On 8/8/08, 88 drummers played for 88 minutes at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles and in Brooklyn on the Williamsburg waterfront. The name they give the event / piece is “88 BoaDrum” and it began at what time? 8:08 PM. Lead by the Japanese psych rock band Boredoms, the drummers played full drum kits arranged in a spiral formation. Onstage in LA, under a clear sky, Boredoms were the spiral’s center. Yamantaka Eye conducted by banging colored polls into his seven fretted guitar tower. I was on the outer shell of the spiral, right next to the crowd, drummer 56, and the 88 minutes were a blur.

It went off. It was on. It was epic and singular and multiple in its armada of fury.

88 drummers playing at the same time, the volume was sheer. Loud enough to rouse the saber tooth tiger fossil found in the tar pit years ago. The beast the drummers raised sat there in the air, listing and leaning as I had hoped. Prowling. We, the 88, banged it home. That many drums playing together sound like a march toward war. But there was no war. These drums were banged for unison, for numerology, for eternity. However eternal that is.

In the Asian culture 8 is an auspicious number. It’s pronunciation sounds similar to a word that means “prosper.” There are also ties of the 8 to the eternity symbol of the sideways 8. Whatever the meaning and reason, there was no way to get around the bigness of the sound. No way to just play or watch without being taken in. No way to be unaffected.

I had a clear sight line to EYE. And Yoshimi. Yoshimi hits the drums with huge, roundhouse strokes which make it easy to follow her. There were points when I was lost. One glance toward Yoshimi and I was back again. It was strange to make EYE contact with EYE. His energy and mind come from someplace other than here.

EYE’s blue poll meant make an accent (hit a cymbal) and keep playing the rhythm. Red meant hit a cymbal and stop. The white poll, which looked like a trident, meant go nuts, or free form. Instructions for the white poll were, “Please play strong and powerfully.” The rhythms began with Boredoms in the center and grew out sequentially around the drum spiral. The rule was to follow the drummer to your right for the pattern and follow EYE for tempo and volume swells.

EYE said, “Last year’s 77 drum event in New York on 7/7/07 had such an impact on me I thought we should do it again. It is very enjoyable to be a part of such a large, plural, and united sound. There are so many drummers here, each with their own version of making the beat. I am honored. I want them to hear us in Osaka.”

Loud it was. As the beats made their way around the spiral you could feel them as much as hear them. Audience members were right behind the drummers and there was much interaction. Snare rolls ebbed and flowed like tides and 4/4 beats washed into cymbal swells. Then a white poll came out. Poseidon EYE with his Trident - and the drum world exploded 88 different ways. With all the vibration and noise, I was worried about setting off the San Andreas fault underneath LA, but the earthquake remained on the tar pit skins.

The 88th drummer, last in the spiral, was Zach Hill from the band Hella. The 88th drummer is a power position because that drummer needs to be able to hold the pattern the longest. Zach is powerful indeed. He’s as loud as twenty drummers. He and EYE were in eye contact communicating the end of each movement and the end of the piece. His volume alone roused a leg of the tar pit saber tooth. Zach said, “Ultimately the 88 BoaDrum is inspiring. It’s inspiring to be a part of. The pureness of the energy is inspiring to the crowd as well as the drummers. I think the drums are an under-celebrated instrument. See you in 09.”

(Pictures by Angela Dawn Photo)