Hey, this is John Laurie of Tantric, and you
are listening to My Weekly Mixtape with Brian
Colburn. Man, if only there was some way I could
four count into this thing. Welcome to My Weekly
Mixtape, a podcast that takes the classic mixtape
approach to building a modern playlist. I'm your
host, Brian Colburn. Joining me for tonight's
collaboration is John Lurie, drummer for Tantric.
John, thank you so much for joining me tonight,
man. Ah, thanks for having me on. It's going
to be a blast. Oh, we're going to have a good
time tonight. I want to kick things off with
the question I like to ask all of my guests right
at the jump. What does the word mixtape mean
to you? Ah, that's a good question. I wasn't
prepared for that question. But when I think
of a mixtape, obviously there's the idea of a
mixtape with a cassette where you would get all
of your favorite songs onto a cassette and then
play that in your car. And for a while, my car,
I drove around for the better part of my early
years in a 93 Toyota Camry that only had a cassette
player. So we'd have mixtapes of like... Kiss
and then the B side of it was like Rush. Like
the mixtapes didn't make any sense. So that's
what I think about. But then I also think about
my early years where it wasn't a tape anymore,
but it was like a CD and we would burn CDs of
like I would get like super hyped up about a
band like Avenged Sevenfold. Right. And I would
burn all of my favorite Avenged songs onto a
CD and then listen to that. And that was my mix.
And now we've got. playlists so it's like that's
a mixtape but that you know i i don't know that's
a tough question yeah playlists are different
because you kind of just drag the songs in and
they're there but when you were making a mixtape
or a mix cd a lot of focus went into the order
of the songs and the story you're trying to tell
whereas now most people just drag 50 songs onto
a playlist and hit shuffle and you kind of remove
that element. And that's what we're trying to
bring back through this show is actually thinking
about the songs you're going to pick. I love
it. I love it. That's such a, it's like you really
think about, even when I was creating my ideas
or whatever, it's like, you're just dragging
and dropping. Like I'm not even doing anything
that takes skill or time or like a CD burner,
you know, like I used to have. So it's kind of
crazy that that's where we're at. But I love
this idea. I'm super excited to talk about all
of these songs. Well, tonight, John and I will
be curating a mixtape of the greatest drum tracks,
and that's Genres Be Damned. So there are endless
directions we can go with this tonight. For me
personally, I was looking for one of three things
in each of the songs I chose. One, if the song
has an iconic beat. Two, if the drums were recorded
with a signature sound in mind. And three, if
the drummer has an epic mastery of their craft.
So I've got a list that's full of endless possibilities.
And I'm really curious to see how this unfolds.
John, what were you looking for being a drummer
yourself? I'm not a drummer. I'm a bass player.
So coming from it as a person who plays this
instrument. Seven days a week. What were you
looking for in the songs that you brought to
the table this evening? Very much the same thing.
And I think it was so difficult for me because
it would be like there were a couple of songs
that were kind of, you know, they're layups,
right? You already know that that's going to
be on the list. Like it kind of has to be there.
And then there are other songs where I'm like,
oh, I hold such a place in my heart as me learning
the drums as a kid. And so it's like that's iconic
to me, even though it might not be iconic to
everyone. And I still tried to stay with everyone
in mind. My other criteria, because of all of
this, I'm like thinking to myself, OK, what makes
a groove or a fill or a drum tone iconic? Like,
what is that? It almost. takes the place of the
lead singer and takes the place of the guitar
player and stands out on its own. And I'm like
thinking, OK, when you go to concerts and you
see that one guy in the crowd and he's air drumming,
that's an iconic drum song that I was trying
to think, what are songs that guys air drum to
at concerts? And that is kind of where my list
took me. But then again, like I had songs on
here that are just iconic to me and I just rolled
with that. So it's really tough as a drummer
to pick this objectively because of all the subjectivity
that I've had in my life learning this instrument.
Awesome. Awesome. Well, let's get down to business
tonight. As I mentioned, John and I will be curating
a greatest drum tracks mixtape, and we're going
to use that old cassette deck approach, meaning
our mixtape will be broken up into two sides,
side A and side B. John is my special guest.
We'll begin side A with his first song choice,
and then I'll add a song that I feel best follows
up. his choice. We'll then flip -flop choosing
songs until we've mapped out 10 songs for side
A. We'll then give our mixtape a proverbial flip
and we'll map out side B, only this time I'll
kick things off with John choosing second. Overall,
our goal for tonight is to craft the best drum
tracks mixtape possible. through only 20 songs.
At the end of the show, you can take our conversation
to the next level by visiting the greatest drum
tracks page at myweeklymixtape .com and give
our final mixtape a listen via the embedded playlist.
Finally, if you like what you're hearing on the
show, please consider becoming a Patreon mixtaper
at patreon .com forward slash myweeklymixtape.
Now, John, before I turn it over to you to reveal
your track one, some of the fellow mixtapers
who follow me at My Weekly Mixtape on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have chimed in
with their ideal opening tracks for a Greatest
Drum Tracks mixtape, and I wanted to share a
few of them now just to give you and I some food
for thought. Patreon mixtaper Cactus Pete chimed
in with Rush's Tom Sawyer, along with Michael
from Michael's Record Collection. And Cactus
Pete chimed in with Van Halen's Hot for Teacher,
along with Bobby from the F 'n Cultured podcast.
Patreon mixtape or Two Vague podcast chimed in
with Frida's I Know There's Something Going On.
Eric Chael chimed in with Kisses, Creatures of
the Night. Chris Bearpaw chimed in with Dave
Brubeck Quartet's Take Five or Benny Goodman's
Sing, Sing, Sing. Rob Jones chimed in with the
Pixies' La La Love You. Songs That Don't Suck
chimed in with Led Zeppelin's When the Levee
Breaks. Jim Bricker chimed in with Tower of Power's
Squib Cakes. Mantools Media chimed in with Iron
Maiden's Where Eagles Dare. X Radio X Podcast
chimed in with the intro to Dire Straits' Money
for Nothing. Count Vlad chimed in with White
Noise, Black Mass, and Electric Storm in Hell.
And finally, Lance Levine chimed in with Fleetwood
Mac's Tusk. So I have just hit every genre from
jazz to funk to rock to metal. John, with those
picks out in the universe, I'm officially pressing
the record button on our mixtape and the floor
is yours. Why don't you dive into the song you
chose to kick off side A? Side A, and you could
probably guess it because we've talked about
it before, is Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. And
let me just preface all of this by saying. I
don't think there's a right answer and I don't
think there's a wrong answer to any of this.
And I just like this is the hardest thing because
people will go, oh, how could you say that? That's
definitely not even the best Led Zeppelin, John
Bonham beat, you know, or it'll be like, oh,
well, Led Zeppelin, that can't be the best one.
It's got to be, you know, I don't know, whatever.
And you just go, I know, I know, but I just have
to pick for myself. And if I'm picking for myself
as number one, I am one of the biggest John Bonham
fans of all time. And there's a bunch of us.
He changed the modern face of drumming for what
it is. And you and I have had our conversations
about Led Zeppelin. And it's just his drumming
and his pocket and his feel. And even I was trying
to pick best. Led Zeppelin song, which is so
hard to do. Best Bonham influence song. That's
so hard to do. But when you look at what Black
Dog is, it's a rock song, number one. It's a
rock song with an odd drum beat behind a riff
that should be... And he took it and made it
a backbeat and totally transformed... The thing.
