Manu wrote:This Vinnie is just pure inspiration on the spot, going for all or nothing, fearless art. Right there watching that video you can be witness to the real magic of human nature when exploited in the right manner and channeled towards a specific purpose, in this case, drumming.
The floor tom thing is just bananas, that ain't some lick he learned somewhere, that's not in his "bag of tricks", that's just raw individual personality coming out in an "i dont give a flying F" way, mixed with a total command of technique and ultimate rhythmic mastery to allow the freedom for the magic to just happen.
This man is beyond mortal in terms of his artistic expression, he is a superhuman. I believe to get to that point you need to be a bit crazy. Regular people just conform too much, they base their ideas way too much on other people's ideas. That's the beauty of the individual right there, without the individual we're screwed (pardon the Ayn Randism).
Er... it's
meant to be a sax solo. It's one thing to support, it's another to play against to create tension and another to spunk all aover the soloist and other musicians, without listening to a note the soloist is playing. The "whoops and holas" are coming for a group of guys who have paid money to see Vinnie and Vinnie alone, regardless of the other members of the band. You can hear that they (along with Vinnie ) aren't listening to a note the sax player is playing. Vinnie could be playing with a mariachi band for all he cares.
I saw the video of 7 Days live where Vinnie throws the band and this video is a further example of a guy who can be so self focussed with his own playing and pushing
himself - call it "fearless", call "the ego" call it what you will, that his boundaries of taste and musicality go out the window.... to the extent that he trows the rest of the band AND his band leader so they fuck up and come in spare, on the wrong beat. Now, don't get me wrong guys, I love Vinnie to bits, BUT his obsession with pushing and pushing and pushing his OWN boundaries causes the MUSIC to suffer.
It's interesting that in 6 pages of comments, not one of you mentions the music, context or other musicians. For me music is deeper than soley drums. Yes Vinnie he has the most ferocious technique and drumming brain, but you have to ask yourself: Why does a dog lick its balls? ...because he can.
Technically and creatively, there is no doubt that this is cuttting edge stuff, but at what expense? He might as well be in the shed at the bottom of his garden. The other musicians serve no pourose to him, exept to keep a meter for his pyrotechnics. His talents border on autism and it's like sometimes, he has no regard for his fellow musicians. He could be playing with anyone when he blows like this. I've seen lots of 'club date' fottage and it's all the same: Vinnie overplaying and shedding all over the other musicians constantly.
EDIT I've just read the weekend chatty post Steve about 'negative comments "some of the Johnston fans to come and (for whatever reason) spread their negativity and ignorance." - Does my post fall into that catagory? Apologies if I'm not allowed to post a contrary view of this vid?