"I have to be that machine". You most certainly are!

good musicians are usually the modest/humble one's. i have so much respect for tomas haake.

i love his sense of humour, it's so subtle, he'll be dead serious for ages and then just throw in a bunch of crazy jokes and take the piss out of himself

Everybody's losing their mind at his playing and he's like "Yeah, it's really hard to learn". Dude even wins at being unassuming.

In many ways Haake has inverted the traditional drum set ostenato / embellishment relationship. Traditionally the feet keep time and the hands embelish. He is the other way around, and this is a clear concept which makes his playing unique and brings a new philosophy and sound to trap percussion. If I would analyse what he is saying, it is that he plays a 4/4 ostenato with the cymbals and snare, and then memorises a multi-bar melodic pattern which is played on the double bass in conjunction with the guitars and bass. This is why he doesn't need to be able to explain the polyrhythm for each bar, because the melody is not structurally significant to the time signature. edit: of course he sometimes embellishes with his hands and plays odd interpretations of 4/4, but that remains the structure, the feet remain the creative and melodic aspect around which the embellishment and musicality revolves. I hope this helps the discussion along!

such an amazing and honest person

Tomas is such a cool dude that he's being totally self-deprecating and playing it all down heavily when, of course, he knows EXACTLY what they're doing and could talk about it for hours on end, but just doesn't want to come off as an egotistical or self-indulgent prick. You the real MVP Tomas, have been for years, we all know that.

"I go like that for half an hour"... I smiled

People talk about polyrhythms and all that..stuff And I like "yeah...ohh.. you know.. I DON'T SEE THIS POLYRHYTHM" I just see it like straight-forward Complete alien.

Listening to his voice, it's hard to believe that he primarily speaks Swedish.. Almost no accent at all!

A true legend of metal drumming imho.

sickest drummer ever

I LOVE how they have so many people perplexed by their approach. It makes me feel better to hear the drummer say that he attaches himself to the straight 4/4. In my view, the strength of their music is the way that the cycles seem to pull away from the basic 4/4 pulse.

Tomas being Tomas... why we adore this gentleman, scholar & truly unique/superior musician/artist. an absolutely fabulous fellow🙏🏼

what a gent, and a giant among drummers, someone who with Meshuggah have carved themselves into some unchartered musical territories.

I have to be that machine.......thats a very important dimension of creativity....I would call it put your self in a situation that is new to you.....what is natural is also a question of your aural memory that plays tricks on you.

Not flexing Not hiding. Straight To Point. Still Living Legend. ❤

I'm relieved after watching this. This is just how I've learned Meshuggah songs so far; first the "ostenato"/the rhythm, then after it gets to your muscle memory (the foot pattern; where it begins and ends and which limb (right or left) starts and ends the cycle and how long it lasts, also with non-dividable-by-eighth/fourth-notes -cycles you can first learn the cycle in relation to fourth notes, for instance in the New Millenium cyanide Christ where the cycle in the beginning is 23/16 it takes four cycles to even even up with the quarter notes etc :D) you can start to "really" learn it by thinking 4/4 and you start to memorize how it actually sounds but still feel the rhythm on top of it. And that helps noticing your own mistakes while you're learning. Playing on top of the song helps too :) I'm glad that I watched this. Haake is goddamn great!

Tomas "you know" Haake. Master!

Tomas confirmed what we knew all along. Guy's a fucking machine.

Such a great guy, and fantastic musician. I had the pleasure of working with him snd thr rest of the 'shuggah-naughts back in the day. All Aliens! ;) Chris Pelletier in Philly

That intro was cool as shit! As both a musician and an experienced radio operator/telegrapher...i could listen to that all day.

Such a top bloke. Legend.

Drumming aside. I am so impressed with how well Thomas speaks English, he barely has an accent. Sorry, just something I noticed. Btw, loves me some Meshuggah.

Yeah its all 4/4 Laughs in polyrythm

When he was talking about remembering where 1 is, it took me back to Mr. Purdys’ clinic video. Amongst The polyrhythms he always knows where 1 is.

wise honest person and pro drummer

This is just so motivating that instead of watching the rest of the video I wanna go and Play!!!! Thank You A Lot!!!!

Can't belive i just found out about Tomas Haake. Such a humble guy and an awesome drummer. When i first heard clockworks, it blew my mind.

BEAUTIFUL intro!

Hail Almighty Tomas!

I fucking love this channel

He's so amazing.

12:10 reminds me of Jeff Hanneman just doing 0-0-0-0-0-0 before the show

13:22 Thomas has a pain fetish. @_@

Tomas got bars son

The warm up? Precious. Its a warm up, not a practice! Perfect.

what a handsome bastard

I can’t think of another band that has as large a gulf between their influence and commercial success.

"Tap them legs, babies!"

He should be able to call the shots cause you can't replace this guy. He's in a different league

This guy doesn't mess around.. He's the real deal.. A REAL MACHINE GUN..

Haake is so metal that he doesn't need a practice pad, he literally just uses his own knees. Sounds like something you would make up as a joke but it's actually true.

