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THEUK’SBEST-SELLINGDRUMMAGAZINE

“MORE THAN PLAYING,LISTENING IS PARAMOUNT”

PAUL COOK ON…the impact of the Sex Pistols& his punk drumming legacy

The Killers’ livewire drummer talks big hats, going back toschool & keeping things simple on epic new album Battle Born

RONNIEVANNUCCI PLUS

Jason BowldAXEWOUNDDave KrusenPEARL JAM

Eddy ThrowerLOWER THAN

ATLANTIS

“IT’S NOT CHOPS THATGET YOU THE GIG”

THE DRUM GOSPEL ACCORDING TOAARON SPEARS & CHRIS JOHNSON

58 | OctOber 2012 www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk

INTERVIEWEDDY THROWER

He’s rock drumming’s bright young hope, was schooled in jazz and funk andhas a beef with double bass merchants. Meet Eddy Thrower...

worDS:RICHARDCHAMBERLAIN PhotoS:KEVINNIXON

y saying is that it’s not what you play,it’s how you play it,” says Lower ThanAtlantis sticksman Eddy Thrower.“You can play themost simple beat,but if you know how to play it, it willsound somuch better.”

Amongst a sea of young drummers pepperingtheir beats with flash for the sake of flash,Thrower’s attitude is a breath of fresh air. Asdrummer for UK hardcore smashers-turned-radio friendly rock song crafters Lower ThanAtlantis, the drummer is turning heads with hismix of laudable restraint and impeccablyschooled chops, particularly on the band’s newalbum, Changing Tune.

“I had lessons all the way through secondaryschool. They were so boring. You’d sit down for a

lesson and they’d show you a paradiddle. You’dthink, ‘Okay, this is good, this is going to helpme,’ but all you’d want to do is put on TheOffspring and play along to it! It helpedme a lotthough. I didmy grades and then after that Iwent to college and did a BTEC in Performance,which was wicked. My drum tech Charlie went tothe same college as well. We were all better thanthe teacher. We got an amazing teacher thoughwho taught us jazz and all different styles.”Despite now being part of amainstream rock

act, Eddy believes his technical grounding hasstood him in good stead: “Learning jazz anddifferent types of music help, definitely. Just withthings like wrist motion. If you have someonethat knows what you’re doing and teaches youhow to hold the sticks properly, it helps. Other

times you can just play your favourite songs.That’s what I did. I’ve got an electronic kit athome, it’s so fun. I can sit there all day.”With this technical grounding under his belt,

Thrower began putting it to good use. He joinedupwith Lower Than Atlantis after the attention-grabbing blast of their debut EP, Bretton, but justin time to appear on their first album.“When I first joined the band for the album

Far Q, the albumwas written already. I had acouple of weeks to learn the songs and recordthem and that was just me bashing them out.”

RECORD BREAKERSBy 2011’s World Record album, Thrower’sfeet were under the table and his styleunmistakably stamped throughout the band’s

59www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk OctOber 2012 |www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk

“If I don’t warmup, I don’t playterribly, but you can tell that Ihaven’t warmed up. I like to do

stretches formy arms and legs anddo someparadiddles, doubleparadiddles, fives over four, allstuff like that. I got this thing the

other day though called aPowerball. Ben fromYoungGunsshowed that tome and it warmsup yourwrists. But then somepeople don’t need to do it. Our

tech also techs forMastodon andhe says that he [BrannDailor]doesn’t warmup at all. He justpicks up his sticks and goes onstage. I could never do that. I’vegot a TD-12, that’d be amazing tobring that [on tour]. But then I’d beplaying on it all day then I’d get toplaying live and be like, ‘S**t!’”

E D D Y ’ SW A R M - U P

“YOU CAN GET REALLY LAZYSOMETIMES, ESPECIALLY IF

YOU’VE GOT A DOUBLEBASS PEDAL”