You know, of course, it doesn't translate well
when I'm the one that's just like air drumming
it myself. But you get the idea is that he totally
changed the modern face of drumming. And this
song in particular is so great. The drums are
fat. The fills are big. Everything about John
Bonham is in this song. And I could have picked
20 Led Zeppelin songs, if not more, that could
have fit in this spot. That's what I'm going
with. I love it. You obviously scooped me with
Led Zeppelin. Why would we not talk about John
Bonham? I'm glad he's kicking things off. I actually
went with Moby Dick from Led Zeppelin 2 because
I thought you've got this amazing drum beat in
the beginning and then you've got a solo in the
middle, which. There's not many songs that have
drum solos in them anymore. So I kind of wanted
to go with one. And this is that was kind of
John Bonham's moment to shine. But I love what
you said about Black Dog. He could have very
easily played a different beat for that song,
and it would have completely changed the impact
that his backbeat style has with that riff. I
actually chose Black Dog as one of my greatest
opening guitar riff songs all the way back on
episode one. And I talked about the fact that
the riff is amazing. But if you put a different
beat behind it, it's a totally different song
and the riff might not be as good. But I really
believe that Bonham's backbeat on that song made
the guitar even more iconic because of the way
it sat over what the band was doing. underneath
of it right i totally agree with that that song
would have not been the same had it not been
for his idea to change that beat on its head
and turn it around and then you've got these
fills you've got the way even the live aspect
of them as a band recording it it's not to a
click obviously you can hear that so for them
to be so tight you hear that little stick click
in the very beginning of each phrase when they
come in that you hear that little stick click
they had to be like all in sync with one another
and have that totally rehearsed in order to pull
that thing off in a live recording to tape like
that is it's nuts and the drums just really bring
that whole thing out and you know Classic John
Bonham fills. We call it the bucket of fish fill.
Bucket of fish, bucket of fish, bucket of fish.
And so those are all classic John Bonham fills
in there. And it's also classic John Bonham to
not overplay, too. He could have done like a
ton of crazy drum fills, but especially that
one fill that's at the very tail end of the song.
He has like this really simple fill leading into
a really cool drum beat. He didn't need anything
bigger than that. So it's like he just was the
king of pocket, the king of not overplaying and
overplaying when needed with songs like Moby
Dick. So again, hard decision to make, but that's
the one I went with. Alright, and following that
up, I want to keep that energy going. You've
got that Black Dog energy. And I want that second
song to really follow it up, but I want the opening
beat to be the iconic standout part of this song.
So I'm going to go back to 1975's Toys in the
Attic, and I'm going to go with my man Joey Kramer
from Aerosmith. And I'm going to go walk this
way. It's an obvious classic rock staple. But
this beat is so iconic that nearly a decade later,
it was iconic in both the classic rock arena
and then the hip hop arena. Because Run DMC and
Aerosmith took that exact same beat and turned
it into an iconic song for another generation.
And then you fast forward. Digital underground
sampled that beat and put it into same song in
the movie. Nothing but trouble. Again, that beat
is iconic. All you need to hear is the, you know,
what's happening. It doesn't matter what version
of the song, you know, the song within like,
if that's on hurdle, I'm getting it in one second.
That is the kind of drum beat that is iconic.
It is not a complicated drum beat, but it pulls
you right in. And the rest of the band just does
the work on it. And if it wasn't for that beat,
Walk This Way would not be the iconic song it
is today. So following up Black Dog, I'm going
to go with Aerosmith, Walk This Way. Love it.
Love it. Oh, you were reading my mind for the
second slot on this thing. I was looking at my
list and I'm like, I bet I know where he's going.
And then you said Toys in the Attic. And I was
like, oh, he's saying it. He's doing it. That's
the song. So we were very much in sync on that
one. Love it. Love it. That's exactly everything
you just said is, you know, from that first hi
-hat hit, like you get that hi -hat bark. If
you just hear that, you're like, oh, I know what
song it is. Like you already know. It's so. iconic
and of course you know very timeless um it's
one of those songs that has just transcended
the generations and will probably continue to
they're you know probably in in my opinion the
greatest american rock band that was able to
just transcend you know they didn't die out with
the 70s like so many bands did they didn't die
out in the 80s they were 90s 2000s so many years
later even to this point of just total stardom.
Their household name always will be. And part
of it is that groove and just simple. Right.
It's I feel like we're going to talk a lot about
songs being simple grooves, but so effective
to the point of that making that song so iconic
that song wouldn't have been the same if it wasn't
for that group. All right. Now you have the tough
challenge of following those two songs up. That
is tough. But I will say. Going along with that,
I was trying to figure out what would go well
with the next song. I don't want to totally kill
momentum as far as I could picture myself listening
to this in the car and going, well, I'm still
hyped up. So I still want to continue to be hyped
up. And I would go for Alex Van Halen, Hot for
Teacher, Van Halen. We knew it was going to hit
the list eventually. It's just a matter of when.
And I think that this is the perfect time for
it, because if you're listening to a drummer's
iconic drum track song, this has to at least
be somewhere early on in the list, I think. I
love that. What the absolute hell is he doing?
Like, when you hear it for the first time, it
almost sounds like there's seven drummers playing
at once. There's just so much happening. Before
he even gets into the beat, whatever he's doing,
just kind of building into the beat. And then
when that beat hits, you're hyped before any
other music happens. It just instantly catches
you. And I mean, you talk about the greats like
Neil Peart and you talk about, you know, the
progressive drummers like Mike Portnoy. Alex
Van Halen has to be in that in that realm, even
though he didn't really go there a lot in Van
Halen. But. Hot for Teacher, oh, he went there
and it is so good and it is so perfect. And again,
I've heard cover bands attempt that song and
it's hard because if the drummer doesn't perfect
it, it doesn't matter if you have Eddie Van Halen
on stage with you. If the drummer doesn't get
that part right, the song's over. You've lost.
What's crazy is from what I know about the song,
it's layered bass drum tracks on top of one another.
So physically impossible to do if you're doing
every single note and every single hit that's
in there. It's like four bass drum tracks, you
know, kind of layered together in order to create
that very intro. When he did it live, he did
it live and it sounded pretty darn close to the
record. Right. And anybody that starts off that
drum intro, you know what's coming. You know
exactly what the song is. You're not going to
start that intro and then go into like, you know,
a Cher song. You're going to start that intro
and you're going to play half for teacher. The
thing I also love about. Alex Van Halen and why
he's so underrated because everybody knows Neil
Peart. Everybody knows Mike Portnoy. Like you
said, everybody knows Bonham and Bill Ward and
whatever. And somehow Alex Van Halen always flies
under the radar because it's Eddie is really
the big part of that band. And then two front
men who are just like over the top front men.
You've got Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth and
Alex somehow flies under the radar. But he should
be acknowledged for how jazzy of a player he
was. He was a jazz drummer, right? Like, no doubt
about it. He was a jazz drummer playing in a
hard rock band. And in all of the Van Halen discography,
especially the early stuff, there was a lot of
jazz and blues and things of that nature in it
to where you're like, oh, he's the perfect fit
for this band. Could you imagine Van Halen with
anyone else on the drums? It's like he was a
jazz drummer first and foremost. And he took
that playing style to a hard rock level. And
you're just, listen to isolated drum tracks of
Alex Van Halen. And you'll really see the genius
of what was going on behind his playing. Crazy
ride stuff. Like talk about, don't even talk
about the very intro of Hot for Teacher. When
he eventually switches to the ride, what that
right hand's doing, that swing pattern. Like,
come on, that thing is ridiculous. It's hard
to do. It's a big challenge. So, yeah, it's got
to be number three on the list, I think. Well,
I am going to follow. You have a drummer here
in Alex Van Halen that has to follow one of the
greatest guitarists of all time. He's behind
one of the greatest guitarists of all time. So
I'm going to follow that up with a drummer who
was behind one of the greatest guitarists of
all time. And I'm going to go all the way back
to 1967. And I'm going to go with Mitch Mitchell.
on the album Are You Experienced? And I'm going
to go with the Jimi Hendrix experience and Fire.
