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From: sirray
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  • Jon Bonham Theodore

    

  • Best drummer they ever had. Theodore has a very oldschool sound his accent control is amazing

  • love em both each have own style ... I'm friends w pridgen but the stack used on deloused made by Jon is dope

  • theodore and pridgen are both awesome drummers. you guys should also check out zach hill

  • Pridgen said he used 18" hats cuz TMV played SO loud...but Theodore used 13"... :O

  • pridgen eats this cat for breakfast - and i like theodore - but pridgen is something else..

    

  • @TheBass2themax agreed. Theodore is awesome but pridgen is on another level.

  • @iLikeToHitThings Yeah. A lower one, lol. Theodore is so much better.

  • huge bonham influence here, at one point he takes a lick straight from the studio version of moby dick(1:25). Good drummer, pridgren is amazing too though so either way u wanna go its cool.

  • wow this guy is awesome!!!!!!!! quick hands indeed!!! lovely kit too!!!

  • detecting a slight Zep influence.

  • @pascalzifffhume Singer sounds heavily influenced by Robert Plant

  • @pascalzifffhume Yeh, he's a huge bonham fan, he plays an oversized set, and I actually feel like this whole song Eunuch Provocateur is an homage to achilles last stand by zep.

  • @pascalzifffhume I think everyone in rock music who takes a drum solo these days has to be aware of the fact that at the end of the day, everyone's gonna compare then to John Bonham, even unconsciously. And with good reason.

  • love the mars volta. but shannon lucas is easily one of the best drummers today. hes a completely different style but hes nasty. theodore is a beast as well

  • Theodore fans- stop with the condescending opinions about taste and who "feels" the music more when it comes to Pridgen vs Theodore. Thomas and Jon both played the music as they felt it, and if you can't feel Pridgens passion when he plays it because you're too busy hating how many notes he plays, you're as clueless as people who hate however many less notes Theodore plays than Pridgen. Music is not about how many notes you may OR MAY NOT play, thus more notes doesn't always mean less feel

  • Best TMV drummer.

  • I love Led Zepplin!!!! Oh wait...

  • guys i think we can all agree omar is the best drummer for the mars volta :P

  • nice drum beating lesson

  • @xtianor Wanna know how funny that was on a scale of one to ten? A ten. Im dead serious.

  • @kidkrim I got asperger's syndrome I can't recognize sarcasm

  • Interesting side note - this was Juan's first ever show with TMV!

  • I DONT LIKE HES SOLO..U GOT TO ADMIT ITS JUST WARM UP ROLLS =/...but hes a kool drummer tho

  • it seems like jon theodore was always under scrutiny. whereas for pridgen, they just let him do whatever the f^ck he wanted.

  • it seems like jon theodorewas always under scrutiny. whereas for pridgen, they just let him do whatever the f^ck he wanted.

  • These arguments crack me up! Pridgen or Theodore? They both kick ass! And should be admired for their own styles individualy, fuck ! 6 or a half dozen!

  • eh nothing special. Shrieve at woodstock now thats a drum solo.

  • i love thomas pridgen, but the way he linked the solo with the groove of the song at 1:57 is so sweet!

    both of them are awesome!

  • jon's snare has the best sound of any TMV drummers

  • Hey Cedric, you're sik and all, but your style's already been done. His name was uhhh... Jim Morrison.

  • John's set up looks very similar to Ian Paice's old set up 

  • acrylic sounds so good!

  • i think its ok that he slows down and loses some of the band's energy. its his solo, his time to show off his shit, and if thats what he wants to do its great. and it kind of draws you in

  • Holy crap does Dave Elitch have some big shoes to fill or what? But what I have seen I really like Dave. He seems to have a style similar to Theodore's only slightly more powerful. But we won't really know what hes made of until the Volta release their next album.

  • @cwj9112 I believe they're getting someone else to play on their next album.

  • @vrdrums Hmmmm, Deantoni Parks maybe???

  • @cwj9112 Yes! Lol. I found out the same day I posted that after the fact. I checked him out.

