Flip's Road Journal Archive....happy reading!!

* Journal #5 ~ 10/11/07 *
Guess what gang? Not on the couch anymore! Blackbird is officially out and we are now touring in support of the album. Six shows are now in the bag (as well as our 2 warm up shows) and it looks like there is no end in sight! Hope I turned off the coffee maker at the house...

Gotta say it's great to be back out on the road. Missing my family dearly, but this is our chance to prove to the world who we really are. Gonna take a lot of hard work to get there, but we're in it for the long haul, and I know with fans like you we'll make it.

I realize there are like 4 cliches in that last paragraph...watching Sportscenter now and it just inspired one of those post-game like speeches...sorry 'bout that.

Anyway, the shows have been great so far. We're still finding our groove with the music, set list, lighting, sound, how many nights in a row we can eat pizza, etc. With having 2 albums worth of material, we are trying to change the set list up from night to night. We always manage to find that one set list that just seems magical and often fall into a rut of playing that over and over. This time around we'll try to keep it fresh for everyone, we, as a band, included.

So I hope you guys dig the new tunes and keep an eye out for when we're heading your way. We're truly having a blast out here and hope you can join us.

By the way, check out Another Animal if you get a chance. A great band and even nicer guys . . . and imagine having Shannon Larkin play right before you every night! That guy is SICK!!!

Until next week . . .

flip

* Journal #4 ~ 5/23/07 * (Q&A Session for a couple fan emails)
Hey Jonas - Hope all is well across the pond! As far as touring goes, I think the plan will be to start in the States for the 1st few months of the release and then venture out to tropical Europe sometime in November or December. You know, when the palm trees are swaying from the warm breezes created somewhere over the North Pole, and there is 3 feet of sand on the ground . . . or is that snow??!!! We'll be there soon. Just hang tight for us! As far as which kit I'll bring, it will most likely be the tattoo kit that I normally use overseas. One day the "rust" kit will make the journey, but for now I'm gonna stick with old faithful! Thanks man!

What's up Mitch? I'd have to say as a true Zildjian suck up, I can't recommend anything better than their Effects series. I've been playing the 20" China Trash for about 3 years now. Before that, I was using the 18". The Wuhan's I've played sound amazing but, rumor has it, can be a little brittle. They are VERY trashy and really cut through well. I tend to use (or overuse) my china a ton and the Zildjians give you a great "trash" sound, but blend well with all of my other crashes, so it doesn't sound too out of place. If you get the Wuhan you won't be disappointed, but give the Zildjians a whirl as well. I think you'll dig 'em. Later!

Hey Bobby - Thank you so much for the extremely kind words! To answer your question on heads, the ec2 WAS the head I was referring to! I totally spaced on the name when I did my previous entry, and was too damn lazy to look it up online before posting that entry. Now to the 2nd part of your question. I think you guys will notice a difference in my playing on this album from the last. There are a lot of double bass accents on this record compared to ODR. On one song in particular, I finish a song with double bass slamming through the ending. It's in a 6/8 time signature, which isn't the easiest to play a straight quarter note pattern on, but I think it sounds pretty cool. As far as my playing overall, I tried to just feel the moment as we were recording. We've been working on these songs for a LONG time, and it's easy to fall into a rut creatively when you play songs over and over. We really wanted this album to sound as organic as possible, so I went into the studio each day with an open mind. If I felt like getting crazy with a song, then I did it. If I felt like laying back on a song, then I did that as well. I sort of had to de-program myself from previous albums, where it was about playing for the song, to playing what I feel. I think ODR fell right in the middle of those 2 styles. I hope everybody digs it! And for the last part of your question, I don't think I'll ever switch to 2 bass drums. I know guys that swear by it, such as Mike and Kevin Miller, formerly of Fuel, but it's just not for me. With the latest wave of double pedal manufacturers, there is very little difference in feel between the main and slave pedal, and unless Mark talks me into making a black metal record, I'll probably just stick with the single bass! Thanks brotha!

