Two Drummers Drumming

 

This week I saw Redd Kross on their current tour with Melvins.  Dale Crover and Steve McDonald are doing double duty as the rhythm section for both bands.  Melvins are touring as a quartet, with two drummers (Dale and Coady Willis).  Thus the inspiration for today's post: bands with two (or more) drummers.  

There's something visceral about seeing and hearing two drummers playing.  Dale and Coady were sometimes locked in sync; at other times, they alternated as "lead" drummer or played off each other with separate but complementary drum parts.  

Two drummers playing together is a feat of athleticism as well as musicianship.  It's been done in jazz and prog rock, but also by the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, the Glitter Band, Wizzard, Adam & The Ants, and The Fall.  There are live videos from 1983 of The Fall playing Smile, Garden, and Tempo House with Karl Burns and Paul Hanley that -- even to this day -- can cause the Dutch to weep, in four languages at least.  

Here are 20 songs from groups which included two or more drummers.  Some were temporary lineups, as when Fugazi added a second drummer to several songs on their final album, or when Pere Ubu had both Scott Krauss and Chris Cutler on drums.  Sadly, nothing today from the Four Goddamn Girl Drummers, but we've got everything from God to Gnod.  It's fitting that the compilation ends with House Of All, which now includes three goddamn Fall drummers (Karl Burns, Paul Hanley, and Simon Wolstencroft).  

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG: more MX-80, Ubu, and The Mighty Fall.  

Beat That #?!* Drum

My first encounter with Sandy Nelson’s instrumentals was probably through his "Let There Be Drums" which I got as a 45 rpm record from my uncle. Later I managed to get some more singles and albums but the quality was uneven at times, not that the playing was bad, but rather bland to be polite… However there were always a few instrumentals that stood out and consequently were played a lot!

Earlier this month Stinky shared one of his new compilations with Jonder and me, Sidemen In The Spotlight Vol. 1, which featured "Let There Be Drums”. I was a bit confused to see Sandy included as a ’sideman’ and asked Stinky for the reason, as I only knew him as a solo performer. Stinky gave me a few links to further my musical education and that was quite surprising to say the least. Besides being an active session drummer, I also learned about his playing in bands such as Kip Tyler & The Flips and later The Renegades.

After gaining respect as a session drummer, Nelson played on several hit singles including The Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is To Love Him" (1958), The Hollywood Argyles' "Alley Oop" (1960) and Kathy Young and the Innocents' "A Thousand Stars" (1960). He also played on Gene Vincent’s album Crazy Time as well as various lesser known artists/groups such as Johnny Crawford’s “Daydreams”, Joel Hill’s “Little Lover”, and others by The Vibrations, Little Caesar & The Romans, and Sonny Knight. 

Interestingly enough his musical heroes were Gene Krupa and Earl Palmer, Sandy never considered himself a ‘real’ rock ’n’ roll pounder, but more a kind of swing drummer!
The enormous amount of albums recorded were pushed by his record bosses, something he didn’t like much as he had to record covers of hits of the day which he didn’t really want to do. Taking lots of painkillers because of the pain in his leg, serious drinking, and having almost no creative input made it only worse. Between 1965 and 1975 Nelson added a further 21 albums to his catalogue…
Luckily in 1976 he stopped drinking and got his life (sort of) back on track again, but the huge number of recordings was definitely finished.
He died in Las Vegas on February 14, 2022, at the age of 83 from complications of a stroke he had in 2017.

I guess we’re all familiar here with the expression ‘All Killer, No Filler’  but with Sandy it unfortunately looks more like ‘Shitloads Of Filler, Some Killer’!
There are a huge number of compilations of Sandy’s work on the market, but most of these contain plenty of filler, although the ACE compilations (Big Sixties Frat Party!!!, Rock ’N’ Roll Drum Beat) are pretty good with great liner notes as well!
Even so, there’s no overview which includes his early session work, singles, some deep album cuts, and later tracks, which seemed like a good reason for another JOKONKY compilation!

IN THE MIX: Ringo Starr Edition

Welcome to the newly remodeled Jonderblog (compliments of Koen).

