Made my television debut on Later last night with Foals, playing triangle and tambourine, check out the live video here:
Holy Vessels – ‘Queen Of Alimony’ Single / Video
Pre-order our debut album “Last Orders At The Marshall Arms” here:
Drum-Kit Lessons
Every lesson I teach is tailored around the individual student’s musical taste, needs and ability. This way the student is motivated and focused throughout the lesson. My experience enables me to break drum teaching into 4 key areas:
- Sight Reading / Aural Perception – From basic notation and values to advanced chart reading, transcription, studying genres of music, drum grooves, click tracks, pieces and performance and Grades 1-8 also taught, if required.
- Technical Development – To achieve a perfect technique, study of Moeller system, Drop and snap technique, sticking, posture, breathing and all aspects of drumming technique.
- Drum Grooves & Fills – Study of specific grooves relating to individual genres, these include; Rock, Pop, Funk, Metal, Country, Afro-Cuban, Drum & Bass plus many more. Also study the relative drum fills used within these genres to help to form an understanding of how to write the perfect drum part.
- Session Drummers & Live Performance – Studying a vast selection of drummers and genres. Learning key performance techniques and songs to be performed live and along to tracks.
- Additional Subjects:
- Drum Tuning – How to make you sound great behind a kit, as you can learn all the greatest techniques, but if your drum kit doesn’t sound good this will have less impact. Also cover drum-kit care how to look after your gear and the internal workings of your drums.
- Music Industry – Learn the basics of how the industry works and how to get the best out of your career as a musician and own musical project.
My lessons are taught from my own written syllabus with aspects of other workbooks and exercises, techniques to achieve the ultimate drumming experience and information. I am also currently writing my own drum workbook.
I have my own drum studio based in Brighton where I teach from, provide mobile drum lessons where I travel to the student and teach on their own kit and also offer interactive drum lesson through Skype.
CRB checked.
Musicians Union Member.
Skype Username: thommillsdrums
Rates – £30 per hour / £15 per half hour.
Bibliography;
- Progressive Steps To Syncopation For The Modern Drummer – Ted Reed
- Stick Control For The Snare Drummer – George Lawrence Stone
- Master Studies – Joe Morello
- Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer, Vol 1 – Jim Chapin
- Conversations In Clave – Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez.
- The Drumset Musician – Rod Morgenstein & Rick Mattingly
- Advanced Funk Studies – Rick Latham
- Play Rock Drums – Joel Rothman
- Jungle/Drum ‘n’ Bass For The Acoustic Drum Set – Johnny Rabb
- Afro-Cuban Grooves For Bass And Drums, Funkifying The Clave – Lincoln Goines & Robby Ameen
- Trinity Guildhall, Drum Kit 4, Pieces & Studies, Grades 7 & 8.
Drum Tutoring / Music Industry CV’s
Thom Mills – Drum Tutoring CV.
Thom Mills – Music Industry CV
Teenagedeer – New Music Blog
I have now started a new music blog, check it out here: http://teenagedeer.wordpress.com/
Holy Vessels Album Tickler Video
A preview video of the forthcoming Holy Vessels album, to be released later this year. Features track ‘Golden Hair’ from the LP entitled ‘Last Orders At The Marshall Arms’. Check out www.holyvessels.co.uk for more info.
Drum Solos
I have a brand new section to my site entitled “Drum Solos”, and it contains drum solos, wierdly. On there I have a live recording of a piece written when I was studying my music degree, a jazz style piece and a new addition an Afro-cuban style solo both recorded in my home studio. I will be updating this section with more pieces in different genres to promote my drum tracking recording service.
Skype Drum Lessons & New Website.