Ah, yeah. It has an upbeat, rockin' nature. But
if you listen to that song, the beat is anything
other than ordinary. He's got a little bit of
a funk thing going. He's flexing the snare a
lot. He's going, you know, boom. And it really
drives the song into other levels. And he's doing
a ton of fills and it's very manic. And he somehow
keeps up with Jimmy. I had the amazing opportunity
to see Mitch Mitchell perform before he passed
away at one of the Jimi Hendrix tribute concerts
that would tour around the country. And seeing
him play was other world. Obviously, he was up
in age at this point, but the. pocket in the
skill that he had was just as exciting to watch
as the guitarists on stage that were burning
up Hendrix solos. So for me, again, being behind
one of the greatest of all times is not an easy
thing to do, but Mitch Mitchell pulled it off
and I'm going with Jimi Hendrix experience and
fire. Love it. Oh, I had that on my ideas of
songs to talk about. And that's like right underneath
hot for teacher. I'm not even kidding. And so
that was the next one that came to my mind when
I was thinking about these iconic drum grooves.
And I was like, OK, well, I haven't really talked
about all of the songs yet, of course, on my
thing. But I'm like, I was thinking about Hot
for Teacher and I was like, OK, what else? What
else is jazzy? What else is in that realm of
like 70s iconic drum parts? And Fire for sure
was the next one that came to my mind. I was
like, oh, Mitch Mitchell. You got to figure all
these guys of this generation because we've kind
of stayed relatively in the same age range of
drummers. Right. There's nobody totally new yet.
And so all of these guys were jazz guys because
rock music wasn't really a thing. Right. They
were inventing it as they were playing. Right.
So all of his fills were very much based in rudiments,
very snare drumming, very articulate and just.
jazzy playing nothing super heavy, but just that,
that pop, that upbeat, that very, you know, fills
all over the place style of playing. And I love
it. That's like the seventies to me. When you
think of guys like that, you got to think of
Mitch Mitchell, not very much a household name
comparatively to the other ones on the list.
But if it wasn't for him, that song would sound
totally different, sound totally different. And
you needed to bring it to be. behind Hendrix.
I mean, come on, let's be honest here. Yeah.
So now you got to follow that up. Oh man. Okay.
I kind of like it's, it's so, Oh, this is tough.
This is tough. I didn't expect us to be in this
situation so early on. Um, um, Oh geez. Okay.
All right. I've got an idea. I've got an idea
and it might not be a good idea, but I think
that this, is in the realm similarly to... I
don't want to do that. Okay, I'm changing my
mind. I'm changing my mind, and I'm going to
go with... Because this is so tough. But we're
going with iconic, and you can't talk about anything
more iconic than Back in Black by ACDC. All right.
There's so many songs that could go in this spot,
but I'm going with Back in Black. We've kind
of, you know, 80s, 70s. We're kind of dancing
around this generation. And we have some killer
players. Aerosmith, Joey Kramer, not so much
as the chops guy. But the other three that we
have on the list are all about the chops, all
about the iconic drum fills, iconic beats. ACDC
is that band with Phil Rudd that they are straight
rock. Just straight. But the reason I picked
Back in Black out of any ACDC song is because
everybody in the crowd, even if you're not a
drummer, is doing... Everybody's doing that hand
motion of that... Everyone's doing it. That is
so iconic. When I think about songs to teach
a new student, because I do a lot of teaching,
and when I think about songs to teach... This
is one of the first ones because of all the syncopation.
And of course, you're playing a more simple drum
groove. But try to play it with the feel that
Phil Rudd played it with originally. Try to do
it. I can't do it. We were talking. I did this
drum clinic not too long ago. And this guy, another
fantastic drummer, Kevin Sofara, we did a drum
clinic together. We spent a little bit of our
time talking about ACDC. We're like, try to play
with that feel. Try to do it. You can't. because
this guy sat in such a pocket behind so many
great musicians. He had to fit it for that groove,
for that fill, for that guitar riff, and it fits
so perfectly. Iconic. I had ACDC on my list,
of course. Believe it or not, though, I had Thunderstruck
because I did it from the drum sound. perspective
not so to me chris slade is a much heavier much
faster rock drummer where phil rudd is much more
of your pocket old school drummer i think it's
believe it or not two different styles completely
but the one thing that as a kid i remember vividly
are the two kick drums that he had above his
head for the thumb destruct video And he's pulling
the sticks and he's slamming them over his head.
And you get that thunder and you get the boom,
boom. And the only way to do that was hitting
the kick drums. And it was just a sound that
I remembered. So it's a different thought process
for ACDC. But I do like the fact with where this
list is going that you went with Phil Rudd because
Chris Slade, I don't know if would have fit where
we're heading right now. right and he was great
too of course that everybody in the crowd is
still going to be doing thunder you know yes
thunderstruck everybody's still going to be doing
that but you know when you think about the guy
that was in it the longest took that hiatus or
whatever he did but when you think about iconic
that song for sure is in there but i don't know
i've got that soft spot for phil rudd because
i've heard it said that drummers know what paradiddles
are and and most people kind of understand what
a paradiddle is even if you're not a drummer
if you're just a musician you get right left
right right left right left left is a paradiddle
but apparently people would go up to phil rudd
and mess with him and go hey phil what's a paradiddle
and he would tell them to go f off in the nicest
terms so he never knew what a paradiddle was
i still don't know if he does or not But he didn't
need it. He didn't need it. He was playing iconic
songs, iconic grooves. And you don't need sometimes
you don't need all of that stuff. You just need
the right pocket and the right feel to fit the
song. And from there, I'm going to kick it up
a little heavier and I'm going to get a little
more complicated now because Phil was kind of
a pocket drummer. There's nothing really over
the top and crazy. And I want to introduce some
over the top and crazy. Love it. So I'm going
to go with Nico McBrain and I'm going to go off
1984's Power Slave and we're going with Iron
Maiden, my absolute favorite song from the band,
Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Whoa. This song
is metal. It's hard rock. It's got progressive
rock in it. It's long. It's bombastic. It's everything
that there is to love about Iron Maiden. But
if you listen to the drums in this. He is doing
so much. And the drums are actually a part of
this music. And I don't mean like, you know,
you're playing notes on a guitar, ABCD, whatever.
The drums are really driving where the song is
heading in this kind of progressive, extra long
masterpiece. And to me, it's telling the story.
Because if you simplified the drums in any way.
the song might become monotonous and boring,
and it never does. So I am going with Iron Maiden,
Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It's a fan favorite,
and it's my absolute favorite Maiden track. Yeah,
that's not the one that I had on my list of Iron
Maiden. I actually had Where Eagles Dare. I completely
get it. Yeah, and you can pick. I mean, I also
at one point was toying with the idea of Run
to the Hills as well. You know, there's Hallowed
Be Thy Name is another one that's all iconic.
All the fills are iconic. But I love this because
I love Nico McBrain personally, because I found
out not too long ago, a couple of years ago,
that he's a single pedal player. He doesn't play
double bass, which is crazy. I didn't know that.
I was like, oh, Iron Maiden, that's, you know,
that's definitely double bass. And then I started
thinking about him like. No, it's not. Actually,
wait a second. He doesn't ever do double bass.
He does fast fills and he does a lot, but he
doesn't play double bass. And that goes to show
that a metal band doesn't necessarily need somebody
that can play double bass, which I think is so
awesome because for the record, I'm mostly a
single pedal player. I play a little bit of double
bass, not much, but I love what you can do. He's
like, I think he was quoted saying like. One
foot is hard enough to figure out. So I add two.
I love that. That's such a great thing. And that's
a great choice. Awesome. I love it. Yeah. So
what are you going to follow up the Iron Maiden
gallop with? Because that's what the drums really
are to me in Iron Maiden. You get that gallop.
That's an Iron Maiden song, whether it's fast
and run for the hills. There's a gallop to an
Iron Maiden song. And that's something that.
