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What type
of drum kit do you use?
I have a
few drum kits: a Yamaha, a Canopus and I practice on a '67 Ludwig white pearl
marine in sizes 22 x 18, 12x9, 13x9, 16x16 with a Ludwig supraphonic
snare 5x14 that I bought in
New York with Zildjian A's cymbals, 14" hi-hats and 18" and
21".
Who are
your favourite players?
When I
started out on drums my favourite players were from the bands I was listening
to, like Dennis Davis (Bowie), Michael Shrieve (Santana), Ginger Baker (Cream),
Phil Thompson (Roxy Music), James Gadson (Bill Withers), Phil Collins
(Genesis), and Chris Frantz (Talking Heads). Growing up some of the Irish
players I listened to were Fran Breen, John Wadham, Jerry Fehily and Darren
Beckett.
Then,
when I started to really study drums and take playing more seriously, I learned
so much from drummers like Kenny Clarke, Papa Joe Jones, Max Roach, Elvin
Jones, Tony Williams to name a few innovators on the drum kit who continue
to inspire me. My first teacher in New York was Eddie Locke, a phenomenal player
and mentor, who taught me as much about the tradition of Jazz as playing
the instrument itself. Of course, there are some incredible current
drummers--Billy Hart, Marcus Gilmore, Dan Weiss and Tyshawn Sorey--who are
doing really exciting things and exploring new boundaries on the drums.
What are
your favourite albums / songs?
I
remember stocking shelves in a supermarket as a kid and they would always play
Paul Brady's "Nothing But The Same Old Story." I loved that
song and the album Hard Station. Jimi Hendrix was a big
inspiration, especially Band Of Gypsys. Kind Of Blue was
my gateway into the world of Jazz so of course Jimmy Cobb was a big influence.
I got to see him and hear him play many times in NYC when I lived there, which
was a dream come true. Any John Coltrane album; Elvin Jones was another huge
inspiration. I got to hang out with him a couple of times, once at a drum
workshop in Dublin before I moved to NYC. When he asked if I knew anyone there,
and I said "not really," he turned to me and replied,
"well, you do now." That gave me a lot of confidence to make the
leap.
Can you
tell us some of the artists that you have played / recorded with?
I left
school when I was 16 with the life of a drummer in my mind and started playing
with a local band in Cork called The Dancing Bastards from Hell,
affectionately known as just "The Bastards." It was a
conglomeration of well known musicians in Cork at the time. I only really got
the gig because they had basically run off every other drummer in town with a
lot of onstage slagging. That was as much a part of the Cork scene as it was
how you played. It was a tough apprenticeship in those days but fun. I
think they left me alone because there wasn't any other drummer left and I
was so young. The band was banned from Trinity College and the entire town of
Mitchelstown amongst many other claims to fame.
Then, of
course, I started to play with the Emperors Of Ice cream, Bass Odyssey and a
host of other local bands at that time. Whenever the great Louis Stewart was in
town we played together. He was another game changer for me as a young drummer.
Here was this world class guitar player who encouraged me and was
supportive of my playing. I also got to record with Bic Runga and Nick
Seymour (Crowded House) before I decided to try playing in Berlin for a year
and then NYC for 18 years. In New York I had an opportunity to play with Saul
Rubin, Greg Glassman, Stacy Dillard, Asaf Yuria, Pasquale Grasso, Alexi David
and Dida Pelled, among many other bands. I recently moved to Amsterdam and am
enjoying getting to know the scene here.
How does
it feel to have The Emperor of Ice cream back together again?
I'm
really enjoying getting back together with The Emperors. Graham Finn--the
Emperor's guitar player--is also in NYC and we'd try to play together whenever
we could, and it's been great to get back working with Eddie Butt, Haggis
and Eddie Kiely, our manager, again. It all happened very organically.
Starting with a nostalgic newspaper article in the Irish
Examiner; the interest in the band and enjoyment of the singles
we've released so far has given us a wonderful opportunity to finish an
album we started 25 years ago.
The long
awaited debut album from Emperor of Ice cream is about to be released. Can you
tell us what can we expect?
We're
proud of this album and want it to cement our time together as a band--where we
grew up, the time we shared--and also who we have become as musicians and
people since then. It's been exciting to see our two singles, "Lambent
Eyes" and "Everyone Looks So Fine," do so well in Ireland and
it's been fun re-recording a number of these songs from our locations around
the world. It's all pretty remarkable considering we popped up again after all
these years and can't play live currently with COVID-19 to support the album.
Hopefully
next year we'll have a chance to show the folks who have supported us that we
can still play our asses off and give people a great night out, which we could
all do with right now!!!
How did
you cope during the COVID-19 lockdown?
Obviously
I miss playing live with other musicians but I try to be positive and use this
time for personal practice on the drums. I have a ton of stuff I'm
working on--like four-way coordination and melodic playing on the kit.
And, of course, we're putting the Emperor's album together and
promoting it online and with social media.
Between
the album, practice, listening to music and learning more on the piano there's
no shortage of things to do during lockdown. But, you know, it's also important
to take it easy on the expectations we have of ourselves right now and focus on
finding the joy in drumming and music, however we can.