60

INTERVIEWEDDY THROWER

| OctOber 2012 www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk

Eddy: “You can tell adrummer’s good from just

watching himdo a 4/4 beat”

sound. Out wentmuch of the hardcore, incame amore accessiblemodern rock vibe. It’s

a shift in part born out of the drummer strivingto break new boundaries and avoid stagnation.“On [World Record] I wanted to thinkmore

about what I was doing, but on this third albummy schooling really helpedme because I couldthinkmore about what I was doing and notoveruse the same fills again and again.“You can get stuck just doing the same old

things and you can get really lazy sometimes,especially if you’ve got a double bass pedal. Youend up just doing the same fills over and overagain. But if you know your technique it canopen up a whole newworld for you. On Far Q, Iused quite a lot of double bass pedal, not somuch in beats but for fills. ThenWorld Record Idid with just one pedal, a crash and a ride andthat was about it. On this album that completelychanged and I thought about everything I did.”He does, however, acknowledge that in

focusing on pushing himself and exploring newterritory, a drummer can end upmicro-analysingtheir playing: “It’s hard because at the same timeyou can over-think things. Because wewereusing a residential studio I could have recordeddrums all night. When you sit there you analyseit all and think, ‘Is that toomuch?’ On this recordI definitely sat back for themost part and then

when you do get the fast ones you’re allowed togo OTT. A lot of drummers go way overboard. Ifyou knowwhat you’re on about with drums youcan see a drummer and tell that he’s good fromjust watching him do a 4/4 beat.”There’s plenty of straight-up 4/4 playing on

Changing Tune, but it’s punctuated with neattouches and flourishes, such as the pounding thedrummer gives the toms of his Tama StarclassicBubinga kit on ‘PMA.’“On ‘PMA’ I held back all through the song and

then went for it at the end. It was wicked, I loveit. On your first album youwant to be known as adrummer. On this album I just wanted to play forthemusic and sit back. I loved it, I loved doing asimple 4/4 beat. That’s the hardest thing. Ifsomeone’s just playing a riff and you’re doing asimple 4/4 beat without any fills – try doing thatover and over, especially at a slow tempo. It’sharder than going absolutely crazy, having thatself-restraint.”

KEEPING IT RADIO-FRIENDLYIt’s testament to the band’s quickly-blossomingsuccess that Thrower also has to keep radio playinmindwhenwriting beats. Even so, hemanagesto sneak some chops in there.“We’ve got our new single [‘Love Someone

Else’] which is just a simple rock song, but then it

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has this ridiculous drum fill. I wasn’t going to putthat in, but it just came out. A lot of drummerstake that too far though. If you’re in a pop band,it’s not going to be [bangs table] all the waythrough. It’s hard to find the happymedium butonce you do, that’s brilliant.”After catching Lower Than Atlantis supporting

Blink-182 this summer, it’s with amix of surpriseand admiration that we learn that the band donot play with a click live, as they put on aseriously tight display. Thrower is happy enoughwithout a click, even if that recent support stintdid show him that one of his drumming heroesplays to the click.“People come up to us and say, ‘You guys are

really tight, do you play to a click?’ I like that.Travis plays to a click. It’s not that he needs toplay to a click, it’s just that he enjoys it more.Some bands play to a click because they have to,they don’t practise and they’re sloppy. Surelythey should just go and get a little bit better andthen see what it sounds like. Some bands justplay to a click because they can’t keep in timeand you can see that when you watch them.”Returning to themetal roots of both the band

and his own playing, Thrower’s own drummingpet hate underlines his transformation frommetal-loving kid to a studious drummer set for agigantic career: “I hate drummers that just playas fast as they can, it’s so tedious to watch. Weget it, you can play fast, you can play doublebass. I used to be really into it but I can’t reallylisten tometal anymore. There’s a few bands outthere, a few hardcore bands. It’s fun to play, butgod, I’d rather have a 4/4 beat any day.”

| OctOber 2012 www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk64

www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk OctOber 2012 | 65

Nowadays it seems unthinkable toimagine a bandmaking such animpact. Before they’d evenreleased an album or completeda full tour, the Sex Pistols werepublic enemy number one. theband’s snarling attitude, wry

songwriting and blistering playing helped inventpunk, but it also landed them in plenty of hot water.while we can now appreciate ‘god Save the

Queen’, ‘Pretty Vacant’ and the like as classic rocktracks, at the time they were hugely divisive, evenleading the band to be denounced by politicians andauthority figures across the land. within a couple ofyears it was all over for the Pistols, but it didn’t endthere for drummer Paul cook. in the 35 years sincethe release of never mind the Bollocks, cook hasworked with Pistols, ’80s heroes and classic rockicons. as we sit with Paul at the studio of long-timecollaboration partner edwyn collins, we start byharking back to all that filth and fury in the ’70s.