I love him so much

9:16 That would explain why his fills have so much finesse and intricacy in spite of the very rigid rhythms of the guitars.

Great style ...GREAT BAND...

13:23 ummm that feels noiiicccceeee that needs to become a meme, I laughed so hard 😂😂😂

Did u spell "drumtalk" in morse code?🤔

Thumbs Up for Tomas. Sweden rock

weird he has no Swedish ascent at all!

You cant tell me this dude didn't sell his soul to play that good...

Totally loving this ! :)

8:33 ... says it all. perfect.

Tomas you're Awesome bro!

so this is the guy that never skips leg day

He's just awesome...yeah, awesome

I would pay big money to go to a drum clinic with this guy. Watch him teach some more of his "polyrhythm 4/4" with playing examples and playing a few Meshuggah tunes, wrapping it up with the drum-machine-of-a-song "Bleed." haha!

Ace drummer along with Gene Hoglan

Yup Tomas Haake can do blast beats

I thought it was a painting of a jail cell behind him, and then a van drove by.

I find it funny how people bash on other bands for doing things like writing songs completely on a computer but give Meshuggah a pass. Don't get me wrong a lot of those bands suck but it seems people argue against the process rather than a band being good or not. Doesn't matter how you write the music as long as it kicks ass and Meshuggah proves that.

7:16 why would people do that!? you're basically missing the whole fun! you have to do some mental work to get it but then every 4/4 bar is a refreshing new one. great interview, legendary musician!

you are the fucking machine !

As a fellow artist I always find it so awkward when others ask for advice. An artist just FLOWS and figures the art/music out and delivers it in a way and technique that is comfortable for them. I've always said...……...music theory is for people that want to copy/mimic/or cover someone else's music. Otherwise, don't ask me for music scores or tablature...…. because I don't usually use/need it. FIND THE GROOVE AND FEEL THE MUSIC. Music is meant to be HEARD AND FELT. NOT ANALYZED.

Deep.

I really wish they would play Ivory Tower live, but I'm not sure if it's a song they'll ever play.

would love to see him do a mike patton or bill lasllow thing though.

Nylon brushes - like Flix Stix - are pretty good for warming up. They won't destroy your legs like regular drumsticks and they should minimize the urge of people around you to kill you, as they're very quiet on tables, seat cushions etc. And you can always whip up an omelette with them too. Just don't play your kit with them. Ever.

some songs are tricky, he said. like, not all of them, just.. some. yeah, right

"I'm gonna do this at 2:38 god dammit"

That warm up!!!!! you know??

TAP DEM LEGS!

One of the best drummers in metal says “ I don’t really know what we’re doing” oh you modest liar! Lol

unique and highly developed warm-up system...LOL

It's weird to not practice and write music when all of the band is there playing, bouncing ideas off of each other. It seems a bit inorganic. It's weird having to learn your own stuff,so to speak, as in transforming what your mind hears into digital programmed drums, then trying to play what you wrote with your mind on a computer in the physical world. It just seems weird to me.

Safe to assume he has his kick pedals dialed in to a T.

I'd love to see him just jam out for like 30 minutes

i love how he avoids all the shit complexity that their "fanboys" seem to think about them

hummm it feels niice!

🤘🏾

If thomas creates just 10% of the drum beats doesnt this mean the other members are also drummers in sense of programming that 90% non simple beats?

ginger baker said the same thing about polyrhythms and "odd" timing.... their is always a four.

I don't understand all these comments about being modest. What should he sit there and say? “fuck me I'm so fucking good! Did you hear all that complicated shit I did? I analyse myself all the time and have come to the conclusion I am a genius.,"

god

I think it's so wild he's never played in any other bands. I would almost be curious to see him forced into a more conventional environment.

god damnit

How is it possible for him to learn the songs like that? Fuck! I wanted to learn Lethargica and I had to transcribe it because it was just too weird.

Some songs are you know.... kinda tricky

It almost sounds like he was just given stuff to play and he accepted it but now he is literally the heart of Meshuggah and take him away and the band ceases to exist.

It's funny how Thomas seems to downplay his knowledge of the complexity of his own music. Like they just feed independently and democratically into a machine and let 'er rip! These guys are allowing Meshuggah to become far more than the sum of its parts. What is happening? This is crazy!

If you say you understand meshuggah you probably don't.

13:19 lol

Hands in 4/4 or 3/4, feet in 16th note variations written over the bar line... It's hard but it's not magic.

7:47

funny guy tomas!haha!

So you gotta learn a bunch of different... chunks of bars

Drum talk eh

Does he ever say his last name?

This man masters everything. Sounds like someone from the US or Canada. I've heard Swedish folk speak but he has lost his accent entirely. Some of us Finnish speaking people can do that as well but Swedish folk are better. It might have something to do withthat Swedish people have softer consonants. äRrrrrrs are more like ARrrss. They've use to roll the tongue more. Another loss for us... I hate that Ptr Frsbrg. Olympics..

12:29 Actually No metronome can sit or even hang with you.