I have now started to do Skype drum lessons, so you can now learn to play the drums from anywhere in the world! If you are interested you can contact me here or email me on thommillsdrums@aol.co.uk. My Skype username is thommillsdrums, take a look at the video I did for www.gigsido.com to see into my drumming window…
You can also checkout my profile on gigsido.com here:
http://www.gigsido.com/Lessons—Tutoring/49/teach-you-to-play-the-drums-and-become-the-ultimate-drumming-monster!-
And check out my new website…
Part 2 of Maida Vale Radio 1 Session
The second installment of the Sunless ’97 Maida Vale live session was played out on Huw Stephens show on wednesday night. You can hear 2 extra tracks, Heaven Below & Illuminations and an interview here…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/showcase/clips/justadded#/clips/p00p11pg/in/justadded/justadded
Radio 1 Session with Sunless ’97 on Huw Stephens!
Slightly momentous occasion for me, as last night I graced the airwaves of Radio 1 for the first time! It was a live session I recorded with Sunless ’97 at Maida Vale at the end of last year. You can hear 2 tracks from the 4 recorded , the last 2 are gonna be played on Huw Stephens show next wed night (Midnight-2am).
To listen click the below link and go to 1:13:00.
Drum Tuning Diary Update
I have finally recieved my custom made drum kit from C&C in the US and have been able to put into practice the tuning knowledge I have gained so far. I have managed to get her sounding great and wanted to share a few findings that I have learnt in the last month or so of my tuning experiment.
Firstly the main and most important fact I have learnt is that tuning is all about finding the sound you like. This is why it is sometimes called a ‘dark art.’ The best advice is to ‘trust your ears’, as drums are of an indefinite pitch therefore achieving a sound is different from person to person. Finding what sound you like at the start is hard enough, then you have to learn how to achieve that sound from the way you tune, and importantly what skins you use.
There are many different types of drum heads but I now know that my personal preferred sound is achieved with coated remo heads. I have always used clear demo heads, pinstripes, but they give a very bright open sound which isn’t the sound I was striving for. I had been struggling to tune my old drums with these heads. Coated heads give more attack and have a mellow deep sound that I really like.
In terms of the tuning process, seating all the heads on the drums properly is very important and something I had previously overlooked. From the prof sound drum tuning bible I  learnt how to do this process properly. Please read the seating heads section for more accurate instructions. In a nut shell you need to finger tight screws until just touching the washers, back off a 1/4 turn, then 1/2 turns around drum (opposites) to 3 turns, then make sure the skin is in tune with itself. Finally, use a hairdryer around the bearing edge to seat the drums properly. You will hear a cracking of  glue when it’s ready. This works!! Then I took the drums right back to no resonance, (from finger tight), 1/4 turn on each lug on the bottom and top, then another 1/4 turn on bottom skin lugs. This achieved a lovely drum sound for the toms and kick, and more importantly was the sound I have been trying to get. The top head is nice and lose so the feel of the drum is correct. This is also a really important factor as how a drum feels when you hit it makes a huge difference to the way you play and your overall sound. The only problem area is the snare drum as I am having real problem with snare buzz, when I hit the snare it produces a nice note, and sounds great together with the kit, but isolated the snares buzz for a long time after the strike. This week I shall be experiementing with the snare drum, beginning with tuning the drum with the snare’s removed first, then adding the snare wires and seeing if I can isolate the lengthy snare rattle.
I’m Running The Brighton Marathon for Charity, Please Sponsor me!
Hello! I shall be partaking in the Brighton Marathon this year, on April 15th and I am running for an immensely important charity, The Terrence Higgins Trust, they are the leading and largest HIV and sexual health charity in the UK.
To do the run I have to raise a minumium of £350 so please sponsor me, any help will be greatly appreciated! You can donate here:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/thommills
Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and donations will be quickly processed and passed to my charity. You can also sponsor me in person if you prefer, just message me and I can sort it out.
Massive Thanks again for any donations, no matter how big or small!
Thom.x
Top 10 Albums of 2011
1. Connan Mockasin – Forever Dolphin Love
2. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
3. Peaking Lights – 936
4. Metronomy – The English Riveria
5. Miles Kane – Colour of the Trap
6. Radiohead – The King of Limbs
7. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
8. Mechanical Bride – Living With Ants.
9. Wild Palms – Until Spring
10. Unknown Mortal Orchestra –Â Unknown Mortal Orchestra
2011 – Drumming Mad!
