MS: Absolutely.
Making Tracks DH: When you got into the studio with Neil, what was the recording process like? Did the whole band all play at the same time? Was he playing to scratch tracks that you did with a click, no click…? MS: When we went into Capitol, Sean Hurley the bass player came, and Sean and Neil set up in the big room. The two of them were recording to scratch guitars, vocal, and a click that I already laid down. But generally, they spent most of the time with a little bit of vocal and a little bit of click.
MS: Yes, we did do multiple takes. I went in for the finest details and would maybe move a fill from one take to another, but we were being that picky only because I could.
It wasn’t like grim situations I’ve been in before where we’ve only got one bar for the verse that actually works, so we have to just loop it back and use it all throughout the song.
It wasn’t like that at all. The bar is so high with [Neil], it’s just really inspiring and really unbelievable. He just sits down and he’s absolutely giving you 100 percent, all day long. There’s no faltering.
DH: In regard to the kit and production, was it the Neil Peart signature sound? Or because this was a different environment than Rush, obviously being Vertical Horizon, did you go for something different? MS: Mark Valentine was the engineer on it, and he and I were talking a lot beforehand about what we were going to try and go for with the sound.
On some of Neil’s records I’ve heard his tone be very succinct and very specific: very isolated microphones, with maybe a reverb added on top of that. I was hoping to get a little more room sound on this, as opposed to that real precise tone that I’ve heard on some of the records.
Neil had all these awesome voices that he could use, but the really cool thing about it was that when I was sitting down there behind his kit, it’s very much oriented like a jazz kit would be. I could conceive of it that way: There’s the one tom in the middle, so you’re almost looking at an extended jazz kit. If you think about it that way, it’s not as scary.
DH: As opposed to the older kit which was double kick, four concert toms, three racks, two floors, and on and on. MS: Right, with the two timbales, the wind chimes and crotales, wood blocks and cowbells. He still has the cowbell set up, but it never felt intrusive. In fact there was only one time, at the end of “Even Now,” where I was like, “Dude, we’ve got to hear that big…”
DH: The flurry. MS: Yeah, that big roll — give it to me all the way from the top to the bottom. He was like, “Great, cool, I’ll do it.” And in the track it just sounds so beautiful. I remember when I first listened to “Vital Signs” from Moving Pictures, there’s this one fill that goes from the high tom all the way down (as he air drums the fill). You know, it’s so exciting, so I was so fired up to have a moment like that.
MS: Yeah, and it’s totally cool. Be-
cause with Vertical Horizon, I defi-
nitely have a vision
of what I want the
band to be, and part of
that involved keeping
songs pretty short.
You know, not going
too crazy and always
wanting to leave
people wanting more,
or just not wanting
to bore somebody.
The professor in the lab
DH: “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus.” MS: Right, but as we were doing “Even Now,” I noticed it
was something like six minutes and 30 seconds, which is two minutes more than most of the songs that I have been involved in in the past. But I wasn’t bored. I didn’t lose interest at all.
ally good question. I think that you’re absolutely right — the bar couldn’t be raised any higher. I’m not sure what comes next.
DH: Are there any other people on your list? Now that you’ve got Neil on your credits, I’m sure in some ways it will open up doors to you approaching other drummers that maybe you wouldn’t have approached before. MS: You know, that’s a really good point. And Neil’s playing on the project was a real vote of confidence from him to me. That means a lot to me because it’s not something that he does.
I was captivated by the way it was all coming together.
So there’s like a two-minute portion at the end of the song where Neil is just really playing. Everything’s building around him, the strings are coming in and all these other vocal parts are coming in and around, and the drums are the featured instrument as the song comes to a close.
CH-CH-CH-CH-Changes
DH: Which CD is going to
come out first, this one
or the new Rush?
MS: That’s a good question. I’m
shopping for a deal right now
because I’m leaving my label,
so I don’t know where it’s going
to wind up, but a lot of changes
have been happening like that in
my life. There was a time when I
would’ve been really freaked out
by that, but I’m not at all now.
MS: Right, Jeff Berlin and the Burning For Buddy stuff, and that’s it. So, it couldn’t be a more wonderful compliment. I’ve tracked with Gregg Bissonette and he’s an incredible player. You know who else I really love is Nate Morton, who did the rock star INXS show and now rock star Supernova. Also Gavin Harrison, who plays with Porcupine Tree.
You know for me, the ultimate is the kind of player that can mix some of the real “out technique” stuff with the real fat, basic meat-and-potato groove playing. Simon Phillips is another guy I just have so much respect for. I had Protocol back in the day and I remember listening to that, and “Give Blood” is one of my favorite drum tracks.
DH: I find that if you embrace sudden changes, you’re one step ahead of the game. If you sit there and say to yourself, “Uh oh, now what, I feel lost”… then you are lost. But if you look at it as though one thing ending opens a door for something new to happen… MS: Exactly, I’m totally open to embracing that. I don’t have all the answers, but it will all come clear as time moves forward.
Raising The Bar DH: No disrespect to any of the other drummers you’ve played with, but you’ve certainly raised the bar for yourself quite a bit now. How will you maintain that, with or without Neil, and where do you go from here? MS: That’s a re-
DH: “Give Blood” is the quintessential rock drum track of our time. When I heard that track, I called Simon up and said, “Man, you’ve done it!” That track could not have been played any better. MS: I know — it’s sick! With Gilmour on guitar. That’s kind of like a master class in tasteful technique. To me, it all starts with the drummer. If the guy who sits down at the kit owns it and has the ability to propel the music and make the music better, make the music greater, then everything else comes easily. If that groove falters or is hesitant, or if the time sense changes or rushes, then everything else falls apart. That’s why it’s so fun for me to do this interview: there’s nothing more important than you.
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