{"id":1354,"date":"2015-05-21T16:29:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T15:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/?p=1354"},"modified":"2018-07-14T17:18:49","modified_gmt":"2018-07-14T16:18:49","slug":"bonhams-are-not-the-only-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/bonhams-are-not-the-only-fruit","title":{"rendered":"Bonham\u2019s Are Not The Only Fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lest we forget our Paice\u2019s, Powell\u2019s, Kirke\u2019s & others\u2026<\/h2>\n
\"Ian
Tucked away around the corner of a hotel corridor in Montreaux, Ian Paice laid down some inspirational & fiery drum tracks that we often forget about. As much of a drumming pioneer as any of his contemporaries, Paice is often overlooked for his contribution to the history of British Rock drummers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I love John Bonham \u2013 it\u2019s clearly evident elsewhere on this BLOG<\/a> what a major influence he has played in my development as a drummer for over 20 years. However, by focussing so much attention on the icon that is, John Bonham, it has made me equally guilty of not focussing my deserved attention to other classic British Rock drummers of the same period, who also played a major part in my early development – as well as the thousands of other drummers like me who grew up in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been neglectful and it\u2019s time to redress the balance.<\/p>\n

First of all, this is not<\/em> about getting into a Bonham versus Paice et al argument; it\u2019s about reminding ourselves that there were actually some other great British drummers who rose to the top of their respective games at the same time as John Bonham. Guilty as I am of falling under the spell of the cult of Bonhamality (and why wouldn\u2019t you?<\/em>), I hope this will serve as my recompense to the often-overlooked British Classic Rock drummers, equally deserving of the same accolades.<\/p>\n

Celebrity Rock Band Death Match<\/h3>\n

In the superstar Rock band fan camp, there have always been two separate factions who either prefer Led Zeppelin to Deep Purple and vice-versa. Those who prefer Deep Purple always say that they had the keyboard player, whilst the Zeppelin camp extort the values of Jimmy Page and the great wall of supernatural mystery that engulfed the Led Zeppelin Behemoth. Not dismissing the genius of Ritchie Blackmore, it would seem that with a strong keyboard player like Jon Lord in his band, it was harder for him to earn the same attention as Page had in Zeppelin. Furthermore, Deep Purple suffered a lot of line-up changes and public displays of instability, whereas Zeppelin managed to successfully hide their turmoil behind the impenetrable fortress that was, Peter Grant\u2019s management.<\/p>\n

Throughout their careers, both bands had drug problems between various members, culminating with the post-Purple death of Tommy Bolin and of course, John Bonham 4 years later. In the 30+ years since Bonham left us, there has been an almost canonisation of the man, having been cut down at a time when he was clearly struggling with the demons of addiction. Ian Paice on the other hand, was part of the camp in his band who preferred a quiet drink as opposed to serious narcotics, subsequently surviving the excess of the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Because Bonham died at a point in drumming history when we were on the cusp of an advance in both acoustic and electronic drum development, we can only speculate about how Bonham would have developed as a player. Thus, he is stuck at a point in history, frozen onto a timeline that stopped in 1980, at a particularly low psychological ebb in his life. I like to think that he would have gone on to beat his addictions, taken time out from the industry, coming back later to wow us all and take his place as a living legend next to his contemporaries.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t to be.<\/p>\n

Fastest hands\/feet \u2013 It doesn\u2019t really matter, but\u2026<\/h3>\n

Technique. It\u2019s what we all strive to better ourselves at \u2013 whatever instrument we play. A handful have it in natural abundance, whilst the rest of us really have to work at it. John Bonham and Ian Paice were both naturally gifted players with many similarities, both primarily drawing from early American R&B music to develop their styles. Paice actually may have had a slight advantage over Bonham, having been the product of a musical father with a background in Jazz & Big Band. This is particularly evident in Paice\u2019s Snare work, heavily borrowing from the fiery chops of Buddy Rich, which in my opinion certainly gave him an edge in speed over many of his contemporaries. I think it\u2019s fair to say that in terms of technique displayed on a recording, Deep Purple\u2019s \u2018Burn\u2019 pretty much tops anything on a Zeppelin, Rainbow, Free or Cream cut (even up against Bonham\u2019s mammoth fill on \u2018Achilles Last Stand\u2019). Paice had an equally fast foot to Bonham, but took it a stage further with the occasional use of twin Bass drums when necessary (Bonham of course was banned from using a second kick early on!)<\/p>\n

Despite Paice\u2019s extra bit of Nitrous Oxide in his tank, this on the whole, is irrelevant compared to the musical contributions Paice and Bonham made to their respective band\u2019s work. Certainly, musicality is the No.1 attribute I hear when I\u2019m listening to cuts laid down by drummers like Paice, Bonham, Baker, Mitch Mitchell, Simon Kirke, Brian Downey, Bill Ward, Cozy Powell or Roger Taylor. These guys had a unique swing to their playing, which always, always<\/em> came before their use of technique. Their combination of feel and technique certainly set the precedent for fledgling drummers like myself to aspire to \u2013 as I still do today. Even if we pragmatically establish that Paice had a technique that got him around a drum kit quicker than most of the other guys, it takes nothing away whatsoever, from the collective musicality on offer from these players.<\/p>\n

About Drum Solos\u2026<\/h3>\n

Rewind back to the late 70s when Rock bands were on the way out in terms of the current musical fashions, if you had to pick \u2018The King\u2019 of the modern drum solo, the crown would undoubtedly be handed to Neil Peart, or \u2018the professor\u2019 as he was referred to. At the time, although I thought Peart\u2019s solo from \u2018All The World\u2019s a Stage\u2019 was from another dimension, it just didn\u2019t excite me as much as Paice\u2019s showpiece on \u2018The Mule\u2019 from the \u2018Made In Japan\u2019 album. Even Bonham\u2019s \u2018Moby Dick\u2019 lost my attention, simply due to its length and the extended vamps. Paice seemed to say everything that needed to be said in under 8 minutes with all guns blazing. It was like he detonated a cluster bomb of fireworks and then got out as rapidly as he came in!<\/p>\n

