Danny's Diary Blog...
Eyup !! If you don't know me already, I'm Danny, the drummer in the band Venom and I also work at Newcastle Drum Centre. We've played a few festivals this year so I thought it would be cool to share what I've been up to.
22nd-26th January 2015
To start off the year the band (Venom) played 70000 Tons of Metal which is a four day metal festival which 60 bands played. The festival was aboard a luxury cruise ship 'Independence of the Seas' which sailed from Fort Lauderdale in Miami to Jamaica and back again. We played two shows, one of which being an exclusive gig where we played our entire new album 'From The Very Depths' the night before its worldwide release which was pretty cool. I was then chosen to take part in the 'All Star Jam' show that featured members of Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock, Annihilator, Nepalm Death, SoulFly, Primal Fear, Bohemot covering the classic rock tracks 'Highway Star' by Deep Purple and Judas Priests 'Breaking the Law'. Here is the cover of 'Highway Star'.
22nd May 2015
Next was the Rockhard Festival in Germany at the Ampitheatre Gelsenkirchen which was filled with 12,000 metal heads. For that show I used a DW Collectors kit, 2 x 24" bass drums, 13" and 14" toms, 16" and 18" floor toms with a 14" x 6.5" matching snare drum in Silver Sparkle with a mixture of the superb 2002 & signature series cymbals by Paiste. We were the headline band on Friday and other bands that appeared were Black Star Riders, Kreator, Michael Schenkers Temple of Rock and Overkill.
6th June 2015
We played Fortarock Festival in Nijmeggen, Holland which is the hometown of Eddie and Alex also known as The Van Halen Brothers! That nights weapon of choice was a Tama Starclassic 2 x 24" Bass Drums, 13" and 14" Toms, 16" and 18" Floor Toms with a 14" x 5.5" Snare in black along with a great assortment of Paiste Rude & 2002 cymbals. Other bands playing at the Fortarock festival were Slipknot, Lamb of God, Papa Roach, Clutch and Parkway Drive.
19th June 2015
At the Tons of Rock Festival in Norway I had the terrifying task of following the amazing Mike Portnoy of Dream Theatre fame, who was drumming for Rock n Roll legends Twisted Sister, due to the sad passing of their late drummer AJ Pero. That night I chose to play a stunning Pearl Reference drum kit, 2x 24" Bass Drums, 13" x 14" Toms, 16" x 18" Floor Toms with a 14" x 6.5" Steel Reference Snare in Black Sparkle with a vast array of Paiste Rude & 2002 cymbals. Gojira, Opeth, Testament, In Flames and Kreator were some of the acts playing at Tons of Rock 2015.
As always, the Rude cymbals did me good! Paiste's Rude series are one of my favourite cymbals from Paiste. They're definitely the strongest and they hold together for a lot longer that other cymbals that I've used in the past. Their durable designed is perfect for Rock and Metal sets. The Paiste Rude cymbals were actually designed to produce original punk and metal sounds, inspired by the 1970's punk/metal revolution. If you crave raw, powerful sounds like I do then I'd definitely recommend these Paiste cymbals! I'm even offering 20% off any of the Paiste Rude cymbals for a limited time only!
20th June 2015
After a great show the night before and no sleep, we had the pleasure of a nice 2 hour drive before 2 flights to get to the mighty Hellfest in France... but that's Rock N Roll for you! This years festival featured some of the worlds biggest names such as ZZ Top, Billy Idol, Faith No More, Slipknot, Slash, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Marilyn Manson, Motorhead, Korn and Limpizkit... to name a few. Venom hit the stage at the stoke of 'Witching Hour' and we played to a wild and rabid huge French crowd. For this show I used a DW Collectors series kit, 2 x 24" Bass Drums, 13" x 14" Toms, 16" x 18" Floor Toms with a 14" 6.5" Snare Drum accompanied by Paiste Signature and 2002 cymbals.
It's been a great year so far and I can't wait for whats next which I'll be sure to update you all on! Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed hearing about the various Rock/Metal festivals that Venom have played at this year as well as the kits and cymbals I played. Feel free to call me on 0191 221 0301 if you'd like to ask any questions!