You hadn’t been drumming for long when thePistols started, were you learning on the hoof?“we never had time to develop asmusicians, whichwas okay really because that developed our sound.

we just kept it direct and straight and got that off toa tee before we had time to get too technical aboutthings and learn our instruments. that came later. ihadn’t been playing for long at all before the Pistolsreally broke big. it was listening by ear and pickingthings up. it was pretty raw when we recorded nevermind the Bollocks. we just had to go in there andknock it out as only we knew how. that’s the beautyof it, really. we didn’t have toomuch time to thinkabout it, there was just that natural raw aggressionin our early playing.”

What drummers were you into at the time?“we were kids of the ’70s, the glam rock scene andall that. we listened to Bowie, roxy music, the Facesand all that great stuff. a lot of soul as well andreggae. i listened to all of those drummers, Paulthompson, Simon kirke from Free. al Jackson i reallyliked as well, i thought he was a brilliant drummer.motown drummers as well i thought were really cool,with all those little rolls. when i was learning i cockedmy ear to all that sort of stuff.”

The learning-as-you went attitude fittednicely with punk’s origins.“it was a do-it-yourself mentality at the time. the

punk ethos was to get out and have a go. it was backto basics. we never had time to get too tricky aboutthings. there was nomanifesto or blueprint that wewere going to keep it simple. it wasn’t year zero, itwas just a natural thing.”

The Pistols recorded several demos beforetouring, was that a big help in tightening up?“[Demo producer] chris Spedding was a great help. iremember him telling us to keep it evenmore simplethan we were playing. he said that about mydrumming because i was just accenting everythingthat Steve [Jones, guitar] was playing because wewere very in tune with each other. But chris said tojust keep it simple and play 4/4 because that was thepower of the band. he was right.”

You were unusual in that you really locked inwith guitar, rather than bass. Was thatnatural given how close you were with Steve?“we grew up together. when we picked upinstruments we naturally locked in. he could havebeen the bass player for all i was concerned. wewere so tight together when we played and so intune with what we were doing. it was brilliantplaying with him. he’s the best rhythm guitar

worDS:RICHCHAMBERLAIN PhotoS:KEVINNIXON/ PRESS

“MALCOM MCLAREN DIDN’TUNDERSTAND THAT WE WERE A GREAT

BAND AND NOT JUST A CONCEPT. IT’SA PRETTY DISMAL END TO IT, AND

IT WAS A SAD END”

The interview

He helped invent punk with The Sex Pistols, sparked national outrageand got himself crossed off the Queen’s Christmas card list.

Still, Never Mind The B**locks, Here’s Paul Cook…

Paul Cook

The interview

66 | OctOber 2012 www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk

for it when we recorded, i’d hit the drums really hard.we didn’t hold back and i think that got us thatpowerful sound. we didn’t pussyfoot about.”

Did you realise how strong those songs wereat the time?“i knew that they were quite good songs but i don’tthink we realised how good. Because of all of theadverse publicity with the band, themusicsometimes got overlooked a little bit. everyonethought we were just making headlines for the sakeof it and people would just read the headlines andignore themusic because people thought themusicwas crap when it first came out. they thought it wasjust noisy, horrible punk stuff. it wasn’t until later thatpeople gave us credit for the album. it was not a badbit of musicianship, if i don’t mind saying so.”

And there was plenty of trouble brewing…“as soon as ‘anarchy in the uk’ was released we

were on the Bill grundy showwhere all hell brokeloose. after that all the headlines were ‘the filth andthe fury’ and themusic got overlooked. ‘anarchy…’crept into the top 30 but most of the records weredeleted. it never got the chance, but it had this bigunderground swell of kids that were into it.”

It must have been frustrating.“it was bizarre, really. we were public enemy numberone. People started cancelling our gigs, theywouldn’t play our records. we were a target, we hadto watch where we were going. John got beat up, igot attacked in the street. we were a band and wewanted to play but shows were being cancelled allover the place.”

Did that all help quicken the band’s demise?“we were under a lot of pressure. we were only 20

or 21 at the time, we were young kids. howwe kept ittogether for that long is amazing. we had to go toBerlin and Jersey to get away, we just had to get outof the country. we had the anarchy tour booked with20 or 30 dates and we ended up playing three ofthem. it was a drag.”

Did that just add to the Pistols myth, thatpeople couldn’t see you live?“you couldn’t write a better script. everyone thoughtwe were doing it on purpose. ‘oh they don’t want toplay live because they can’t play.’ John was holed upin a hotel in chelsea, we couldn’t go out. theparanoia started to set in and it was quite a darktime. it wasn’t a bundle of laughs.”

