Kenny Aronoff - Percussion Discussion - Episode 144 

Firmly back in the legends lounge today with the legendary Kenny Aronoff! 

Kenny has the most incredible career under his belt having recorded and toured with some of the most remarkable bands and artistes on the planet, including - John Fogerty, The Smashing Pumpkins, Jon Bon Jovi, Meatloaf, Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joe Cocker and so many more. 

Join Kenny and myself as we talk about so many amazing subjects, including his very recent and very last minute few gigs filling in for Jason Bonham with Sammy Hagar and a star studded band including Joe Satriani on Guitar and former Van Halen bassist Mike Anthony. Kenny explains his process in learning 20 or more songs with literally 24 hours notice, Kenny runs through his learning process how he transcribes it bar by bar giving a hugely detailed part that enables him to reproduce the parts incredibly accurately. 

With Kennys forthcoming appearance at the UK Drum show at the end of September, of curse we had to talk about it and so much more!

Kenny, thank you for making the time to do this, its trulay appreciated! 

www.kennyaronoff.com

Percussion Discussion Episode 143 - Karl Brazil

 Joining me today is Karl Brazil.

Karl is without doubt one of the leading drummers in the Uk, he has played for a hugely diverse list of bands and singers such as Feeder, Ed Sheeran,  Elton John, Jason Mraz, One Direction, Westlife, James Morrison, Leona Lewis and of course Karl has been with James Blunt from his very early days and has been Robbie Williams drummer and Musical Director for a long time! 

Join Karl and myself as we talk about his incredibly hectic work schedule that is literally cram packed with tours, one off gigs, recording and trying to fit valuable family time in to the mix! In fact one of the things we talk about is how he manages his insanely busy diary and what happens when dates don’t line up! 

We had to talk about James Blunt and his recent resurgence over the last few years culminating in the hugely entertaining ‘One Brit Wonder” documentary that recently aired on Netflix. Karl features heavily in this fabulous programme and tells us what it is like to have been in the hot seat since the very early days of James Blunt. 

As if he isn’t busy enough, Karl has recently put together the amazing King Herd, definitely at the heavier end of the musical spectrum, he tells us all about the band and what its like to be touring on a much smaller scale. 

For the last few years Karl has been best known for his role as drummer and musical director for the musical force that is Robbie Williams, with Robbie Karl has played to some of the biggest crowds on earth with incredible stage shows and a world class band, Karl explains what his role entails as MD for this huge show! 

This was a joy to do, its been quite a while in the making, when you want to speak to the best and the busiest then sometimes you have to wait until the time is right, I’m so glad we got it done, boy was it worth the wait!

 Karl, thank you so much for making it happen! 

www.karlbrazil.com

Joining me today is the super talented Graham Hopkins. 

Graham has played for some remarkable bands and artistes throughout his amazing career so far including 6 years with Northern Irish alternative rockers Therapy? Tom Jones, The Frames, The Swell Season, Glen Hansard, Snow Patrol, Dolores O'Riordan and Rosanne Cash. 

Join us as we have a good old natter about Graham's career so far and day to day stuff. We talk about his passion for recording in his own studio with vintage audio equipment and equally vintage drums and cymbals! Graham tells us how after years of constant touring how he is more than happy to be spending time at home for a while with the freedom to do as much or as little recording as he likes allowing him to have important family time. 

We of course had to talk about his time in Therapy? and boy does he give us an amzing insight on what it was like to be in that hugely succesful band at that time!! 

Graham, thank you so much for giving up your time so generously, what a total pleasure, it almost felt like we were sat in the pub chatting (a virtual one anyway) i really hope you enjoy our conversation as much as i did having it! 

www.grahamhopkinsdrummer.com

Joining me today is Steve "Smiley" Barnard.

 Steve is one of the most respected and liked guys in the business, he has an incredibly succesful career so far having toured and recorded with the likes of Robbie Williams, Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros, The Mock Turtles, Holy Holy, Hard Fi, Lily Allen, Billy Bragg, Newton Faulkner as well his regular gigs with Mike Peters and The Alarm and Archive.

 Join Steve and myself as we have a fascinating chat about his career, not so much focussing on the bands and artists that he has worked with but more the situations that can happen as a very busy working drummer! 

We also chat about his Sunshine Corner Studios and his love of the whole recording process and some of the more unusual approaches he can sometimes have when recording. 

This was such fun to do, chatting to Smiley is addictive, hopefully listening to him will have exactly the same effect! i know you will enjoy this!

 Smiley, you are a legend - Thanks so much!

