Climate Change

Lucas van Merwijk Solo Album

Climate Change
Lucas van Merwijk solo album

Lucas van Merwijk plays three drum sets on Climate Change. First, his Latin set, or the signature set that he has played countless times over the last 25 years. Secondly, a small, contemporary set with electronics, playing along with the percussive beats of the backing track. And third, a jazz set, and not just any one: Van Merwijk has been managing the original, yellow Tony Williams set for a few years now, played by Miles Davis's master drummer himself.

Interview about the album in Dutch drum magazine De Slagwerkkrant

We spoke to Lucas van Merwijk prior to the release. He indicates that he did not dare to touch that Tony Williams set for years. "It was piled up in the house and it became kind of a psychological barrier to play on it. You still feel the ghost of Tony. Some kind of magic. The weird thing about that set is that once you start playing it, you immediately have that Tony sound. Bizarre. This is due to the large tom sizes of die Gretsch: 13 ”, 14”, 14 ”, 16” and 18 ”, with black dots. They are actually the skins that Tony himself played on.
"You can tune the set very high, and because of the large measures it still sounds full. You also have a huge bounce, so everything will roll out by itself. I'm quite inclined to vote low myself - so shall I say my Gadd past. So once I got behind the set, I didn't know what was happening to me. Inspiration! Not normal! I've been playing for five hours straight. And everything included! I extracted eight tracks that are now on the album, mainly from the beginning of the recording actually. It sounded so fresh! After that first session, I didn't play the set anymore ... "

New inspiration
It is exactly 25 years ago that we did a really big interview with Lucas van Merwijk with Slagwerkkrant. Back then he was mainly active with Nueva Manteca, Denise Jannah and Sticks & Strings. Since then he has created a furore with numerous bands and projects. The Cubop City Big Band will also exist for 25 years in 2020. With Drums United he has given a new impulse to percussion music in theaters. With Music Machine he fed his latin fusion roots, and in The Professionalz he shows that he was chosen several times by our readers as best jazz drummer in the Benelux. He is currently touring the Netherlands and Germany with his special project The Soul Of New York's Spanish Harlem. And soon Drums United will be touring with the Artvark Saxophone Quartet: four saxophonists, four drummers.
In the meantime he is ready for new inspiration for his drumming itself. Lucas: "All those projects I've done over the years were often my idea, but of course it's not about my drumming. While you do get all kinds of ideas over the years. But I wasn't sure what to do with it. On the one hand, I am in an educational pattern, because of teaching at the conservatory. Then you think very analytically and you explain everything you do. But on the other hand, you also have an artistic development and you want your music to stay fresh, develop. That you no longer fall into your habits.

Beats and 9-Beats
"I went into the studio and started programming beats. Around that I started making tracks and then I re-recorded the beats again. Eight tracks of that have been recorded. So on the CD I have eight tracks with the Tony Williams set, eight tracks with beats that I play around on a small acoustic set, and some tracks with the Latin set. In those songs you also hear all kinds of percussion. I play everything myself, yes. For the first time in a long time I also played congas again. "
A themed record, and unique because you only hear drums, beats, percussion and sparingly some keyboards. And yet it is one great listening adventure. Live, this will only gain more value when you see how Van Merwijk, with his flexible style and great improvisation, bends the compositions to his will.