Irish Drummers is an insightful publication into the people behind the drum set. A joy for any music enthusiast (and everyone else).
Welcome to Irish Drummers
This site exists is to showcase the talent and creativity of Irish drummers through the years. The great contribution that this band of musicians have made to Irish culture and music throughout the world.
Welcome to Irish Drummers
This site exists is to showcase the talent and creativity of Irish drummers through the years. The great contribution that this band of musicians have made to Irish culture and music throughout the world.
Welcome to Irish Drummers
This site exists is to showcase the talent and creativity of Irish drummers through the years. The great contribution that this band of musicians have made to Irish culture and music throughout the world.
Welcome to Irish Drummers
This site exists is to showcase the talent and creativity of Irish drummers through the years. The great contribution that this band of musicians have made to Irish culture and music throughout the world.
I was always a big fan of music when I wa a kid and played piano for
a year before taking up drums. The drums themselves were the attraction
before seeing anyone playing. Tommy Davitt was one of my drum teachers
and really inspired me to make the things I was learning, my own.
Who are your favourite players?
Max Roach, Jim Black and Brian Blade have always been my go to jazz
/
improvising drummers. They all play musically but with different
approaches. Steve Jordan is my biggest influence for anything groove related!
What drum gear do you use?
I play Vic Firth F1 sticks and use a range of Zildjian cymbals. I have a
set of 60's hats that I was given and use 20'' Complex Dry Ride on my left and
a 20'' Constantinople Renaissance Ride on my right. I also sometimes set up some 10'' stack hats and a 16'' efx crash depending on the gig.
Your favourite songs or albums?
Study in Brown by Clifford Brown (Max Roach)
Left End by Rick Peckham (Jim Black)
The Bad Plus + Joshua Redman (Dave King)
Lateralus by Tool (Danny Carey)
Real Book Stories by Wolfgang Muthspiel (Brian Blade)
I think the biggest influence on me for sure was Adam and the Ants when
I was 10 in 1980.
Kings of the Wild Frontier was their second album released and I thought
the drums sounded fantastic on that, especially the use of the lower toms.
They had two drummers, Merrick and Terry Lee, which made the sound even
more spectacular. Malcolm McLaren was their manager at the time and he had
introduced Adam Ant to the Burundi Beat and persuaded him to change the band's
sound.
I then bought their debut LP, Dirk Wears White Sox and to this day I
think it's my favourite snare sound captured on record.
McLaren was also looking after another band around the same time called
Bow Wow Wow and they had a similar drum sound on their two singles C30 C60 C90
Go and I Want Candy.
I started playing along to songs with pens on pillows then and drove my
class mad at school for constantly playing pretend drums on my desk.
My grand uncle Jimmy Mintern had been the drummer in a Cork band called
The Dixies so he encouraged me to get a kit so I bought my first one at
Christmas in 1983 and rehearsed in my grandmother's house.
The local music scene in Cork was very strong around then and
there were some great local drummers around like John Kilkenny (The Belsonic
Sound) and Mark Healy (Cypress,Mine!).It was fantastic to sneak into shows in
places like Mojos and Sir Henrys and get to see local bands regularly so I then
took the next step and started a band with some friends at school and we played
our first show the year after.
Who are your favourite players?
Stephen Morris has always been my favourite drummer, the drums in both
Joy Division and New Order were like a song within a song.I loved the different
patterns he played.
When I was learning to play I was able to play along to their songs and
my timing improved quickly. There were a lot of great drummers in the 80s' whom I
thought were superb like Nick Knox from the Cramps,, Marky Ramone and Mike
Joyce from the Smiths.
Larry Mullen Jr. from U2 was a massive influence as well - he is a fantastic
drummer.
Nowadays my favourite drummer is Todd Trainer from Shellac.
Your favourite songs or albums?
My favourite album would be the Smiths debut LP. I like loads of Fall
songs - some superb drumming on those records by the various different drummers who played with them.
There were some great drummers in the various 80s - Ska bands as
well like John Bradbury from the Specials.
U2's Boy is a standout record for me as well.
What’s it like to be playing Tipp Classical this
year?
The last time we played in Thurles was way back in 1993 at Feile then so
it's great to go back and play there again after all these years and complete
the circle.
We will also be doing a few songs with the orchestra there so I am
looking forward to trying to keep in time with them!
You wrote a book about Cork slang “Dowtcha Boy”.Any
plans to write more material?
No plans on any other books at the moment. I spend most of my time
teaching Swedish people to speak with a Cork accent.
What advice would you give someone wanting to take
up drumming?
If you want to be good at anything you have to put the time in and
there's no substitute for hard work if you want to learn, find a friend or two
who want to play music and take it from there.
I
originally started playing guitar and then noticed there was a gap in the
market, for drummers in Cork, so I made that switch. I started going to gigs when
I was 15 and managed to go to a few in the Arcadia in Cork, before it stopped.
As a result of that I was able to see local Cork bands who often played
support. It meant seeing bands like Nun Attax and Microdisney and the
realisation that came with it that you could be in a band, in Cork.
However, not
really knowing any other musicians this meant lots of “practicing” along with
records, as you would. Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, were all on heavy
rotation. Things like Twenty Tens by the Virgin Prunes, definitely had an
impact on me and steered me in a certain direction.
Locally, in
Cork, the jazz festival provided a stream of great jazz drummers. Kenny Clare
and a fantastic Buddy Rich gig in the Opera House spring to mind.
I
subsequently played with a revised version of Urban Blitz with Dave O’Connell
and Sean Linehan. That lasted a few months and then I met up with Ian Olney and
Denis O’Mullane and with Sean Linehan on vocals we thrashed out what would
eventually become Cyrpress, Mine! as Sean left to join the Guards and was
replaced by Ciaran O’Tuama.
Who are
your favourite players?
I was lucky
enough to see Lol Tolhurst with the Cure when they played in Cork. I was also a
big fan of the late Pete de Freitas from Echo and the Bunnymen and Stephen
Morris from Joy Division. I saw Stephen Morris at Electric Picnic a few years
ago and he was as good as ever.
I'm a big fan
of Brian Calnan and his Moving Hearts stuff and also the youthful enthusiasm of
Keith Walker from Power of Dreams
I was also
really fortunate to see Art Blakey in Dublin in the 80’s.
Your
favourite songs or albums?
Drum heavy
songs that I would have really liked
Atmosphere –
Joy Division
Westworld –
Theatre of Hate
Hymn from a
village – James
Where’s me
jumper – Sultans of Ping
Heaven Up
Here - Echo and the Bunnymen
More recently
I really like Philip Selway in Radiohead, Christopher Bear in Grizzly Bear.
Were
you happy with the reaction after Cypress,Mine! rereleased, Exit Trashtown?
We were happy
to see the album re-released as it gave us an opportunity in particular to
commit to vinyl some tracks that weren’t released first time around. Although
it was a labour of love by all involved to track everything down in order to
put it together.
What
advice would you give someone wanting to take up drumming?
Once you
start, stick with it! Try and find some friends to play with. Buy decent
hardware and cymbals! Learning to play with a click track won’t do you any harm
: Photo credit; Anne O'Halloran (not 100% sure) Check out http://cypressmine.com/ includes link to buy the album