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January 28, 2011 Posted by Cobus in Blog

America: Home of the Fast Internet.

WHATTT an incredible few weeks this has been. Whoa.

I wish I had more time to write blogs, I would have had to write one every single night to keep you guys updated because I am so incredibly busy and things are just happening SO very fast. Would have loved to do that, but inbetween all the jet-lag and being ridonkulously busy, that has not happened. Hopefully my time in Canada is a bit more chill, and I will try to write posts more frequently :)

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Listing everything that has happened since I arrived in the States will occupy a short novel and very very very much of your time and my time :) I am sure you will find out about the "big things" sure enough, but for now I'll just stick to the past few days..

First US clinic.. incredible. I was incredibly nervous at first, but after the first few moments I felt a lot more comfortable and the crowd was just SO accepting. I played a few songs, and explained three techniques/patterns that I have used for years and LOVE using around the kit (and of course in MANY of the covers!). Afterwards I opened the floor for questions and without fail, epic question after epic question was asked. They asked about the kind of stuff I have been wanting to answer for SO long, so it was suchhh a cool experience. I ended up with a very welcoming AND intelligent crowd, which made for one of the coolest live experiences to date.

Drumchannel appearance.. one of the craziest days of my LIFEEEEE thus far. I have been looking up to Tony Royster Jr for a very very long time (as many of you know, he's my favorite drummer) so when he walked into the studio during soundcheck, I immediatly felt intimidated just sound checking the friggin mid tom. Haha sitting here in this hotel room typing this, I even get all stoked again just thinking back at the sound tech saying "ok now please sound check the whole kit, just play something." with Tony standing there. Sheeeeeeeesh. Strangely enough, it didn't feel that bad and I didn't drop the sticks (or poo my pants, you know). Right after that I officially met Tony and Terry (Bozzio) in the studio control room, and with an absolute shock found them to be totally normal and SUCH humble guys. Terry immediatly felt like that cool and soft-spoken uncle you always hope comes for a visit, and Tony felt like that friend that has always lived next door to you (and just happens to play drums for Jay Z). I don't mean to sound corny (or disrespectful) but it was an INCREDIBLE eye-opener. Earlier that day John Good also took me on a tour of the factory, where I was totally shocked to find not a single cookie-cutter "assembly line" vibe, but an actual person at EVERY stage of the process. I always pictured a company as big as DW to be "cold" (know'm sayin?) and friggin HUGE in all aspects of the word, so it was such a surprise to see such a personal touch EVERYWHERE in the factory. Friggin CRAZY day.. one of those days where you can't fall asleep the night before, or the night after.

The second clinic yesterday was just as friggin aaaaaawesome. My favorite part by FAR is afterwards, chilling with everybody and meeting the people face to face. Overwhelming and sooooooo humbling. You guys have no idea how much it means to me to hear all the nice things you have to say, it takes a while to sink in but it means so SO much. Thank you!

YouTube Headquarters visit.. in. friggin. sane. My friend Carol Gunby (who I met at the YouTube SA launch in Johannesburg) took us for some GoogleFood™ in their friggin ridonk cafeteria, and showed us around the building. Such a cool place! The whole building had an incredibly open and warm vibe, loved being there. My inner nerd (which is 99% of me, just covered by a 1% layer of drumming-ness) geeked out like a mofo at being in the actual YouTube Headquarters building.. haha it was very very cool.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving America (epic sad face) and flying to Canada (epic stoked face) to start working with Jared Falk and his homies at FreeDrumLessons.com on a product I am doing with them.. very very excited! America has been increeeeedibly good to me (like I can't even explain here) so I am sad to leave, but I am very excited and hopeful to come back. I am stooooked about Canada, and will post another blog entry when I have settled in there.

One thought very prominently stays in the back of my mind.. it is because you are reading this, and it is because you maybe dig the way I play drums, that i am typing this blog post from a hotel in America. You guys made this possible and I appreciate more than the English language allows me to. If you can, please come to a clinic or appearance so I can shake your hand or give you a hug and give you a big personal THANK YOU.

Also.. In 'n Out burgers owns all other burgers I have ever eaten.

Much love. ~ç
Canada. Aboot. EhYour own Avatar
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Tags: america, Canada, clinics, drum channel, freedrumlessons.com, LA, Los Angeles, Terry Bozzio, Tony Royster Jnr, USA, YouTube
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