Solid Gone

A witty rock'n'roll friend from Tucson, Arizona, has written to me suggesting that I might submit my CV in connection with a vacancy that has arisen in the Rolling Stones. "You have that jazz background. And you’re in their age group," he observes.

In fact, I'm not quite that old... yet. And I can't say that the post appeals – even if it were on offer.

No one can really fill Charlie Watts's drumming shoes. Not because he was the "ultimate" or the "greatest" drummer, as the media and various tribute-givers would have us believe – but because he was the perfect man for the job.

Perfect, because he was happy to have a back seat and just take care of the business that was required.

That's not to denigrate his talents. But those saying what a brilliant drummer he was are really saying that he knew his place – i.e. keeping time and nothing too fancy.

He wasn't Ginger Baker or Keith Moon or Buddy Rich or Gene Krupa – genius drummers who actually defined and directed the bands that they played in. That's why the Stones will roll on and still sound pretty much the same.

Charlie Watts was a solid drummer who knew what he was there to do and did it. He also seems to have been a truly decent bloke. And in the world of rock'n'roll that counts for a lot.

Happiness Is A Warm Rolls

Picture by LAWRENCE BOGLE

Yes... that's me with John Lennon's psychedelic Rolls-Royce. I had the unexpected pleasure of checking it out on its brief visit to London a few days ago when it was part of a display of famous Rollers at Bonhams in central London.

It normally resides at a museum in Canada, but it was here to help R-R promote a new model – along with cars belonging to Fred Astaire and the Queen.

Lennon took the car to the States in 1970, and ended up donating it to a New York museum to ease a tricky tax situation. It is now reckoned to be the most valuable automobile in the world

Even today, it is still a work of outrageous art. Chums such as Paul, George and Ringo, not to mention Brian Epstein, Bob Dylan and Keith Moon, all seemed to have had a jolly time in the back of the car – which was said to have an extensive supply of drugs and alcohol.

But the exterior was perhaps the trippiest thing of all – a collision of psychedelia with gypsy caravan-style art that defies you not to smile at the irreverence of it.

I thought of it again today when I was in rehearsal with my old band, the Shark Dentists, working on the infernally difficult-to-play Lennon song 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun'. With a little more work, it – and its combination of 4/4, 3/4, 6/4 and 2/4 – should be ready for performing at a little festival in the Midlands next month.

At The Double

It was sad to hear of the death of Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor – renowned for a number of things, but also for being one of the pioneers of the double bass drumming style that has become ubiquitous in the worlds of metal.

Double bass drumming may look easy - but it isn't. You're asking your left (or hi-hat) foot to do something that it isn't used to doing. And in effect you're asking your whole body to play differently.

Louie Bellson was the man who started it in jazz... and Ginger Baker was the first to bring it to rock... closely followed by Keith Moon and Jon Hiseman.

There are a small number of good books on the subject. There is an excellent primer by Joe Franco called "Double Bass Drumming". And I would also now recommend "Double Bass Drumming and Power Fills Workout" by Matt Sorum and Sam Aliano.

At first I thought this book was just about speed and flash, but it actually leads you into some really interesting experimentations with all the (often simple but still tricky) combinations of two hands and two feet playing drums.

Learning to play two bass drums takes you back to basics, not only in terms of simplicity but also because it can give you that same feeling of excitement you had when you first discovered the drums. Try it!

Heavy Metal

I've been away. I'm back.

Drums can be heavy.

I still haven't quite recovered from trying to lift John Marshall's Sonor bass drum [see previous post], a piece of German engineering that even Keith Moon would have found difficult to kick over or explode.

Drum hardware can be even heavier. That's all the stands, the pedals, the shiny bits and pieces...

Last night a young drummer and I were putting up an old Premier kit for a music workshop at an arts centre off London's Brick Lane and were searching for the... well, neither of us knew what to call it... apart from "the thing that goes into the bass drum to hold the tom-toms".

The "post" is what I decided to call it... but we still couldn't find it for some time. When we did, it was huge and had not only attachments for two toms but also a central extension for holding a cymbal... right in front of the drummer's face and in between the two drums. Something that would only appeal to a drummer who preferred not to be identified... and who didn't mind playing a roll across the toms with an obstacle that would be near-impossible to avoid.

We finally found all the kit bits in the arts centre's music cupboard and got everything up and playing.

But the most important item of equipment for the drummer? It hardly weighs a thing. And it has to be the sticks... of which more soon...

A Lot Of Front

Russ, dynamic frontman with Russ Payne and the Shark Dentists (www.sharkdentists.co.uk), pictured above, hit the airwaves yesterday to talk about our latest venture — a monthly blues night at the Port Mahon, Oxford, at which we're inviting local players to come and sit in with the band.

I set up the interview on BBC Radio Oxford, but Russ did the business in the studio. He's a great front man. And, like most drummers, apart from the likes of Buddy Rich, Keith Moon and Ginger Baker, I'm mostly happy to be in the background.

Wasn't it a bit arrogant, asked the BBC interviewer, for Russ to put his own name in front of that of the band? "Yes," said Russ. "But I'm a guitarist."

An Image Problem?

My good friend and chronicler of the Swinging Eighties David Johnson (shapersofthe80s.com) has suggested that I might consider this picture as a more appropriate image for my blog. I'm certainly an Animal-lover and would put the percussive Muppet up there with Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon, Jon Hiseman, Elvin Jones, Art Blakey and Tony Williams.

But it was another world-class drummer, the great John Marshall (drummerworld.com/drummers/John_Marshall.html), who told me that Animal's drumming was actually performed by Ronnie Verrell, a formidable jazz musician who played with the orchestras of Ted Heath, Syd Lawrence and Jack Parnell.

Almost every drummer worth their sticks has a bit of Animal inside them. But they also want to be taken seriously, you know. So I may not be changing the picture just yet...