MKappeli + Musician

SEEKING

ABOUT

I gone through many different style changes during my time playing drums. I started when I was 4 and played through high school. During my high school years I became a huge fan of the Dave Matthews Band and had incredible respect for Carter Beauford. I had learned that he played a righty drumset but open handed or lefty. I thought this was a genious approach and convinced myself it was the only way. I went against all professional advice to attempt this and reconfigured my kit as needed with ride cymbals on my left. I continued to play this way for many years to the point where I feel more comfortable in this style than my natural orientation of traditional righty. I became very proficient with this style and then applied to all types of music other than Dave Matthews Band. I was always a devoted Phish fan as well and ofcoarse been influenced alot by Jon Fishman. I always loved Classic Rock and would play along with those songs, but never was turned on the way live Jamming does. During my high school years as well, I came across a band called the New Deal. They are a Toronto based improvised electronic house jam band. They describe themselves as live, progressive, house, breakbeat band. It consists of Drums, Bass, and Keys. Although not fond of the music at first when heard on CD, I became their most devoted fan to date after seeing my first show. The beats are very upbeat, disco style dance beats that seem very simple but need a certain touch or desire to be played. The New Deal became such an influence that I ended up joining them for a NorthEast tour when I was 16. With the absence of Phish since 2004, it's forced many of us die hard fans to seek new music and so I got really into the Jamtronica or Livetronica genre. During the summer of 2008, I had the privelage to have Artist credentials for the majority of the major music festivals around the country. Through this crazy touring experience I had a chance to meet and chat with the majority of my main influences. During these conversations, the drummer from Deep Banana Blackout said "you're ambidextrous, you can use ur hands in alternate configurations on the fly. That's amazing and definitly something I cant do. But you should take advantage of that rather than focusing on the other side of it." So I added a ride cymbal on my right and now try to revert back to my original righty orientation for practice. My drum kit is now setup to cater to both my orientations and allow me to create way more different styles of beats.

Screen name:

MKappeli

Member since:

Sep 15 2008

Active over 1 month ago

Level of commitment:

Touring

Years playing music:

20

Gigs played:

50 to 100

Tend to practice:

More than 3 times per week

Available to gig:

4-5 nights a week

Influences

Jon Fishman - Phish
Carter Beauford - The Dave Matthews Band
Darren Shearer - The New Deal
Steve Clemens - Lotus
Zach Velmer - Sound Tribe Sector 9
Dave Weckl - Studio Artist
Neil Peart - Rush

'70s Disco of all sorts.

EQUIPMENT

Drum Kit:

DW Drums 22" x 18" Bass Drum
DW Drums 14" x 6" Solid Birch Snare
Dw Drums 8", 10", 12", 14" 16" Toms (Right Side) 15" Tom (Left Side)
Roland SPD-S Drum Sampler/Controller

Hardware:

Gibraltar Hardware Custom Reinforced Rack
DW 5000 Double Bass Pedal
DW 5000 Hi-Hat
DW 5000 Remote Cable Hi-Hat
DW Dogbone's all around to support rack mounted Cymbal Booms.

Cymbals: (From Left to Right)

15" Paiste Signiture Mellow Crash
20" Zildjian A Custom Flat Ride (w/Rattler Chain)
20" Zildjian K Hybrid Ride
6" Zil-Bel
14" Sabian AAX Hi-Hats
8" Zildjian ZBT Mini-Hats
14" Zildjian K Custom Crash
10" Zildjian A Custom Splash
9" Zildjian Oriental Splash
18" Zildjian K Custom Crash
20" Zildjian K Custom Ride
14" Zildjian K Custom Mini-China
12" Paiste Signiture Splash
15" Paiste Signiture Fast Crash

Auxilary Percussion: (From Left to Right)

16" Remo Djembe (Next to Left mounted 15" Tom
LP Cow Bell
LP Double Chimes
LP Sand Shaker