Following on from the 'Favourite Guitarists' thread, instead of asking about favourite drummers, I thought I'd ask about the bands who truly shaped you musically. These are the bands that you didn't just listen to because you loved them but also slavishly copied and learned from.
There are three bands who truly shaped the drummer I am. There are many other bands who contributed, but these three are the bedrock of the drummer I became in my early years. These days, if I'm honest, I don't listen to a lot of music beyond Wikiloops, mostly because I don't have time for it any more but also partly because the only time I have - when I'm driving - I just don't like music playing!!
So here are the three which truly influenced me but were also bands that I loved anyway.
- Dream Theater When a drummer friend sat me down one lunchtime when we were at sixth form college (for international users, that's higher education from age 16 - 18) and got out Dream Theater's debut album (on vinyl, of course - this was 1989!) 'When Dream And Day Unite' my jaw hit the floor. Never before had I heard such immense technical ability combine with such good musicianship - to the point I thought such playing was borderline impossible! To this day, my loops are filled with ideas and licks I've stolen from Mike Portnoy. An extraordinary player in a, frankly, extraordinary band. There are many technical/prog bands out there but none came close to DT's amazing combination of sheer skill and accessible and catchy songwriting. Technical, yes, accessible, yes. Few prog bands achieve that.
- Simple Minds One of the best stadium rock/pop bands of all time, certainly of the 1980s and '90s, for me. Great songs, great band and one Mel Gaynor at the back in the driving seat. His and the band's influence on my playing cannot be understated. I wore out several VHS copies of their Live In Verona tape. Mel Gaynor had immense power, he had chops but my God did he know exactly when to deploy them. Simple Minds taught me the drummer's 'place' in the band; backing good songs with power and taste. One of my albums on here - https://www.wikiloops.com/album/6373-wikitemplates.php - is a photo of the very kit Mel Gaynor used on that tour which I found for sale. I would've bought it there and then but there was a small issue of not having £2500 in my back pocket.
- Van Halen This band very, very heavily shaped my musical youth. For me, one of the very best rock bands of all time - at least until Dave Lee Roth left (basically up to 1984). Listen to their early albums: unlike so many other rock bands, the musical common sense behind it gave them a unique rock sound (which, in those days I nicknamed 'party rock'). They combined traditional rock attitudes with an astounding and subtle musical awareness and cleverness. And a brilliant sense of humour. Everything they did in the early years had its tongue firmly in its cheek. I spent countless hours trying to play along to practically every Van Halen album available. But it also - and without me realising it at the time - taught me the relationship of the drummer with the rest of the band. Listen to practically any early Van Halen and hear how Alex, Eddie and Mike are right on the job, phrasing with each other.
Examples include 'Mean Streets' and 'Unchained' from 'Fair Warning'. Listen to how the bass, guitar and drums are all accenting and phrasing together. It's so very musical and that awareness of how to pick out the key dynamics and pushes in a track I indirectly learned listening to VH.
Enough from me...
Edited by mpointon on August 26 2018 13:22
There are three bands who truly shaped the drummer I am. There are many other bands who contributed, but these three are the bedrock of the drummer I became in my early years. These days, if I'm honest, I don't listen to a lot of music beyond Wikiloops, mostly because I don't have time for it any more but also partly because the only time I have - when I'm driving - I just don't like music playing!!
So here are the three which truly influenced me but were also bands that I loved anyway.
- Dream Theater When a drummer friend sat me down one lunchtime when we were at sixth form college (for international users, that's higher education from age 16 - 18) and got out Dream Theater's debut album (on vinyl, of course - this was 1989!) 'When Dream And Day Unite' my jaw hit the floor. Never before had I heard such immense technical ability combine with such good musicianship - to the point I thought such playing was borderline impossible! To this day, my loops are filled with ideas and licks I've stolen from Mike Portnoy. An extraordinary player in a, frankly, extraordinary band. There are many technical/prog bands out there but none came close to DT's amazing combination of sheer skill and accessible and catchy songwriting. Technical, yes, accessible, yes. Few prog bands achieve that.
- Simple Minds One of the best stadium rock/pop bands of all time, certainly of the 1980s and '90s, for me. Great songs, great band and one Mel Gaynor at the back in the driving seat. His and the band's influence on my playing cannot be understated. I wore out several VHS copies of their Live In Verona tape. Mel Gaynor had immense power, he had chops but my God did he know exactly when to deploy them. Simple Minds taught me the drummer's 'place' in the band; backing good songs with power and taste. One of my albums on here - https://www.wikiloops.com/album/6373-wikitemplates.php - is a photo of the very kit Mel Gaynor used on that tour which I found for sale. I would've bought it there and then but there was a small issue of not having £2500 in my back pocket.
- Van Halen This band very, very heavily shaped my musical youth. For me, one of the very best rock bands of all time - at least until Dave Lee Roth left (basically up to 1984). Listen to their early albums: unlike so many other rock bands, the musical common sense behind it gave them a unique rock sound (which, in those days I nicknamed 'party rock'). They combined traditional rock attitudes with an astounding and subtle musical awareness and cleverness. And a brilliant sense of humour. Everything they did in the early years had its tongue firmly in its cheek. I spent countless hours trying to play along to practically every Van Halen album available. But it also - and without me realising it at the time - taught me the relationship of the drummer with the rest of the band. Listen to practically any early Van Halen and hear how Alex, Eddie and Mike are right on the job, phrasing with each other.
Examples include 'Mean Streets' and 'Unchained' from 'Fair Warning'. Listen to how the bass, guitar and drums are all accenting and phrasing together. It's so very musical and that awareness of how to pick out the key dynamics and pushes in a track I indirectly learned listening to VH.
Enough from me...
Edited by mpointon on August 26 2018 13:22