Does that make it all the more satisfying tohear ‘Pretty Vacant’ played at the Olympicopening ceremony in front of the Queen?“it’s great that we left that legacy. there was adanger at the time that it could have been sweptunder the carpet. it did get forgotten about for about10-15 years when the ’80s came along. i think peoplewere glad to see the back of punk. it wasn’t until the10th or 15th year anniversary that people started torealise how important the punk thing was.”

The fuss you caused seems unthinkable now.“i don’t know if anyone could do that again. i don’tknow how to explain it to people who weren’t thereat the time. it was a heavy place at the time with allthe turmoil, the strikes, the stuff we grew up with. ifyou look at clips now of the ’70s, it looks like an aliencountry. we came out of all that turmoil.”

The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle was a verystrange follow-up.“that wasn’t a great period for us. the band had splitup by then, that’s all well documented. this filmmalcolm [mcLaren] was working on, contractually wehad to finish and he needed songs. we raided thearchives and found that old stuff. it was a righthotchpotch. it’s amazing it all got finished with all theturmoil because it was obvious that it was all comingto an end. Sid was out of control by then, althoughhe did a great version of ‘Something else’. there’s acouple of good things that came out of the albumbut it’s pretty surreal, with malcolm singing on it;tenpole tudor doing ‘who killed Bambi?’ we werethinking, ‘what’s going on here?’ it had just run its

player in the world, i think. when we recordednever mind the Bollocks we did it with just guitar

and drums. there was no bass because glen[matlock] had gone by then and Sid [Vicious] was inhospital half the time. we had to record with justguitar and drums as a basis. rhythmically it’s great.”

Did your tightness with Steve help keep theband together musically?“For sure. i don’t think i could do it nowwithouta bass player but at the time we didn’t know anydifferent. we were a two-piece band. there was areview once of one of our last shows that said, ‘thisis the greatest two piece band in the world.’ BecauseSid was off doing whatever andme and Steve werebashing away. it had always been that way.”

What was the approach to writing during theNever Mind… sessions?“we’d all be sitting around in Denmark Street and

people would throw ideas about. glen would comeup with a riff, John [Lydon, vocals] would be in thecorner scribbling his lyrics and we’d bash out thearrangements. i know it sounds pretty ridiculous butit all just clicked together, it was so easy it wasunreal. we didn’t spendmuch time on them at all. itwas a bit weird really, how it all came together.”

How did you get your drum sound?“chris [thomas, producer] was a great help. we wentin there and chris, again, just told us to keep itsimple. whereas glen would do quite complicatedbass lines on the early demos, that was greatbecause he was a great musician, but i think chriswas right in that the power of the band was whenSteve played the bass. it was a full-on assault withouttoomany frills. it all locked in. we were a punk bandbut we wanted it to sound great. we used to really go

GLENMATLOCKONPAULCOOK■ “Paul’s quite cerebral with his drumming for a punk rockdrummer. His drumming has hooks to the songs in it. In ‘GodSave TheQueen’ he does this little thing on each beat in theverses. He plays partsmore than just a general rhythm. Hisfills in ‘Anarchy In TheUK’ are very distinctive and it adds tothe catchiness of the song.”

“People thought the music was crap when itfirst came out, noisy horrible punk. It wasn’tuntil later that people gave us credit for it”

Paul at long-timemusical collaboratorEdwyn Collins’ studio

67www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk OctOber 2012 |

How did you hook up with Edwyn Collins?“i was doing an albumwith Vic goddard, whichbecame end of the Surrey People, and edwyn collinswas producing. ed was touring Japan and asked if iwanted to do it with him. it was strange because i’dnever really heard any of his stuff. that was anotherchallenge because it was different again to what i’dbeen doing. it was a bit nerve wracking. everyonethinks as a drummer you can just slip in, but this wasso different to the rock format.”

Then there was the 1996 Pistols reunion…“there’d been talk about it forever. the time wasright. i didn’t think it would happen. John was againstit, Steve was in La. But it just suited everyone at the

time, everyone was at a loose end and it felt right.that was nerve wracking as well. we rehearsed likef**k! we wanted it to sound great. it was a big thing.our first big showwas at Finsbury Park in front of aLondon crowd. we rehearsed in La for ages. we’re alla bit ocD in the band and wanted to sound great. ithink we pulled it off. Finsbury Park was one of mybest memories ever.”