Joining me today is Pat garvey. 

Pat is a hugely talented drummer and educator, he has a very impressive CV including Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix) Lonely Robot, Tim Booth, James and is a member of the instrumental (progressive tinged) Ozric Tentacles. 

Somehow, alongside his hectic playing schedule Pat has managed to fit in a whole other career as one of the finest educators in the UK. He is the Principal Lecturer at BIMM music institute in Brighton and has made 100 of contributions to drumming magazines from across the globe, including a regular contribution to the sorely missed Rhythm Magazine. 

Join Pat and myself as we talk about his amazing career so far, you wont be dissapointed! 

Pat, thank you so much for giving up your time so generously.

Joining me today is Tony TC Coleman. 

Tony has had a remarkable career so far playing with some of the finest Blues artists on earth including Otis Clay, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert King, Etta James, Buddy and of course 25 years with the late and legendary BB King! 

Join TC and myself as we pick through his incredible career so far, from his very early start to drumming..... TC tells us he was not a fan of the Blues ironically! We talk about his beautiful playing style and how BB King moulded his playing to suit himself and the band, TC gives us a great insight into life with BB King, never playing less than 300 shows a year!! 

TC can really put over a story, he tells us about his short lived foray into being a percussionist with BB King after they toured with Santana......its worth listening just for this! 

TC is a wonderful charachter, humble, knowledgable, vastly experienced and speaks with huge passion about music and drumming. Thank you TC it was a pleasure. 

www.soulfulldrummer.com

David Ruffy - Percussion Discussion - Episode 138 

Joining me today is founding member and drummer of The Ruts (knowun as Ruts DC these days.
 Join Ruffy and myself as we pick through his amazing career starting with all the bands in Pre Ruts, this explains why they werent your everyday Punk band. 

We also talk about his work with some of the biggest artists in the 80's and 90's including Prefab Sprout, The Waterboys, Aztec Camera, Karl Wallinger, Kirsty MacColl and Sinead O'connor to name but a few, quite the list im sure you will agree. 

Ruffy tells us how he is still practicing and studying new styles every day at 72 years old! His enthusiasm for drums and music is as strong as it ever was as he talks about a new Ruts DC acoustic album and Tour this July. 

What a wonderful chap, Ruffy, thanks so much for giving up your time so generously! please check out the Ruts DC website for the forthcoming tour dates 

www.rutsdc.com

Firmly back in the Legends Lounge today with Vinny Appice! 

Vinny has played on some of the most iconic heavy rock albums of the 1980's with Black Sabbath and Dio. 

Join Vinny and myself as we talk about his incredibe career so far. 

We talk about his early days at home and how his older brother Carmine was a huge influence on his playing. 

We of course talk about when he joined Sabbath halfway through a tour to replace Bill Ward on very little rehearsal, well, not with the band anyway as it soundls like the spent most of it in the pub!

 Vinny tells us some great Black Sabbath stories of course including the late, great Ronnie James Dio! Do not miss this fabuolous episode, we covered so much ground in this episode and its incredibly interesting. 

Vinny, thanks so much for giving up your time so generously! 

www.vinnyappice.com

Joining me today is CEO and founder of Drumeo Jared Falk.

 Im quite certain that everyone watching or listening to this will know what Drumeo is and without doubt will have seen some of the remarkable content that they deliver time and time again, not just remarkable content, but filmed with the finest video and audio you could ever wish to see!

 Join Jared and myself as we chat all about Drumeo, from its humble beginnings from Jared's basement (this was pre Drumeo) through to the global success story that it is now, employing 150 staff from across the world! We chat about the behind the scenes work that goes into bringing these amazing lessons and features to life, we pick through some of Jared's favourite moments, there is a great story with Todd Sucherman and how he was "Persuaded" to do the first listen segment!! and of course we talked about the recent as yet unreleased Phil Collins interview in Switzerland with Brandon Toews!
 
This was so much fun to do! im a huge admirer of what Drumeo do for our community and it was a real pleasure to chat to Jared - Thanks for giving your time up so generously. 

www.drumeo.com

 www.musora.com

This was the end of another wonderful conversation with Simon Phillips that wasnt used in the recent Hayman episode, its way too interesting not to use. 

Simon tells us where his love of 24" bass drums came from, his first experience of using a boom cymbal stand that was brough back as a gift from New York and he tells us how cymbal stands affect the sound of cymbals!

 Simon as always has some fascinating insights in the drum world and this little nugget was way too good to waste, short but very sweet!