Zach! What's up man? I am still using the G2 over G1 combo for heads. I may use the ec2 live, but not sure yet. As far as the powerstroke 4's go, I haven't checked them out yet, but I gotta think that the last thing you would want to do is muffle your tom sound. They may sound amazing but, after me having the pleasure of watching Tony "don't touch an F'n thing" Adams over the last 3 years, I've come to realize that there is no sound sweeter than a beautifully tuned drum with no muffling. Just my 2 cents on that. The ec2's ring doesn't seem to act like a muffler, though that may be it's purpose. Best thing to do is just check 'em all out and see which one works best for you. On the Metallica comment, I think them trying out Rick Rubin for this record is a great idea. We played a few festivals with them last year, and were lucky enough to watch them from the side of the stage. I can't even begin to explain the feeling of watching Metallica play Master of Puppets from start to finish with me just feet away. What a rush! I don't know if this record will be similar to that, but with the chemistry of a great producer and a legendary band, only good things can happen . . . I hope!

So that's it for now gang. I'll be back soon to answer more of your questions, give you album updates, golf updates, and just things in general! By the way, I finished 2nd at the Murray Brothers Tourney! Kinda makes up for the Hootie and the Blowfish debacle! Talk to you soon.

Flip

* Journal #3 ~ 4/24/07 *
What's up crew? Back again with my ass firmly planted on my couch. Not much new to report . . . other than we have pretty much finished the principal recording for our new album! As some of you know, we ventured off to "Nashvegas" for pre production, and the musical portion of the recording process. The vocals are being finished right now at our producer's studio, and we should be mixing the album sometime between late May and the end of June. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this process has been. The name of the producer is Michael "Elvis" Baskette, and he has truly been amazing through this. He's worked with Chevelle on their last 3 records, as well as Incubus, Limp Bizkit, and countless others. He really has pulled the best out of us, made it sound huge, yet kept the organic quality we desired to make this album sound like 4 guys jamming in your living room.

Nashville is a really cool city. Don't worry - none of us will be sporting cowboy hats anytime soon . . . well . . . except maybe for Marshall! We had a blast there, and it's hard to not feel creative in an area so dedicated to music. Saw a couple of Country stars and even found myself watching the Country Music Network more than I ever thought I would, although I still had to keep the sound muted! Anyway, things went amazingly well there and I would highly recommend Nashville to any band in the Southeast that's looking for a great place to make a record. The studio that we recorded in is called Blackbird Studios. It's owned by Martina McBride's husband, John, and I must say that this place is the very definition of top notch. What an amazing room we were in. I used most of my touring kit for the album and I hope you'll be as amazed with the sounds we got as I am. There were snare drums-a-plenty on this recording, and I gave my loyal sidekick, Tony, plenty of work to do between songs. I think we used 11 different snares overall. Zildjian sent me an arsenal of cymbals to use and I have to say that, surprisingly, probably half of the songs we tracked were done using my live cymbal set up. Z customs (which I use for crashes playing live) aren't usually known for being a cymbal widely used in the recording process, but they sounded great in this room. Truly a testament to the quality of product that Zildjian makes (yes, I'm sucking up . . . but it's true!).

I recently played in the Hootie and the Blowfish celebrity golf tournament and I sucked beyond the definition of sucking. I think coverage airs on The Golf Channel around May 13th. You probably won't see too much of me on there because my level of suckness was probably enough to melt the film in most of the cameras following me. I think even if George Lucas got his Skywalker Ranch computer graphics team to work on the footage they have of me, to make me not suck, most of those guys would probably quit their jobs or hunt me down and punch me in the face. It was bad . . . but life goes on. Now my golf game is back on track, and I will venture out to redeem myself this weekend at the Murray Brothers annual golf tourney in St. Augustine. It's a wild time, and I must say that getting to hang out with Bill Murray for the weekend is really beyond cool.

So wish me luck! I promise more updates will come soon. We are doing an acoustic show at Foxwoods Casino on the 4th of May, and I hope to see you there. Apparently Foxwoods is somewhere between NYC and the North Pole . . . I can't get a straight answer from anyone and I'm too lazy to Mapquest it. So if you're in the area, stop by and say hi. We'll see you soon and I'll keep you posted on the progress of the record, and everything else in the world of AB as it develops. Later!

Flip

* Journal #2 ~ 2/9/07 *
What's up gang! So here I am...once again...sitting on my couch. Not much new to report, other than my next road journal entry will actually be from the road (!) ... or, once again, from my couch (it's a really comfortable couch though). Things are really starting to take shape as far as the recording goes. All I can tell you now is we will be recording VERY soon. Just a few more things to fall in place and we will finally be able to make an announcement, which will be within the next week or two. Thanks for being patient with us! Trust me when I tell you that we are chomping at the bit to get this thing underway. I've started to clean my garage, my golf game sucks, I think my daughter just turned 17 overnight, and I'm pissed that ABC canceled my new favorite show "Day Break." That's about it for now. Big news coming soon! Stay tuned...

