By The Landlord
“An average band with a great drummer sounds great, a great band with an average drummer sounds average.” – Buddy Rich
“God is punishing me for my past wickedness by keeping me alive and in as much pain as he can.” – Ginger Baker
“I told people I was a drummer before I even had a set, I was a mental drummer.” – Keith Moon
“It seemed to me that drumming was the best way to get close to God.” – Lionel Hampton
“What’s the last thing a drummer says in a band? ‘Hey guys, why don’t we try one of my songs?’” – Dave Grohl
“The drummer; he inspired me to play like no one else I have ever met.” – Chet Baker
“Drummers are conductors – we set the pace for the music – so if you’re not relaxed and feeling right, the whole thing goes out the window.” – Steven Adler
“I’ve gotten hernias from drummers when they drop tempo.” – Miles Davis
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” – Henry David Thoreau
Beat it! You've probably heard it many times. The singer might address, direct, encourage, or praise the band's drummer. Or they might call up, describe an instrument or sound in that rhythm section - the actual speed or quality of the beat or rhythm, how it makes them feel, or specifically the the toms, the snare, the cymbals, the hi-hat, or any peripheral idiophone, membranophone, aerophone and chordophone instrument.
Or perhaps for this week, a song might be about any percussion or percussion player's role or character, behaviour or story, whether they be a famous rock god drummer, real or fictional, one known for their technical brilliance, capacity for excess, dependability or unreliability or mysterious ability to disappear or spontaneously combust, or a perhaps a general or anonymous figure, referring to the drummer or percussion player in any sort of band – jazz, pop, rock, maybe even marching or military.
This week then, is a lyrical subject rather than musical one, though it's very likely percussion will accompany and respond to words. But for a parallel past one, longtime Song Bar punters may wish to reminisce and browse the instrumental topic of songs with outstandings percussion, which was visited more than nine years ago, culminating in these playlists, all of which includes a number of old friends some of whom are sadly no longer with us. And not to forget also that the subject of bells has been covered in separate lyrical and musical lists, including one only just before last Christmas.
But back to the subject in hand. It should be as clear as counting one, two, three four.
There are of course some obvious numbers previously chosen for past playlists, but that shouldn't discourage givinh any an airing for possible B-list inclusion. There's an obvious one that might refer to the playing of that great pair of John "Jabo" Starks and Clyde Stubblefield, but there's certainly more than one James Brown where the drummer gets reference.
And let's not forget all the other possible instruments that might also get a shout, from apito and anvil to bongos and bock-a-da-bock, cabasa to cajon, castanets to celesta, cymbals to cowbell, daxophone to flexatone, maracas to marimba, ratchet to steelpan, tambourine to triangle to txalaparta, vibraslap and vibraphone to woodblock and xylophone.
There's a cacophonous crowd of percussionists in the Bar this week, but over all the noise we can just about make out a few remarks. Here's Max Roach on the subject: “I think that the rhythm sections, drummers in particular, are the unsuing heroes of the music. It’s the rhythm section that has changed the styles from one period to the other.”
Jack White is also in the house, and admits that while he's best known for singing and playing the guitar with great panache, he's also been known to man the drumkit on projects such as The Dead Weather. When on guitar and singing he tends to stare regularly at the drummer, certainly in his White Stripes days opposite Meg White, but also admits this:
"Playing drums feels like coming home for me. Even during the White Stripes I thought: 'I'll do this for now, but I'm really a drummer.' That's what I'll put on my passport application.”
Scotland's Dame Evelyn Glennie, that remarkable player who became profoundly deaf since childhood, and has been an inspiration to many musicians, is also here for a bevvy, adding another dimension to the profession: “Percussion is physical, as most instruments are. The body must function well in order to play the instruments well. Last year I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.”
Here then is Evelyn, and also a bunch of other percussionists that may inspire a few ideas:
Evelyn Glennie
Buddy Rich
Who else but Keith Moon …
Neil Peart
Sheila E
Tony Allen
But lastly, some video footage. She’s better known as a singer-songwriter with a tragically short life, but was also a fantastic drummer. Here’s Karen Carpenter on TV in 1968 aged 18: Scroll forward to around the 20-minute mark in the lead up to a solo.
It’s more than a decade now since that hard-hitting fictional film Whiplash, featuring J. K. Simmons as the psychopathic sadistic bandleader. Not quite my tempo? Just a tad …
Talking of not quite the tempo, another famous clip, this time of a frustrated heavy metal drummer at the Japanese kids event. Whose tempo is this? Watch the thrilling climax to the song.
So then, it’s time to bring that beat and songs about all who might indeed do it. This week’s rhythm king, cleverly counting on you, is the precise and perceptive bar-to-bar brilliant Uncleben! Place your songs in comments below, for deadline at 11pm (UK time) on Monday for playlists published next week. OK. Hit it!
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