  • @vrdrums Crossing fingers for zach hill, anyone? Twas already in El Grupo Nuevo, but he was almost wasted as he didn't get to provide structure.

  • John Theodore will forever be THE Mars Volta drummer. Its ashame he left. Such a powerful and amazing drummer. Pridgen is good, but there is just something about John.

  • we should make a blog in order if john watch it, he could write transcriions

  • THE only THING I HATE about JOHN THEODRE IS HE DIDNT WRITE TRANCRIPTIONS FOR HIS FANS, that really makes me cry

  • actually I do know what I am talking about, I have 2 signed recording contracts and 3 endorsements. I am a professional. and have been trained by some of the best drummers on our planet so please go fuck yourself and while you are fucking yourself start listening to real drummers who actually have dynamics and feel.

  • Pridgen and theodore are both two of my favorites.

  • all i gotta say is the way that cedric comes out of the black darkness around 2 mins always cracks me up

  • i honestly believe the drums on bedlam are untoucbale and its my favorite album i like pridgens more than theodores....but i love theodore in one day as a lion

  • theodore is a fukin machine, his high hat is always so perfectly timed. Pridgen is wild and cannot be tamed. Dunno why but i prefer theodore, spose i can identify more with his style. 1 luv

  • Jon Theodore is one hot peice of half black man candy mmmmmmmmmmmmm... I'm creepy

  • To the whole better fit thing, there is no better fit as The Mars Volta is always changing. If anything, Jon Theodore didn't fit with the band in the new direction they were headed, which was an unforgiving, relentless cacophony of sound.

  • Freakin love jon theodore. i like him better than pridgen. He sounds like John Bonham and Billy Cobham fused together. my top two favorite drummers. hes way funkier and groovier than pridgen.

  • Cedric cutting some rug! Amen!

  • i love how john is done, the band starts kicking back, and then Cedric just comes out of the shadows and moves with the groove :)))<3

  • Is Jon paradiddling on the floor tom in the second part ?

  • i herd pridgen was back. jon is the ultimate beast though

  • I can hear his homage to Buddy Rich and Neil Peart...awesome drummer!

  • my knowledge of rudiments isnt really that good but do i detect alot of paradiddles in there?

    jon is AWESOME

  • @TitsMcGee1804 I guess so mate

  • man i love both pridgen and theodore but im not sure about the new drummer..

    i've only seen clips of him from one concert and he seems really tight but he also seems to have kind of a theodore groove, but idk yet.

  • I FUckin completly agree with u dude, they have a new new drummer now THomas Pridgon was fiiiiiiiiiired now its Dave Elitch even less talented then THomas pridgon and thomas pridgon is less talented than Jon Theodore soooooooooo TMV is going downhill ur right.

    JOn IS THE BEST !

  • I would say that overall both are equally good in different ways... basically, pridgen is has better technique and is overall better trained and prepared because well he graduated one of the top music colleges at the age of 15 so he does have better technique and versatility.... but theodore is more musically mature, I mean he doesn't over elaborate like pridgen tends to and he is really good in more subtle ways. They both fit TMV great in different ways and I love both their styles

  • Thomas Pridgen really has no sense of phrasing. VERY JACK OFF TYPE DRUMMING. I will greatly miss Jon. He MADE THE BAND! I dont even listen to TMV now because the new drummer is so bad!!

  • i disagree, i think both are great for what its worth... they both bring something different to the table. and cedric and omar are always gonna keep it real so i love alllll of their stuff

  • @billclarkesales you dont know what your taling bout

  • @pinneappl I totally agree, well said

  • @pinneappl he didnt graduate from berklee he dropped out after i think 2 years. I was at a drum "clinic" of pridgen and he said he quit berklee

  • @pinneappl You said pridgen graduated? I read in an interview that he was kicked out of Berklee...

  • @inimicalODDITY He was, for smoking weed in the dorm.

  • @inimicalODDITY A lot of musicians become famous while in Berkelee and drop out to become full-time musicians (like John Mayer). Berkelee is more of a "connections" joint than anything, and once they meet the people they need they have no real reason to graduate.