So 2011 has been a busy year, the busiest yet for me! Therefore I thought I would have a review of my year with music and try to remember what I have been up to…
Live Shows:
Sunless ’97: 6
Mean Poppa Lean: 7
Mechanical Bride: 23
Holy Vessels: 2
Saint: 44 (Functions)
Caroline Buckley: 1
All shows: 83 (4 Tours, 2 UK, 2 European).
Supported, Friendly Fires, Yuck, Toro Y Moi, Kwes, Summer Camp, Smoke Fairies, The Heart and the Hand, Liam Finn, Dry the River, Graham Coxon.
Standout venues visited: The Garage, ULU, St. Giles Church, London, Flèche D’or, La Boule Noir, Paris, Le Cargo, Caen.
Releases:
2 Albums: Mechanical Bride – Living With Ants, Mean Poppa Lean – Live on Twelve Legs.
1 EP: Sunless ’97 – Making Waves.
3 Singles: Mechanical Bride – Colour of Fire / Young Gold / To the Fight.
2 Radio sessions: Radio 1 Huw Stephens session, Selector Radio session.
Radio Plays: Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music, XFM, Selector Radio in over 29 territories.
1 Album recording session, Holy Vessels.
1 Endorsement deal, C&C Custom Drums.
4 Auditions, Left 1 band, joined 2, currently playing with 4, Sunless ’97, Holy Vessels, Mechanical Bride & Saint.
That just about wraps up my year, I’m hoping 2012 has more to give, looking forward to next year and implementing some new years resoultions, I already have a few that I have started early, cause I want a head start!
Merry Crimbus and a Happy Neu Year to all! X
Tuning Diary – Week 2.
Week 2.
Monday worked on 13″ tom, moving it up through pitches trying to find out best sound of the drum. Very difficult to get a clear note, gonna experiment with floor and drum dial gauges tomorrow.
Tuesday worked through floor and toms, sounding ok, starting to see a pattern, where by all the drums seems to be tightest across 2 opposite lugs, have been told by previous owner that drumtech’s had a really problem getting this kit (starclassic maple) in tune, and it staying there for any length of time. Also tweaked snare drum, gigged it and sounded great, maybe a little tight but nice and juicy.
Wednesday was bass drum day, spent a long time trying to tune the batter side, much much more difficult to hear pitches at the lugs, than on the toms/snare, bass drum still sounds too tight, front head sounds amazing, batter less so, weird tempted to switch it up!
Thursday I took the batter side on the bass drum right down, to get a deeper sound, which at home was sounding great.
Friday I gigged my kit, and it all sounded really great, espicially the bass drum, great news as last friday after a week of tuning it sounded awful and this week its starting to sound improved. Saturday gig her again didn’t sound as great, highlighting the fact you need to retune every time the drums are taken out of cases. Next week need to concentrate on floor tom, as sounded the worst then try tuning the whole kit accordingly. January is completely free of gigs, so is gonna be spent tuning, plus I will have my new kit and will experiment on her!
Satin Flame C&C Custom Kit Completed!
In all her glory, my dark blue / yellow satin flame wrap combination, completed! Massive thanks to David and all at C&C Custom Drums, Merry Crimbo!
Tuning Diary – Day 5
Day 5.
Gigged my kit last night for the first time since giving it a tune, and on the whole it sounded pants. Kick was ok, but the toms sounded a bit high pitched, choked and ringy. I feel little (actually very) deflated by this outing, but I still am learning to tune, and have as yet not tried to tune the drum kit as a whole.
Tuned up my second snare, as I dropped my starclassic on the tube the other night and it bend the strainer on the side, bugger. Got my yamaha sounding ok, bit of snare buzz, but ok. Gonna detune my toms tonight and hopefully they will sound better, think they were just pitched too high, luckily just a function tonight so doesn’t matter too much if they sound cack again.
