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2020 Summary

December 12 drums, lydia evangeline, miles horn, music, recording, remote sessions, samuel lane, samuel nicholson, session, the factory No Comments

2020 was a difficult year for everyone, particularly musicians and creatives. My last live gig before the pandemic hit was on 12th March, and like everyone else I struggled to stay afloat for the rest of the year. Fortunately I was able to continue teaching online via Zoom, and I did more recording than ever, both remotely and in studios when restrictions were briefly eased. Here are a few highlights from the projects I was able to get involved with in 2020.

Lydia Evangeline

When lockdown began I was unable to access my usual studio and rehearsal spaces, and eventually resorted to setting up my drums and recording gear at home in my tiny flat. As well as working on a series of Corona Collab videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLF-CthqlVBKVVs9VUlByko_mV_4X0T2dX&v=VLkQQRk3hhw), I got called to track for a few different artists. One of these was Lydia Evangeline, whose producer Matt Fury asked me to play on the song ‘Strange’. I was really happy to be involved with this one – Lydia’s songwriting is great, and musically it was right up my alley: the reference was even Phoebe Bridgers, one of my favourites. The song was released in July, receiving international radio play and almost 100K streams – not bad for drums recorded in a living room!

Samuel Nicholson

In September I was fortunate enough to play on an album for Samuel Nicholson, another great singer/songwriter whose previous work I love. We recorded it at 123 Studios in Peckham, a lovely spot with some amazing gear, and tracked nine songs live as a band over two days. This was pretty intense, but fun, and I’m really happy with how they all turned out. I used the studio’s 1966 Ludwig Super Classic with my 1954 Leedy & Ludwig snare for the entire record, just tweaking tuning, dampening and changing cymbals on each song. Here are a few clips from the sessions:

Vineyard St Albans

I’ve been part of the worship team at Vineyard for several years now, usually playing on Sundays to a congregation of hundreds, but during lockdown we were forced to start recording acoustic sets remotely. I produced several of these at home with my wife, but in the summer we moved to doing socially-distanced full-band sets at The Factory studios in Harpenden. These were all recorded and filmed by Eduardo and Leidy Vieira, both of whom are super talented and generous with their time and gifts. It’s been a pleasure not only to serve our local church but to play regularly with great musicians and friends in the absence of gigs. Below is a recent set with Samuel Lane.

Miles Horn

Towards the end of the year I also started working out of The Factory for my remote sessions. It’s a killer room and I think I’m getting my best sounds yet – I’m really grateful to Eduardo and the rest of the team for letting me use the space. My first project there was an EP for Miles Horn, who I originally played with back in 2013. It was great to catch up with Miles and work with him again on some new tunes, and I’m really looking forward to hearing the finished record.

Here’s a quick video showcasing some of the sounds from The Factory, going from completely raw to mixed then adding some overdubs. Get in touch if you need drums or percussion on your music!

I’m so grateful to everyone who hired me or made music with me in 2020; it’s always appreciated but now so more than ever. Hopefully 2021 will bring better and brighter times all round.

Corona Collabs

June 6 coronacollab, groove, recording, remote sessions, studio No Comments

While the world has been in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, like many musicians I’ve been finding alternative ways to get creative and continue playing with others.

Unable to access my usual studio space, I set up drums in the living room of my small flat just outside London – I’d never attempted this before due to space and noise concerns, but was left with no alternative during lockdown. It worked well and sounded surprisingly good, so I recorded and filmed a few grooves that eventually turned into a series of Corona Collab videos.

I sent the audio files to some of my favourite players in the UK and US, who tracked their parts then sent them back for me to mix and edit (with the exception of the first video, which was put together by Hunter). I didn’t specify anything musically, leaving it up to the musicians’ own judgement and taste; I’m super happy with what everyone played and how all the grooves came together.

Although I knew all the guys involved, each video features a combination of musicians that have never played together before in person – it’s been really fun to bring people from different worlds together and see how our styles blend. I’ve been missing playing live and doing traditional sessions over this period, but this has been a really fun creative outlet and method of collaborating which almost certainly wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

Huge thanks to Hunter West, Harry Phillips, Matt Aston, Ross Spurdle, Jude Smith, Matt Dinnadge, Charlie Thornton and Jack Shepherd for their time and playing: they’re all amazing musicians and worth checking out and following. All four Corona Collabs can be found below.

