Steve Morrison

Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Her's some pics of the stunt kits used for the drum solo.
 

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Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Those pics are fantastic. What an amazing production.

With the tour starting up again, I was wondering if you had any favorite venues? Both from a performance standpoint, and also personally. I realize you probably don't get to spend much time hanging out, but are there certain cities you enjoy visiting while on tour?

Thanks again for being so willing to answer our questions!
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

I'll be attending the Crue's Sioux Falls, SD show in April...can't wait!! T.L. has always been a fav of mine and I have yet to see him live.

Steve,
I was wondering if you still find time to practice or just jam with your schedule being the way it is. Thanks!
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

ECVail said:
Those pics are fantastic. What an amazing production.

With the tour starting up again, I was wondering if you had any favorite venues? Both from a performance standpoint, and also personally. I realize you probably don't get to spend much time hanging out, but are there certain cities you enjoy visiting while on tour?

Thanks again for being so willing to answer our questions!

No problem! I find it very rewarding that someone is interested in this stuff as much as I am. My all-time favorite venue would have to be Saitama Super Arena, right outside Tokyo, JPN. It's such a state-of-the-art palce with tons of space behind the deck.. Plus the local stagehands in Japan are absolutely amazing. In the states though, it would have to be Madison Square Garden; simply because of the history it has. It's an awful place to actually work in, but it's worth it since it's NYC. As far as places I enjoy visiting; anywhere in Australia, England, and Hawaii. Tehe's some much to see everywhere, and it's all stuff I'm not used to. Boston & Atlanta are my favorite in the U.S. Here's a shot I took during the first leg last year of T; thought you might like it. Enjoy!
 

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Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

T.Underhill said:
I'll be attending the Crue's Sioux Falls, SD show in April...can't wait!! T.L. has always been a fav of mine and I have yet to see him live.

Steve,
I was wondering if you still find time to practice or just jam with your schedule being the way it is. Thanks!
Cool! I hope you enjoy the show! Come say hi if you see me around... I do practice still, every day. I carry a pair of marching sticks and a Promark pad in my backpack so I can keep my chops together while on the road. Plus, I play Tommy's kit at least 20-30 minutes for the FOH engineer to get sounds, which keeps my feet in shape because I try to emulate T's double kick grooves(like Livewire or Red Hot).Hit me up when the date gets closer, let's try to meet up so you can see the kit up close. Late!
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

tleetech said:
Cool! I hope you enjoy the show! Come say hi if you see me around... I do practice still, every day. I carry a pair of marching sticks and a Promark pad in my backpack so I can keep my chops together while on the road. Plus, I play Tommy's kit at least 20-30 minutes for the FOH engineer to get sounds, which keeps my feet in shape because I try to emulate T's double kick grooves(like Livewire or Red Hot).Hit me up when the date gets closer, let's try to meet up so you can see the kit up close. Late!

That's great that you still find the time and conviction to keep your chops up. Any time I travel I tend to get lazy. But you always have sticks will travel because you never know when the bug will hit ya. Heck, I'd play his kit for an hour just to "get sounds" heheh. I sincerely appreciate that invite and you can bet on me hitting you up on it! Take it easy...
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

here's a short movie displaying T's showmanship-the classic rimshot/stick toss. It took me like two months to get this down properly. :) I passed it on to Taylor Hawkins when we were in Australia; he nailed it in five minutes. Don't pay any attention to the audio, it's the mic on my digi cam.
 

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Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Awesome b.t.s. clip! I like when he looked back at you as to say "Ohhh yeah". I now see what you mean about changing snare heads, man he hits hard. An observation...for such a tall guy he seems to sit quite low behind the kit.
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

I collect bootleg heavy metal concerts from the 80s thru 2005. I have about 100 or so.

I have about 4 Motley Crue with Tommy. I watch one from the Girls, Girls, Girls tour and was really impressed with just how solid Tommy plays. Incredible consistancy.

