In terms of style and rock drummers I like, it was Mitch Mitchell. When the curtain opened at the Regent Street Polytechnic in 1966 and there was Ginger, Eric and Jack I thought, that's what I'd like to be, and that was it. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Ginger Baker. "Most of my icons are the people that were my heroes when I was kicking off. Who are some of your personal drum icons? I'm surprised we haven't seen more of them out and about."
From the days of the Simmons, I had one of the original things, it was just as mind-boggling. There's something distressing about a beautiful kit with stuff hanging off it. How many kits have you seen where you see a perfectly good drum kit and then it's covered in gaffer tape and jelly! I really like them. It's a much neater solution to damping a drum. It's vented all the way round and you can open and close the vents, which I think is a great development. How many things can you do with a snare drum? There's a drum that I really like. They are the next development with the tuning of the shells and the sort of detail and experimentation that I like. When Ludwig changed hands in the '80s I went to DW. Bill Ludwig's still a good friend of mine, I loved that whole drummer club thing that came with it. I started with Premier, then was immediately seduced by Ludwig after seeing Ginger Baker, had a brief flirtation with Fibes, then went back to Ludwig. I love the thing of custom drums, and the DW concepts.
There isn't that thing of every kit seems to have some bit of extra metalwork to hold something on or tape around the wingnut. I don't think people are playing harder than they did 25 years ago, but they are much more practical now. What's interesting is the way the fittings have become so much stronger and more robust. Most of us would feel uneasy even tapping the thing. When you look at an old drum kit the flimsiness of the whole thing is appalling. "The most interesting thing is how drummers have clearly become more Neanderthal.
How do you think the drum industry has changed? For me the real excitement is that moment when the bass player plays, you set something out and the other musicians join in." The answer is that I've always enjoyed the thing of playing in a band, not playing on my own. This gets forgotten with the drum clinics. There is this thing about sensitivity to the music that is so important. Actually Ginger wouldn't have been the best person for The Beatles. The comparisons between Ginger Baker and Ringo Starr. One gets into some very interesting stuff about how people play and what they put into it. The technique and, almost, the gymnastics is really something that tends to only be appreciated by other drummers because, actually, the job at the end of the day tends to be to integrate with the band and make that sound. "This comes back to a quote I made in Rhythm. Some of them are very funny, seeing just how bad the moustache was and how big the flares were." Pardon the pun, but what drives you as a drummer? Doing the book I've been through a lot of photographs. Searching through the archives, has that stirred any feelings in you? You come away from that sort of thing a little more humbled and conscious of how important it was." You've been working on a film about the Pink Floyd. It wasn't a matter of your parents saying, 'You call that music, it's rubbish,' - people actually suffered for it. Particularly in Eastern Europe where rock'n'roll wasn't quite as easy as it was over here. People want the book dedicated to them, they talk to you. I really began to understand that more clearly after I'd done the book and I'd been on signing tours, because it's much more individual. One couldn't say it's a gold record or an award as such, it's that sense that you've given a lot of people something that's quite important to them, and that's really quite powerful.
The great thing about the band is how seriously people take it and that is personally very rewarding. With something like the motor racing, however successful, it's an indulgence. "Pink Floyd and the success of the band is the most important thing. What have been some of your greatest achievements as a drummer?
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