2019 Summary

December 12 call me loop, drummer, drums, emily mae winters, emily stratford, joe blustin, live, london, longfellow, marc james, remote sessions, session, studio No Comments

I had another busy year, continuing to work on some of my regular long-term projects as well as getting involved with a couple of new ones. Here’s a little of where 2019 took me.

Studio

I had several sessions with my pals over at The Bookhouse this year, playing on records for various singer/songwriters. It remains one of my favourite spots in London, with a cosy vibe and some lovely gear. Tom and Ian are both great engineers, and having worked together for a while now things run really smoothly.

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Back at @thebookhousestudio tracking with @chrlsbsh on my lovely Luddy

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Feb 15, 2019 at 1:17pm PST

In June I tracked drums for Marc James‘ next album at Old Chapel Studios in Chichester, a studio I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. Although I’ve played live with Marc for years this is the first time I’ve recorded his stuff, and it was a super fun day. The live room at Old Chapel sounds incredible, and we used a nice variety of gear including the studio’s 70s Ludwig and a few snare drums. Looking forward to hearing the finished product.

Towards the end of the year I found a new spot to run remote sessions from, my friend Phil’s home studio. I’m really pleased to be collaborating with him; we’ve pooled our resources and between us have loads of cool drums, percussion instruments and recording gear to put to use. Below are some examples of the sounds we can get using different gear, tuning and mix techniques.

For rates and more info get in touch via simon@simontreasure.com

Live

One of my favourite shows of the year was in May, when I filled in for Matt Ingram at the launch of folk artist Emily Mae Winters‘ album High Romance. Matt produced and played drums on the record, and it was a pleasure to learn his parts and replicate all the different tones and textures. It was also nice to return to The Water Rats where I played my first London show 10 years ago!

I continued playing with Call Me Loop throughout the year, with several London shows, a couple of festivals and in October her first headline mini-tour of the UK. We hit Glasgow, Manchester and London and had a blast, with great crowds and shows all round. Below is the hybrid setup I’ve been using on the gig.

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Had a blast on @callmeloop’s mini headline run last week. Here’s a cheeky rig shot from Glasgow

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Nov 3, 2019 at 9:56am PST

Releases

A few things came out this year that I was involved with. Firstly, Joe Blustin‘s Where Else EP that we tracked last summer, a mix of great worship songwriting and indie/electronic production.

Emily Stratford put out the two songs that we recorded at Livingston Studios in October 2018, produced by Sam Holmes and James Mottershead and featuring some lovely guitar work from my friend Harry Phillips.

Finally, my band Longfellow‘s eponymous debut album was released after a very long wait. Making this record in Brighton at Toy Room Studios was one of the best experiences of my career so far, and I’m really proud of both my playing on it and the album as a whole.

You can check all of these out on my discography playlist below.

Thanks to everyone I worked with this year for trusting me with your music; I really appreciate it and look forward to more in 2020.

2018 Summary

December 12 alex tinlin, call me loop, drummer, drums, gig, harry phillips, longfellow, martin luke brown, memmy, omyo, session, simon treasure, studio, thunderson No Comments

2018 was a big year for me both professionally and personally. Here are some of the highlights.

January

The start of the year brought a session at AIR, a legendary studio which has always been on my bucket list. I played on a couple of great songs with singer/songwriter Martin Luke Brown and guitarist Matt Zara which are yet to be released – stay tuned.

February

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Went with the old faithful for today’s tracking

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Feb 28, 2018 at 9:11am PST

In February I was busy with remote sessions from my own space, tracking for artists including Alex Tinlin and Thunderson. One of the tracks I worked on was mastered at Abbey Road and is available here.

March

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18 hours in Berlin with @omyomusic

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Mar 3, 2018 at 9:28pm PST

This year I started working with pop duo OMYO as their MD and drummer, which has been a lot of fun. We played a show at the nHow Berlin in March.

April

April took me to LA with Longfellow to play a showcase at MusExpo, a prestigious industry conference. It was great to play my first US show and explore LA with the lads. We also released two new singles in 2018, Plasticine and Therapy, both out on Spotify.

