11/09/2005

GREGG BISSONETTE IN CHINA

Mapex ambassador Gregg Bissonette arrived in China on 19 Oct for the Shanghai MESSE, one of the biggest musical instrument trade shows. He is also in China to hold clinics in several “undiscovered cities for pop music in China” – cities that no international musician or artist have ever been to! Being the first to hold clinics in these “undiscovered cities” will not be easy but Gregg is a veteran clinician and is supported by a well-trained team and high-quality products.

Upon his arrival in China, Gregg headed directly from the airport to the Mapex Booth at the Shanghai MESSE, with all of his luggage, in order to set up and prepare for the next day. The Mapex team were inspired by his hard work, attention to detail and professionalism. On 20 Oct, Gregg’s performance was an overwhelming success, drawing a large crowd as well as artists and endorsers from guitar companies who came over to pay their respects and sometimes even jam with Gregg.

The next day, Gregg was the special guest at the first ever Drum Fest in Shanghai. He started with an amazing solo that impressed the audience with his versatile style and melody-oriented performance. When Gregg was playing, the audience couldn’t help but clap and dance along to the rhythm he created.

After Drum Fest, the challenging clinic tour began. The first stop was Xian, world famous for their terra cotta statues of warriors and horses. Western pop music and band culture are not well-established or popular in Xian. This was evidenced by the fact that the local sound man and PA company were not familiar with the sound check process and could not balance the sound. After a short discussion with the local promoter and sound man, Gregg decided to not mic each tom and to just use the pure sound of the drum set. The acoustics in the hall were good enough and, more importantly, the sound off the kit is fantastic Gregg tuned the drums to the bass line of “Foot Prints,” perfect for most musical demands.

Although band culture has yet to take off in Xian, the people there were excited by new ideas and sounds. More than 400 people packed the hall full to attend this clinic. All the drummers agreed with Gregg’s sentiment about soloing. “Soloing is important, but soloing is not the best part of playing drums. Playing with music is what it is all about.” After the clinic, Gregg had a friendly talk with the audience who are already looking forward to his next visit to Xian.

Of course while in Xian, Gregg took a break to visit the world famous terra cotta statues. Gregg was very interested in learning about the history of ancient China and bought a DVD so his family could learn more about this amazing history and the techniques used to make these statues.

Gregg is an excellent clinician and explains things very clearly. He can take a theme as basic as tuning and get the audience excited to learn more about it. At one clinic, he taught everyone how to tell the character of each tom and why this is important for drum tuning.

Gregg also demonstrated different rhythm styles, including Rock, Reggae, Jazz, funk, Big Band and Fusion. He also gave lessons in evaluating drum sets, as well as a brief history of the drum set. His last clinic in Shen-Yang was attended by many professors, teachers and students from the local college. Some of them had brought Gregg’s drumming text book for him to autograph.