  • @tcslick420 That goes for Dream Theater too.

  • Comment removed

  • @pinneappl Wow, I couldn't disagree more with everything you just said. Theodore is leagues better in almost every way than Pridgen. Pridgen lacks discipline and basically bashes on his drumset. He lacks depth and dimension to his playing.

  • @davidrush85 I can understand why you would say that.... but the thing is that although I do agree that theogore's playing in much more intricate and sofisticated, you should really pay actual attention to pridgen's drumming. In his fills he uses extensive and varied use of variations of the drum rudiments, which is a sign of being an educated drummer. his style is overall very complex and well thought out. The thing is that his style is oriented towards gospel, which is maybe what you dislike..

  • @pinneappl Appreciate your response! I can understand that Pridgen might appeal to formally trained drummers, but for me, I can only listen to the same patterns and solos for so-long...before I get bored. Thomas can solo; I'll give him that, but Jon is almost like Omar's drum counterpart. He is really in tune with the songs, and intuitively adds to the music. He knows when to fall back and when to get more complex. When I hear Jon's playing, I hear so many different influences-Pridgen-not somuch

  • @davidrush85

    lacks discipline?! pridgen went to berklee school of music when he was 15! he is in fact a trained musician but i can see how you would think otherwise.

  • @pinneappl i dont know if anyone has said this yet but theodore went to oberlin. thats a pretty great music school.

  • @mauledby18bears hm.... I did not know that.... thanks for that tho 

  • @pinneappl Pridgen played crazier and more out of pocket because Cedric asked him to play as crazy as possible

  • Still the best. It's a shame we'll never hear the Mars Volta play like this again

  • We'll never know how Dave Elitch is gonna sound! ;)

  • im hoping he sounds incredible. the stuff i've heard him do on youtube is, imo, better than pridgen's. but thats just solo stuff. its all about the grooves in the album. and so far, theodore is king.

  • Saw him and he is incredible. Got more of a Theodore groove type of sound. KIcks ass, according to me!

  • pridgeon is better but i still love jon theodore. both drummers have influenced me immensely volta is a totally different band now but i think the change is a good thing cause they are playing music of the future

  • i disagree prigden may be better at solos, but as a drummer myself theodore is has one of the best feels in rock. theodore is more creative in my opinion. the only thing pridgen is better at is solos. which really dont matter that much

  • Jon's feet is the last thing I would want to have as a drummer!

  • He's playing an acrylic set? They sound terrible they are made mostly for hip hop. I like Jon but I prefer Thomas because he plays with a lot of energy too, but I think Jon wouldn't have been on board with Octahedron drums.

  • John Bonham and Nick Mason also played on acrylic, and all of the mars volta is played on acrylic...Acrylic is tipycally a vintage hard rock sound... absolutely not terrible.

  • john bonham and nick mason: two amazing drummers from two immortal bands.

    long live zep, floyd, and tmv!!!!

  • Yea......

    I think they are both amazing, but Theodore fits with the Mars Volta better than Pridgen does. I absolutely love their music with Jon, but with Pridgen....its almost too much. so......in my opinion, I prefer Jon......but they are both still amazing

  • @ddobrilovic2 Blake Fleming wrote most of the drums for deloused through amputechture. So, all of the Pridgen haters and Jon lovers, get the facts straight.

  • @tcslick420 are there any recordings of that ?

  • @TheDesine of what, the original tracks? who knows. i know in an ionterview omar said he would show the beats to jon but he didnt tell jon the other drummer wrote him because he would feel bad.

  • @ddobrilovic2 and they both dont wear shirts..

  • @ddobrilovic2 I think Jon worked well for the albums that he played on and Thomas worked well for the albums that he played on...for the most part. By the time Thomas joined the band it was much looser, funkier, and more manic than the powerful progressive rock that they had been doing (at least on their first two albums). I could see Thomas playing on "Amputechture" as that album is more stylistically akin to "Bedlam..." and I could see Jon playing on "Octahedron" as it is more constrained.

  • Theodore is way better kids, he feels the music.

    I`d like to see TP 1 day play Cassandra...

