Austin.com contributor Shawn Truitt's interview with a legendary drummer, Carl Palmer who wil be playing in Austin on June 29th at La Zona Rosa. Click read more for the interview.
The Interview, May 25th, 2006
STT: Where are you right now?
CP: I'm in Canada right now Shawn.
STT: How long have you been on tour?
CP: We just got in last night, first night was last night. It finishes on July the 3rd. It's the first time we've come to Canada or America. The bands been together for about five years and we've been touring through out Europe. I've been as far as Russia, Mexico, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France. I have two albums out on the Sanctuary label, Carl Palmer Working Live 1 & 2 and a DVD coming out which was recorded live in Bucharest. It was a Rumanian Prog. Rock festival, that should be coming out with a company called Saint Claire on June 23rd.
STT: I have Carl Palmer Working Live 1 & 2 and quite enjoyed them because it's essentially Emerson, Lake & Palmer as a Power Trio.
CP: Well, there's no keyboards in this Shawn, it's all guitars, no vocals and we play some of Emerson, Lake & Palmer originals, Tarkus, Tank, the title track from the album Trilogy, and the rest of them are classical adaptations, some of which ELP did but it's completely different because its guitar driven.
STT: The reinterpretation gives it a harder edge.
CP: Yes, it's harder for sure, it's a slightly younger sound and cruder at times to be honest with you. The musicality is there with the guys, they're very good musicians and I'm very happy to have them on board. In general I'm very, very pleased.
STT: How was the response last night?
CP: The response I thought was amazing. The people were unbelievable, as you know I have a bit of a track record because I lived in Montreal when ELP did the whole orchestra fiasco. This was like a home coming really. The band has always had a great reputation in Canada, they're good interpretations, it's fresh, it's different, it's honest and I'm not trying to copy what I've done in the past. I'm trying to step out from the past.
STT: I'm interested in the drum clinics you teach and what is your philosophy, theory or general approach to drumming?
CP: My theory, well...that could take all day to talk about to discuss and I can't really put it in a nut shell. I'm interested in the science of drumming, the technical aspects of drumming and I always have been. Basically, I'm driven from the classical side and classical percussion but at the end of the day, I am a Rock drummer. That how I make my living and that's it in a nutshell.
STT: When you initially started studying drumming, was it through school, parents or some other influence?
CP: I come from a musical family, my grandfather was a professional musician at the Royal Academy, my father played piano, my great grandmother was a guitar teacher, my nephew also is a drummer, my younger brother is a drummer, I come from a long line of musicians.
STT: To go far back, how did you get hooked up with Arthur Brown to tour with him?
CP: I was living in London at the time and we caught him quite a few times and that's how the relationship originally started. I was in another group at the time and I did four or five weeks of sessions, Arthur Brown happened to be one of them. I was really young at the time, about eighteen and the relationship developed from there.
STT: Fact checking, I read you joined Arthur Brown when you were seventeen.
CP: No, no I was eighteen.
STT: What was the band before Arthur Brown?
CP: Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds, he had a number one hit single in England. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was on the Immediate label and I was in his backing band called the Thunderbirds.
STT: What lead to you and the bass player (from Arthur Brown) to start Atomic Rooster?
CP: I started Atomic Rooster on my own, Vincent Grey came in and that was that. It was on B and C label in the U.K. and I was in the band for about a year. Like I say, it's a band that I formed.
STT: You only recorded the first album with them?
CP: Yes, that's correct. I played on the number one single they had in England called "Tomorrow Night", I played on the demo of that but when I left the band, obviously they had to rerecord it with their new drummer.
At that particular time, so that is really the Atomic Rooster story. STT: Emerson, Lake and Palmer were hugely successful with your fans, huge tours and amazing amount of record sales...how did you feel about the critic's opinion which wasn't all that great?
CP: You have to understand that happened to me all my life with every band, so I really don't take too much notice of what the critics say. What ever anyone writes about me as an individual or the bands that I'm in, I don't actually take much notice of at all. If they write a blazing review saying how good it's is, it still doesn't affect me personally. I'm not like that. I'm affected only by what I know, hear and see. What a critic will say, if he's a well respected journalist , I would read it but I wouldn't be affected by it because I might have a completely different opinion of what he's saying , so I don't really take too much of that on board.
STT: Advice for young people who want to become Rock and Rollers or drummers?
CP: What ever you want to play, I would highly recommend that you listen to all types of music first of all. Have no tunnel vision of what you think you should listen to or what you should play. One should have a completely open mind and have a good perspective of what's going on. Mentally you should know what kind of music appeals to you, find all the various areas that do it for you. It might not just be rock, it might be Folk or it could be anything. Then you should look for a teacher that can help you get started and help you find the past. Then hopefully you can start to design in your own minds eye of what you'd like to play, how you'd like to play it, what kind of technique, how you'd like to deliver it, and where you'd want to be as a professional musician.
Shawn Truitt
Aka DJ MOFO of the Rogue Sound System
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 512 220 6515 See Carl Palmer at La Zona Rosa on Thursday, June 29th.