Nico brings to that table. So what are you following
that up with? I don't think I could go with something
that follows a gallop, but I can go with something
that has just as crazy of a drum part and just
as insane a drummer. And he couldn't not be on
this list. So I'm going to put Neil Peart, Rush,
Tom Sawyer. Yes, of course. Number one, this
is really hard for me. And maybe people will
hate me for saying it. But I am not the biggest
fan of Rush. I'm a big fan of Neil Peart, not
a huge fan of Rush itself. I think it might be
something with Geddy Lee's voice. Sometimes the
time changes are a little too much for me to
listen to if I'm driving. You don't want to listen
to time changes while you're in traffic. That's
just not always the most fun. But I think what
I really love about Tom Sawyer... Again, on that
same idea of air drumming it at a concert, everybody's
doing it. Number one, very iconic. It's a big
hit for them, of course. And the very middle
of the song with all those drum fills, tell me
a drummer that hasn't studied that ever. You
have to study that when you're a drummer. And
even though I was never the biggest fan of Rush,
I studied a lot of Neil Peart stuff. because
I knew that he was the professor. He was the
guy, you know, so it's and still lives on, even
though he's unfortunately passed. His drumming
still lives on. People still study like there's
no tomorrow. Rush songs. Yeah, I couldn't agree
more. Obviously, he was being talked about tonight.
I had Lovilla Strangiato in my list. Instrumental.
I mean, it's it's all over the top. It's one
of those crazy. Rush songs that I love so much.
One of my best friends who passed away back in
2011. Every time I got in the car, he'd be like,
I'm choosing the music. And I knew the first
song he was putting on and it was La Villa Strangiato
and rest in peace, Dom. I love you, man. Every
time I hear Rush, I immediately have to start
with that. But obviously Tom Sawyer is the iconic
song where everybody really sees. Because that
song is played on top 40 radio. La Villa, not
so much. So I completely get where we're going
with it. And following it up, you went a little
proggy here. So I feel like I still want to stay.
I feel like we're staying classic here. We're
staying classic on Side A. So I am going to stay
classic. And I'm going to go back to 1971 with
a drummer who's probably not a household name,
but should be. Because playing for Jethro Tull
is not always the easiest thing in the world.
So I'm going to go with Clive Bunker. But I'm
sticking with the heavy side of Jethro Tull.
And I'm going to go with the title track from
1971's Aqualung. This song is done in a lot of
different parts. The drums really drive it through
all these different timing changes. I think coming
out of Rush, it still keeps a little bit of the
progressive element to the hard rock sound. And
I feel like it's not so much of a left turn because
I didn't know if this song would fit. But when
you listen to what he's doing in this song, it's
absolutely incredible. And unfortunately, in
the original mix, the drums kind of sound muddy.
Stephen Wilson did a remix of the album in the
2010s, the 40th anniversary remix, and he did
it in complete stereo, and he isolated every
drum and made it sound absolutely massive. I
do not necessarily fall for the whole, hey, we're
doing a remix of an album. Aqualung's 40th anniversary
Stephen Wilson remix makes the album a 20 out
of 10. He brings it to another level. All the
Stephen Wilson Jethro Tull remixes are that legendary
as a sidebar. But this one completely blew my
mind. So I am following up Rush's Tom Sawyer
with Jethro Tull's Aqualung. That's awesome.
I didn't have Jethro Tull on my list. But I'm
glad that you said that because that track is
phenomenal drumming wise. And then again, Jethro
Tull was an out there band regardless. So in
order to be in that group, you had to be just
as much out there of a drummer as well. Right.
Just to fit in, just to keep up. Oh, I could
go so many different ways. Oh, this is tough.
There are a couple things I could do here. Okay,
I got it. I got it. Just as good a player as
anybody on here, but also one of the most notable
drummers, if you are a drummer, but also a part
of such a big super group. I'm going to go with
Jeff Porcaro off of Toto with Rosanna. Ooh. And
the only reason I say that is because... This
is the perfect halftime shuffle groove, and there
are a bunch of those out there. Of course, Bernard
Purdy being the champion of the halftime shuffle
with the Purdy shuffle. He's got it named after
him. And then John Bonham taking it later and
doing the full -in -the -range shuffle, right?
And then Jeff Porcaro. Taking both of those ideas,
both of those halftime shuffle ideas, and he's
quoted saying, I'm going to butcher the quote,
but he's like, I took Bernard's idea and John
Bonham's idea and put it together and this is
what I created. And that's what you get with
Rosanna. Such a cool track. And Jeff Precaro
also is one of those drummers that is a drummer's
drummer, you know, super iconic grooves in everything
that Toto did. But also all of his studio and
session work as well is huge. He's got one of
the longest lists of guys he's played for. They
were part of that sort of era of like the wrecking
crew where it would be. Here's the song and you're
going to play drums on it. And good. All right.
Print it. We're done. So he was just a great
drummer all around and definitely one of the
top players out there that ever existed. I love
that pick. And I'll tell you, I know Weezer had
a lot of fun when people kept asking them to
cover Africa. And they said, we're dropping a
Toto cover tomorrow. And they dropped Rosanna,
which I thought was really clever troll a couple
of days before they dropped their cover of Africa,
which everyone fell in love with. But I'll be
honest. I love Weezer. But he did not nail that
groove. There's just something that didn't feel
right about Rosanna because he didn't nail that.
It's literally the feel. The feel didn't feel
as natural to me as the original. If you're a
player who's technical but doesn't have feel,
you can't play that song. For sure. That's the
one big thing about this in drumming in general.
You can't teach feel, right? You can teach. technical
things you can teach those aspects of drumming
where you know here's all of your subdivisions
and here's odd time and here's this and that
and hand technique and whatever but if you have
no feeling behind what you're playing it will
translate just as poorly right like as somebody
that's got great feel but only knows how to keep
the two and four so when you have great feel
and great chops it's like whoa you could do literally
anything you can do anything and Jeff Porcaro
one of the best when it came to feel and this
halftime shuffle is like just enough behind the
beat to fit perfectly right like it's it's like
he's a little behind the beat like very very
slightly if you were to map it out he would be
just a little behind but it fits the song it
fits so perfectly and in order to hear that and
know that this is where the beat is supposed
to sit that's something in itself like the beats
are hard enough the beat is hard enough but being
able to play where that beat is supposed to go
is way harder. And this actually makes my last
track for side one easy coming out of this. Because
hearing Rosanna in my head, I just hear the perfect
song to close this side out. And I'm going to
go with a drummer whose name is in the band name
through all the different years of changes. But
I am going to go back to 1979. And I'm going
with the legendary Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood
Mac. And I'm going to go with the title track
of Tusk, bringing a drum solo into the mix here.
And I'm bringing in an iconic tribal beat that
somehow works with a full marching band and an
acoustic guitar and whatever drugs they did to
imagine Tusk. Being a song that would work and
making it work. The vocals are all dreamy over
this weird acoustic guitar that you got Lindsay
doing. And the harmonies are a little Alice in
Chains like hitting the half notes in the harmonies.
And it's creepy. But then all of a sudden this
happy marching band comes in and. I had no idea
what I'm listening to when I first heard that
as a kid. And here I am in my 40s and I have
no idea what I'm listening to. But I know it's
amazing. I know it's iconic. I know I love it.
And Lance Levine chimed in with this as well.
