MODERN DRUMMER • January 201236

Story by Robin TollesonPhotos by Paul La Raia

It’s been twenty years since the Spin Doctorsembedded themselves in the recesses of our ears with hits like “Two Princes,” “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” and “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues.” Turns out those gloriously groovingperformances represent but one side of this well-traveled drummer’s career.

AaronCCoommeessss

With his combination of tech-nique, intuition, and inquisitive-ness, Aaron Comess has crafted

exactly the type of career he dreamed ofas a young drummer. As a founding mem-ber of the Spin Doctors, who are currentlycelebrating the twentieth anniversary oftheir breakout album, Pocket Full ofKryptonite, he savors the closeness of aband situation. As a drummer for hirewith Joan Osborne, Edie Brickell, JamesMaddock, and New York Electric Piano, hegets to enjoy the challenges associatedwith high-level recording sessions. And asa solo artist, he’s able to present his ownunique musical vision; his recentlyreleased second album as a leader,Beautiful Mistake, is a breathtaking pro-gressive, instrumental, roots-rock collec-tion that showcases a musical approachto the kit, powerful stick work, and astrong songwriting sense.

Edie Brickell has followed Comess’sdrumming since the two were in high

school together in Dallas. “I love inventivedrummers who sound relaxed and play-ful,” the singer says. “I’m really moved bythat, because the player takes you on aride that you can feel isn’t cliché. Aaron isa smart, thinking drummer with amazingfeel and intuition—or connection—andit’s a privilege to play and record withhim. He’s a beautiful soul, and he makesme sound better, lots better, than I wouldwithout him.”

As a child, Comess took advantage ofsolid music programs in the Dallas publicschools, starting on piano in first grade.Later he attended a performing arts highschool, where he studied theory andplayed drums in big bands, small combos,and orchestras. “We were playing musicevery day with other musicians, havingjam sessions after school and on week-ends,” he recalls. “I was lucky to be able toplay music with people, because ulti-mately that’s what it’s all about.”

Comess’s first teacher, Jack Iden,

taught Aaron traditional grip and insistedthat he play on the practice pad for twoyears to learn the fundamentals beforemoving to the drumkit. In high schoolComess began studying with HenryOkstel, a professor at North Texas StateUniversity (later renamed the Universityof North Texas). “He helped me with bigband interpretation and reading charts,”Comess says, “which set up everything forme in terms of learning how to interpretsongs, and that’s what I really love todo—try to make whatever I’m doing,regardless of the style, sound great.Learning that big band interpretation—setting up sections and hits—was a greatlesson early on.

“We were doing advanced stuff,”Aaron continues. “Henry showed me ahundred ways to use the Syncopationbook, and he had me doing PeteMagadini’s Poly-Cymbal Time book. Hegot me into the polyrhythmic thing andunderstanding rhythms over the bar and

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different groupings. But at the same time,his thing was always, ‘It has to feel good. Ithas to sound good. It has to fit the song.’ Itwas good being pushed hard technically,but it’s also important to have somebodystress that it’s all about making the musicand the beat feel good.”

Comess says he’s always favoreddrummers with an organic sound andapproach, like Bernard Purdie and TonyWilliams. “I kind of grew up studying to bea really versatile drummer,” he explains,“and I tried to model myself after guys likeSteve Gadd—somebody who plays greatjazz, rock, blues, whatever. I saw myselfmore as a guy that was going to play witha ton of people.”

After a year at Berklee and another inDallas studying with Okstel, Comessmoved to New York and enrolled at theNew School. One day some classmates

knocked on his practice-room door andconvinced him to check out their tunes.Comess liked the band, which called itselfthe Spin Doctors, and he decided to join.

“We started writing songs together, andthe vibe was cool,” Aaron recalls. “Wewere immediately playing out live in NewYork, and at the time our approach wasthe opposite of other bands’. Everybodyelse was rehearsing all week and doingtheir one showcase gig a month, trying toget a record deal. We were playing fivenights a week in clubs, and we’d rehearseonce a month. And we didn’t care aboutgetting a record deal. We were just like,‘We want to be a good band; we want to make a living.’ From playing so much,we got a big following. One thing led to another, and the record companiesstarted coming around.”

