Drummist.

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Emma's brother is 11 and not the most musical of kids (yet; he has little choice but get into electronica/indie/hip hop/dub/etcetera with me & Em and his other brother around sooner or later!), and the other day was talking to me about a band (I forget who) when he suddenly asked "who's the drummist?"

Think about it; every other instrument-player is an -ist; guitar, flute, bass, violin, harp, piano. So why shouldn't a drummer be a drummist? But it sounds so wrong doesn't it? It's ingrained in our heads to say 'drummer' when we mean someone who plays the drums.

So that got me thinking as to what a 'drummist' might actually be, and I came to two conclusions.

1; A rockist but with drums/rhythmn and not rock. Think DJ Shadow.
b; A sexist but with drums/rhythmn and not gender. Think Geir.

So, your thoughts, please, on drummism; which one should it be? What, specifically, does it entail? Who is guilty?!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

A drummist is someone who makes drummer jokes. How many drummers does it take to change a lightbulb? - that sort of thing.

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

... you mean like: "What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A drummer", that kind of thing?

― Dadaismus, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Trumpeter -v- trumpetist

.. FWIW - an "er" is an operator of the equipment.
- an "ist" is a philosopher (or is that philosophist?) with regard to the equipment.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

guitarer=drunk operator of the guitar

― buttch (Oops), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Buddy Rich was the ultimate drummist. Anyone not him was a worm.

"You guys are gonna be back in New York on the bread line so fast you won't even know that you were on this fuckin' band. How dare you play a fuckin' set like that. Since when did the fuckin' trumpet players become the leader of this fuckin' band and decide how long they're gonna hold a chord? What the fuck do you think you're doin'? You think you're playin' with some kid up there? I expect one-hundred-and-ten percent fucking perfection every fuckin' tune, you got that? If you can't do it, get off my fuckin' band to-NIGHT! You had a day off yesterday and you come back like this and you suck! What the fuck kind of music do you think you're playing here anyhow? And who do you think you're playing for? You think I'll tolerate that shit? You're worse than any fuckin' high school band I ever heard. You come in wrong because you leave one fuckin' beat out, you can't find one!? I don't know what kind of drummers you think you're playin' with, but you'll play with me or you'll get out! And I mean NOW! I don't need this shit. I have a home in Palm Springs and I can go sit on my ass the rest of my life and not worry about a fuckin' thing...and don't have to meet your fuckin' payroll, and pay you for playin' like a fuckin' high school dropout! How dare you do that! ASSHOLES!! You can't play a
simple fuckin' tune; you can't hold a chord; you can't play time when you play solos. What kind of solos am I hearing tonight? (as he turns to the Trombonist) You want to rehearse and practice, get a fuckin' band in Sydney and play the kind of shit you want. Over here you play TIME!!"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

ned, is there anywhere on the web where i can hear that audio of buddy? i've always wanted to hear it. and tape it for my dad too, the biggest buddy rich fan alive.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

It floats around various places, even surfaced on the first Celebrities At Their Worst comp and all. This page, where I took the snippet above from, has some very brief samples.

Perhaps inevitably, the official site has some comments on the matter. If you go here and scroll down, you'll see some mentions of his temper, and then towards the end an extended post from a guy who played with Rich in the late sixties. The feller's more well-disposed to Rich than most and essentially regarded his own time with him as a learning experience, but I think this statement rather glosses over it:

So if someone brings up the infamous Buddy Rich "scream tape" to you, be aware that those particular band members got off easy. I just hope they learned something.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Drummist still sounds much better than singist.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Flutist should be replaced with Fluter, even though it sounds like an 80s movie character who smashes beer cans on his forehead.

― buttch (Oops), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

~~even though~~ because

― buttch (Oops), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

It was a fuckin' riot when old Fluter took a piss in Dean Nurdlinger's car.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

is a tuba player a tubist or a tuber?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

But flute players are called flautists!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Flauter .. he was that fat guy in the math department, wasn't he?