May

I’ve continued to play with Samuel Lane regularly at the Vineyard Church St Albans. In May we played a set at Big Church Day Out festival, including several tunes off Sam’s new album The Difference. The record is fantastic and features drumming by Aaron Sterling, one of my favourites – was a treat to dig in and try to do justice to his parts.

June

This month brought the first OMYO headline shows with a full band, in London and Oxford. Both were really successful, and it was great to see everything come together after lots of planning and rehearsals.

July

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Just finished two glorious days of tracking for @blustinjoseph’s EP with @danielwheeldon at the helm and @charliethorntonagram on bass. Can’t wait to hear the finished record

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Jul 18, 2018 at 10:32am PDT

In July I worked on a great EP by another Vineyard worship artist, Joseph Blustin, with my pal Dan Wheeldon producing. We tracked drums, bass and guitars at Dan’s studio in St Albans, then keys and vocals at Canvas Studios in Birmingham with Dave Plumb. The EP is now up for pre-order here.

August

I was fortunate enough to play several festivals with Call Me Loop this summer, including RiZE in Essex, where we played the second stage, and Belfast Vital. The latter was my biggest show to date, supporting Zara Larsson and Martin Garrix with a 20,000 strong crowd.

September-October

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Great time tracking a couple of @memmy_strat’s tunes at Livingston the other day with @mottsyj at the helm

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Oct 27, 2018 at 2:44am PDT

I was busy with traditional sessions over this period, working with Harry Phillips at Resident Studios in Willesden and Memmy at Livingston Studios in Wood Green. My new Gretsch USA kit sounded lovely on both.

November

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Had a blast with the gang at @callmeloop’s headline show last night. Here’s a cheeky band moment from the end of Association

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Nov 17, 2018 at 6:23am PST

November featured a headline show with Call Me Loop at Camden Assembly, her second to date, which was sold out and went great. It’s been a pleasure to work with Georgia over the last couple of years; looking forward to more shows in 2019.

December

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Last one from @thebookhousestudio, wide open and high for some Bonham flavours

A post shared by S I M O N T R E A S U R E (@treasuredrums) on Dec 29, 2018 at 10:32am PST

Towards the end of the year my buddies Tom Hill and Ian Hansen set up a new studio in SE London called The Bookhouse – I spent a lot of the month helping them out and doing some tracking there. It’s a relaxed, vibey space with high end gear, check it out if you need anything recorded.

Lots more to come next year; follow me on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up.

Festival Season

May 5 call me loop, festival, gig, longfellow, omyo, samuel lane, summer No Comments

I’ve got a nice run of festivals this summer with a few different projects, so thought I’d post the dates here. Come and check them out if you’re able to.

5th May // Live At Leeds // Call Me Loop
17th May // The Great Escape // Call Me Loop
26th May // Big Church Day Out // Samuel Lane

7th July // Festival Of 50 // Longfellow
14th July // Thame Town Music Festival // OMYO

4th August // Neverworld // Call Me Loop
17th August // Rize // Call Me Loop
24th August // The Big Feastival // OMYO
25th August // Vital // Call Me Loop
27th August // Manchester Pride // OMYO

2017 Summary

December 12 drummer, drums, festival, gig, holiday oscar, istanbul agop, LOOP, lucio & dina, marc james, music, recording, remote sessions, session, simon treasure, studio, tour 1 Comment

This time I thought I’d just pick a few of my favourite moments from the year.

Favourite Gig

Playing with Holiday Oscar at Bestival in September was a real highlight. Everything came together for this show – the vibe was super relaxed and fun, the band gelled together with minimal rehearsal and the crowd responded really well, singing along by the end of the set. I loved recreating Charlie’s songs live and choosing which kit/percussion parts to play. I ended up with different implements in each hand for every song, using a mixture of sticks, brushes, mallets, tambourines and a shaker as in the above track.

Favourite Tour

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVNiuZHFDzd/?taken-by=callmeloop

In May I went on a short European run with LOOP supporting Jonas Blue, hitting Cologne, Amsterdam, Paris and London. As well as playing drums, I edited the above tour video. It was amazing to play in new countries and some great venues, my favourite probably being Luxor. We sustained a few technical issues, but these were all overcome and the shows went great. Tickets for LOOP’s first headline show on 17th January available here.