It was a good chance to put the myths aboutthe band not being able to play to bed.“it was great to play in front of big audiences andsound howwe wanted with a big power-Pa. in the

natural course. it was on that downward slope. whenthe film came out, John hated all that stuff and idon’t blame him. it wasn’t the Sex Pistols as such. itwas malcolm’s vision that the Sex Pistols could go onand on with anyone, which was a load of rubbish.malcolm didn’t understand that we were a greatband and not a concept. it’s a pretty dismal end to itall, it was a sad end. there was somuch pressure, itwas impossible to hold it all together.”

After the Pistols split you and Steve formedThe Professionals.“it was difficult knowing what to do after the Pistols.it was a relief in one way knowing it was over. Butthen we thought, ‘what now?’ Virgin still wanted tokeepme and Steve. it was pointless trying to findanother singer after having John so Steve carried onwith vocals and we got Paul meyers and raymcVeigh. that was a good band. it was hard workand again things didn’t go right for us. afterrecording the albumwewent to tour the States andhad a big car crash which derailed the band for ayear or so. By this time Steve was getting out ofcontrol with his drug use so that was the demise ofthat band. i think wemade a good album and peoplestill like it. it’s a pity we didn’t give it more of a go.”

You had started experimenting more in yourplaying by then.“it was hard to try different stuff with the Pistolsbecause it was so fast, there’s only somuch you cando. it was difficult even to do drum rolls, i don’t liketo do fast rolls so i kept that to aminimum. with theProfessionals there was a different style. i startedplaying around and progressing as a drummer.”

The end of The Professionals marked thebeginning of a difficult period for you.“that was 1982 or ’83, after that was a bit of awilderness time for me. i was sitting round scratchingmy arse wondering what to do. i’d given up really. ithink people were still scared of the Pistols andscared to approachme. that was a few years of notreally playing. eventually i got involved with matthewashman and the guys from Bowwowwow. they’dsplit up and we got together and formed the chiefsof relief which was a totally different type of music.it was rock with pop and rap and a dance feel to it. itwas a challenge. i was thinking, ‘can i do this?’ But iwas up for it. i liked themusic that was coming outfrom it. it was like the Beastie Boys’ first album, that

kind of thing. there was a lot of stuff programmed. ihad to learn that stuff, but i liked doing that. thatwas all over the ’80s, you couldn’t get away from itso you had to embrace it. we programmed a lot ofthat album. there was a lot of live drums as well. i’dalways use live cymbals and fills. i couldn’t standthem on drummachines, especially in the ’80s.”

But that was short lived as well?“the chiefs of relief ended with another one,matthew, going out of control. the poor sod hassince died. But that was drugs, the age-old problem,and that fell apart.”

“We were a target. I got attacked in the street.We were a band, we wanted to play but gigswere being cancelled all over the place”

©redferns

/gettyimages

Paul Cook on stagewithSid Vicious, Johnny

Rotten and Steve Jones

The interview

68 | OctOber 2012 www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk

PAULcOOK ON recOrDKeY ALbUMS YOUMUSt HeAr

clubs we didn’t have a chance. the Pas back thenwere crap and we were probably too loud for themand it was a bit of a noise sometimes.”

Was there ever talk of recording an album?“there was always talk of it, but by the end of thattour we were so exhausted and a lot of old baggagewas coming up. we were all glad at the end of it tosee the end of the tour and have a break. we thoughtmaybe we’d record some new stuff later, but timejust went on and then we did the odd tour here andthere with the Pistols. the last time we played wasfour years ago when we did a big european tour.that was great. we could havemade an album and itmight not have been that good and we’d be stuckwith that. we’ve alreadymade one crap albumwithour name on! i think we could havemade anothergood album if we’d knuckled down to it.”

Since then you’ve also worked with PhilCollen from Def Leppard in Man Raze.“Phil wanted to do his own stuff and it wasmoreup-tempo punk kind of stuff and he said to Simon[Laffy, bass] that it’d be great to get me to drum on it.we’dmet a few times down the years. around thattime i bumped into him and he ended up sendingmethe stuff. i thought it was interesting, another musicaldeparture. it was rock but going out on tangents.”

Could there be more from the Pistols?“For me it gets harder every time we do it, physicallyit’s so full-on. i don’t know if i could do it justiceanymore, i’m not a youngman anymore. you knowwhen the feeling’s right. there’s no way it’ll happennow because John’s just done a new album, a goodalbum, with PiL. Steve’s alright in La, i’m doingmystuff here. whether it’ll happen again, i don’t know.But for me it’s getting very tiring physically. i’m 56,punk rock is a youngman’s game! i like to give it allphysically. you can’t mess around with those songs,you’ve got to get stuck into them.”

