Well, well, well…..see what happens…I go to bed and the next thing I know it’s a new year! Yes, after a short hibernation over the holiday period I decided to start my babblings here on the site again. I’ve been called all kinds of names over the holidays, Grinch, Miserable Git, Party Pooper……ugh whatever, I’m just glad they’re passed now. It’s a difficult time of the year as it is for many others…I miss my Father and my best friend Spencer even more at that time of year and my Mom wasn’t here this year so that made me sad as well.

On December 12^th my mate Bill Miller lost his battle with cancer and retired to the great drum solo out in the ether. Bill was the Editor in Chief at Modern Drummer Magazine. A great guy who I’d only known a couple of years but one whose passion for music and drumming was profoundly evident from the first time I met him. Two years ago at the NAMM show in LA I introduced Bill to my friend Daniel Adair, drummer for Nickelback. We all met one day, sat down and talked and Bill told Daniel that he wanted to do a cover feature on Daniel when the next Nickelback album was made and he then told me that I was the one he wanted to do the shoot. Modern Drummer is the gospel of drumming magazines for professional and amateur drummers alike and just being inside the magazine is an honor within that community so as you can imagine Daniel was stoked at this prospect. Cut forward to summer ‘08 and I’m calling Bill saying “hey, new album, what about this cover we’re supposed to do?” So we set it up, I went up to Canada into the Rockies for a couple of days to become Bear bait with Daniel whilst we made the pics that you’re seeing below.

Daniel Adair & Bill Miller

Dear Bill loved the photos and to my knowledge, this was his last full Modern Drummer issue. It’s a bitter sweet endeavor. Bitter because a great guy lost his life prematurely but sweet also because we got such a great feature and photos from this project, one that Bill was most pleased with.

I’m truly happy for that.

Enjoy….

ASH

Wake up early after a surprisingly good nights sleep. Head on down and grab a hearty breakfast that a Lumberjack would be proud of. The gift shop to the hotel is open..... HA! Run in and ask the lady in there if she sells Mars Bars. I realize then that I must have looked like an excited five year old asking her. She kindly points to the Holy Grail of chocolate and I buy five of them. One is gone already by the time the elevator reaches the 11th floor and a second is opened by the time my room door closes. Grab my gear and head downstairs and Daniel meets me and helps load the gear into his truck. Stop off for a Starbucks and then he tells me we're heading off up the road to Whistler and towards the Rockies. Vancouver seems like a nice place. It certainly has a nice vibe and the Canucks seem a lot more laid back than their uptight city dwelling American counterparts. I think it's the fresh air that does it.

As we get up in elevation the views get more spectacular along highway 99 along Horseshoe Bay and Howe Sound. Anvil Island sits out in the middle of the water looking beautiful. As we go along we start looking out for good locations to shoot Daniel in the great outdoors. He stops the truck at a place called Furry Creek and looks at me waiting for the filthy comments to start....... The bugger knows me! Hehehe... Of course I don't want to be a bad guest and disappoint my most generous host so I start the mucky commentary about Furry Creek and he does his best to join in. A little further up the mountains we get to a place name "Squamish" which I predictably rename "Squeamish". We see a big river running alongside the road and decide to take a side country road and see if we can find a turn off and trail to the river. Further down we're on a trail road and are thinking of getting out when we see a bloody great Black Bear run across the trail in front of us... It was an adolescent bear which meant that Mama was around. This means that you stand a very good chance of being gnawed on by Mama so we let our asses stop twitching and decide to move on to safer locales.
 


We eventually find a trail down to a beautiful section of clear and very cold river that's fed from glacial flow. We grab the gear. Danny boy helps me carry a big heavy box of lights down the trail to the waters edge and has a whine about his hands hurting......... if he had to play drums and really use his hands he'd really be in trouble....hehehe..... As we're going down the trail there are several old male and female fogeys in front of us heading down to a bend in the river hidden by a bunch of reeds and shrubs.. One is carrying booze, one food, and the others firewood.... We both have a chuckle about the old dudes getting trashed by the rivers edge, think nothing of it and head downstream and set up and proceed to do the photo session. Shoot Daniel sitting on a rock at the waters edge, with a beautiful orange Drum Workshop snare drum and then his Regal Tip sticks. I set up a little rock platform to squat on whilst I shoot him and his wonderous soul patch in various poses etc. It's not until I get the shots up on the laptop later that realize just how beautiful the scenery is. You kind of get caught in the moment of the shoot and have tunnel vision of a sort when you're focusing on the job at hand. I have to go back and do some landscapes there though...



Get done with the shoot and we fart around and take some silly pics and video then we pack up and head back to the truck. The wind has gotten up and we walk right by the bushy area the old folks are behind. Their fire is putting out some great smoke we notice and we hear them laughing etc. Not until we walk right by and see through the gaps in the foliage do we notice that they're all completely frickin' naked! It's a veritable drunk pink wrinkle fest behind the bushes!!! We have a good chuckle about the nudists and head on up the road further into the mountains. Stop at an absolutely amazing scenic overlook with snow capped mountains in the background. Set up a light and get Daniel up standing on a stone wall with the amazing backdrop. A couple of girls come over to see what's going on and they recognize Daniel so I grab a shot of them together then we finish up the shoot and head back down the road.