I got to give a shout out to him. Another great
podcaster. Love this song. And I think it's a
weird, fun way to close out this eclectic side
one. Fleetwood Mac, Tusk. I love it. Mick Fleetwood
is one of the greats because just as much as
anybody, he had feel and he had the know -how
for certain grooves. Like, you know, go your
own way, right? That's such a great groove as
well. Anything where you have to just support
the vocalists because the vocalists were really
the big part of Fleetwood Mac. And even still,
like, think about it. This band has come back
in modern. sex, right? Like that one video did
super well on TikTok of that guy skateboarding
down like a hill in California and the drums
still fit. They still hold up to this day. Modern
players are playing like Mick Fleetwood to help
support backing vocals or vocalists of whatever
genres nowadays. And it's all that simplistic
playing. The thing I love about Tusk is that
tribal essence to it. Really great groove. Really
great groove if you can get a lot of people together
to play that as well. There's a lot of moving
parts to it too. So I love Tusk. That's a great
choice. And with that, mixtapers, we conclude
side A of our greatest drum tracks mixtape, which
consists of Led Zeppelin's Black Dog, Aerosmith's
Walk This Way, Van Halen's Hot for Teacher, Jimi
Hendrix Experience's Fire, ACDC's Back in Black,
Iron Maiden's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Rush's
Tom Sawyer, Jethro Tull's Aqualung, Toto's Rosanna,
and Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. Remember, you can head
over to myweeklymixtape .com to hear all of the
songs we're discussing in this mix tonight through
the playlist embedded on the episode page. So,
John, before we flip things over and kick off
Side B, what's 2023 looking like over at the
Tantra Camp, and what does the band have in store
this year? Just really, really busy. We had some
time off. We had a hiatus for a little bit. I
don't know if you could call it a hiatus. It's
like four months or three months is a hiatus.
But we took a break because we were touring since
I joined the band in 2020. We've been touring
nonstop for like two and a half years. And it's
just been a blast and it's been crazy. And so
we've had off since November, since like right
before Thanksgiving. And now we're hitting it
again in March. March starts up a bunch of days.
We're going out with... smile, empty soul. And
then April starts up a tour with head PE edema
and crazy town. And so it's called like the new
metal madness tour. It's going to be really sick,
but we're going all over the country. That tour
starts in California, makes its way to Jersey
at one point goes back and, you know, we're.
We're just doing this giant loop. So it's just
going to be really busy, but I'm looking forward
to getting back out and playing. And then hopefully
on the horizon is a new record. I would love
to, you know, we've been talking about it and
throwing those ideas out, but hopefully it actually
happens. Awesome. And alongside of Tantric, you
also teach drumming as well. Why don't you tell
people a little bit about that and then how they
can get in touch with you if maybe they want
to learn more? Yeah, so I do teach a lot. I do
Skype lessons. for anybody that lives out of
state or too far away or just wants to stay home.
And so I do a lot of Skype lessons. I teach at
a place called All Star Music Empire in Flemington,
New Jersey. if you're in the area. And I do private
lessons as well. And you can find me at johnsdrumstudio
.com. And it's J -O -N -S, by the way. My parents
had to be weird not putting an H in there. But
johnsdrumstudio .com or johnsdrumstudio at gmail
.com if you want to hit me up with an email or
johnsdrumstudio on Instagram. You'll find me
there. I post a lot of nonsense. So, you know,
come in and have a laugh at my expense. I was
just going to say your Instagram and TikTok channels
are truly one of my favorites because as a fellow
musician, you're doing the musician humor and
you're hitting a lot of the tropes on the head
and having fun with them. And I get a kick out
of that. So definitely worth the follow. Yeah,
it's a lot of fun. I love. getting creative.
And I love comedy. I love laughing at, you know,
anything that I ever watch on TV is comedy based
or music based. And so when I can bring those
two ideas together and laugh at my own expense,
I'm always for it. All right. Now we are on to
side B and I get to kick things off and I'm going
to go with a song that actually includes four
drummers at once. Or if you're in a live setting,
let's say a 20 ,000 person arena, it's going
to be 20 ,004 drummers. And those first four
drummers are John Deacon, Roger Taylor, Brian
May, and Freddie Mercury. I'm going off of 1981's
News of the World, and I'm going with the easiest
beat in the world, but one of the most iconic,
Queen, We Will Rock You. There is nothing hard
about this song, and yet it is absolutely one
of the most, if not the most iconic drum beat
ever because everybody could do it. And that's
what I love about it. There's been covers of
this song. I know Warrant did a cover of it.
As great as the hard rock version that Queen
does is, this version is otherworldly in the
world of great drum tracks. And I couldn't picture
a drum track. playlist without it. So Queen,
we will rock you. That's a great choice. And
when you were saying it, I kind of got like goosebumps
because I'm like thinking about all the live
footage I've watched where they do start it up.
And I'm like, oh, yeah, that is sick. And I told
I struggled with putting this on my little list
of iconic ones only because. Like you said, this
is the drum song that everybody knows. And so
whenever I get like a six -year -old in on a
drum lesson or a five -year -old, somebody that
they can only do the most simple thing, I get
them doing We Will Rock You. Every kid knows
the song already. Any adult knows the song already.
So playing boom, boom, bop, boom, boom, bop on
the bass and the snare instead of stomping and
clapping is a great way to get a kid to learn
how to play a drum song. And you can go. hey,
you learned a song today and it was your first
drum lesson. Like, that's pretty sick. You know,
so I really struggled with putting this on there,
maybe because I've heard it so many times. Yeah,
I actually thought I was giving you overkill
here. I'm sorry about that. No, that's good.
No, you're good. I love it. And you know what?
After you said it, though, then it took me back
to that original idea of like, everybody can
do it. It's such a. communal, iconic drum beat
that it's like you could beat anybody and be
able to play this. You know, people have so much
trouble clapping on the two and four, but when
it comes to stomp, stomp, clap, everybody's on
beat. Everybody knows how to do it. So I just
love it. I think, yeah, as much as I didn't want
to pick it, I'm glad that you did because that's
a tough pick. Yeah, and there's only one place
to put it, and it's at the start of the side,
because I feel like now I'm giving you a pretty
clean slate, because if you think about the original,
it slides right into We Are the Champions, which
is a slower song, which obviously Queen is off
the table now, but you could go anywhere with
this song for the rest of Side B, so I'll be
curious to see what you do with it. Oh, geez.
Because I could totally bring one in from left
field. like just the weirdest idea or, oh man.
Okay. All right. This is tough. This is tough,
but I know what I'm going to go with because
it's iconic in a number of ways, but I also think
it's some of his best playing and you got to
love to hate this guy. Lars from Metallica, master
of puppets. Oh, okay. You went with master of
puppets. OK, let me explain to anybody that doesn't
know about Lars or doesn't know much about Metallica,
which it would be hard not to if you're listening
to this podcast. But Lars in his heyday in the
80s was like such a sick drummer. He's the best
drummer for Metallica. He will always be the
like. Who else could you get to play in Metallica?
and do just as good a job as he does. Is he the
most technically proficient drummer? No. Is he
playing anything else other than Metallica? No.
He's always just going to play songs that are
Metallica songs. And if he's not and he's playing
like a Justin Bieber song, you know he's playing
it like Lars from Metallica. It's just his thing,
right? He's got a vibe to how he plays. Half
of it's overplaying. Half of it's crashing on
the two and four. But Master of Puppets is, in
my opinion, one of the heights of his career.
And it's a song that everybody knows kind of
because of Stranger Things. All the younger kids
are all getting hip on, you know, Master of Puppets.
That makes me sound old when I say getting hip
on. But Master of Puppets, Master of Puppets
is a great song drum wise. It's fast. It's fun.
And the drum work in it is great. I think it's
like the heart of his playing is in Master of
Puppets. I'm so glad you picked that one because
it makes my life easier because I had two different
Metallica songs on my list for two different
reasons. And the first one was Metallica's One
from Injustice for All because that was the song
that really introduced me to Metallica. I knew
Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning from
my cousins. But when I first heard One, And I
saw the video on MTV. I'm like, hey, this is
my Metallica song now. Like I got to go to my
cousins and say, hey, I know this new Metallica
song. But the double kick at the end of one before
the band kicks in. Like to me, that was as driving
as the guitars. So it felt very musical to me.
But then I also had Enter Sandman on the list
from a recording aspect. I feel like the drums
at the opening of Enter Sandman are some of the
largest sounding studio drums I've ever heard
in my life. Bob Rock captured this sound where
it didn't sound like Tom's anymore. It actually
sounded like thunder. When that song starts,
they're so big and so heavy, they they surround
you and it's just an iconic drum sound. So I
definitely wanted to chime in on that one. I'm
just curious because you record drums, obviously
all the stuff you do for recording for yourself.