    He can´t even play Televators LOL.

  • Stupid to compare TP and JT, even though they played in the same band. JT is more about playing calmer things and sometimes putting in fast killer fills. TP is more about being energetic all they way through, it's his thing. Televators is a calm song, that's why TP don't play it as well as JT, but I seriously doubt that JT can perform as good as TP on for example Ilyena.

  • youre an ass

  • @hectorcancino Who are you to say what he feels?

  • I noticed... people just hate change..... Cause this guy is not that sweet! Thomas is Much better! that solo was wack

  • this is fucking take the veil i used to watch this concert all the time the older the video the better

  • This is eunuch. Not take the veil.

  • @Thescot619 youre such a dumbshit

  • bedlam and octahedron are fucking sweet

  • yes! cedric's dancing ^_^

  • what are volta without theodore, every since he left they turned shit, who ever thinks pridgin is better clearly has no clue

  • i agree brahh thumps up for me

  • I agree immensely. Octahedron was a dumbed down joke. Technical skills though, pridgen is superior. John Theodore knew the music. Felt it more. Meticulously crafted his every drum stroke. He is just more tasteful. I don't want to see a drum battle between them though. I fear for Jon's life.

  • Exactly dude. Thomas started to play the drums when still in his father's balls. He must be one of the most technically skilled drummers out there. However, Theodore has all the feel, the music and the voodoo fire in him. He's always playing like a total savage, and yet never overplays. For me JT >>>>>> TP.

  • I don't fully agree with your statement: "He's always playing like a total savage, and yet never overplays". True that he doesn't overplay, but he's not playing like "a total savage". Jon is able to play calmer things and still make it really interesting to listen to even though he doesn't make crazy fills. Thomas has some energy issue which makes him wanna play a thousand beats per second. They're styles are not that equal to be fairly compared.

  • this cats got nothin on pridgen

  • Hes a decent drummer, but omar writes all the music(besides the lyrics), and at the time thomas fit the high energy cedric and omar have. Which obviously was the right choice!

  • I know exactly what you mean. The drummers following him are extremely talented, but his style was most effectively. Case and Point, Deloused In the Comatorium.

  • And to reiterate - "This Apparatus Must be Unearthed"

  • it's take the veil by the way

  • @Thescot619 hahahahhaha omg your a fucking idiot.

  • effective* (fuck murhpys law)

  • in my perfect world both Jon and Thomas would be in the Volta. I prefer Jon's style when they're doing improv and jam sessions but I prefer Thomas's style when they're playing high intensity stuff. They're both awesome drummers and both easily fit w/ the style of music.

    At this point I just hope Thomas lasts because I don't think I can deal with having to learn to love yet another drummer.......unless Jon wants to come back.

  • i miss jon's musicality

  • I love this video! His playing, his presence, the sound of his drums and his bombastic approach to drumming make Jon one of my all-time favorite drummers! I like his better than Thomas Pridgen, but I can't deny how good Thomas is as well!

  • Soooooooooooooooooooooo much better and more fun to listen to than new guy.

    I love when Cedric dances

  • i think its either just a closing outro to the song, or its a jam bridge going back into Eunoch Provocetuer

  • great chops!

  • what song is that after the drum solo?

  • i believe it goes into a jam and drunkship after that (so there's no eunuch "reprise").

  • any idea on the depth of that bass drum? looks shallower than 14"

  • it's 14" by 26" inches. maybe it looks weird because of its huge diameter or the strange video aspect ratio.

  • Comment removed

  • it must be the video, bonham's bass drum looks a lot deeper than this one and they're supposedly the same size

  • @sirray thats such a tall ass fucking bass drum! fuck!!!!!

  • i though his 14 tom just made it look small, but if you check out the other vids it loooks deeper, maybe he got another? acrylic drums are renound to crack

  • I just don't know... but anyone could have played this not so amazing solo. BTW, It would be better if Jon used his feet more.

  • agreed. this guys good and he made some awesome music with the band, but i personally think pridgen is a better fit and a much more blastastic drummer.

  • 1:58 is quite possibly the dirtiest groove in the world. DURTEH.

