Last night a portion of our drum group drove down to New Jersey to see a concert by the Hip Pickles. They were great, it was fun and it inspired us.

I had seen this group on the Modern Drummer Festival Weekend 2003 DVD and loved them, watching their piece of the DVD numerous times. There were three (pickles) back then but these days they’re down to two. I’d say given that much of their act is choreography (moving around playing each other’s drums, etc.) they need that third person but they did a fine job as two and I doubt anyone else in the audience noticed.

Besides playing lots of Remo (their sponsor) hand drums and congas, they played their trademark regimental routines with snares, toms, both on stands and hanging on them. They are famous at football game half time shows for this piece of their act and it was great last night.

One of our members, Jenn Whitney, who played with Glen Velez in his concert at this venue in New Jersey enjoyed the Hip Pickles a lot, even though their music is all about fun and driving beat where Glen’s is much more serious, worldly, and even intellectual. We had a lot of fun last night and the drive home led to serious contemplation of new, funny, “pickled” names for our drum group. Stay tuned.