PUNK ROCK1977 1979

SEXPISTOLSNever Mind The BollocksHere’s The Sex Pistols (1977)

VIRGINAn album that changedeverything and onethat remains as freshtoday aswhen itdropped 35 years ago.

Cook, who alongwith the rest of thebandwas unfairly dogged by talk thatthey couldn’t actually play, is locked inwith Steve Jones’ chunky riffs fromthe off, creating a signature soundthat has been imitated bymillions butnever bettered. Pretty Vacant hassome fantastic tribal toms at thestart. Steve: “[The toms] came fromthe Glitter Band, The Sweet and bandslike that.We just got back to tribalstuff which fitted perfectly.”

SEXPISTOLSThe Great Rock ’n’ RollSwindle (1979)

VIRGINThe sound of a bandviolently imploding. Analbumpieced togetherbit by bit, and it reallyshows. The occasional

gem (‘Something Else’ and ‘SillyThing’, the latter sang by Cook) aredrowned out by the surreal – EdwardTudor Pole singing ‘WhoKilledBambi?’, MalcolmMcLaren’sreworking of ‘YouNeedHands’ andstrangest of all, Ronnie Biggs turningup on ‘NoOne Is Innocent’.

POST PUNK1980 1988

THEPROFESSIONALSI Didn’t See It Coming (1990)

EMILife after the Pistolswas always going to betricky, but Cook andJones regrouped forthis often-overlooked

cracker, recorded in 1980 but notreleased in this guise until 1990.Stepping out of punk’s confineshelped Cook spread his percussivewings, but also possibly aided thelukewarm reception the albumreceived at the time. Still, ‘TheMagnificent’, ‘Payola’ andmore havethe light and shade that Cook justdidn’t have the room to conveywiththe Pistols. The fact that this wasn’tSex Pistolsmark IImay haveworkedagainst them,which is a shame as thiswas a band cut down far too soon.

CHIEFSOFRELIEFChiefs Of Relief (1988)

RECEIVERJust about as far awayfrompunk as you couldget. The splicing of rockwith hip-hop, dance,raggae and even

electronicameant Cook had to get hishead around programming – it wasthe ’80s, after all. The result is adiverse album thatwas before itstime, and again shot Cook off into adifferent direction, and once again herose to the occasion playingwith anew lease of life and feel.

REUNION AND MORE1996 PRESENT

SEXPISTOLSFilthy Lucre Live (1996)

VIRGIN 4/5“Well we’re not thatf**king bad after all,arewe?” John Lydonbarks five songs intothis live album

recorded during the Pistols’ 1996reunion. He’s right, and explosive yetrock solid versions of ‘God Save TheQueen’, ‘Pretty Vacant’, ‘EMI’ andmore prove that the Pistols reallycould play.

MANRAZESurreal (2008)

COMMERCIAL MARKETINGAPistol and a Leppardmay seeman unlikelycombination, but Cookagain showed hisoverlooked versatility

here. The band’s debut album soundssomewhere in the region of apunked-up Foo Fighters.

EDWYNCOLLINSLosing Sleep (2010)

HEAVENLY RECORDSThe latest in a long lineof collaborationsbetween Cook andCollins. It’s certainly afar cry from the Pistols

but the drummer’s edgy playing stillshines through, helping give theScottish songwriter his highest evercharting album.

Paul Cook: “I think [the Pistols]could havemade another good

album if we’d knuckled down to it”

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EXCLUSIVE DRUM LESSONSEXCLUSIVE DRUM LESSONS

86 | OctOber 2012 www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk

HEADS UP!THIRDPARTIALPartial is a termof reference for noteswithin agroup – therefore triplets comprise of first,second and third ‘partials’.

EXAMPLE1Play quarter notes on the ride, play the ‘swung eighth’ with the left foot…

EXAMPLE2As Example 1, but inverted…

EXAMPLE3Amore syncopated example of playing the stepped swung eighth…

PRACTICECHALLENGEPlay a simple bass and snare groove, with quarter notes on the ride. To give it a swing feel, we’ll play the ‘swung eighth’ as astepped hi-hat note. Put this note in after every downbeat to create a shuffle feel. A very cool sounding shuffle and a very good co-ordination exercise.