By this time we're feeling rather esurient. Daniel pulls off at a place called Tim Hortons and tells me I have to try their great coffee and sandwiches. We go inside and Daniel order me a coffee called a "Double Double" and a BLT sandwich that beats the ass off any Subway sandwich I've had. What's hilarious is that there can't be a single member of staff over about 15 years old in the whole place. Daniel laughs and says he has a creepy oomph Loompah feeling but what's even scarier is that they have their crap together and are running the place like clockwork! You ask an American kid of 14 to do that and they'd be LOST! Too funny!

We head back nearer into Vancouver and nearer to Daniels home and find a railway track that runs between a forest. Shoot him in between the tracks running and doing his kung fu moves in mid air. The pics come out really good and we have a great laugh in the process not to mention the laughs we have singing alternative and filthy lyrics to Nickelback songs. I have video that I'll post when I can but don't expect to hear those "special lyrics"...hehehehehe.....

We get back to the house and set up and shoot him in his home studio in the basement. A really neat drum room that has free floating insulated walls to soundproof everything. Anyway, we get a load of playing shots on the drums etc and head out to dinner along with his lovely missus Britney. A few Guinness later and I'm previewing the pics on my laptop at dinner..... Can't wait to show you the pics when the magazine hit's the shelves!!         

Looks like there's another bloody hurricane out in the gulf once again. Living on the coast can be perilous at times but being inland can suck just as equally what with quakes and tornados. At least we can see hurricanes coming and have some warning I guess but the results can be just as dangerous and destructive. As It looks today ol' Gustav seems to be heading towards the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico so Texas may yet be spared albeit at the expense of some other poor sods. We shall see.

Once again the raspy tongue returned this time to my forehead and wouldn't let me sleep in. She'd already been fed so she was doing this out of pure boredom.... Today I am going to Vancouver... EH? Vancouver, yes Canada... I've had all my shots and did a quick refresher course in colonial ways. It'll be nice to see some hills and mountains again. The only bumps in the earth that I've seen recently was a bad boob job at the grocery store last week. I'm off to see my old mate Daniel.... drummer extraordinaire for rock sensations Nickelback. Now Daniel is a man who truly appreciates the filth of my limericks and humor although I'll tell you that he enjoys it whilst still on guard.... hehehehe... I think he's not sure of what will happen and is a little scared of what I'll do or say next.....Poor Lad! A most capable sticksman and dashingly handsome chap with a legendary soul patch that's admired by oodles of male fans everywhere.

So I get to the airport and they put me on an earlier connecting flight to Dallas which I happily accept as spending time at my local airport is about as much fun as rubbing ones particulars with a rusty cheese grater. Get to security where I'm asked to step aside as I've been chosen for a random security check and pat down. I don't get the nice brunette for the pat down though, I get the sweaty chubby bugger with the rubber gloves who takes his sweet time with the wand and patting me down with his sausage fingers. He finally finishes and they call me over as they open my camera bag. The young girl opens my bag, and turns to me "are you a photographer?" she asks. Inside are two cameras, four lenses, two flashes, three remote flash triggers, cleaning cloths and a small compact digital camera. I reply that I'm a Gynacologist, smile and wait for her response. I may be wrong but I think that my accent convinced her that I actually was a gyno... Smashing!



Get to the airport in Dallas, grab some lunch and an ale, thank some soldiers being deployed for their service and head to the departure gate. The flight is late...... No plane......the plane arrives an hour late....the flight crew arrive from another flight another hour late.... We're over two hours late, crammed in I have some stupid woman in the seat in front of me that can't bloody well sit still. I can't even put my drink down she's fidgettng that much... Folks, American Airlines are in financial trouble not because of high fuel prices but because they are shite. They're terrible domestic and even worse international..

Get to Vancouver and email Daniel who informs me that he's polishing his kit... OO-ER! Filthy chap. Check in to my hotel and ol' Daniel stops by and we go for a few pints and a good catch up on happenings. I perk up when he tells me that they have Mars Bars in Canada. Shite! The hotel gift shop is closed and I KNOW they have candy!



He drops me off, pats me on the bottom (kidding!) and I head off for a good nights kip. Big day tomorrow.

I feel like crap today! Was up until the late hours last night editing photos for my mate Daniel Adair, drummer for Nickelback. Daniel's a top bloke and a first class drummer...like Nickelback's music or not, he can beat the arse off a lot of today's metal drummers and still have energy left for a smoke and a pancake! He's having a new website done and phoned me the other day asking for a selection of fine images that show him at work...



Might be heading back out to California soon for a magazine feature but am still waiting to hear finer details at this point. Should be fun if it comes off and the opportunity to hang out again with birthday boy Marcus Henderson of Guitar Hero fame should be fun as always... Hopefully he won't try and shag any ornamental animals this time! He's 35 years young today so if you see a long haired skinny man running naked though the streets of San Francisco today it's not a one man gay parade...it'll just be Marcus letting off steam!



It's about that time for Easter when folks like me can't dress up kids that they don't have...right? Wrong! Daisy may not be a rock star but she sure as hell knows how to act like one and can belt out a tune better than some with record contracts! She's better looking and much better behaved than any member of Avenged Sevenfold as today's photo session shows! PLUS... She's getting email and has quite the growing fan club so go figure!


Happy frickin' Easter!
ASH