That is not an easy sound to master. No pun intended.
Yeah, exactly. That is I think that the. Black
album changed the landscape of drum sound and,
you know, lots of high attack where you hear
the crispness of each drum, but you also hear
the bottom end of each drum. Like the listen
to wherever. What's the track? Wherever I'm in
Rome. Yeah, it's listen to that track and that
snare in the beginning. Or sad, but true. You
know that. From a drum sound perspective, you
now started to feel the drums instead of them
being this like two -dimensional paper thin drum
sound. And from the 70s and 80s, there have been
really great drum sounds. But when you go into
this Metallica Black album, that took modern
drum sounds to what we hear today. I love them,
so I'm not going to hate on them. But Nickelback,
any Nickelback record is that. It's a black album
drum sound. And you could pick any band that
shined down. You could pick not so much anything
from the early 2000s because it started to get
more grungy again and less produced. But any
modern 2000s rock onward, 2010s, even to where
we're at now, is very much black album influenced.
I was actually hoping you would say Nickelback
because when I first heard San Quentin, their
latest single, I immediately turned to my wife
and said, they're going for the Black Album drum
sound. And she just turned back and she said,
that's nice, dear. I have no idea what you're
talking about. Aren't those one -sided conversations
fantastic? Yeah. But honestly, I'm glad you mentioned
Nickelback. I am not a hater either. I think
they're a great band. But now coming out of Metallica,
I have... Kind of a bunch of ways I could go.
I can go heavier, but I think I'm going to stay
heavy, but peel it back a little bit, but get
a little more technical than Lars. And I'm going
to go with something new or new ish. The definitely
the newest song we've talked about tonight. I'm
going to go back to 2019 and I'm going to go
with the album Fear Inoculum and the amazing
Danny Carey on Tools Numa, the second track on
the album. This song is one of my favorite Tool
songs ever. It's ridiculously long. It's ridiculously
heavy and slow and weird and trippy. But in the
chorus, Carrie just goes on these fills that
just blow my mind. And it is like the song is
slow, but he's doing these ridiculously fast
fills and they're clashing with each other. And
they're fighting with each other. And it adds
attention to an amazing song that does not feel
like it's a past 10 minute song. And it is. And
I absolutely love it. So following up Metallica,
I'm going to go with Tools, Numa. Love it. And
you know what? I'm not the biggest Tool fan,
but I think Carrie's drumming is fantastic. So
it's like when you hear songs that are Tool.
songs or tool -esque you know any prog rock drummer
or any modern prog rock drummer that you hear
is kind of pulling notes out of tools playbook
and carrie's drumming is very much over the top
very much rooted in thought and timing you know
like you gotta think about these things and sit
down and go okay well what do i want to do here
you don't just pull that off right you don't
just improv those songs. You have to really think
about them. And I think his drumming is totally
that. And I love where you went with it because
I would, I really want to work this song into
here, especially this drummer. I just don't know
which one, but I'm going to go for it. And I'm
going to say Avenged Sevenfold, Jimmy the Rev,
That Country. Ooh, okay. And I have so many.
Favorite Avenged Sevenfold songs. I wanted to
pick one that is, you know, showcasing his talent,
of course, and his drum fills, but also something
that's more along the lines of a hit because
people know it and it's iconic in that respect.
Lots of drummers cover this song. Millions of
drummers have covered this song. It's one of
the harder ones to do. It's very fast. Lots of
fast fills. But Jimmy the Rev was one of those
drummers that was so out there. If you don't
know Avenged Sevenfold and haven't listened to
their discography, especially the early years,
you're missing out because this guy was on another
level of drumming. There's other songs off this
record. This record in particular, City of Evil,
fantastic drumming throughout it. The Rev was
a huge loss. I mean, he was such a huge loss
that when he passed, the only person they could
turn to for the Nightmare album was Mike Portnoy.
And that tells you something when you have to
turn to the drummer for Dream Theater to try
to capture the spirit that the Rev brought to
the kit. So I absolutely love that pick. And
you know what? I think coming out of it, I'm
going to stick with Mike Portnoy now that I brought
him up. And I'm going to follow up Avenged Sevenfold.
And I'm going to go back to 1992's Image and
Words. And I'm going to go with Dream Theater's
Pull Me Under. Little bit slower, little bit
more of a hard rock track, but there's something
about the drums in this song. It's not the Mike
Portnoy. What the hell am I listening to? I can't
comprehend what he's doing because it's so amazing.
Drums. It is so amazing, though. Let me let me
stress, but it's definitely a more digestible
dream theater song, which is why they have a
greatest hits album called Greatest Hit. and
21 other pretty cool songs. It was definitely
the one where everybody, so I know I'm going
mainstream to the Dream Theater crowd, and I
know there's a lot of other songs I could pull
here, but I'm going to go with the more mainstream
one, Dream Theater's Pull Me Under. That's a
great choice. I love Mike Portnoy as a drummer.
Any of the stuff that he's ever really touched,
like you said, with Nightmare for Avenged. Or,
you know, even the winery dog stuff. It's kind
of like, you know, it's just a rock band with
you've got it's a super group, of course. Richie
Kotzen, Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy. That's
a trio that can't be stopped, you know, and they
are just a plus musicians. And so anything that
they write, even the most simple rock song is
going to sound sick. But Dream Theater, Pull
Me Under. I had a student once ask me, hey, can
we play Pull Me Under? I'm like. I don't know
if I can pull me under. So you might have to
ask Mike Portnoy because him and Mike Mangini,
you know, now the newer he hasn't been in. He's
been in for a while now. But Mike Mangini, they're
the only two that can pull that stuff off. Yeah.
And they're a dream theater is also a super group,
but they wouldn't have been the same band if
it wasn't for Mike Portnoy. That's for sure.
Right. Agreed. Hundred percent. So now I've given
you a little bit of a proggy area to kind of
pull off from there as we got the last half of
Side B here to go. Jeez. This is tough. I think
instead of going prog, what I really want to
do is keep it modern -ish. And the song's already
old. It's already history. But the band is still
very prominent, and the two drummers of this
band have to be in here in some respect. So I'm
going with, it's Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters, Everlong.
Awesome. Because if people don't know, this whole
album was recorded by another drummer, and the
Color and Shape album. It was recorded by another
drummer. So if you don't know, it wasn't Taylor
Hawkins on the kit for this song. because he
wasn't in the band yet. But they had another
drummer before Taylor. He didn't cut it. He recorded
this whole record, and then Dave Grohl went in
and said, never mind, I'm just going to do it
myself. So he went in and re -recorded the whole
thing, and that's who you hear on Everlong. Not
to put any shade towards Taylor Hawkins, because
he's got just as many iconic... off the Foo Fighters
discography. And, you know, what a loss to the
drumming community. I was just talking about
it to my girlfriend, Katie, last night. And she
similarly was like, oh, really? That must have
been a loss. But she doesn't understand. She
doesn't know where I'm coming from with this
because Taylor Hawkins took Dave Grohl's parts
and just made them like 10 times better. There
was this mutual... understanding in the Foo Fighters
where Dave Grohl said my favorite drummer of
all time is Taylor Hawkins and Taylor Hawkins
always said my favorite drummer of all time is
Dave Grohl they just loved the drums and these
parts and these songs wouldn't have been as iconic
without Dave recording it for the first time
of course but then Taylor doing it live and doing
it perfectly in his own way Everlong is one of
those drum tracks that every drummer tries to
learn how to do. And I think that you had to
have these two guys on that list in some shape
or form. I'm glad you brought it up. I had best
of you because I was thinking Taylor Hawkins.