Favourite Session

I recorded drums for Lucio & Dina Santana’s album Amor/Love in July. We tracked 11 songs in an 8 hour session (including setup), which is the most I’ve ever done. With the exception of one song I hadn’t heard any of the tunes before, so it was a case of listening to the demos, briefly discussing parts, doing 2 or 3 passes then moving on. Despite the time constraints it was a really rewarding session and I’m pleased with how the record came out. Stylistically it ranges from CCM pop/rock to more acoustic songs and even bossa nova on one track. My ’70s Ludwig kit sounded perfect in the room we used, and it was great to work with Marc James again, this time in the role of producer.

I’ve also done more remote session work this year – get in touch via simon@simontreasure.com to talk about recording drums for your project.

Thanks to everyone I worked with in 2017, looking forward to more next year.

News | Istanbul Agop Endorsement

March 3 cymbals, endorsement, istanbul agop No Comments

Really pleased to announce that I’m now endorsing Istanbul Agop Cymbals.

I’ve been playing these instruments for the past couple of years and it’s an honour to join some of my favourite drummers in representing them officially. In my opinion Agop are producing the most versatile and musical cymbals out there. Many thanks to the guys at BR Distribution.

See my Gear List for details of the models I currently play.

2016 Summary

December 12 atiptoe, band, gig, harry phillips, longfellow, LOOP, marc james, recording, session, studio No Comments

This year was another busy one, filled with fun and varied gigs. Here’s a little of what I got up to with the 5 main projects I’m involved in.

Harry Phillips

In January we tracked Harry’s first album, English Americana, at Resident Studios. Several songs were recorded live as a band, which is always a great way to work, and my vintage Ludwig Super Classic sounded beautiful in the live room at Resident. Drums for some of the other tunes were tracked remotely at my studio space, which worked well – Tom Hill did a great job of mixing the record. English Americana got some airtime on BBC 3CR over the summer, and we played a few shows in support.

Atiptoe

Atiptoe released our mini-album +Venture in May. I put a lot of work into this record, from writing, recording, playing drums and keys to designing the artwork and editing promo videos, so it was great to finally get it out in the world. We then went on tour with Redwood, hitting Brighton, Bristol, London, Nottingham, Hertford and Bracknell. I’m taking a step back from playing live in the band – it’s been an amazing 6 years with some of my closest friends and I’m really proud of the music we’ve made together, but my energy’s focused on other projects for now.

LOOP

I started playing in LOOP’s live band this year, and got to do some great London shows and festivals. I also took more of an MD role on this gig, creating playback and designing a setup that would best recreate her electronic pop sound. Playing-wise the gig is very different to everything else I’m doing, with much more of a focus on precise parts and sounds. LOOP had the Introducing Track of the week on Radio 1 in December and is releasing an EP soon through M:UK; I’m looking forward to working with her more in 2017.

Marc James

Marc launched his album Promise in October 2015 but it was this year that we promoted it extensively, playing shows at churches all over the UK. I grew up listening to Marc on the old Vineyard records and love his music, so it’s been an absolute pleasure to get to play drums for him. Towards the end of the year we also got involved with Dave Griffiths’ Big Window tour, taking worship music to secular venues in cities including Oxford, Southampton and Bristol. Each night featured sets from Dave, Marc and Danny O’Callaghan, all brilliant Christian artists and songwriters.

Longfellow

Longfellow played our biggest headline show yet in February, at Bush Hall. We then spent the rest of the year working on our debut album after signing a publishing deal with Cooking Vinyl in June. The record was tracked at Toy Rooms studio in Brighton with producers Andy Britton and Mike Rowe, who were great to work with. We pulled each song apart and worked on their arrangements; once these were set, we recorded them live as a band and then overdubbed other parts as needed. It was amazing to have more time to experiment with tones and parts, and I’m really happy with both my playing on the album and how it sounds as a whole. Look out for the record next year.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @treasuredrums for regular updates.

Gear List

February 2 akg, audio technica, audix, big fat snare drum, c&c, cascade, drum tortillas, dw, focusrite, gear, index drums, istanbul agop, ludwig, meinl, session, shure, simon treasure, sony, studio No Comments

Below is a list of the gear I’m currently using.

