Pete Best: If You Can’t Have Fun, Don’t Go Back On Stage

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Scott K Fish

Artists & Innovators
“No Complaints”: An Interview with Pete Best, the Original Drummer of the Beatles
By Zachary Stockill 25 August 2014

Between 1960 and 1962 Pete was the drummer of a well-travelled, but so far mostly unsuccessful British rock and roll act called variously Johnny and the Moondogs, The Silver Beetles, and, finally, The Beatles.

And just like that, Pete was no longer a Beatle….

Q. When I was watching you play tonight, you looked like you were having a lot of fun. I found it inspiring.

A. If you can’t have fun, then don’t go back on the stage. It’s as simple as that. Simple rule in music: people feel what you’re presenting onstage. And if you’re not enjoying yourself, it comes out in the music. No matter [if] you try to disguise it.

At the end of the day you wouldn’t be where you are without that audience, and you have to thank them for it. The only way you can thank them is [by] making sure your performance is 100%. Simple rules.

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What I Learned From Roy Burns 40-Years Ago

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: When I went to Roy Burns’s early 1970’s drum clinic in Moline, Illinois, I don’t think I had ever heard him play – not even on record. I knew of Roy from Rogers drum ads in Down Beat magazine. And I owned Roy’s Drum Set Artistry album – but I don’t remember if I bought it before or after the Moline clinic. It’s likely I bought the album after studying a Down Beat transcription of Roy’s Red Phantom Rides Again drum solo on that album.

Anyway, it was a worthwhile clinic. Here, some 40-years later, are my four take away’s from the Burns clinic:

Roy told the clinic goers about a clinic he gave in another state. Roy was at the music shop early and struck up a conversation with a young drummer. Roy asked if the drummer was attending that day’s drum clinic? “No,” said the young drummer, “Roy Burns can’t play.” “Have you ever heard him play?” asked Roy. “No,” said the young drummer. “Well,” Burns replied calmly, “I’m Roy Burns. And if you don’t like my playing – fair enough. But maybe you could at least hear me play before you make that decision.”

At the Moline clinic, Roy was demonstrating drum rudiments on a snare drum. He said the two rudiments drummers practiced least were the single-stroke roll and the double-stroke roll. That made no sense, said Roy, because all of the rudiments were a combination of the single- and double-stroke rolls.

Burns was also asked by a clinic goer if he recommended practicing with heavy drumsticks. Roy said, “No. Do trumpet players practice with rags stuffed in the bell of their trumpets, so it will be easier to blow air through their horns on the gig?”

Thank you, Roy!

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Neil Peart’s New Book, ‘Far And Near: On Days Like These,’ Due October

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Scott K Fish

RUSH Drummer NEIL PEART’s ‘Far And Near: On Days Like These’ Book Due In October
August 21, 2014 2

On October 14, ECW Press will publish “Far And Near: On Days Like These”, the new book from RUSH drummer Neil Peart.

A description of the 312-page hardcover reads as follows:

“Whether navigating the backroads of Louisiana or Thuringia, exploring the snowy Quebec woods, or performing onstage at RUSH concerts, Neil Peart has stories to tell. His first volume in this series, ‘Far And Away’, combined words and images to form an intimate, insightful narrative that won many readers.

“Now ‘Far And Near’ brings together reflections from another three years of an artist’s life as he celebrates seasons, landscapes, and characters, travels roads and trails, receives honors, climbs mountains, composes and performs music. With passionate insight, wry humor, and an adventurous spirit, once again Peart offers a collection of open letters that take readers on the road, behind the scenes, and into the inner workings of an ever-inquisitive mind.

“These popular stories, originally posted on Peart’s website, are now collected and contextualized with a new introduction and conclusion in this beautifully designed collector’s volume.”

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Brad Wilk: Buddy, Elvin, Peart, Bonham & Moon

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Scott K Fish

Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine Shares His 5 Favorite Drum Solos
“I’m more about drum performances than solos, But I do have a list for you.”    August 22, 2014 10:29 AM

Buddy Rich’s “impossible” drum solo from 1970

“To me, he was just the epitome of a drummer. He was unbelievable. His fluidity, his power, his grace, his aggression, his momentum, he was a force to be reckoned with. The guy was a freak of nature, and always a pleasure to watch. And also a pleasure to listen to.”

Elvin Jones’ performances from A Different Drummer

“Unbelievable drummer. He is also someone who plays with such grace, and such power. And when I watch him, it’s like I’m watching colors and numbers flying from his drums. He’s like a painter to me, he’s like painting this incredible picture on the drums.”

Neil Peart on Rush’s live “YYZ” from Exit… Stage Left

“I think Neil Peart has such an incredible mind to have created that drum solo. It’s an iconic drum solo! That’s not an easy thing to do. Every piece of that drum solo is a beautiful piece of work, and is executed with mass precision. That drum solo probably meant more to me than all the other drum solos that we’re talking about, because when I was 12 or 13 it was the first drum solo that I saw that made me say, ‘I want to do that.’”

John Bonham on Led Zeppelin’s “Bonzo’s Montreux” from Coda

“I didn’t really get into John Bonham until after I hit puberty, Led Zeppelin made so much more sense to me after that! [laughs] John Bonham may be my favorite drummer of all time. My favorite drum solo of his is not “Moby Dick.” It’s “Bonzo’s Montreux” from Coda. I absolutely love that, because it’s so musical.”

Keith Moon on the Who’s “Happy Jack” from A Quick One and “Bargain” from Who’s Next

I’ll never forget when I first heard [“Happy Jack”]. I was 12 years old…. …Keith Moon was just an absolute lunatic and…sounded like an orchestra… on the drums. It’s absolutely insane. With Keith Moon, almost every song he plays on sounds like a drum solo!

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Jamal Batiste Plays Drummer Jabo Starks in James Brown Movie

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Scott K Fish

Jamal Batiste of New Orleans plays drummer in James Brown movie: Growing East
By Veronica Barbarin, Eastern New Orleans columnist
on August 21, 2014 at 8:16 AM, updated August 21, 2014 at 8:18 AM

In the movie, Batiste plays drummer John “Jabo” Starks.

Batiste said an interesting fact about the part he won is that…he and Starks are good friends.

Batists credits Starks’ for some of Brown’s popular songs. “The songs that everybody knows like ‘Get on Up,’ and ‘Sex Machine,’ Jabo was responsible for those beats,” Batiste said. “And, then of course, when you think about hip hop and these James Brown drum samples that we hear, a lot of that stuff is Jabo being sampled.”

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