But if you think about what Dave Grohl did. I
had Dave Grohl also in my list elsewhere with
Queens of the Stone Age. No one knows. But because
we mentioned him, I'm crossing all of those off
because it makes my list a little easier right
now. But I mean, come on. Two of the greatest
modern drummers. Taylor Hawkins' death was such
a big deal for me. Like, I was sick to my stomach
when it happened. I went on other podcasts for
the next two weeks just talking about and gushing
over this man's music. had the opportunity back
in 2007, the week before Echoes, Silence, Patience,
and Grace came out, I actually met both Dave
Grohl and Taylor Hawkins in an airport in Toronto.
I was there for work, sitting in the airport,
and I'm in my suit, finished a long conference,
I'm sitting next to my boss, and Dave Grohl walks
by me. So I turned to my boss and said, I'll
be right back, I need to go. Just talk to that
person for a second. And he goes, why? I said,
it's Dave Grohl. And he goes, oh, Nirvana. I
said, yep, whatever. He didn't know. Whatever.
That's fine. I walked over. I said, Dave, I just
want to let you know I'm a huge fan of the Foo
Fighters. I've been listening for years, ever
since Nirvana. I love the music that you do.
And I just wanted to let you know that if my
wife was here with me right now, she would be
leaving me. for you right now in person but thankfully
she's not with me and he goes oh thank i he goes
i'm thankful too because my wife would be upset
with that we had a quick laugh and i just said
look i just want to shake your hand and thank
you for the music and then taylor hawkins walks
up and i went oh my god i'm like taylor hawkins
dude and dave grohl elbows him in the side and
goes see man people know who you are and i'm
like of course i said I said, in 1995, I went
to see Alanis Morissette. And the one thing I
remember is watching you play drums. And I am
so happy that you're with this band. I said,
I am so happy that the new album's coming out.
I love The Pretender. I said, can I trouble you
to please sign a small autograph for my wife?
Because she'll never believe that I met both
of you. And they both said, oh my God, are you
kidding? And they signed an autograph. I gave
them each a handshake and like the bro hug. And
I said, let me let you guys go because I don't
want to bug you. And Dave Grohl said, man, thank
you so much. He goes, you're not like standing
here for like a half hour. He's like, I appreciate
you. Thank you so much for being a fan. And I,
you know, walked off and instantly the two of
them became gods in my mind. And when Taylor
Hawkins died, I just remember the friendship
that they had that I got to see firsthand in
that one interaction. So I'm so glad you brought
them up. I'm so glad. Obviously, it's such a
big loss. That's one of the coolest stories that
I've ever heard. I mean, I can't believe you
got to meet both of them. I didn't know that.
That's so awesome. And exactly what you said.
And I was literally talking about this to one
of my students just before we hopped on this
call. And he wanted to learn Everlong. And I
was like, oh, no way. I'm going on this podcast
tonight with my buddy Brian. And we're going
to be talking about this song. I was going to
bring it up, you know, definitely. And we were
talking about. Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins.
And we were both amongst the mindset of these
two guys love music. It wasn't about the fame.
It wasn't about the money. Like you can still
go to concerts and see Dave Grohl in the pit
with everybody else because they just love. music
and that comes across in their music right like
these songs the passion behind what they were
playing comes across even if you didn't like
like the newest foo fighters records or whatever
the passion was still there they weren't out
to make a bad record or just like ah whatever
you know i'm just we're just gonna throw this
together because the label needs a new album
it's like these two guys loved what they were
doing and still do. Dave Grohl still does the
thing even after such a loss because he knows
how much he loves music. It's so cool. So I'm
glad. Yeah, that's awesome that this is on the
list. Well, now I got to follow that up, though,
and that's tough. There's so many drummers we
haven't talked about tonight and there's only
four spots left. But I'm looking at this list
and we have Queen, Metallica, Tool, Avenged Sevenfold,
Dream Theater, Foo Fighters. I want to go back
to classic rock again because there's a few drummers
I feel like if we don't mention, people are going
to completely discredit me. But I want to stay
modern because I feel like on this side of music,
going back into classic rock might dip too much
away from the sound we're getting here. So I'm
going to stay modern with a modern drummer who
I think is, and I'm going to say a hot take here,
is the only reason. A band is as beloved as they
are. They're a fun band. I promise you, I love
their music and they're a fun band. However,
if there was another drummer playing with this
band, Blink -182 would not be selling concert
tickets at 200 and something dollars a piece
for a tour this summer. I understand it is having
Mark and Tom. and Travis together. But if it's
Mark and Tom and somebody else, it's not as good.
And they would not be Blink -182. And I am not
going to go with a hit. I'm going with a... It
was definitely a single for them, but it's the
song that would fit this mix the best. It's a...
kind of a darker, heavier song from the 2011
Neighborhoods album. So it's definitely, for
this mix, it's a completely deep cut off the
rails. But I'm going to go with Blink -182's
Up All Night. It is a masterclass in drumming
that elevates an otherwise meh song. I listen
to that song and I go, this is a rudimentary
Blink -182 song, but the stuff he's doing in
it. it makes it one of my favorite blink 182
songs he brings a c minus song to an a plus with
his drums yeah and i think elevating a song by
that much is reason enough to make this list
so i'm going with blink 182 up all night and
i know it's a weird one and i know people are
probably driving off the road yelling right now
but travis barker does belong on a greatest drummer's
list Punk or not, he is an he was at the tribute
shows for Taylor Hawkins and he did an amazing
job. He deserves to be there. He deserves to
be on this list. That is awesome. I love that
choice. And there had to be a Travis Barker song
on here. And you know what? I'll say this for
everybody that. is against our list so far which
hopefully that's not very many there are so many
drummers out there there are so many but this
is the hardest thing to choose we're not just
doing this to make the worst drummers playlist
ever this is like really hard and we have to
keep in mind the drum set has been around since
the 1910s 1920s and and the modern drum set even
later than that but the amount of drummers that
came out of that time from the 50s onward is
a lot of drummers. If we're in this modern thing,
I love it. Travis Barker, even everybody in Blink,
Tom and Mark, they say, this band would be terrible
without Travis, right? All those songs, they
set out the two hits, like First Date and All
the Small Things. Those songs are hits in a pop,
respect but the drumming makes it more palatable
to somebody that you know like you can't help
but get that song stuck in your head but the
drums make it like that much better you know
and so travis barker is very transcendent right
he's a pop icon you know married to a kardashian
now all of that i don't want you like this has
nothing to do with the tmz stuff this is all
about right this is just his skill his skill
right and he's so good at that there's no way
he's transcendent he's on every zildjian cymbal
box that you'll find in guitar center you know
he's just that good and Yeah, the band would
not be the same without him. The original guy
they had in the band, you know, the only song
they had was, I think it was Damn It was the
only one. And that's a hit, right? But how many
more hits came because of Travis? Exactly. Iconic.
Now, this actually makes it kind of easy -ish.
And again, we're kind of modern right now, and
I like that this side has been... Fairly, fairly
modern, right? I'm going to go with another one
who is probably the closest guy to Taylor Hawkins.
Very mutual respect drummer wise. I'm going to
go with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danny California.
Chad Smith is an iconic, iconic drummer. Him
and Taylor Hawkins were like best friends. You
can see after Taylor had passed away, the amount
of stuff that. Chad was posting about Taylor
Hawkins. There was just this mutual respect between
the two of them, which was so fantastic. But
Chad Smith is a funky drummer. He's an all around
drummer, though, too. He's on the whole. It's
actually Taylor Hawkins and Chad Smith on the
new Ozzy record. They're the two drummers on
it. So it's like the guy can play anything. But
the thing that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are
known for is their funky take on rock. And he's
a funk drummer that's just in a rock band. And
it's so cool. All of his grooves are great. But
when I'm thinking iconic drum groove, iconic
Chad Smith, that very beginning of Danny California,
everybody knows what's coming when you hear that.
