Roland artists Michael Schack and David Ahlund hit Tom Lee Academy Hall with fresh thumping grooves and irresistible vibes on 21st October, 2007. With the positive response received from their previous visits, Roland's electronic music workshop has become a staple on the event calendar and an enjoyable way to learn more about what's hot in the musical instrument market.

Michael Schack
Michael banged on card boxes at age 4 and start playing real drums at age 11. The Belgian drummer's first gig as a professional musician in 1990 with the Belgo-American R&B Band, Blue Blot and has recorded three successful albums and toured with the band. He has also produced, recorded and performed live and toured for various musicians and bands such as Calvin Owners, Groovemania, Clouseau, Belgian Boogie Boy, Camden and etc. In 1996, he has released his Dutch spoken drum video "De 7 Drumzonden" in Holland and Belgium, which was chosen as the "Best Drum Video of the Year." Since 1993, he has conducted numerous clinics and demonstrations for Roland throughout the world as a product specialist and music director.

David Ahlund
Born in Sweden in 1980, David has a rich background of classical and jazz piano music. He is a rare combination of ancient and cutting edge. Versatile in most dialects of dance music, he creates slashing Drum and Bass music with a hint of Northern strings orchestra, and combines the elements of hip hop, break beats and a fantastic keyboard performance. As a winner of two Groove Contests held by Roland, David is surely one of the hottest music sensations today.

In this 90-minute workshop, Michael and David's charismatic and energetic demonstration of ten original tracks had successfully fulfilled the audience's craving for stomping grooves and funky edge. The core of the duo's sample-based music is infused with essence of break-beat and hip hop. With a vivid, tempo that sustains at around 120 to 130 BPM; their tracks re-created a rhythmic, dynamic and passionate environment that a hectic city lacks.

As a professional drummer and product specialist, Michael believes that electronic drums have extended the possibilities for drummers to perform live. "There has never been an attempt replace the acoustic drum set with an electronic set. There are specific instruments for specific music type; for example, an acoustic piano is for jazz and classic, while you'd use a synthesizer in Techno, Electronic, House, hard rock, pop and etc. With the Electronic drums, drummers can play more genres of music live."

Speaking of gears, Michael performed most of his songs with Roland TD-30 electronic drum kit. TD-30 has been in the market for few years, yet it is still the most advanced kit around. "For those who is desperate for more sounds, a new expansion card will be introduced soon", revealed Michael. As someone who performs extensively with the TD-30, he finds many features of this drum set very handy, because its product design allows users to use their personal goodies such as double-bass pedal and Hi-Hat stand, which are crucial in drum playing.

It is obvious that David's keyboard proficiency, musical taste and intense energy match perfectly to Michael's furious and funky way of generating grooves. Michael blew everyone's mind with sounds straight from the drum modules, no tweaking, no fancy effects, just pure unadulterated good sound from the presets. From standard slow-tempo ballad patterns, to distorted break beat and wild Jungle grooves, Michael's bangs were solid and natural and he sure did had a lot of fun while performing.

No one else would be eligible for the "Keyboard Monster" title but David. On the left hand side of the stage, he was toggling among the Juno G, V-Synth GT, VP-550, SH-201 keyboards, as well as triggering sexy 'n' sweet female vocal samples ripped from movies on the SP-555. Apart from hitting producing stellar chords and cool solos with the preset lead patches, he still managed to find time to interact with his drum counterpart by tweaking the parameter knobs and playing with the D-beam sensor. Not challenging enough, David's rap in one of the demo songs built up the house's emotions to a boiling point, as if it was overflowing from the pot, bubbling so hard.

Undeniably, Michael and David's unique gift in music, plus their real sense of humor are essential to the great atmosphere. The workshop was informative AND entertaining. There were thunders of laughter throughout the evening. David has made himself even more famous with the following quote: "The next song we're going to play is called The Underwear Funk, and I'd like to dedicate this song to my pants."

As the Scandinavian keyboard player and the Belgian drummer hit the last note on their gear, the decay of their sound waves were drown by the huge applause for encore. It can't be wrong that everyone was impressed by their distinctive brand of fusion-ish electronic music, that comes to your ears in various pleasingly funky moods, tones, and textures-slow, fast, and ever changing; so tempting that made you wonder why you have not heard of Michael and David before.