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:05 (twenty-two years ago)

De Flauter Mouse

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Percussionist? That sounds kinda rocker.

What has three legs and a cunt? A drumstool.

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought flutist was just pronounced as 'flautist'. I cannot be wrong so the dictionaries must change!

― buttch (Oops), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked Mr. Drummist, even more so when he adopted that cutie Arnold and his brother Willis.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned, that rant has been printed out and is about to stuck on my refrigerator. thx!

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 23:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I can hear everything! I don't give a fuck what you hear. I hear it, and all I know is that you're blowin' my fuckin' eardrum out! (turns to the saxophones) The saxophones, you can play the flute, there's no sound in flutes. All I hear is noise. If you get any fuckin' closer you'll electrocute yourselves. What do you think I got a man with a sound system out there for? Sit down and play some fuckin' music! You afraid you won't be heard, is that it? I'll turn the motherfucker off all of you, then see what kind of a band you got up there, without all the assistance. You can't play shit! I'm accustomed to working with number one musicians. I'm not accustomed to working with half-assed fuckin' kids who think they wrote the fuckin' music business. You got a long way to go. You got a long way to go. Every one of you got a long fuckin' way to go. Do you understand what I'm sayin'? You can't play shit up there for me. What the fuck you're doin' up there doesn't deserve to be called a "name" band. The fuckin' kids out at the park there, they sounded fifty times better than any one of you! And that's without a rhythm section. Maybe they enjoy what they are doin' here. If you don't enjoy it here, fuck you! And get off my band. Or we can find other ways to settle it. I'm just so fuckin' tired of having to go through speeches with you guys. You're all a fuckin' bunch of children. There's not a man among you, not one man who can go out there and play the job like a man. You're all up there, fuckin' high school, bullshit jive artists. You jived me for the last fuckin' time. You got two sets to make up your fuckin' mind or I get me an all L.A. band tomorrow night. Don't think that's not impossible. It's very fuckin' possible. I've had it with you guys. I ought to give each one of you motherfuckers a cut in salary before I get out of this fuckin' room!

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 23:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The thing is, Buddy Rich is probably one of the few people who could justify that shit. He could do things on the drums that no one has ever equaled, and came up playing with Ella, Charlie Parker, etc...he hired a lot of young musicians out of college for his band and I don't doubt that at times they weren't swinging hard enough for him or living up to the perfect sound in his head. So yeah, he's still an asshole but being a jazz musician is a tough business, you know?

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 24 April 2003 00:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned, that rant has been printed out and is about to stuck on my refrigerator. thx!

Heh, you're welcome! Glad to share some legendary joy -- as it were. :-)

Jordan does have a good point, to be sure, and it wasn't like Rich didn't have a sense of humor -- anyone remember his episode on The Muppet Show? The Animal/Rich duel was great because it showed that even in his later days the man was just jawdroppingly ON. I guess to me all his rants show the difference between a guy who is aware that he's working with folks not up to his speed and tries not to dump on them for that obvious disparity and a guy who is aware of it but doesn't care.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 24 April 2003 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha, the best part about that drum battle with Animal is he wouldn't even go easy ON A MUPPET!

I think you have a point Ned, but also Buddy was born in like 1917, and I think he had that whole Vince Lombardi aesthetic where the way to make your team step it up is to egg them on and yell at them. I mean, they were his band, he hired them because they were talented, he just wasn't the type of guy who was going to sit down and say, "Hey guys, you sounded good tonight but I know you can play even BETTER tomorrow..." He was a tough guy, but it was out of love I think.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 24 April 2003 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

He was a tough guy, but it was out of love I think.

The quotes on the official page seem to indicate as much, to be sure. Still, born in 1917 or born now, when you hear him go off, it's in that tone of voice that makes you wonder if his skeleton will just burst through his flesh at some point. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 24 April 2003 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

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