Though the Spin Doctors’ debut album,

Pocket Full of Kryptonite, became a multi-platinum blockbuster, the band wasunable to sustain its popularity, and aboutten years ago Comess began focusing ondeveloping his reputation as a studiodrummer. “That meant really puttingmyself out there on the scene,” he says,“playing with good people. You can takeany gig under the sun, and that’s cool—you’ve got to work. But when you putyourself in a situation where you’re play-ing with really good people who play thekind of music you like, and you’re sound-ing good doing it, everything else kind offalls into place. I was lucky to be workingwith some great people around New York.If you can keep doing it, word getsaround, and before you know it you’reworking a lot.”

“I have a lot of kits,” says Comess, whoendorses Yamaha drums. “I always tryto choose the best sound for a particu-lar project. I’ve got a bunch of greatYamaha kits, which I always use live.I’ve got the classic black YamahaRecording Custom series, which Ibought when I was sixteen. Thosedrums are just incredible; the ’80sRecording Custom series is like vin-tage now. I’ve used their PHX kit onrecordings too, including some of myown. And I’m just about to use theirnew Club Custom kit on the road withthe Spins. I’ve also got a little Gretschkit, an old Slingerland kit, and onBeautiful Mistake I used my Bradys:16x22 kick, 9x12 tom, 16x16 floor tom,plus three of their snare drums—a51/2x14 “tree trunk” model and a 6x16and 51/2x10 jarrah. I’ve been a big fanof their drums for a long time. I usedthem on all of the Spin Doctorsrecords early on.

“The Zildjian cymbals I used onBeautiful Mistake were primarily a 22" K Dark ride with rivets, a 20"Constantinople, 15" A Vintage hi-hats,and a 22" Complex II ride.” Aaron alsouses Remo Coated Ambassador andEmperor heads and Vic Firth AmericanCustom SD4 Combo sticks.

AARON’S SETUP

MODERN DRUMMER • January 201238

In 2006 Comess released his first soloalbum, Catskills Cry, and soon after begancomposing the music that would become2011’s Beautiful Mistake. “I like to sitaround and play guitar and come up withlittle songs,” he says. “About a year ago Irealized that I had the material together,and I decided to call some guys that I loveplaying with and do it.”

Comess made demos, playing all theinstruments himself, and sent them to gui-tarist Teddy Kumpel and bassist RichardHammond. “I got together with Teddy acouple times to go over stuff,” Aaron says,

“and then we just went in and recorded it.I love that approach to music. You get theright musicians in there that you trust, andeverybody does their homework. I love tocapture something fresh before you havetime to know it too well or overthink it,and that’s exactly what we did.”

For Comess, the drum parts were nevera worry. “For me the song always comesfirst,” he says. “So before I even presentedthe material to these guys, I wanted tomake sure that there was a song there onacoustic guitar—a melody and a form andeverything—that stood on its own. Once

you have a great song, something thatyou feel good about, how the drummerapproaches it can make it go in many dif-ferent directions. But ultimately I alwaysthink of the song first. If I’m working withan artist, I want to hear them play thesong bare bones before I even hit thedrums. I want to hear the lyrics, themelody, the chords—kind of get the vibeof it. That’s going to make me feel where Ineed to go sonically with the drums—what kind of snare sound to have, whatkind of toms and cymbals, whether to usemallets, brushes, or sticks…. There are somany things you can do, but it’s all basedon where the song’s coming from.”

Most of the Beautiful Mistake tracks fea-ture guitar solos, but Comess thinks ofthese sections as group improvisations.“Maybe the guitar is the main voice of thatimprovisation,” he explains, “but the otherinstruments, we’re all happy and having aconversation together. Even though theguitar is kind of the main thing, every-body’s an equal part of the conversation.Kenny and Rich are really great at that.”

