Yup... these guys have been on my radar for a couple years now. If you can find their newer stuff, you'll see a huge difference in the production of their vids (they were signed to a major label about 3 years ago):
I'm partial to the joints they made when they were still trying to get noticed.... but even the new stuff is entertaining.
The Quintus cellos are pretty cool. Great for outdoor gigs that would totally screw up a box like mine (Marinus Cappichioni; Naples, Italy, 1925).
Here's what I'm saving my bucks for, instead:
Jensen Orion electric cello. 6-string, solid-body, on-board volume/eq/channel select, stereo outs, with true full MIDI pickup. 'I'm contemplating 'total world dominance' once I get the thing. (It will be a bit easier if I don't wear a "puffy shirt" like this dork in the picture- hehe).
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When I was in HS, I got tired of being stigmatized as a 'musicnerd'... and taught myself the entire score from "Frankenstein" by the Edgar Winter Group. Since then, I've worked out tunes by Stevie Wonder (Higher Ground, Superstition), Pink Floyd (DSotM, WWYH, Animals), The Police (Walking on the Moon), and many others.
There was no place to go to learn how to play in these styles- any of us 'Classical' players who wanted to do this pretty much had to teach ourselves. The coolest thing I learned was that my traditional training was more help than hindrance: established techniques could easily be adapted to the different style by simply experimenting until one found the sound he was looking for:
'bent' notes: instead of pulling/pushing the string across the fingerboard, I learned to slide/roll my finger up/down the string to bend the pitch.
feedback: by bowing close to the bridge, I could emphasize the high overtones, while killing the fundamental pitch. Great results, without having to move my instrument into the sound path of the cabinet.
'snap' or 'slap' bass: this took a little more doing, because the cello's strings are under so much more tension than an elec bass... I adopted a much harder, nastier-sounding version of what we classical players call "The Bartok pizz." Gotta pull that sucker away from the fingerboard, so it slaps back against the wood... no plucking across the strings for this one!
90% of the fun is in experimenting with all the various sounds this incredibly simple yer flexible instrument can make. The other 10% is in seeing the looks on peoples' faces when you completely lay waste to their pre-conceived idea of what a cellist should sound like- freakkin' priceless.
Folks in my band have heard me on a few occasions, and are blown away by stuff that I just do for fun. I tell them all that they could do it, too. The Classical musician's biggest impediment has nothing to do with technique- it's mindset. They spent every waking moment practicing to please their teachers/mentors, instead of taking time to please themselves. It's made them extremely proficient 'one-trick ponies'... in an age when diversity and flexibility of style is becoming more and more necessary.
Here's another Classically-trained player doing Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee"... for better or worse. Make of it what you will:
![[Linked Image from s2.excoboard.com]](http://s2.excoboard.com/forums/25521/user/302752/484538.gif)
