I didn’t start out playing drums, I played trumpet in high school and then switched to drums as a second instrument. Although I was playing drums in the jazz band, I was still playing French horn in the concert band. We were doing Sammy Nestico, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, stuff that I really loved. I was all about the big band, kind of a jazz snob, never into the garage/ rock band thing.
It wasn’t until I went to school and roomed with Dave [Weckl] that I discovered Gadd, Jordan and all
those guys. Anyway, I don’t remember who turned us onto it, but Ben Sidran’s “Seven Steps To Heaven” [ The Cat In The Hat] with Steve Gadd blew my mind.
I think both Weckl and I went out and bought cowbells after we heard that recording. We went so far as to figure out that his 10-inch tom was tuned to a F# - so we tuned our drums to that pitch. I transcribed that whole solo. It had all those signature Steve Gadd things on it. Most guys were exposed to Gadd through the DCI video, but I was lucky enough to witness him several times playing in these little clubs. I think later on I went way overboard into Steve, but he was the guy of that generation. He came in with his sound and style and had a huge effect on drummers and music. It’s almost impossible to state the impact that he had.
1. Minority
2. Blue Daniel
3. Ballin’ the Jack
4. Like Sonny
5. Girl Talk
6. Seven Steps to Heaven
7. Hi-Fly
8. Ask Me Now
9. Give It to the Kids
Steve Gadd (Rob Shanahan)
Hank Williams, Jr. Family Tradition | 1979
1. To Love Somebody
2. Old Flame, New Fire
3. Always Loving You
4. We Can Work It All Out
5. I Fought The Law
6. Family Tradition
7. Only Daddy Th...
8. Paying On Time
9. I’ve Got Rights
10. I Just Ain’t Been Able
Oddly enough, mine is Hank Williams, Jr., Family Tradition. The drummer, he’s just got a really good groove, which actually helped me develop my style. There’s not much groove in country you know, but there was in this.
I remember being a kid always listening to him and always wanting to play drums from that. It was what my dad was listening to, and I can remember being real young playing air drums along with it.
I played in a band with his son, Hank III, but I never got to meet him [Hank Williams, Jr.]. The drummer did a lot of cool kick drum stuff, as opposed to straight beats. He’d go half-time every now and then, it was really cool.
My style is basically half-time. This guy, his groove is just killer and he does a lot of cool kick drum stuff, kind of an off-the-cuff country drummer.
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