I remember when we first started doing this song, we got invited for some free time in
the studio and we started on I See Red. I came up with that kind of drum beat but it
was a hard beat to keep going. I remember when we were trying to do some takes at this
place and i was struggling and Tim came up to me and kind of very nicely gave we a little
warning, "unless you can kind of do this...". Anyway, I overcame it and I managed to somehow
get through that track and just hearing it again recently on the record and trying to
emulate and play along with it, boy it's, i do it hard! I didn't realise. We ended up
recording at Ringo's. That was probably a year or two later. I went there, I was completely
blown-out by the place. It was absolutely stunning. Fantasy stuff you know. And suddenly,
I kind of got influenced. I remember walking around the house and I saw the bedrooms where
John used to sleep with Yoko and he had a patch-bay on the wall that he could just plug
his guitar into and they could start playing downstairs. For some reason, we experimented.
I was in the hall. I was put in the hallway on my own to get a big drum sound. And everyone
was in different places. I think the Finn's were probably in the control room, Nigel (bass
player) was actually out walking the grounds. He had a lead on him about half a mile long.
And it's very bizarre, I don't know if any musicians who might be viewing this have ever
played without people around them? Not to a click track or anything, it's like a whole
other sense taken away. It's quite a weird experience. So this was quite a new thing
for me. I'd never done anything quite like this before. So I ended up playing it like
this. Got the bass drum camera on? something like. Something like that. I chose to play
it like that. I probably tried different ways. Probably would have started like...there's
a different feel when you do it this way and there's a different sound when you do it this
way. So I presume i did it that way because it would be too hard to play all the way through
that fast. And then I realised there's a certain feel and a certain groove and you start just
shape it out I suppose? I find with speeds, they generally find themselves naturally.And
there's two coordinates to that. You've just got obviously your basic feel, how it feels
to play your instrument and how it swings and bounces but the real big thing to get
the speed right is about the singer because he's singing the song and it's important that
he's comfortable with the words. So it's just understanding those two. So usually there
is a natural kind of tempo then for the song. Ok look this is a thing about you know, you've
got to be playing at a fair volume but you get going and it would just have a momentum
of it's own and that was the only way I could play that bass drum fast and had and it was
interesting, I was just trying to play it the other day in the same way as I played
it on the record and my pedal actually broke and I got my spare out and I couldn't keep
up. I mean it wasn't going fast enough for me. So it's a real momentum thing. It's like
you just sit on the edge and ride the board and your body weight and your feet they just
kind of go and any tensions, you're in trouble. So there is a bit to work out because I'm
doing things like...little crossover but when you're going that fast, you've got to find
your way to do them where it flows and it's fairly invisible. So this was another tension
thing where like you were saying earlier you can ride on the tom. You're hitting a frequency
where you're not really interfering with anybody else or the whole middle to upper frequency
so suddenly when you come in just on a hi-hat, boy it's a huge dynamic out of doing nothing.
And that's how I played the song really so it went from contrast to contrast. So it went
from...classic verse to...and then into an uplifting chorus and it's a bit of a white
noise sound so it just lifts up and "shhhwo", back to that dark tension. So i've got three
steps to go up in my simplest of ways. Just from...with the effect of still an occasional
crash that's very powerful. So as I said, I'm just trying to utilise things simplistically
so when they happen they have impact rather than just every four bars or eight bars a
cymbal or whatever it may be. There is method to madness haha! Ah look this is Neil's (Finn)
first time around really. I mean he'd really just come of age as a songwriter. He'd only
been in the bad I don't know maybe a couple of years? And they are young and they are
fresh and he's got a whole different style of writing to Tim. I think Neil is
usually a little more simplistic. Cos I remember when I joined the band in seventy six, late
seventy six, I had never really been in a band that I wanted to be in because I wasn't
quite good enough. By the time I joined Split Enz, I was playing al the stuff from Mental
Notes which is all the complex stuff. I loved it! I mean, it was just very powerful, melodic
and atmospheric and I fell in love with their music. And for me to play that stuff was like
playing all the fantasies that I never really had a chance to play you know with other bands
an favourite kinds of music because of time changes and the ambience and such great players
you know. Point was, that was our most complex time. I had a chance to get all my fantasies
out of it and play and tour the album and then after that it's a bit like we're starting
from scratch again. And that was our turning point really where the complex stuff which
was on the outside before hand, suddenly went on the inside and it was instantly very accessible.
And I suppose it shows because it is timing too but you know it was a huge album that
one. So i was getting more and more down that road and I was starting to hold back like
not cymbals particularly not in the obvious places not just for the sake of it I was trying
to be a little bit different I suppose, but just to release tension so one more time around
would be "oh there's another round to do" and finally just when you go... "Oh ghee,
I've been waiting for that!" that was my idea anyway. As I said, I think I'm a simpler drummer.
I'm more of a musical, moody drummer. I love atmosphere and I think about it. Hence, I'm
quite mindful where I use my cymbals and what I use or where I use toms. I mean a lot of
time I do the tom thing because that's a great place for different atmospheres I mean I've
only so much on a regular kit that you can use. And quite a few of the tracks from those
two albums I am using toms a lot. In completely different ways but they're my extreme contrasts.
And they seem to work for that particular time so again it's about the music bringing
things maybe out in you. Charlie ironically was one of those songs which just kind of
evolved and grew and I never got fed up with Charlie it was just well it's a beautiful
song too. We used to play it you know the show would climax then it would be "ahhh"
into this lull you can get your breathe back and just settle-in
And I just loved that feeling of starting it off and the music starts to come and
when it gets to the middle of the song with that climax where it goes up here on the cymbals and it gets very moody.
I mean that was like, like an orgasm for me every time. You know it really was. It was beautiful experience
without meaning to sound corny
that's what I like to feel when i play music.
is just get the most emotion out of every little beat and that's the real drug out of playing I think
again the song itself dictates quite a movement.
I probably tried a fews things a bit more conventional
wasn't quite happy and then found the snare worked well and I think it does
in particularly in contrast to the other dynamics that I use with the cymbals and things
there seems to be a very big gap where again if I was just playing the hi-hat instead of that
it would just obviously feel and sound different
I listen to everything I think?
I don't play in a conventional way as a lot of people expect bass players and drummers to play
they say "you want to lay something down with the bass player?"
I mean if it comes down to one or the other
I'd rather lay something down with the person who's leading the song playing rhythm
that's the bottom line if it comes down to a choice of one or the other
but you know, I just respond to the overall feel because that's what it is
you're playing a part of a groove.
i mean it's interesting with tempo and things
you and i were talking earlier about what we call gear changes
so, often you might think "oh this song needs to be a bit faster"
so you'll speed it up quite considerably
but it's hard to tell
if you're just going like that...
as opposed to...
and then as opposed to...
the sixteen end is really, really fast!
so my point is I'm listening to everybody.
Everybody is playing different kind of rhythms really.
And I find, my place and space and colour and I try and just lock everybody in.
I suppose I'm a bit like the glue If I think about it.
Look, I love the V-Drums.
I mean I've been playing electronic drums for, since about 1981, 82 I discovered them.
That was a couple of years after the Enz and I saw the whole insight to them them.
And I've spent a lot of money and time on getting all the various kits which have come out.
Unfortunately it's not until about the last eight years when the TD-20, that was a real turning point, came out
real hats and everything
now the TD-30 which is a much more sophisticated version
Very playable, very recordable, very friendly.
It's crossed the line at last you know.
it's a bit how I compare it to a MIDI keyboard
it's a great tool. You know. And I'm a bit surprised
that drummers seem a bit slow at, "getting it" really.
but that's another story...