  • i think hes really good in one day as a lion

  • I wish I was a drummer. But I''m stuck playing fucking guitar.

  • SNARE MASTER!

  • y did jon left mars? he was just replace or ders somthng else?

  • He wasn't happy playing with them anymore. ANd because that brought the mood of the others down, CXedric fired him and Jon agreed it was the best for everyone.

  • he is still my favorite drummer not who i think is the best just my favorite

  • Mine as well. Thomas seems like a cool guy though, and the drumming on Octahedron was really good!

  • Yeah he was replaced

  • Cause Jon pissed off Omar. Jon wanted to take control and Omar like his control over the band, since he rights all the notes for all the instruments.

  • Skills.

  • LOL @ 2:07!!! Gotta love seein' Cedric creep back into the mix with his mesmerizing dancing!

  • One of my favorite drummers ever.

  • I hear Hitler really likes him too.

    Now, let's see how long it takes you to decode that joke!

    Jon is great, BTW, no disrespect.

  • You're talking about that Hitler liking TMV video right? hahaha

  • Honestly I am tired of the Jon Thomas comparisons... They both make music that... is FAR beyond most if not everyone else's imagination.

    No matter what drummer they have they are still The Mars Volta at the end of the day...

  • I'm tired of Jon Thomas comparisons too. I keep telling them that it's homoerotic but no-one listens. It's got so I don't want to go to the damn PTA meetings anymore.

  • lol

  • holy shit.

    how does he play that beat at 1:59.

    oh, and the mars volta created God

  • ah he has a mad choice in kit... big and powerful like bonzo

  • those drums sound gooooood

    however i kind of like thomas solos more because they keep the energy of the song.. theodor slows down way too much IMO

    how ever i love the guy.. he has brilliant parts.. and thomas has his own..

    they arent the same guy so they shoudnlt be playing the same thing

    stop hatin people

    enjoy

  • one of his favorite drummers is billy cobham,one of the greatest ever look him up

  • it looks like hes standing...

  • jon theodore is now in a two peice band playing drums, along with the singer from rage against the machine who does vocals and keyboard. they are called One day as a lion, and they are pretty deece

  • He's still with TMV on here???

  • He wasn't fired until 2006.

  • he wasnt fired

    he quit dude

  • The first time i heard this solo, i said "Haha, it's like John Bonham, this drum sound, 100% Bonham.

    The rythm at 1:58 is fucking amazing. I wish i could get this whole live version, : (!

  • he's good but with a bigger kit he probably would do a better solo

  • bigger kits do not mean better solos, in fact using a smaller kit forces you to be more creative and ingenuitive.

  • yeah but a bigger kit means more colors for your picture, u can be as creative as u want with your 6 colors... but if you give that same dude the crayola 300 box set i promise it'll be better

  • pft. Pridgen can have his 7 piece kit if he wants, Theodore rocks the 4 piece just as well.

  • naw man haha... i was refering more towards a terry bozzio 100 piece kit lol

  • I've seen Bozzio play that thing a few times, and I've seen Peart on a giant kit, and the drummers that impress me most are still the guys that do a lot with a little. Thomas Pridgen plays a smaller kit than those two and I think it comes out better. I've been blown away by Bruford on a tiny little jazz kit.

  • As a drummer I completely disagree.

    I play a four piece set, and my drum teacher constantly compliments me on my fills even though I use very little amount of different drums/cymbals in one solo or fill.

    What really matters is how much feeling you put into it and how colorful the solo is (which you tend to do better with fewer drums instead of just doing 16th notes across twenty toms) while still staying on time.

  • I would agree I like the jazz set-up if it was good enough for Buddy it's good enough for me

  • i hear alot of john bohnam influence in this and other mars volta songs. i dig the clear drums, too. bohnam had a clear set in zepplin's "the song remains the same" dvd.

  • He is one of the main reasons I started playing drums.

    I'm gonna join a marching band so I can learn how to roll like that! Hot diggity damn!

  • jon has incredible hand action with his continuous ghost notes, but thomas' foot is faster than 3