Louie's Legit Drumming?

[fcollazo]

Could somebody clarify which Petra albums did Louie actually really played drums in. Was it all computer drums, triggered were he would hit a skin but the actual sound is digitized or are there Petra albums with actual acoustic drums in it? Because it was like that, it takes a lot away from the feel and changes in intensity from the nuances of human performance. I do not understand, if he played such a perfect set on CITAS why was he replaced on other records? Sounds silly to me. Any ideas?

[St_Augustines_Pears]

I hope Louie played on GOD FIXATION. That album has the best drum sound, IMO.

Let's ask someone who might know. Paging Brent on line one...Brent, line one.

[JMBJR72]

He also played the drums in Wake up Call.Brent could tell us for sure!

[petraman]

Helloooooooooooooooooo Brent are you there?

[brent]

The early albums Louie didn't play on were either played by Keith Edwards or some other guy (can't recall his name). BTS was done by the guy in LA who did the rest of the album on the Fairlight. The albums during the E brothers years were midi mapped by John Lawry on a sequencer with Louie over dubbing. Brian Tankersley had the remix/Radio Daze records played by someone else. All of the other recordes from then on are Louie. The first album he says that he got to go in and just play what came to him the way he wanted was their worst IMO (the Sonic Petra Flood record), but not because of his playing.

Wake Up Call was awesome wasn't it? Petra recorded at one of the best studios in the world (which has since been closed and turned into condos. It was awesome that Petra got to be in that studio's history. God Fixation is a good record too.

Louie can rock fellers. He is a strong willed, opinionated, prankster with tons of energy who can still play what other A list players can play, if allowed.

BTW, it is 6:20 in the morning, so....I THINK is is all right. I will check back when I wake up.

[executioner]

I think the Wake Up Call drums are the best Petra has ever done; They were clean, clear and crisp without the muddy bass sound that were on the previous albums. Unseen Power, God Fixation, and JAH were also good to great. The Unseen Power sound has a metal feel to me, and God Fixation took awhile to grow on me but it has over the last few years.
Going the opposite end of the spectrum would have to be BTS & ND. I think the drums in these two could have made a world of difference for these two if the had that WUC sound.

[executioner]

I think I remember it being Kevin playing on Hello Again.

[blayze5150]

Wake-Up call rocked! One song I really liked the drums on from Beyond Belief was "Armed and Dangerous." I know it was all programming, but that machine gun sounding snare at the beginning was way cool!

[SCJ-7]

Louie Weaver was here in Puerto Rico in 2002 in the Revival Tour and I can only say: Louie really rocks with the drums...

[Dan]

lol, that's awesome.

[shawnpfan2010]

I wonder if he ever tried out for Petra?? He is good!!

[SCJ-7]

Matthew RJ wrote:
Was it something like this guy?


That was good! Was he trying to be a new star in a Star Wars Movie, you know, lightsabers, the Power of the Force... or what really happened to that drummer?

[Jonathan]

Hahah...ridiculous. Some of that stick work isn't that hard. I did like the Chuck E. Cheese robo-drumming.

I don't get why he's "at the wrong gig" though.

[fcollazo]

Boricua Pet head here in Orlando, FL! SCJ-7!

[CatNamedManny]

Based on Jonathan David Brown's interview with Sue (found here), Louie played on More Power to Ya, after which Brown used Keith Edwards (who had done the studio work before Louie was hired right after the completion of Never Say Die) for Not of This World and the aforementioned Fairlight programmer for Beat the System.

Here's what Brown said about the MPTY and NOTW recordings with Louie:

Anyway, Louie did GREAT, especially under the kind of pressure I was accustomed to doling out to those who could not play in time. Somewhere in there, though, we had a few tense moments which set the stage for me having to ask him during a subsequent rehearsal to sit out for Not of This World, when I hired Keith to come back. I really regretted having to do this to the band. I really loved Louie. I just was not able to get what I thought PETRA had to have. I don't know, maybe I had tunnel vision... I brought Louie in at the end and add some finishing cymbal touches. This sorta smoothed things out to where we weren't fighting a cold war.

And, later, about BTS and CITAS

So when Beat the System came around, I was not in the mood for another round of confrontational stuff. I suggested to the Darrell and Wayne and the Band that we go with a Fairlight programmer for bass and drums - Carl Marsh. ... The last record I did with them, Captured In Time And Space, made a way for Louie and me to be reconciled. I was able to really encourage him in the live performances. When the results were good, it fuelled his confidence like nothing before. I think he really had a blast. The reason I focused on Louie in this story, besides to explain the Beat the System question, is because he is the longest standing member of the group. He became what I'd consider to be one of the best and most consistent drummers in the business, and made lemonade out of the lemons he bought.

Reading that interview, which I found while doing work on the Wikipedia project, is something else. Brown is obviously reworking history to make himself sound better (his version of why he stopped working with Petra is completely the opposite of Bob's version, for example), and I've never understood -- and always thought it regrettable -- that Petra's drummer didn't actually play on some of Petra's best early albums. To hear Brown tell it, though, he made Louie into what he became during the Schlitt era. Maybe he did, but I'm pretty skeptical about taking Brown at his word, especially given his, *ahem* colorful post-Petra experiences in the early 1990s.