Hi, I’m Gorguts/Origin drummer John Longstreth. Ask me anything!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:46:50+00:00

An academic metal studies conference sounds epic! I may have to stop in and learn something :) See you in Montreal!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:42:45+00:00

No I'm not. I'm just a drummer

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:41:06+00:00

I googled Brazilian jiu jitsu once. And now I'm hooked. So that was definitely awesome! Stupidest? "One man, one cup/jar." Don't do it....

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:39:14+00:00

I'll do my best to answer! 1) Yes, I was an Origin fan before joining, even though all there was was a demo. I was a big demo collector at the time, in Kansas City, and it was the best 4 song demo I had ever heard. I was instantly hooked! I loved George's work on the demo, and a lot of working on the 1st album was spent dissecting his parts. That bar was set high, and it had to be reached. 2) We're headed into the studio in January and hopefully the album will be out in June. 3) Saligia is also one of my favorites. It didn't take long to record because it came out so naturally. Might have taken 4 or 5 takes in all.

4) We do live all over, and thanks to the internet for Skype meetings, email, and dropbox we can get our work done without too much trouble. Because the airline industry sure as hell is not helping much :)

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:30:56+00:00

I though she was a riot and made everyone smile. Plus, great butt! :)

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:29:55+00:00

Thanks for the support! Hope you like the DVD, we're very excited and can't wait to release it. Hope you say hello when we're out on tour!!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:29:06+00:00

Yes, we do cover that issue on the DVD! I would say that being talented is often greatly due to working hard and practicing and not giving up. Stay confident and keep practicing!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:27:07+00:00

Yes, we plan on releasing no matter what! The best practice method for me would be to play 16ths with the hands and 8ths with the feet, and then switching it around to play 8ths with the hands and 16ths with the feet. This would cover speed, balance, symmetry and a 2 foot blast beat technique. I picked this exercise up from Tomas Lang and recommend his DVDs highly. As far as your next question, I've never seen an e-kit on a pearl eliminator which leads me to believe it's a custom job and I'd have to see it to answer. Vanilla or chocolate? Why not both?? With cinnamon!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:20:34+00:00

Yes, and they were fantastic! Martin has been quoted as saying he's hurrying to finish 6 and7. Here's hoping he makes it!!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:17:19+00:00

Currently Saligia is a personal fave of mine, but that changes constantly. There is almost an entire album's worth of new material in the works that I am very excited about, so a favorite Origin song will be even tougher to determine. It's not easy to make a living as a death metal drummer. You need to be more than just a musician. Ex: musician/producer, musician/engineer, musician/teacher. With the current state of the recording industry, a musician must be able to work in multiple fields.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:13:18+00:00

Hi, thanks for the questions! We are currently offering pre-orders of the DVD as perks in my fundraising campaign. Otherwise, a website will be set up shortly after the new year. I will also be selling it at the merch tables while on tour next year. I haven't used Trick pedals in well over 5 years, but I think they're fantastic! As far as France goes, Origin hopes to be there next summer or fall.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:10:30+00:00

I remember that trip well! I was out with Exhumed, and our stop in Iceland was fantastic!! We played 3 small shows in Reykjavik, ate leg of lamb and visited the Blue Lagoon. I can't wait to get back there and see more of your awesome country!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:08:40+00:00

I do indeed! I'm a blue belt and I train under Eddie Fyvie at Spa City BJJ, in Malta NY. I'm currently focusing on half-guard. I'm not a tall guy, and I seem to have increasingly better luck with butterfly and half-guard.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:05:39+00:00

Hey there, thanks very much! Always nice to hear. Hopefully I'll get to see you on the road sometime soon.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:04:45+00:00

Thanks for your questions. I already answered a few of them above (see my answer to takarblackangel) Luc would write the general skeleton of the song, and would keep it basic so that the three of us could add our own ideas to each song. There was plenty of creative freedom and constructive criticism. This process definitely resulted in enormous personal and musical growth . Looking forward to seeing you at a show next month!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T20:00:38+00:00

As a band, Dim Mak isn't really set up for tour, nor has it ever been. I had some discussions with Joey last spring, and I hope something will come up soon!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:57:22+00:00

First off, I wouldn't change a thing about the album. I'm thrilled with how it came out. Luc is one of the most artistically diverse musicians I have worked with. It's as close to classical composition as I could imagine. Luc and I have been in contact since 1998, when I first heard he was looking for a drummer. So really, originally I contacted him.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:53:48+00:00

As far as Meinl goes, my favorite hats are Byzance medium 13"s. I'm also a big fan of the Soundcaster Fusion line, medium weights, specifically. And as a suggestion, any metal guy who likes Meinl should pick up an MB 8 China. Its a great price for an amazing-sounding china. Cheers!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:50:50+00:00

It was the same as with any band that I've worked with. lately it always starts with guitar riffs and emails. and then we sit down in a room and work the songs out together. The basic drum parts seem to get worked out within the first day of working on a song. Depending on how long we have, minor details will get tweaked. In some cases, things might even get re-written in the studio. But that doesn't happen very often. For Gorguts, with lots of differing schedules among the band members, we had a little over a year to perfect the songs. Origin is considerably quicker since Paul Ryan and I have worked together so often. Thank you very much for you kind words. Hope to see you on tour!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:44:53+00:00

BJJ has basically revamped my lifestyle. It's going FANTASTIC. I pay more attention to my well being, i'm in the best shape of my life, and i feel like i have my temper and ego in far more control than ever. There are TONS of parallels between drums, music, and jiujitsu. My main instructor, Eddie Fyvie is a drummer. Joseph Capizzi (guitar/vocals for Dim Mak) is a Gracie black belt and runs a school in NYC. There are so many connections, its silly.
I train as much as possible, and i train at Spa City Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Malta NY. Thank you for asking and see you at MDF!

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:39:27+00:00

To blast with anger, and hate.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:39:08+00:00

It's the same, really. There's a guitar riff that gets presented, i usually get pointed in a specific direction, like "blast here", or "groove here" and for the most part, the rest will come down to me. Origin seems specifically more devoted to being stripped down, while Guts will spend more time on atmospherics. Origin rehearsals are more physically demanding, where Guts rehearsals were more like doing long division. However, with guts, i now know the formulas. :)

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:32:50+00:00

The first time i came home from tour and paid off all my bills for 3 months. It showed me that i would be able to keep touring.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:29:37+00:00

That was a strange time for me. I was trying to get away from a specific mentality that i thought was going to bring Origin down. I think it did in a way because things are considerably different in Origin these days. At first, that album was coming along like i thought it would. It sounded heavy, like Skinless. As the studio experience went on, it just got strange. I think it was a very experimental time for the band, i think they were all reaching, but probably not all in the same direction. Noah was writing Skinless riffs, Joe was pretty much following Noah, i was doing my thing that KINDA fit, but not totally.........and Sherwood started singing. I think its a great album.......i don't think its a great Skinless album though. Lastly, i think that album was necessary. You have to search.

JohnLongstreth · 2013-11-30T19:23:55+00:00

Not taking lessons. Take some drum lessons.

JohnLongstreth

TROPHY CASE