Comess recorded the album at hishome studio in New York City’s EastVillage. The trio cut live over two days,then Comess and Kumpel spent anotherday on overdubs. “I love getting goodsounds,” Aaron says, “and I’ve got a great

engineer, Roman Klun. We went for a little different approach on this record. Ididn’t want to use as many mics, so a lot of the songs are recorded with just three orfour. I’m a big fan of capturing the kit theway it sounds and letting the drummer mixhimself when he’s playing. If you’re usingtwo or three mics, you’ve really got to beaware [of dynamics] when you go over tothe toms.

“There was no fancy stuff, no soundmanipulation at all, really,” Comess stresses.“It was just about getting good sounds andthe right guys—the chemistry—and hav-ing the material together and doing it in anorganic fashion. There’s a time and placefor running drums through guitar ampsand filters and crazy stuff. But for this par-ticular project, the way I was hearing the

music, I just wanted it to be completelyopen and organic.”

Rather than rely on postproduction toadd variety to the drum sounds on thealbum, Comess expanded his choice ofsnares. “One of the records that was a hugeinfluence on Beautiful Mistake was BillFrisell’s Gone, Just Like a Train, with VictorKrauss and Jim Keltner,” Aaron says.“Keltner’s one of my favorite drummers,and the approach to that record was veryorganic, very loose. A lot of times Jim willuse different snare sounds on a track, so Itried that out on this record. It’s cool tohave different tones. I set up three snareson my kit for the whole record. In somecases I’d be bouncing around on all ofthem during the song, even within fills.”

As the Spin Doctors busily celebrate the

twentieth anniversary of Kryptonite—theydid an East Coast tour this past Octoberand have European dates in early 2012—Comess says, “We’ve been having a won-derful time playing together, and the bandsounds great.” But at this point, with theimpressive list of credits he’s amassed, thedrummer is clearly comfortable living thelife of a musician for hire. “There’s a mis-conception that the session drummer playsit safe and boring, but that’s not the case atall,” he insists. “You have to be prepared togo in there and work fast and come upwith something quick. But people wantsomething unique as well, and your job isto serve the song and bring something to itwithout getting in the way.

“At the same time, you’ve got to knowwhen to just lay it down, and sometimesthe best thing to do is the bare minimum.But even when you’re doing the bare mini-mum, it’s how you play it that matters. It’sall about making it feel right and respect-ing the style. That’s the thing that’s soimportant to understand: Keep your mindopen, listen to all kinds of music, respectand understand the styles. That’s the stuffthat’s going to make people want to playwith you.”

RECORDINGSAaron Comess “Unleash the Beast”from Beautiful Mistake, “Future” fromCatskills Cry /// Spin Doctors “TwoPrinces” from Pocket Full of Kryptonite,“Sugar” from Nice Talking to Me ///Joan Osborne “Baby Love” fromRighteous Love /// Rachael Yamagata“Letter Read” from Happenstance ///Chris Whitley “Last Million Miles” fromSoft Dangerous Shores /// Marc Cohn“Saints Preserve Us” from Burning theDaze /// James Maddock “Step Into theWater” from Wake Up and Dream ///Bilal “Love Poems” from 1st BornSecond /// Saul Zonana “Even” fromBlue Monkey /// New York ElectricPiano “The Modern World” from Keys tothe City Volumes 1 & 2

INFLUENCESMiles Davis Filles de Kilimanjaro (TonyWilliams) /// John Coltrane A LoveSupreme (Elvin Jones) /// Bill FrisellGone, Just Like a Train (Jim Keltner) ///Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II (JohnBonham) /// Rolling Stones Tattoo You(Charlie Watts) /// Steely Dan The RoyalScam (Bernard Purdie, Rick Marotta) ///Stevie Wonder Innervisions (StevieWonder) /// Paul Simon Still Crazy AfterAll These Years (Steve Gadd) /// AC/DCBack in Black (Phil Rudd) /// The BeatlesThe White Album (Ringo Starr) /// FrankZappa Shut Up ’n Play Your Guitar(Vinnie Colaiuta)

AARON COMESS