Also think I’m gonna do weekly updates now, and summarise my findings from that week, so, sorry if you are annoyed with all this tuning malarky talk, till next week, take care of your eyes and ears.
Tuning Diary – Day 4
Had a great show at the Garage in London last night with Sunless ’97, supporting Toro Y Moi, from the US. It was a sold out show, and surprisingly it was 3/4 full when we went on first so we played to a big audience (which was nice). However I spent the trip up and back studying the Prof sound’s drum tuning bible, & decided to implement the bible in day 4.
Day 4.
I began at the beginning and took just 1 tom, my 13″, as it tells to concentrate on 1 small first to start to learn how to tune, and not to get this confused with tuning the whole kit. This involves, removing all the heads, eliminating and lug or shell buzz, seating the heads, then experimenting with pitches of the drum, and also results and what they mean. (This is all explained more clearly and in detail, under the section ” Tuning and Seating the Heads, All Drums” onwards).
From this research I learned that I used to just strive to get the pitches on the top head in tune with each other and think this is the drum tuned, so why doesn’t it sound good? Seems stupid but obvious now, so you need to get the top head in tune with it’s self and also the bottom head, and then experiment with taking the whole pitches of each head up and down. Also I found that the bottom head really is the note and how much sustain is gained and the top head is more of the attack.
I also repeated this sequence for my bass drum, seating the head properly then lowering to a desired pitch. Bass drum is much more difficult to hear the different pitches at the lugs, but easier to get an overall sound, right heads help, as a powerstroke on my kick works like a dream, while a pinstripe sounds like tripe.
Tomorrow I will focus on the first tom again, and have a go at my second snare, taking her apart and starting from scratch.
Tuning Diary – Day 3
(This is my beautiful new custom drum kit being built by C&C in the US, hopefully I’ll have an idea of tuning before this badboy turns up)
Day 3.
Again morning session, not producing much progress, but definitely starting to hear the different pitches better. Began work on the bass drum, replaced head, (from a pinstripe to a power stroke 4, as the pinstripe is completely the wrong head for the job, far too open sounded, and doesn’t retain the low end from the 24″ kick).
Another problem is lugs feeling tight and the tension being loose and vice a versa, however the guys from GAK put me onto Prof. Sound’s Drum Tuning Bible, which is literally the BIBLE on tuning drums, so therefore I will be mostly studying from that from now on, check it out here as a downloadable PDF:
http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/PSound_DTB_V2.pdf
Its pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty…. pretty in depth, see you on the other side, lots to learn, and gotta dash off to a gig now!!
Tuning Diary – Day 2
Day 2.
Not much progress, initially felt like I could hear the different pitches at each lug better, but my ears quickly were worn out. Still working on 1st & floor tom (had to re-skin floor as put the skins on the wrong ends, however gave me time to lube up the lugs, which I think helps with tensions).
Also have started to put pressure in the centre of the drum and eliminate the crinkles around each lug, as in the end striving for the head to be evening pulled across the drum, over the bearing edge is the main goal. Also I have found tuning the bottom head lower closer to the top head in pitch is starting to create a sound I like (…ish, still unsure tho). Still loads of work to do, this is not easy, and I haven’t even started on kick and snare yet!!
In all a rather depressing day in the world of tuning, don’t feel I have made much progress. Evening session was tough, found it difficult to hear pitches, spent half a lesson today fitting new heads on a students snare drum, sounded ok, but the snare always sounds a bit ringy, and the snares always seem to rattle, snare drum is gonna be hard!
Another problem is whether I find the highest pitch on the drum and tune the other lugs up to it, or find the lowest pitch and tune the others down. Not sure what’s the best option, at the moment doing a bit of both, which surely definitely doesn’t help (tuning up I think is best, but whatever just need to decide and go with it!)
However I think I may have a few more dull days of this before I become a master, maybe let’s say, 200 million of em.