Absolutely love that you brought Chad Smith in
this conversation. I sometimes go automatically
to the Chicken Foot, the group that he had with
Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani.
bringing that funky groove to this Van Halen
-esque type music, it really made a dynamic change
for what would be, because if you think about
the backdrop of Satriani, who's an Eddie Van
Halen -style player, with Michael Anthony and
Sammy Hagar, you're automatically going to think,
what would Alex Van Halen sound like in this
group? Chad Smith went in a completely different
direction, and it works. And it works well. So
I love the pick. And I also love that you kind
of gave me a palate cleanser to go off in another
direction. Because there's one more song I wanted
to include on this list. And it's the last song
I could do for the night. So there's not a lot
of drums for the first part of this song. But
when they kick in, people time their frigging
New Year's events to it. And I am going to go
with 1981's Face Value. And Phil Collins, because
when you think about drummers, he needs to be
in this conversation. But the iconic in the air
tonight. Obviously, there's the hangover reference.
I know everyone's going to think Mike Tyson.
But come on, when that drum hits, even after
the iconic Phil, listen to the drum percussion
that he put in this song. It is unbelievable.
It's tribal, it's rock, it's got a pop element,
and it's all happening at the same time. Think
about the drum stuff he did with Genesis. Think
about all the production work in drums that he
did in the 80s to kind of bring that 80s drum
sound. Phil Collins is a master of his craft.
He's an absolutely incredible player. And this
is his most iconic moment in music. So I thought
it would be a nice fit in this coming out of
the red hot chili peppers. I didn't feel like
it was a big stretch either. So Phil Collins
in the air tonight. I love that choice. I'm glad
you said it because the whole time I'm looking
at my list and I'm seeing in the air tonight
on there and I'm going. One of us has to say
it, but when really is the case. And I'm so happy
that you said it because. That song is transcendent.
It's still popular today. It will always be a
hit and nothing short of a great drum track.
This is everything. This is when a drummer can
create something that is just as catchy as a
melody, right? Or just as catchy as any hook.
These are drum hooks throughout this whole thing.
And when you hear that, you know, like that's
the song I could even play. you know a terrible
version on my chest of it and you know exactly
what it is yes it's just iconic you know and
so this is that song and i i love it and if you
haven't heard any of the early genesis stuff
you have to listen to that because he's a prog
drummer and he can drum don't let the pop bill
collins fool you because his drumming is fantastic
and you know again He's written songs for Disney
with Tarzan, all these hits, you know, and his
voice is iconic, but his drumming to a drummer
that's even more iconic than any of it. Amen.
And I do want to give a shout out, though, because
I'm a cover band geek. Nonpoint's cover of In
the Air Tonight was amazing as well because they
brought the tribal element right from the beginning
of the song and still was able to include that
iconic fill and then take it into the rock world.
So they kind of reinvented the song and also
deserves a nod in this drumming episode because
their version was really creative and really
amazing as well. Now, I do want to say, John,
we're down to our last song. I'm going to just
throw out three names right now that I know we're
going to catch flack for, not including one of
the three. And you might go with a fourth. But
just off the top of my head, we have not talked
about Keith Moon. We have not talked about Bill
Ward. And we have not talked about Ringo Starr.
So no matter what song you pick, we're upsetting
somebody tonight. And I still have 10 other songs
on my list of drummers we haven't touched on.
This is easily. We could easily do a volume two
for this episode and still have an endless amount
of songs. But you have the hardest part of the
night now. Choosing the night closing track.
That is so tough. And everything that you said
is totally correct. Those three, I'm looking
at the list of just, I have no words other than
I have to pick something. And if we can do a
volume two, I will at least be able to sleep
tonight. So I'm going to go with Ringo Starr.
The Beatles come together. That is what I'm going
with because it's the drum track of the Beatles.
And Ringo had a lot of iconic stuff in the early
years to, you know, drive my car and whatever.
All iconic drum beats that the Beatles even even
songs like something you can't help but mention
that one to where it's just kick snare. Kick,
snare, nothing else, nothing else. That's all
the song needed, right? But Come Together is
the song that you hear. And if you, again, if
you played that beat for anybody without the
rest of the track behind it, everybody would
know what it is. Come Together is such a perfect
drum hook, right? Exactly what we were talking
about with In The Air Tonight. Come Together
is a hook. You hear it and it gets stuck in your
head. It's triplets. It's just a perfect, perfect
drum group. And a perfect song to close the night
out because I'll throw it back to something earlier
in the night. And again, with my cover songs.
But Ringo was the perfect pocket drummer. And
I'll explain why. Another drummer we talked about
tonight, Joey Kramer and Aerosmith. Aerosmith
covered Come Together. And as great as Aerosmith's
version is, the drums is... Joey Kramer made
the list tonight. So, I mean, we picked 20 drummers
and he's on the list. And I think it doesn't
hold a candle to Ringo's because Ringo's just
has this feel and Joey Kramer has a feel, but
he didn't capture the level that Ringo did in
the Beatles original version. Once again, I'll
throw out a remix, the remix that they did for
the Beatles, the latest 50th anniversary remix
where they did the stereo drum tracks. you really
hear those fills and they're prominent and they
brought them up in the mix a little bit more
than they probably should have. But when you
feel it on these new mixes, it even gives the
modern music person who's not a classic rock
guy the understanding of who Ringo Starr was
as a drummer. And perfect, perfect closer, man.
I love it. You can't talk about this list without...
adding Ringo. And there are tons of Ringo haters
out there. And it doesn't make sense because
he maybe wasn't the most technically proficient.
He knows that. He told his son to go take lessons
from Keith Moon because he couldn't teach him.
Right. And so technically proficient. No. Knowing
how to play for the song. I feel like almost
every song on this list. is knowing how to play
for the song. And that's what makes an iconic
drum beat. Not just how many chops can you chop
out in five minutes, right? It's how I can play
to support this song while also creating things
that are very catchy, very melodic on the drums.
So yeah, you can't do a list like this and not
talk about Ringo. Well, there we have it, folks.
That concludes side B of our greatest drum tracks
mixtape, which consists of Queen, We Will Rock
You, Metallica, Master of Puppets, Tools, Pneuma,
Avenged Sevenfolds, Backcountry, Dream Theaters,
Pull Me Under, Foo Fighters, Everlong, Blink
-182's Up All Night, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danny
California, Phil Collins, In The Air Tonight,
and The Beatles. come together. Remember, you
can head over to myweeklymixtape .com to hear
all the songs we discussed in this mix. through
the playlist embedded on the episode page. John,
once again, why don't you let people know how
they can get in touch with you if they want to
learn more, maybe take some lessons or just reach
out to you to yell at you about some of the drummers
we didn't include. Because yes, I do get it sometimes
after the episode and it's all in good fun because
we're just having conversations here and there
are no right and wrong answers. But I'm looking
at this tape going, this is one. Bad ass mix
we made tonight, man. For sure. For sure. Looking
at it, too. And I'm like, I would listen to this.
Or if I had a new student, I would go, you got
to listen to this. These are the best drummers.
And there are so many more that we could talk
about. And these aren't in any order or anything
like that of hierarchy. These are just drummers
that got it right for the song in that moment
in time, which is so cool. And it's. transcendent
all these songs are very transcendent through
the years so that is it's it's just a great list
i love it but yeah if you want to find me john's
drum studio .com or john's drum studio that's
on instagram or you can find me on facebook john
laurie j -o -n -l -o -r -e -e and then look for
tantric dates or whatever else i'm doing you
will find me there Well, man, it is always an
absolute blast talking music with you. I really
hope we could do a volume two at some point because
we have a long ways to go with this list. But
thank you so much for joining me on my weekly
mixtape, man. Thanks, Brian. I appreciate it.
Remember, you can find My Weekly Mixtape on Facebook,
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You can also head to myweeklymixtape .com to
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.com forward slash myweeklymixtape. That's all
for this week. Thanks for listening. Until next
time, enjoy the tunes.