He is a great drummer. I saw him live in Los Angeles during the red white and crue tour and was impressed once again. You can tell he loves to perform.
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Wow, this thread just keeps getting better.
A while ago DRUM magazine had an issue where they covered a lot of drum techs including Jose Baraquio (portnoy) , Lorne wheaton(neil peart) and Sean bates(jose Passillas). It was a great article. Wheaton also teched for steve smith in the past.
They mentioned their disasters on stage . Lorne wheaton said that once during Steve smith's set he broke a bass drum hoop. and steve played with the left bass drum while he replaced it on stage.
Steveo have you ever had any bad goof up's on stage while Tommy was playing.??

Vinnie paul mentioned. he felt really wierd sitting behind Tommy's kit . he coudnt reach anything, since Tommy has long arms. :)
In other news, Terry bozzio is playing in Bombay for the first time today and i cant go since i have chicken pox. Guess i'll have to wait till i get to LA.
That walk of fame star that the Crue got is right outside Musicians Institute, i won't be missing it.
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Hello Mr. Morrison,
I'm a BIG fan of the "platinum" cymbals (see my kit thu link in my signature). I just love their sound! Do you have any secrets for cleaning them and keeping them sounding their best?

I play a Yamaha RTC kit because I love the BIG NATURAL ACOUSTIC BOOMING SOUND! I was reading your post about how you tune/mic Tommy's big bass drum. When you're playing large venues like stadiums, how much do you "shape" the sound of each drum? At that point, does it even matter if what type of drum you're playing with all the work you do to shape the sounds?

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my post.

...YAHAHA!
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Favorite Tommy moves I've yet to master:

Cymbal grab/snare hit combo
Rimshot/stick toss
The stick spin

Could you give a quick run down of Tommy's massive monitor setup? I thought it was pretty impresive.
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

eddiemapp said:
Favorite Tommy moves I've yet to master:

Cymbal grab/snare hit combo
Rimshot/stick toss
The stick spin

Could you give a quick run down of Tommy's massive monitor setup? I thought it was pretty impresive.
Hey Eddie!!! I had a killer time last night with you and the Seether boys.... You're going to totally dig this website; there's a bunch of cool info on a ton of drummers. Tommy's monitor rig from the bottom-up is: 3 Clair Bros. Prism Subs, 6 Clair B1s, & 4 Clair Prism Wedges placed vertically on top. And of course he's still got the molded Ultimate Ears (the UE10s I think) Stay safe out there man, let's hang again soon!!! Steevo
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Steve, thanks for getting back to us, its always good to get the kind of hands on info from a guy like yourself. I went to the opening of Red White and Crue 05. in Toronto and I thought that night was really cool, brought me back and T's drums were huge! good job, keep it up Thanks!
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

YAHAHA said:
Hello Mr. Morrison,
I'm a BIG fan of the "platinum" cymbals (see my kit thu link in my signature). I just love their sound! Do you have any secrets for cleaning them and keeping them sounding their best?
When you're playing large venues like stadiums, how much do you "shape" the sound of each drum? At that point, does it even matter if what type of drum you're playing with all the work you do to shape the sounds?

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my post.
The easiest way that I've found to clean "platinum" cymbals is to not use ANY cleaner, just buff with a terry cloth towel after every use. As long as you get the smudges off right away, you shouldn't need any sort of cleaner. But if the dirt is dried on, use a mild cymbal cleaner, such as a spray then buff as normal.
I haven't done too many stadiums with Motley, but in the larger arenas that we've done I tend to be a little more forgiving with the tuning of the drums until I hear them under the mics. If necessary, we'll add more sample to the overall sound of the drum. It really depends on the situation. In my opinion, it doesn't matter what brand of drums you play; as long as they are tuned properly. Thanks for the questions!
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

DruManiac19 said:
Wow, this thread just keeps getting better.
A while ago DRUM magazine had an issue where they covered a lot of drum techs including Jose Baraquio (portnoy) , Lorne wheaton(neil peart) and Sean bates(jose Passillas). It was a great article. Wheaton also teched for steve smith in the past.
They mentioned their disasters on stage . Lorne wheaton said that once during Steve smith's set he broke a bass drum hoop. and steve played with the left bass drum while he replaced it on stage.
Steveo have you ever had any bad goof up's on stage while Tommy was playing.??