Further drum solo disappointment came in 1982 when I saw Cozy Powell with Whitesnake on their \u2018Saints & Sinners\u2019 tour. Having been knocked out by Powell\u2019s playing on Rainbow\u2019s live album, I was expecting a drum solo of Paice like proportions. However, Powell\u2019s use of lights, pyrotechnics and backing tracks (\u20181812 Overture\u2019 & \u2018633 Squadron\u2019) in favour of technical display, left my immature and juvenile thirst for a chop-fest, unquenched. Of course, the 99% of non-drummers in the audience totally got Powell\u2019s sheer entertainment value, something I was too stupid to realise at the time! Still, his playing within the Whitesnake song framework was as spellbinding as his work with Rainbow, rendering any disappointment with drum solos worthless.<\/p>\n

\"Nick
Birmingham, circa 1995\/6, after a drum clinic by Pete Erskine; I spot what looks like Cozy Powell in the bar and in a state of shock & awe, dive over to see him, like I was a 13 year old fan again. The expression on my face says it all – wide-eyed and dumbstruck; within a couple of years of this picture being taken, Cozy would tragically die in a car accident.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cozy Powell had actually played a blinding stroke in the name of not boring the masses. He knew everything possible in drum technique had already been done to death in the drum solos of his contemporaries, so Cozy went for theatricality and blew the audience away without losing their attention. It took me a few years to realise this, and I\u2019m glad I finally got to meet Cozy to tell him how much he meant to young guns like myself back in the day, before he was tragically taken from us. Outside of the Rock genre, Cozy had a great contemporary loose 70s feel, making him a first call for pre-production with Micky Most\u2019s RAK records pop acts.<\/p>\n

Cozy was also known for using two Bass drums at a time before the need for 200+ BPM was ever considered. This meant that instead of the indecipherable math-metal Bass drum special effects we hear today, Cozy actually managed to use twin kicks in a purely musical manner. Speed was never the issue, complimenting the musical environment always being paramount. At the time I met him, the Bass drum technique of guys like Virgil Donati was at the cutting-edge of technical drumming and we were all sucked into it. The gentle Louis Bellson inspired musical double-Bass licks of Powell, Peart, Cobham, Van Halen & Baker were deemed as prehistoric, as we all pushed ourselves into speed oblivion against our metronomes.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing this, I\u2019ve had to revisit Powell\u2019s work in the course of learning some Rainbow songs for a band set. By modern standards, there\u2019s nothing challenging speed-wise; but trying to recreate the feel of two Bass drums played organically, without feeling quantized or too loose, is the real headache. It\u2019s forced me to rethink my approach and has pushed me deeper into learning the styles of the players from the era of music I love the most; which brings me back to my original point\u2026<\/p>\n

Standing In The Shadows Of The Greats<\/h3>\n
\"'John
Frozen in time and revered by me and thousands. One of a handful of British drummers from the golden age of music who equally changed drummers lives, forever. (Picture credit: ‘John Bonham 1975’ by Dina Regine – http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/divadivadina\/3555264805\/. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:John_Bonham_1975.jpg#\/media\/File:John_Bonham_1975.jpg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whilst John Bonham is undoubtedly at the top of many a drummer poll list, it is unfair to allow his stature to completely overshadow the achievements and skills of his contemporaries. The likes of Paice, Bonham, Powell, Kirke, Ward, Downey, Baker and Taylor all knew each other on various different levels, all borrowing each others ideas. Then there\u2019s the overspill from British Prog Rock players, like Phil Collins, Bill Bruford, Mel Pritchard, Barriemore Barlow etc, who all cross-pollenated the 1970s Rock drumming revolution, inspiring me to want to be as great as them.<\/p>\n

If John Bonham was alive today, I\u2019m sure he\u2019d be overwhelmed by the love still shown for him, especially considering that on the eve of his death, he\u2019d gloomily expressed to Robert Plant how he thought everyone else was a better drummer than him. But equally, I doubt he\u2019d want to take all of the limelight for himself, happier sharing his place in the British Rock drummer\u2019s hall of fame with his contemporaries; players who defined a style of drumming that combined individual technique, flair, feel and musicality, leaving us with a blueprint easily trounced by modern technique, yet impossible to better or replace, despite our advanced drumming evolution.<\/p>\n

It seems that technical prowess fuelled by speed is the final frontier for the future generations of drummers. But when we\u2019ve played the fastest note groupings possible, achieved warp speed and still keep trying to find ways to reinvent the drumming wheel, just remember; there\u2019s no shame in travelling backwards to a time when an individuals musical contribution counted for more than clinical precision and note execution. Also take heed, that whilst John Bonham will always remain a constant as an icon, there are other remarkable fruits on the same tree, equally deserving to be tasted and extolled, some of them still alive to tell their tales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Ian<\/a>

Lest we forget our Paice\u2019s, Powell\u2019s, Kirke\u2019s & others\u2026 I love John Bonham \u2013 it\u2019s clearly evident elsewhere on this BLOG what a major influence he has played in my development as a drummer for over 20 years. However, by focussing so much attention on the icon that is, John Bonham, it has made me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[113,156,145,165,158,149,161,85,146,152,154,163,83,150,86,87,164,151,147,159,157,88,162,155,148,160,153],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1200px-Ian_Paice_2005.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedrumdoctor.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}