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Thread: True drum hero

  1. #1

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    Hello All
    discovered this site a few months back and it's great to see like minded musicians exchanging views etc. Me, I'm UK based, 30 years experience, love playing, always will.

    Anyway, heard a story the other day about Charlie Morgan (Elton John, session pro) I met him once at a clinic in the late 80's in Guildford, nice guy, top player too.
    So he was playing on a tour with Elton and Billy Joel, and Liberty DeVitto takes ill with food poisoning minutes before show time and ends up in hospital. Nightmare scenario for any performer, with an extensive and complicated set, and 55,000 people waiting expectantly, they were looking at cancelling. Charlie offers to dep for them and somehow they improv through the set. Now I saw Billy Joel once at Wembley arena and Liberty DeVitto is a full on player and some of the drum parts are quite challenging, esp. Scenes from an Italian restaurant, angry young man etc.
    To fill in with absolutely no preparation is truly awesome and Billy Joel said after that it was one of the most amazing things he's seen from a musician.
    So does anyone else have any great drum stories?

  2. #2

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    I have a personal one.

    My buddy who lives 8 hours away used to live in my city and we were in several bands together over 6 or 7 years. He moved away a few years ago and we've kept in touch. He still gigs and so do I. I rode my bike up there right after he moved and watched his band play one weekend. I got up (by request) and played We're an American Band by GFR which I hadn't even heard in many years but used to play it.

    So of course I get to start it and one reason they asked me to play it is because their current drummer couldn't do the beginning.

    A year or two later he calls me up and asks if I could fill in for a weekend since their drummer had other obligations. Since I didn't know any of their songs I was hesitant but they said they'd send me a CD and just do what I could do. So they mail me the CD. It shows up on Wednesday and I have to leave on Friday to be there in time for the gig. So Friday night I pack up my drums and haul them, myself and the CD to the gig.

    That gave me Wednesday and Thursday night to acquaint myself with the songs. I then took the entire drive up to the Twin Cities to try and learn everything else.

    Needless to say I pulled it off with minimal complications and have a video around here somewhere of one of the songs. If I can find it I'll link it. If not, you'll just have to believe me.
    Last edited by Bish; 10-30-2008 at 01:09 PM.
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  3. #3

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    GCR, Welcome to the board , good stories , I dont have any to add .

  4. #4

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    I played four hours of blues music last month with absolutely no rehearsal, I was asked to fill in for my friend who got called out of town suddenly for work and they didn't want to give up the gig. I play in classic rock bands but I don't have a lot of expereience with blues music. they gave me a song list and I didn't recognize any but a few ZZ top tunes. Anyway the guitarist would turn around to me at the beginning of the song and say something like "this is a medium tempo blues shuffle just listen throughthe intro and come in the back door" and turn around and count it off and away we would go. I had a great time but it was really challenging watching the guitarist for when he threw his neck down on the guitar for a break in the song. I hit most of the breaks just by watching him carefully in front of me. After the gig they were really complimentary and said anytime they had a scheduling conflict they would use me again so all in all it was a successful evening and a whole lot of fun! And I was proud of myself to be able to pull it off and the audiance didn't realize that I was just sitting in. It is fun, but nerveracking to step off like that sometimes and really challenge yourself.

  5. #5

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    i dunno if this is appropriate or not in this topic... but, in my early years of drumming i went to this church for lessons and each saturday there'd be music lessons. the church had two drumkits, one on stage and one in storage. the beginners playing on one and advanced students playing on the other. so one saturday i get there and the 2nd drumkit which was in storage(which for some reason was the better one) was locked in and no one had the keys. needless to say one can't teach like ten or fifteen people on one kit - all of whom were eager to play! so my teacher made a real diy plan... he said,"screw it!" so we set-up the kit, added another snare in front of the bass reso head, another hi hat and attached a bass pedal to the reso side of the bass. this was all thanks to my teachers laziness of not unloading all of his gear out of his car after his gig the previous night. then another snare in the position where one usually has the secondary snare, got another pedal to connect to a floor tom. and there you go! three players on one kit! although the two drummers on the one side had to share hi hats. no one really learned anything that day but we had a lot of fun and just played! that was an awesome day which i'll never forget. just one of those stories... good times.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by jack's_art View Post
    i dunno if this is appropriate or not in this topic... but, in my early years of drumming i went to this church for lessons and each saturday there'd be music lessons. the church had two drumkits, one on stage and one in storage. the beginners playing on one and advanced students playing on the other. so one saturday i get there and the 2nd drumkit which was in storage(which for some reason was the better one) was locked in and no one had the keys. needless to say one can't teach like ten or fifteen people on one kit - all of whom were eager to play! so my teacher made a real diy plan... he said,"screw it!" so we set-up the kit, added another snare in front of the bass reso head, another hi hat and attached a bass pedal to the reso side of the bass. this was all thanks to my teachers laziness of not unloading all of his gear out of his car after his gig the previous night. then another snare in the position where one usually has the secondary snare, got another pedal to connect to a floor tom. and there you go! three players on one kit! although the two drummers on the one side had to share hi hats. no one really learned anything that day but we had a lot of fun and just played! that was an awesome day which i'll never forget. just one of those stories... good times.