Vinnie paul mentioned. he felt really wierd sitting behind Tommy's kit . he coudnt reach anything, since Tommy has long arms. :)
In other news, Terry bozzio is playing in Bombay for the first time today and i cant go since i have chicken pox. Guess i'll have to wait till i get to LA.
That walk of fame star that the Crue got is right outside Musicians Institute, i won't be missing it.
That was a GREAT article on techs indeed. I was touring with Sean Bates at the time when he was interviewed for that article. Fortunately, I haven't had any enormous mistakes on stage as of yet. I'm sure now that I've jinxed myself you'll be hearing a story from me real soon. :) Vinnie Paul is one of few drummers that have sat behind Tommy's kit and said they couldn't reach anything(Taylor Hawkins is another). I've nicknamed Tommy "the albatross" due to his wingspan. Those outer cymbals on his kit are easily 7 feet apart!
 
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Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

tleetech said:
That was a GREAT article on techs indeed. I was touring with Sean Bates at the time when he was interviewed for that article. Fortunately, I haven't had any enormous mistakes on stage as of yet. I'm sure now that I've jinxed myself you'll be hearing a story from me real soon. :) Vinnie Paul is one of few drummers that have sat behind Tommy's kit and said they couldn't reach anything(Taylor Hawkins is another). I've nicknamed Tommy "the albatross" due to his wingspan. Those outer cymbals on his kit are easily 7 feet apart!


Wow. 7 feet
and that video was bad ass. Tommy really hits hard,
nicely pulled off the stick catch thing bang in time to start playing again.
great.
Ps: Sean bates has an interesting story on how he got into teching. :)
 
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Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Hi Steve. I caught the Brisbane show of the recent Australian tour... very entertaining!

I've got a question for you about ye olde ddrum3 brain in the pics you posted. What software are you using to send samples to it from the Macs? I ask this because I too have a ddrum3 brain that I have been using for years (it's amazing that after 10 or 12 years there is still nothing on the market that equals it) and was using the old SCSI Dump software to load samples. I haven't had to load any samples into it for a couple of years, but I noticed when I did (after upgrading my old mac to one without a SCSI port) I could only use the software while actually booted from OS 9, it wouldn't work with the SCSI to USB adapter running classic in OSX. The trouble is that Macs made from 2004 (including the one I have now) no longer boot into OS9 (they only run classic), so I am unable to transfer anything from my computer at the moment. (Luckily a friend of mine has an old mac that I was able to use to transfer some stuff this week.)

In the pic I can see you're running OSX on the G5 tower. What program are you using to put samples in the brain?

Thanks for any help!
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Hey Steve, the show here in Columbia SC at the Colonial Center was awesome.

A friend of mine, who is the Fire Marshall said thanks for the gifts!

Greg
 
Re: Steve Morrison - pro drum tech (Tommy Lee)

Welcome Steve !

It's very cool to see all the help you've given out in so little time, it's always great to have helping hand's!

I might have a little question of my own, which doesn't have anything to do with Tommy or his stock, but with your expertise I guess I can't go wrong :p.

I play in a Melodic Black/Death metal group, I play on maple drums, so the projection is great live! But my bassdrums, when I have to play at speed's over 800 ish hits per minute, start to get drowned in the distortion and such. Anyway, our band is most likely doing a Canadian tour this summer, 12 shows. ( If the money adds up... unfortunatly, but we are doing our best ). And I was thinking that now is the best time to get myself a trigger kit for my bassdrums, I was wondering if you had any suggestions for a setup that would cost be most cost efficient, whilst keeping the quality in question!

Thanks alot in advance, and welcome again!
 
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