SKF NOTE: First things first. Between my posting of Part 1 of this interview and now, YouTube switched to a default square perspective of YouTube videos. There is a way for you to still view this horizontally. But that’s why this video looks clipped. Ugh.

When I posted the first part of this interview I had forgotten this interview was the basis for Neil Peart’s April 1984 Modern Drummer cover story. I thank those listeners who refreshed my memory.

This is the other side of the cassette used to tape this interview. Much more of the conversation here, unlike Part 1, is about drums and drumming. But our discussion also includes writers and writing.

The conversation on both sides of this cassette starts mid-sentence. “Adam,” who I mention at the start of this interview, is the name of the drummer who won one of Neil’s drumset giveaways.

My question to Neil concerned some drummers’ belief that drum gear makes the drummer. That is, owning Neil’s drumset meant Adam should sound like Neil Peart.

In 1983 or 1984, pre-digital media, these tapes served only as the basis for the written interview. During interviews, the click of the tape ending was my cue to turn over the tape and start recording on the other side, or to start recording with a new tape.

Sometimes I wouldn’t hear the click. Sometimes there was no click. But, I never wanted to stop the conversation while changing tapes. Normally, within a day or two of an interview, I would transcribe the tapes; my memory of the conversation fresh enough to fill in a few seconds of blank tape.

Again, this 45-minutes conversation with Neil Peart is one of my favorites. It is a conversation with two guys who love music, drumming, and writing.