■ BEGINNERSTHE NEXT STEP

Thismonth, use steppedhi-hat to create a jazz feel

This is the third and last article(for now, anyway!) on steppedhi-hat notes, and in the lessonI’m using a jazz feel. In practical

terms I thinkmost of us, most of the time,use our hi-hat foot for time-keeping, but Ilike the idea of using the stepped hi-hat asan instrument in its own right, and in thismonth’s lesson I’m using it to play all theTHIRDPARTIAL notes of a triplet,otherwise known as the ‘swung eighth’note, to givemy ride-cymbal quarter notesa swing feel. Of course, we would normallyexpect to hear the hi-hat on ‘2’ and ‘4’ whenplaying jazz, so we take a bit of a chance byabandoning that and giving the hats a voiceof their own.The three examples are nice little hints

at using the hi-hat rhythmically – I’ve

deliberately not included any bass or snarenotes to distract you but youmight want totry playing a light ‘four-to-the-floor’ on thebass drum. The Practice Challenge hasmore of a shuffle feel, and is a great grooveif you can get it going…

Get that left foot off ‘2’ and ‘4’…

YOURTUTORCOLINWOOLWAYcolin@drumsense.com

VIDEO LESSONON YOUR DISC

STEPPEDHI HAT

PART 3

jœ œ œ œ œL R R L R

jœ œ œ œ œR L L R L

œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œLeftRight

87www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk OctOber 2012 |

BEGINNERS

Based on a reverse Paradiddle,the ‘mill’ refers to the doublesticking, therefore this is a ‘single’paradiddle, reversed, with the

‘flammedmill’. always a nice techniqueexercise, this, but it is good fun to play withsplit hands as in example 2 (check out thevideo footage).

EXAMPLE1

EXAMPLE2

A double-sticking variant on the reverse paradiddle

Learn to play drums todaywith Rhythm

GET STARTED!21ST CENTURY RUDIMENTS

■ Sitting behind a drum kit for the first time is adaunting thing, but once you get to grips with thebasics you’ll be playing in no time. If you’ve neverpicked up the sticks before we can help you. Loadup your Rhythm Exclusive Drum Lessons disc andyou’ll find the following content for beginners.■ Take your first steps into readingmusic with ourguide to drum notation.■ Find your way around the kit with our anatomy ofa drum kit guide.■ Five video drum lessons covering basic rock, funkand jazz beats, and the shuffle.■ Video guides to the drumming essentials(see above).

MATCHED GRIP■ Both hands hold the sticks in the samemanner: thumbson the side of the sticks; forefinger opposite the thumb;middle, ring and little fingers curled under the sticks;palmsheld down, facing thefloor.

TRADITIONAL GRIP■ The right hand is asmatched grip, but the left-handstick is held differently (vice versa for left-handedplayers).The stick is lodged in thefleshy bit between the thumbandforefinger and the fore andmiddle fingers curl over thestick,while the ring and little fingers curl under to supportthe stick.

QUARTER NOTES■ Classically referred to as ‘crotchets’. If a standard bar ofmusic is regarded as a ‘whole’, then four evenly-spacednoteswithin that bar are regarded as ‘quarters’, hence theterm ‘quarter note’ (in otherwords, four beats in astandard bar).

EIGHTH NOTES■ Classically referred to as ‘quavers’. If a standard bar ofmusic is regarded as a ‘whole’ and four evenly-spacednoteswithin that bar are regarded as ‘quarters’, then eightevenly-spacednoteswithin that bar are regarded as‘eighths’, hence the term ‘eighth note’(ie: eight beats in a standard bar).

EIGHTH-NOTE TRIPLETS■ Themusical definition of a triplet is ‘three evenly spacednotes occupying the same space as two evenly spacednotes’. In the case of eighth notes, twowould be replacedby three eighth-note triplets.

OSTINATO■ Anostinato is a repeated pattern, usually not very long,often three or four notes played over andover again. Themost famous drumostinato is the snare drumpattern inRavel’s ‘Bolero’, but contemporary drummers often referto ‘bass andhi-hat’ ostinatos.

16th NOTES■ AKA ‘semi-quavers’. If a standard bar ofmusic isregarded as a ‘whole’, then 16 evenly spacednoteswithinthat bar are regarded as ‘16ths’, hence ‘16th note’.

CROSS-STICK■ Played on the snare by holding the stick at the tip end,laying it across the drumand striking the rimwith the‘butt’ end, keeping the tip in contactwith the head.

