Not So Modern Drummer

fall and I wanted to look good for that. Also my dad was in bad health and that made me more aware of how the weight would affect my health. He died last year. It was a heavy year for me going through losing him. The catalyst was the instructional DVD I did for Hudson Music. I didn’t like the way I looked in that video. George: Your dad was great. He called me when you got the Steely Dan gig and, in that deep Southern drawl of his, he said, “George, what do you think about this Steely Dan outfit?” I cracked up. We had a good conversation that night. He was so proud of you. What I noticed about your playing those two nights…I guess it was from all these heavy life things you’ve been through, and the weight loss, but your playing was so much cleaner and… what would be the right word?

You don’t have to always dig in, you can just trust that the mics will do the work, plus the drums sound better and don’t choke up.

George: The drums are loud, man, no matter how hard or soft you hit ‘em.

Keith: Yeah, if the sound guy knows what he’s doing, you just let him handle the volume and mix. It’s the clubs when I’m not mic’d where I feel like I sometimes have to play harder, because I’m more in control of how I’m balancing with the band.

George: You know who the master of playing rock with finesse is? Jim Keltner. He’s never played hard but his drums sound huge. He uses like diplomat weight heads on his batter heads.

Keith: Focused? George: Yes, more focused and also…. You were playing harder when you were heavier. You were hitting harder.

Keith: Yeah.

Keith: I love that guy. George: I’ve known you for 25 years now. (aside to Lynne); He used to hang out in my drum shop when he was a kid. Keith won’t remember this but when he came to me, and I had already heard of him – what were you; thirteen, fourteen?

George: It seems you’ve backed off that now. Keith: That is true George: Consciously not trying to hit them harder? I heard it in the cymbals Clearer. Keith: I don’t hear the harder sound anymore. At least not so constantly..... George: There is more nuance in your playing. More maturity. Keith: That’s what I hope. I don’t hear the bash element that I always loved. learned it from working with Donald Fa-gen. Donald used to always kind of, like, frown on that and I learned it from him. I should have learned it earlier. I don’t have the same weight behind the stick but…the physics of it are different. I’m not working as hard. With Donald, he loves it when it’s just kind of light and tipping, you know, it’s moving forward but it’s grooving in a different way, it

Lynne: You had already heard of him at thirteen?

George: Yes and the big hot drummer at that time was Neal Peart of Rush. He came in and said “Well I’ve learned everything that Neal Peart has recorded”. Lynne: Did he really?!! (laughs) George: Yes. He said “I can play all that and I’m bored with it. I want to learn something else”.