This week’s featured drummer is a man to be widely considered one of the best metalcore drummers of today, yet seemingly still far more underrated than he should be. I truly have not seen any other drummers execute the kind of fast and polished ideas that this man does. He is admittedly a more recent discovery of mine, but sometimes it does not take long for someone’s work to have an impact on you. This drummer is none other than…
Chris Turner – Drummer for Oceans Ate Alaska and I Am Abomination
Taken from https://sabian.com/artist/chris-turner/Watching this man play is both a treat and a conundrum. He is a very stiff drummer; this goes against everything I have ever been taught. However, my own philosophy of “whatever works best for you” is what I have chosen to stick to. It is obvious that what Chris does works for him, so I see no reason to change that. In fact, it gives him his own unique style that no one else carries or abides to. What really matters is proper delivery and execution. An interesting fact is that he does not use any triggers or quantizing; all of his playing is raw and mostly unedited. Before I go any further, let’s take a look at one of his many playthroughs on YouTube. This is “Escapist” by Oceans Ate Alaska:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qujpwf9-ODg
It is important to note that where there are some blasts and gravity blasts in this song, that is not necessarily typical of Chris Turner’s style. All of this was executed with great precision, but what I really want to make note of is his choice of fills. I think he is one of the best drummers in the world at both writing and playing very fast fills that actually fit within the style of the song. They properly embellish the music by filling in space and also complement the guitar patterns and melodies nicely. His stiff and focused style allows him to play these quick bursts exactly on grid consistently, and it is why I have read that many producers love to work with him since he makes their job easier.
The first minute or so of Escapist is quite mental from a technical standpoint, but it can be seen at 0:54 and onward that Chris will also write and play grooves. There are many drummers out there able to play very technical stuff, but I am more intrigued by people like Chris that can incorporate it only when it is necessary and leave breathing room throughout more relaxed parts of a song. As I have stated before, it is more important to write with the music rather than for it. Moving on, I would like to bring some attention to Chris’ current solo project. Here is “40 Roll” by Chris Turner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDfMYT6mKhQ
Musically, this is still within the same realm of music as both Oceans Ate Alaska and I Am Abomination. However, it’s important to remember that Chris wrote this music himself, with a bit of added composition from the guitarist James Kennedy. I believe this has led him to another level of rhythmic complexity, as he was able to write the music based around what ideas he might have on drums. This being said, I have a hard time understanding how Chris is able to play some parts of this song. The fast bass bursts are around 280bpm, and Chris’ high seat height and stiff style have him playing with full leg motion. I cannot say I have seen any other drummer playing this fast with full leg motion, but Chris has obviously proved this possible. In my experience, the forward lean that he does can help give some proper leverage and balance for full-leg single strokes, and is not necessarily a bad practice so long as your posture is kept as straight as Chris’.
Another very cool part of this song I want to bring attention to is the breakdown at 2:33. Chris follows the breakdown rhythm with his kicks, but also fills the gaps between with some small fills on the snare, toms, and cymbals. He also notably plays a kick flam amongst these, which is a very interesting idea that I have only seen from a small handful of other drummers. My favourite part of this breakdown is the modulation at 2:52. It’s a simple modulation, but extremely effective and groovy. To add to this masterful songwriting and playing, here is a collaboration Chris has done with none other than Thomas Lang, called “Triggered”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcFQKyBkFI
I really do not know where to begin with this. Thomas Lang is a world-class drummer that can really play any style at an extremely high level with such nice ease and precision, and does a fantastic job staying within Chris’ realm of ideas for this track. It is quite funny watching the styles of these two amazing musicians together in one video between Lang’s fluidity and Chris’ stiffness and precision, but the execution is equal and perfect. Their trading ideas throughout the song between one keeping the beat and the other doing a fill or simply just trading the main beat (as seen at the 2:00 mark) is just spectacular. It is very easy to “step on each other” while doing this, but the expert composition of this song kept each of them at a nice and balanced level.
If you enjoyed either of these solo songs, please visit Chris Turner’s website and support his work any way you can. He is still a small musician and is more than deserving of any help he can get to keep his project and music going. The man has worked very hard to get where he has from a musical standpoint and is still working just as hard to make it work as a profession. Even if you cannot help him monetarily, I urge you all to share his work where you can. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!
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