RIM SHOT■ Playedby striking the head and the rimof the drumatthe same time. Itmakes a loud, sonorous sound, good foraccents in a snare pattern or heavy rock backbeat.

HEAD TYPES■ The ‘batter’ head is the drumhead you strike and the‘resonant’ head is the headon the underside of the drumthat gives it a full and resonating sound.

DRUMMING ESSENTIALSWhat you need to know before you start

THE SINGLEFLAMMED MILL

108 | OctOber 2012 www.rhythmmagazine.co.uk

ASKGEOFF

Hi Richard,other readers havementioned the LessonscD, so i asked rhythm tutors Pete riley andJason Bowld about their tuning and recordingtechniques. Let’s start with tuning andmoveon to recording next month.you’re certainly not alone – tuning is one of

the things that drummers beat themselves upover most, so it’s worth bearing in mind a fewfacts. First, drums are instruments ofindeterminate pitch so that there is no definitegauge by which to say a kit is ‘in tune’ or not.a five-piece drum kit has 80 tension rods, halfof them underneath and easily neglected.getting all of them tweaked just right hasdriven every drummer nuts at some stage.So drum tensioning is hardly clear-cut,

it’s a craft in itself. But remember, mostinstrumentalists are continually retuning.guitarists never stop. the difference is theyhave set frequencies to aim at whiledrummers are largely going by personal taste.also remember that for drums, re-tuningmight be necessary for the type of music, forrecording, and crucially for the room…whichboth Pete and Jason emphasise.

Over to the CD team…“my first suggestion is to put the kit andyourself in a different environment,” saysJason Bowld. “the kit will sound different in adifferent room and so will you – as drummersreact, playing-wise, to the different soundcreated from a different room.”Pete riley elaborates, “mymain concern is

where the drums are being played and i’dsuggest that the same kit, with its apparenttuning issues, would sound very different in alarger room. a huge part of how a kit appearsto sound is the room it’s in and how the soundis reflected back. in a small space not all of thefrequencies have had a chance to ‘develop’before they’re reflected back, giving you anapparently ‘crashy’ sound dominated by thehigher frequencies. the same kit in a largewooden hall wouldmost likely soundmuchmore pleasing to the ear with a widerfrequency range being reflected back.”Pete adds: “another good example of an

environment affecting the sound would be alarge festival stage (or a field) where thedrums have virtually no reflected sound,leaving them sounding sterile, dead andparticularly uninspiring to play.”“if tuning really is starting to get you

down,” suggests Jason, “buy a tama tensionwatch as these are great on toms if you needsome reassurance from something else otherthan your ears.“tuning is important, but focusing on that

alone will stunt your creativity as a drummer,so if you’re not already, get yourself into aband. Jamwith friends, play along tomusic –you will quickly see that some of thoseovertones from the toms get soaked up by theother instruments and you’ll be having such agreat time interacting with people, you won’teven notice the tuning!”

ASKASKASKASKEOF

ASKKEOFF

ASGEOFFASGEOFFGEOFFGEOFFASGEOFFGEOFFASGEOFFASASASKASGEOFFASASKAS

EOFGEOFFEOFGEOFFDear Geoff,I’m enquiring as to whether it’s common for drummers to feel that their kit isout of tune. Keeping my kit in the cellar I am pretty sure of a consistenttemperature. However, every time I play a note my ear is telling me that a drumis off. Usually a high or mid tom. This is followed by several hours of tuning, theend result being back where I started. I have found myself taking hoursworking the whole kit, the resulting retune not effectively having any benefit,other than to satisfy myself that I have achieved the best performance available.Though, ultimately, I remain unhappy with the sound. Is this a phenomenoncommonly suffered, or is it just me?

I use the cellar as a studio to record and practise my technique and usethe Rhythm CD as a practice aid. With this in mind, perhaps, my questionshould be directed towards how much effort, for instance, is deployed inmanaging the sound and tonal quality in the production of the Rhythm CD?Or perhaps I’m trying to achieve the ‘air-brushed’ qualities only available withrecording techniques?Richard Thornton

RHYTHMGEAR GURU GEOFFNICHOLLS BASHESOUT YOUR KITCONUNDRUMS

DO YOU HAVE A KIT QUESTION FOR GEOFF?Big or small, there isn’t a gear query that Rhythmexpert Geoff Nicholls can’t grapplewith.Email askgeoff@futurenet.com

Put your drumssomewhere else, forexample a large room,and hear the difference