KITS

Ludwig 1970 Super Classic (22×14/13×9/16×16)
Beverley 1960s New Standard (20×14/12×8/16×16)
Yamaha Oak Custom (22×17/10×8/12×9/14×12/16×16)

SNARE DRUMS

Q Drum Co Gentlemen’s Aluminium (14×5.5)
Ludwig Acrolite (14×6.5)
C&C Copper Over Brass (14×6.5)
Leedy & Ludwig 1954 ‘The Reliance’ (14×6.5)
Odery Maple & Burl (14×8)
Ludwig 1968 Legionnaire Parade Drum (14×10)

CYMBALS

Istanbul Agop 10″ Xist Ion Splash
Istanbul Agop 10″ Xist Dry Dark Hi Hats
Istanbul Agop 15″ Traditional Medium Hi Hats
Istanbul Agop 15″ Mantra Hi Hats
Istanbul Agop 16″ 30th Anniversary Hi Hats
Istanbul Agop 19″ Traditional Dark Crash
Istanbul Agop 20″ Traditional Dark Crash
Istanbul Agop 20″ Traditional Medium Crash
Istanbul Agop 20″ Xist Crash
Istanbul Agop 20″ Signature Ride
Istanbul Agop 22″ Traditional Medium Crash
Istanbul Agop 22″ Mel Lewis Ride
Istanbul Agop 22″ Special Edition Jazz Ride
Istanbul Agop 23″ Matt Chamberlain Ride

ACCESSORIES

Vic Firth 55A
Remo Heads (Coated Vintage Ambassador or coated Controlled Sound on snare, coated Vintage Emperor on toms and clear or coated Powerstroke 3 on bass drum)
DW Hardware (Mixture of 3000, 6000 and 9000)
Snareweight M1 and M80
Keplinger Ching Ring
Tackle Instrument Supply Co. Skeleton key sizzle chain
Index Drums Shakers
Big Fat Snare Drum (Steve’s Donut)
Drum Tortillas

ELECTRONICS

Roland SPD-SX
Roland KT10, RT-30HR & RT-30K triggers
Cymatic Audio LP-16

MICROPHONES

Kick In: AKG D112
Kick Out: Neumann TLM 103
Snare Top: Shure SM57
Snare Bottom: Shure SM57
Toms: Audix D2 x2
Overheads: Audio Technica 4033a x2
Knee: Shure SM57
Hi-Hat: SE Electronics SE8
Close Room: Slate Digital ML1
Far Room: Cascade Fathead

STUDIO

Tascam DM4800 digital mixer
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
2015 MacBook Pro
Logic Pro X

VIDEO

Sony A6300 (Samyang 12mm f2.0, Sony 35mm f1.8, Sigma 16mm f1.4)
Adobe Premiere Pro CC

2015 Summary

December 12 No Comments

2015 was a busy year. I was fortunate enough to work with some amazing people and play every type of gig from weddings, theatre shows and festivals to TV and radio sessions. These were some of the highlights.

The start of the year brought a few singer/songwriter gigs and sessions, with Harry Phillips, Aaron and Paulaa. All great artists in their own ways, and well worth checking out.

In March I joined Longfellow as a permanent member, which became my main focus for the rest of the year. We played London shows at venues including Scala, the Electric Ballroom and the Hospital Club, and festivals including Live At Leeds, Nibley and Radio 2 Live at Hyde Park. We also flew to Amsterdam in August for a day of radio sessions promoting the Benelux release of our Remedy EP. Playing on national radio at 8am on a few hours’ sleep was very testing, but fun.

In May I had the opportunity to play my first TV session, on TBN UK with Samuel Lane. This was also challenging, not only because of the pressure of playing an hour-long set on camera, but also due to volume restrictions in the studio. Playing at a low level but maintaining the intensity and feel was hard, but definitely a useful experience. The session will air in early 2016.

Atiptoe toured a little in 2015, but were mainly working on our new record, due out next year. The above picture is from the drum session at Stakeout Studios, with Chris Coulter engineering.

Towards the end of the year I set up my own studio space, which means I’m now able to do remote drum sessions. Please get in touch with any enquiries, and check back for more details and examples of tracks recorded here.

Looking forward to bigger and better things in 2016.