Mowl, imagine you were a drummer in a band and your bandmates were happy with you but they decided to give an audition to another guy on the sly. And afterwards your bandmates thought that he wasn't as good a drummer as you, but wait, one of them says, that's actually Mowl's fault, and the rest of the band agree. Would you think that was fair?
I don't join bands, Jambo - that's strictly for the kids.
I make my choices based on what's best for me - playing as a session player in other drummer's bands because they can't deliver in the studio as well as they can in rehearsal or performance. So what you're asking isn't something I've ever had to deal with - quite the opposite: if a recording band aren't getting down what they need to build the songs on, then a professional hand is required: come in at the end of the day, listen to the parts recorded earlier by the band'sdrummer, then use his/her gear exactly as they use it, except with my style of grooving.
Which is what I do best: I don't do drum solos. I often don't even get the credit for my own takes because I'm paid to do a job, not be your mate or join your crew. I operate as a mobile intelligence unit unto myself. I haven't 'been in a band' in the sense you're assuming I have. I have three different work names/handles which I work under depending where I am and who I'm working for.
My costs remain the same in either location, but you'll also have to fly me in and house me for a couple of nights.
Then pay me to shut up about it.
And there's more, the band then decide to sack you and hire the new guy instead, would you think that was fair?
Oasis' first drummer was chronic - utterly fucking shite-balls.
He had to be replaced, that was obvious from the first time I heard them.
Quit with emojis, you dork - you're starting to look like Saul Bucket.
By the way, this has nothing to do with you being an asshole, the questions are based purely on drumming ability.
I don't consider myself a drummer
only, as such. Playing drums is just one thing I do. I mostly play songs, Jambo - and that's the difference between me and the hairy fuckers you see playing in actual 'bands'. I quit that shit before turning twenty years old. Because I could. Because I was in with all the right people and at the right time and made my name off the back of a variety of things I did as a performer. As a recording artist, basically.
Question: if you were working nights at a twenty-four hour petrol station out off the M50 and one night another guy with, say - a gimp arm - showed up to work with you and you were expected to teach him how to use the till, how to handle drunks and robbers, and then two days later you were fired even though you're not a gimp-arm kind of bloke, would you be pissed off at your job being taken by a one-handed shut-in type weirdo freak or would you just chalk it down to experience?
You work at whatever type of manual labour you specialize in - that's because you made certain lifestyle choices that put you where you are right now.
Me?
I put myself to work at an early age and spent my time improving my abilities, not because I had to, but mostly because I love what I do in music as much as I love what I do as an artist. And I'll even qualify that for you by saying that I only ever make art for the same reasons I make music: to get paid. And until you've tried it, you'll never know what's it's like to be the master of your own world. I work for me, nobody else. If I sign a contract, I deliver. If the job at hand isn't suitable for me, I back off and make suggestions for other people who might do a better job than I can with your project. Likewise, if they're looking for a dep, they'll ask me. Fair's fair after all.
So you keep serving at the till while I'm off out into the world living off my own raw talents, I may even call by one night to buy some petrol off you.
There's a reason why people fly me into their location and to record with them, just as there are reasons why I was flown in twice a year (at least) by one of Ireland's largest pub and restaurant companies. Because what I have to offer is the best quality there is available. They know my methods, they know they can rely on me, and I know what they need like the back of my hand so I don't even need to consult them before I commence the work.
Art and music, Jambo: two of the greatest gifts nature has to offer - and I was offered both of them.
That's why I've seen the world on my own terms, while you had to fly in and get a job.
Like your year in Australia: it's still just a gap year thing that thousands of Irish kids do.
My entire life is my gap year - get it?
roc_abilly would say.
