FREIGHT TRAIN - "Fire It Up and Crank It" - CD - 2004

   Some of my regular readers may wonder, "Yo Harvester, what the fuck is up with this hard rock shit?" Well, my friends, sometimes you wanna let your hair down, drink a beer and listen to some completely non-ironic butt-rock. FREIGHT TRAIN started in 2004 and put out this 5 song EP. They played all over the Bay Area and even opened up for UFO one time. Let's be honest though...did I actually listen to this in my life before yesterday? Well, no.
   The real reason I am writing this is to give praise to their drummer, Sam Adato. Besides busting out killer drum beats, rocking an honest mullet in a 2012 SF and having a true love of loud rock n roll, Sam also runs one of the best drums shops I have ever been to in my life right here in San Francisco. Tucked away in a little corner of SOMA, Sam Adato's Drum Shop is a little hole in the wall filled to the brim with new and used drum equipment. In the middle of it all, Sam stands behind his desk tinkering with old hardware, shooting the shit with customers or drumming on the desk to super loud rock music blasting on the stereo. He offers completely non-judgemental service to everyone who walks in the door. I can't tell you how many times I have taken the biggest piece of shit cymbal stand or broken lug into him and he has not batted an eye. If he doesn't have the part you need (which is rare), he'll usually offer to "rig something up" for you for free or cheap, which I can appreciate as someone on a tight budget. I took a broken bass drum pedal in once and he fixed it with spare parts sitting around and charged me $2 for the 10 minutes it took him to fix it. Also, I've always seen him use the utmost patience when dealing with customers that don't know the first thing about drums. For example, once a mom was in the shop getting a part for her son and she said something like "It's that big drum that you hit with your foot? What is that thing called?" I was facing away, rolling my eyes and looking through the drumsticks. Sam patiently explained that it was a bass drum and then went on to tell her about the different tones you could get with different tunings. The woman left the shop thanking him for his patience and expertise...and she didn't even play drums.
    I know from talking to my female drummer friends that the drumming world (as is most of the rock music world) is such a dude party. It can be difficult as a woman to walk into a music store and get good advice from any dude without being talked down to. It can also be really intimidating as a new drummer, not knowing all of the names of every little piece of a set. I have recommended Sam's shop to numerous female friends of mine and they always reported back that he treated them with respect and dignity. When my friend Sarah was buying a cymbal, she told him that she didn't know what she was looking for. Sam let her set up some drums in the store that were similar to her own and let her try out different cymbals until she found the one she wanted...then he knocked some money off of the final sale.. He's always been fair with people, as far as I have heard, and that really means a lot to me.
    So, download this CD or don't, but if you're in SF and you need some drum advice or parts, give Sam a chance. I just wanted to talk about him a little bit...to show that doing these little things really mean a lot to me.
Thanks, Sam Adato!

Free download no longer available by request of the band.

This CD is from the collection of Erick Lyle.