(And now for some custom answers for some lucky FOL-ers who submitted questions for Scott to answer!!)

Hey Matthew - All of the equipment listed at FlipOnline is about as accurate as you can get. There's stuff on there I didn't even know I had! I don't use the triggers anymore. That was from the Creed "Weathered" tour, which were used for keyboard and special effects samples for the beginning and ending of songs, but everything else is spot on. You've definitely got great equipment, and I'm sure it will sound great whatever you do. The G2 - G1 combo is the same thing that I use, although on some of our last tour, I used a new Evans head (that I totally just forgot the name of) that is a little thicker and more durable than the G2, but sounds almost identical. As far as tuning, I believe the resonant head is tuned a little tighter than the batter, but to be honest, I have let Tony Adams (my tech) handle almost all of the tuning since the ODR sessions. I'd have a better chance at telling you how to hit a 7 iron than telling you how my drums are tuned now! Tony has written a book entitled "Drumset Tuning Theory" and is available at TAdrums.com. Best of luck bro, and if you figure it out, let ME know!!!

Michael - Thanks for recognizing the skillz! Seriously, I do appreciate everyone who has complimented my drumming with the last record. To be honest with you, I was really able to just let go on the last AB record. Creed was an amazing chance to learn my craft on a massive scale, but I do think I held back a lot. At first I really couldn't play much more than what was recorded, and if I could, I'd totally space out when we were actually tracking! Once my chops got better, I'd try more, but I think a precedent had already been set, and the flashier stuff wasn't always so well received. With Alter Bridge, we agreed from day 1 that we were going to express ourselves as musicians, as well as songwriters. I think it helped that Mark was pushing me to play MORE, not less, but I still tried to be conscious of playing for the song, it's just that the songs had become more technical. I think this next album will show that a little more. I don't think this next record will be full of 1/32 fills, but I know I've become a better drummer since the last record, and I hope that our playing and our songs will be up to, or exceed, everyone's expectations. Thanks man!

Hey Logan - As far as a signature series goes, Premier did approach me at one time to discuss doing a signature snare, and I've been thinking about ideas, but no immediate plans to release anything at this point. With Zildjian, I know they have a couple of signature series cymbals, but to be honest, I wouldn't know how to improve a product that is already so good (insert suck-up picture here)! With my ride cymbal, I've always stuck with that A Custom ping ride. I Love it! I did use, and continue to use, different ride cymbals in the studio, just to create different sounds for different songs, but I can't stand the thought of touring without it. I cracked one while we were writing this new record. I must have really gotten into that song, cause you just don't crack a ride like that! That sucked. I actually got to hand pick that one out of the Zildjian vault in Mass. I'm starting to get emotional just writing about it! Later!

Edd - I think my kit will pretty much stay the same for this new record and tour. I might switch to a new rack. Maybe one without the curved down tubes (I can hear Tony saying "Thank F@$%*&g God" right now). Other than that, and the flame throwers . . . that's it!

Hey Diego - South America, and especially Brazil, is one of the last countries we have been unable to get to . . . yet! I can promise you it is always a topic of discussion between us and our booking agent, and we do plan to get down there on this album. Thanks for the kind words, and keep a look for upcoming tour dates. We'll see you soon!

Later Holmes!

Flip

* Journal #1 ~ 1/25/07 *
What's up Flip Onliners! So here I am writing my first road journal...from my couch. We've been working nonstop now for a year, but haven't left the comforts of warm and sunny Orlando in a while. Lot's of things have happened though. Wind Up records and Alter Bridge parted ways this past spring, much to our delight, and we are now in the final stages of signing a deal with a very well established, and truly excited, major label. Many songs have been written, and I can say that our toughest task ahead will be finding which ones to leave OFF the record! I hope you guys dig it, because I can honestly say that this is by far the best material we've ever written. I know every band says that about their forthcoming album, but I mean it...damnit! Anyway, I'll be writing in from week to week to keep you posted on the progress of the album and future news on anything AB ...that my Mom hasn't posted first! See you soon...

Flip

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