check our Show Dates page for the big shows coming up... 2 festivals the last week of August and a boat cruise and a NYC Showcase bus trip in September! Reserve your tickets from our website now!

Thursday this week we're at the Bayou after Alive At Five... Air conditioning AND no rain in the same place... plus Ten Year Vamp. Why go anywhere else? :) Friday night we're at Maximum Capacity in Chicapee MA - it's our first time at this club so we can't wait... the first show we play at new clubs are always our best. And to top it off, a cool band called Kill Shot is opening up the show for us.

8-3-2009 Mark: Ten Year Vamp Influences?

So I’ve been spending all my time lately working on our new materials… all the album artwork, new posters, new fliers, new promo photos, new website stuff. Every time I scratch something off the list, two or three new things get added. Today I was speaking with Laura from 15secondpitch.com. Our PR Firm has us working with Laura to help perfect our bio for all our new promo materials. Anyway, Laura asked me who the band’s influences are. We actually get that question a lot. That’s such a strange question for us - it’s very hard to answer. We all grew up as die hard music fans, but our tastes were (and still are) extremely varied. As individuals, we don’t necessarily listen to Pop Rock stuff, but when we come together, it’s what we do best.


So, I’ll ask everyone in the band to list their favorite music… whether it be their favorite albums of all time, or songs… or just what they’re listening to now… or whatever else they can think of…


Here’s mine…


Top 10 Favorite Albums of All Time:

1. U2 - The Joshua Tree

2. Prince - Purple Rain

3. Waterboys - This Is The Sea

4. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run

5. Billy Joel - The Stranger

6. Prince - Sign of the Times

7. The Alarm - Declaration

8. BoDeans - Outside Looking In

9. Queen - Live Killers

10. Robbie Robertson - Self-Titled

11. Tom Petty - Damn The Torpedoes

12. Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms

13. Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live

14. Kid Rock - Cocky

15. The Police - Synchronicity

16. Five For Fighting - America Town

17. Counting Crows - August And Everything After

18. The Beatles - The White Album

19. Aimee Mann/Supertramp - The Magnolia Soundtrack

20. Marillion - Misplaced Childhood

21. Lifehouse - Who We Are

22. Crowded House - Woodface

23. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend

24. World Party - Goodbye Jumbo

25. Toad The Wet Sprocket - Pale

26. Toad The Wet Sprocket - Fear

26. Styx - Caught In The Act

27. Resolve - Jack

28. Neil Diamond - The Jazz Singer

29. Rod Stewart - Absolutely Live

30. REM - Life’s Rich Pageant

31. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors