Prediction: Luis Burgos Jr will win this year’s Guitar Center Drum Off competition. I saw Luis twice during this year’s contest, which concludes with the Grand Finals on January 16th, 2016, in Los Angeles. FYI, Luis competed via the North East region.
I was at the Quarter Final round at NYC’s Union Square store on October 27th, which Luis easily won. He crushed everyone. No contest. Then, on November 17th, I attended the Semi Finals at the Times Square store. The competition was tougher, but again, Luis was very clearly the winner. He was significantly more polished than any other contestant. There is a link to a video of that performance near the end of this post. Another reason I’m betting on him is that he’s been to the finals before (2010), so he’s not green in the ways of the Drum Off.
So, I’m going out on a limb to predict that Luis Burgos Jr will win Guitar Center’s 2015 Drum Off. Let’s check out some videos…
From April 2015 at NYC’s The Red Lion with the band City of Six:
At the Brooklyn store finals on October 7th:
So, watch out for the Grand Finals in January, and make sure you check out the video of his performance there so you see and hear what is certain to be a masterful performance with serious drumming bad-assery. The video and audio from the Grand Finals are always top-notch, so it will be a treat.
Exciting stuff.
He first gained attention as one of the winners of Modern Drummer magazine's very first drum solo contest, judged by Rush's Neil Peart.
He's played with Oz Noy, Will Lee, Alison Krauss, Curtis Stigers, Emily Remler, Joel Hoekstra, GE Smith, Andy York, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Shanahan, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and many other artists.
For more info: onlinesessiondrummer.com
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Not buying it, my friend. That’s a lot of diarrhea there. No dynamics. No thematic development. Just combinations of gospel licks. Takes more than speed and gospel licks to be a great player.
Thanks for chiming in, DJ! Let’s just see what happens in January. I think Luis does know how to develop thematically and I believe he can control his dynamics. However, the Drum Off competition doesn’t always require that. It requires groove, chops and seamless integration and original use of the Octapad–all of which Luis has cold. He knows the game he’s playing and he is competing successfully at it. The rules of the game in this case require a certain type of playing which you may not like. Personally, I enjoyed Luis’ playing a lot, and I am predicting a win in January….. Thanks again for giving your opinion…it’s much appreciated.
Mark F