ATF

I know I'm gettin' a late start.. but between the boys.. the fire.. the bourbon.. and nasty funk I been layin' down on the new set... I ain't had much time.

It's been a good night. Can ya tell?

No doubt JAC is ashamed. Here's a boy with good solid rock and roll roots... and his little brother... whom he taught.. and raised up proper... goes funk. I mean all the time. I mean.. if I sit down at a set... even to play Rush... or some other straight as an arrow rock band... I still find myself throughin' in needless grace notes and poppin' a rimshot a hair late on the off beats... Why?

Because that's what I do. When it comes to a drumset... I'm just not white enough.

This is not to say that I don't have the ability to play pissed off. Oh I can... and I love it. But most of the time I just don't. Most of the time I am so happy to just be playin' that I find myself trying to throw a groove check.

Here that? That's JAC somewhere throwin' up. I swear if I keep this up he's gonna slit his wrists from the shame.

Ya know how it happened? Gregg Bisonette did it. Its his fault. I met him in high school through the "Grammy in the Schools" program. Basicly they brought in stud musicians to play with the best high school kids in the state. Someone decided that was me. Fair enough. I wasn't complainin'. Anyway.. I ended up spending a couple sessions with Gregg one on one. All told it was about 8 hours or so. Needless to say he made an impression. He was pretty blown away with my rudimentary skills and my independence on a kit... but he figured it would be fun just to spend the time talking about groove and feel... about using drums to either help the hook, or to actually make the drums the hook.

For the most part now... I do my own thing when I play. I don't listen to the bass guitar really at all. I listen to the melody and the rythmn guitars and either mimic what they're doing or compliment it. Neil Peart has really always done it that way... and Lars did it that way as well, until they neutered him.

Wait...

Aren't we supposed to be talkin' about booze, and guns, and smokes??? dammit!

As you can see... I'm preoccupied. Ah well... its bourbon and coke and roarin' fire in the stove tonight.

How 'bout y'all?

Understand... this is in no way reflective of the music I listen too... or the drummers I admire. Groove is not really a word associated with Rush ya know? Oh sure.. you here them live.. and they slow down the guitar lick at the begining of Spirit of Radio... sure... its awesome. But its the exception that makes the rule.