To launch our new look we have the latest edition of the IN THE MIX series: 

IN THE MIX Ringo Starr Edition.

After The Beatles broke up, Ringo was the one that remained on good terms with all of his bandmates so his releases were the closest you’d get to a Beatles reunion.  All three of his former bandmates were featured on his best post-Beatles releases: RINGO, and GOODNIGHT VIENNA.

Because of Ringo’s good nature, and the value of having a Beatle play on your album, many of his friends asked him to drop by the studio.  Those folks include Graham Gouldman, Harry Nilsson, Ian Hunter, Ian McLagan, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, & Edgar Winter.  Members of the revolving door of RINGO’S ALL-STARR BAND members have asked the boss for a favor, as well, including: Steve Lukather & Peter Frampton.

IN THE MIX Ringo Starr Edition

01. Bed Of Roses (Ringo Starr Drums) - Ian Hunter

02. Hold On (Ringo Starr Drums) - Ian McLagan

03. Daybreak/Single Version (Ringo Starr Drums) - Harry Nilsson

04. Standing Next To Me (Ringo Starr Drums) - Graham Gouldman

05. Red Bull Hennessy (Ringo Starr Drums) - Jenny Lewis

06. Run To Me (Ringo Starr Drums) - Steve Lukather

07. We Better Find It (Ringo Starr Drums) - Nils Lofgren

08. To Find A Friend (Ringo Starr Drums) - Tom Petty

09. You're Only Happy When You're Miserable (Ringo Starr Drums) - Rodney Crowell

10. Burning Down The House (Ringo Starr Drums) - Paul Shaffer

11. Watered-Down Love/Outtake '81 (Ringo Starr Drums) - Bob Dylan

12. Take It Away (Ringo Drums) - Paul McCartney & Wings

13. Looking For You/B-Side (Ringo Starr Drums) - Paul McCartney

14. Coochy Coochy (Ringo Starr Handclaps & Percussion) - Ray Wylie Hubbard

15. Make Believe (Ringo Starr Drums) - Platinum Weird Dave Stewart/Erin Grace

16. The Lodger (Ringo Starr Drums) - Peter Frampton

17. Couldn't Love You More (Ringo Starr Drums) - Graham Gouldman

18. Stranger (Ringo Starr Drums) - Edgar Winter

19. Hung Up & Overdue (Ringo Starr Drums) - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Another Stinky Production

Drummers Turned Strummers

Never one to rest long on his laurels, Stinky has a whole 'nother concept for his latest homemade album: Drummers Who Became Guitarists. If you asked me to name guitarists who started out as drummers, J. Mascis and Dave Grohl would come to mind. Given enough time, I might remember that B-52's guitarist Keith Strickland was their drummer before Ricky Wilson died; or that Skip Spence was Jefferson Airplane's drummer before Moby Grape got together.

If you've earned your indie music hipster badge, you probably know that Jack White was a Detroit stickman before he and Meg started the White Stripes, and that the fella now known as Father John Misty was once Fleet Foxes' drummer. But unless you're a tenured professor at the college of musical knowledge, you probably couldn't name 20 (twenty!) guitar slingers who started out behind the kit.

Stinky's compilation includes highly regarded guitarists whose fretwork has eclipsed their early beatkeeping careers; and (conversely) folks who are well-known as drummers, but less so as strummers.  Then there are famous singers who aren't known for either instrument. I could tell you that Belinda Carlisle was the Germs' first drummer, but didn't know that she played guitar. I knew that Chris Cornell played guitar, but not that he was originally Soundgarden's drummer.

Stinky submitted this comp with a note that there might never be a Volume 2, since even he was hard-pressed to come up with any more examples. If you've got some thoughts, leave a comment! Keep in mind the theme is intended to be more challenging than "drummers who also played guitar" (like Levon Helm) or "drummers turned frontmen" (like Iggy Pop, Ricky Williams, or Bobby Gillespie).

I can only think of one singer-guitarist who started as a drummer and isn't on today's compilation. It almost feels like cheating because I came across it by accident, while browsing Discogs' entry for Craig Bell's post-RFTT band Saucers. Turns out that Mark Mulcahy was Saucers' drummer, before he formed Miracle Legion.