    cool story Jack, that sounds like it would be fun. What did the reso bass drum reso side head look like after that session?

  7. #7

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    Welcome to Drum Chat GCR!!

    Well, not on the same caliber as you guys, but I am always amazed by natural talent. I work harder to learn music, but I enjoy it and everything is coming along fine. I have a friend at the church, though, who truly has natural talent. we've played together for the church, and he comes by when he can so we can practice, or just to jam. GCR, your story made me think of this guy. I knew he could play the drums and a banjo, but when he picked up my bass guitar, I was amazed at what he could do (he doesn't have a bass, he was working from his knowledge on the banjo). Then he walks past my conga set up (yeah, I'm trying to get a praise band going at the church) and he starts playing a rhythm. It sounded so good, I ask him how long he'd been playing the congas. He told me about 2 minutes. He had never touched them before! Some people just have an in-born talent! I am in awe of musicians like that!

    Good thread GCR!
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  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by backtodrum View Post
    cool story Jack, that sounds like it would be fun. What did the reso bass drum reso side head look like after that session?
    you don't wanna know! everything was ruined. the floor tom head(cos the bass pedal wasn't clipped on right cos it doesn't have a big hoop), the bass drum reso head, the bass drum head because ppl started hitting it with their sticks to compensate for no double bass pedal and a few sticks got broken that day which never happened before or since.

    another cool story: whatever keith moon ever did in his life. especially driving his car into the pool!

  9. #9

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    [QUOTE
    another cool story: whatever keith moon ever did in his life. especially driving his car into the pool![/QUOTE]

    There are so many Keith Moon stories, each as outrageous as the next but one which is sort of related to the original thread is the one about Pete Townshend inviting a guy from the audience to play with the band. I think Moonie had been given what he thought were "normal" drugs and had gobbled them down pre-show. On stage he falls asleep during one number and is being propped up from behind by his crew. They then have to drag him off and put him under a cold shower to wake him up. He resumes playing but is still way off the mark and John Entwistle carries on playing heavy bass to try and hold it all together. Keith then collapses again and is carried away. Pete then jokes "Is there a drummer in the house?" to which someone shouts that his mate can play a bit. He is hauled out of the audience and plays a few numbers with them and they muddle through until it all ends in a bit of a farce. I think all this is viewable on YouTube somewhere.
    Anyway the guy gets given a tour jacket by the crew and goes away having actually played onstage with one of the most famous outfits in rock history.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by GCR99 View Post
    [QUOTE
    another cool story: whatever keith moon ever did in his life. especially driving his car into the pool!
    There are so many Keith Moon stories, each as outrageous as the next but one which is sort of related to the original thread is the one about Pete Townshend inviting a guy from the audience to play with the band. I think Moonie had been given what he thought were "normal" drugs and had gobbled them down pre-show. On stage he falls asleep during one number and is being propped up from behind by his crew. They then have to drag him off and put him under a cold shower to wake him up. He resumes playing but is still way off the mark and John Entwistle carries on playing heavy bass to try and hold it all together. Keith then collapses again and is carried away. Pete then jokes "Is there a drummer in the house?" to which someone shouts that his mate can play a bit. He is hauled out of the audience and plays a few numbers with them and they muddle through until it all ends in a bit of a farce. I think all this is viewable on YouTube somewhere.
    Anyway the guy gets given a tour jacket by the crew and goes away having actually played onstage with one of the most famous outfits in rock history.[/QUOTE]

    Now that is a cool story!

  11. #11

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    ja, i heard about that one! that guy(audience member) must be the luckiest guy in the world!
    i love also that moon hand painted his rolls lilac with house paint! supposedly he had this thing about making expensive stuff for rich people into blue collar items. pretty cool i think.
    and btw, the swimming pool story... supposedly - according to daltrey - it was on the second story.

  12. #12

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    Welcome GCR99 from a fellow Brit!
    Dustin Lee Burgess
    Northfleet, England
    mapex mafia & paiste posse


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