The Player's Lounge / DRUM TALK / Ask the Pros / ATP Archive - Peter Erskine

WOW! Thanks SO MUCH!!!

O-Lugs — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 02:45:51 GMT

Wow! I just got back from my gig (which was really b-a-d...as in "not good") tonight....lots of reasons why, though...so I won't go there.

But...WOW! Peter Erskine was HERE answering our questions!! That is so frickin' cool! I thought he answered everything very tastefully. There was a bit of fluff about DW and Evans...but that was to be expected, I guess. :hehe:

I wish we could have had more questions, but he is just one guy and would have had to type fast -like Mike Mangini (har-har-har!) in order to answer them all.

Thanks, Matt and everyone who helped ask my questions for me. I just can't get over it! Peter Erskine! WOW! I mean...that's a BIG deal, man! Kudos to whomever/HOWever this got put together!

This was a good learning experience for how do do this type of thing better in the future, I think. This undoubtedly was one of the coolest things that I have ever experienced on a drum discussion forum...besides voluntarily resigning my membership at Drunksmith before they could ban me (and never looking back!)...or being voted out of "jail" at GhostBusterNote only to be banned, anyway! -BETTER than those things! HA! Good times!

This was fun!

*bass player is still wondering about that unsightly neck-hair, though! BWAAAHA! ;)

P.S. If this whole thing turns out to be Clocky impersonating Peter Erskine, then I'm going to stab myself in the eye! HA!:hehe:;):w00t::hehe::hehe:

SIGNING OFF

Peter Erskine — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:21:26 GMT

Thanks everyone for your interest, questions, patience (as Matt @ Evans put it, I was "the guinea pig") ... this was fun.

Let's do it again. I also hope you'll visit me at my website, petererskine.com ... some nice photos there, itinerary information, my latest books and albums, and some cool links ...

You all take care.
Peace out.
PE
:cool:

Peter has left the Building...

Administrator — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:22:55 GMT

OK... we have some kinks to work out. There were some technical difficulties for sure. That said, I can't thank Peter enough for spending over an hour online here and fielding the questions. He provided some cool insight from a true master.

Next time we need to get the almost 250 looking on to jump in!

I'd like your feedback, suggestions, etc. Thanks!

Matt

Biggest Influence & Best Advice

Administrator — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:51:41 GMT

Which musicians had the biggest influence on you? What was the best advice you ever got from another musician?

Peter Erskine at DrumTalk!

Administrator — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:32:03 GMT

Welcome all!

Peter will be logging in shortly (right around 9PM EST), and will try to get to as many of your questions as possible in a hour's time or so.

We have set this forum as a moderated one, meaning the threads need to be approved prior to posting. The concern is not with the content, but in the event that we have large group and do not want to flood the board or overload Peter. We'll release threads as quickly as possible and may remove this feature should it not be necessary.

This is the first time we've ever done this at DrumTalk, so we'll all figure it out together! Please be patient...

Thanks guys! I'm really happy that Peter took time out to do this, and hope you all enjoy sharing cyberspace with one of the greatest drummers of our time.

The forum is now open, so feel free to start your threads with questions!

Matt

Hi, again!

O-Lugs — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:31:23 GMT

I found my questions in the other section "Forum Announcements". I will post the first one now, but I have to get ready to go to my gig...I''' INSIST we play "Lady In THe Lake" tonight in honor of our guest! HA!

Preface to question #1....I suppose we can all read somewhere about how you switched to DW and what kind of drumheads and sticks and all that stuff...but...since there are already other interviews and sources that answer those types of questions, let's take this time to really get into some real world musical/drumming shyte, shall we? That would be my vote, anyway. No offense intended, but I can read Modern Drummer as well as the next guy. DW drums are "good". Okay. Whatever. Believe me, the cats on the drum forum world already know all about every technical aspect of how drums are made and bearing edges and ALL that. Let's forget about all the hype and industry shlock for this thing. Pleease?

#1. It is well-known that Gene Krupa liked to smoke weed. Its common knowledge that John Bonham drank a lot of booze. Im sure there are many similar stories throughout the music business over the years. It would seem that some of the most memorable music was made by musicians who were under the influence of some kind of chemical. Jaco Pastorius, a musician you worked with, was a phenomenal player and a well-known alcoholic around certain areas of South Florida. Generally speaking, the message we send out is that nothing good can come of drug use, but there are so many contrary examples of this all the heroin of the 50s and 60s and the great jazz players who were also junkies.the 70s, Hendrix and LSDThe Beatles and LSDall the coke that was around in the 80s and 90sDo you see any kind of correlation between the drugs of a given era and the musical style of that era? Were you ever around Jaco when he was out of control? What was that like?

PLEASE, MATT! Would you (or someone here) be so kind as to pass on my other Q's from the Forum Announcements section? Thanks!

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks, Peter for all the great drumming and music! I LOVE your playing! You are a hero! Take care!

Please email me at olugs@lycos.com to remenisce about 1983's Steps Ahead gig!!! HA! :hehe:

Question #3(?)

Krispy Kirk — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:23:14 GMT

OK Peter, I'm a rock guy (check out the avatar!) and am kinda clueless about much jazz/fusion but I know enough about your career to know that you've played with many phenomenal musicians. As drummers, the people on stage we connect with the most tend to be the guys (or maybe gals) with four strings on their big guitars. The ones who help us lay it down...

So tell us, with which bass player did you find it easiest to "lock in"?

personality vrs tallent

ayottedan — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:34:26 GMT

I'm a weekend drummer. At the local level I think personality is more important than tallent. I get more gigs than I need by being reliable, and nice to the other musicians without drama. I know many better drummers stay home on weekends because of the opposite.

At the big-time level where you are, is this the same, or is tallent weigh much more.

I just snook off from band practice to write this question, so I will have to read your answer a little later..Thanks in advance.

European Trio?

Administrator — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:21:27 GMT

What happened with the European trio (John T. and Palle D.)? Is it true that Manfred Eicher cut that band because he said that you "grooved too much" or something to that effect? Will you be doing more work with the trio in the future? I loved the sound of that trio especially recorded by ECM. What kind of studio set-up did you have when you recorded on ECM? What do you think "it" is that defines that ECM sound? Is it the room?-the reverb? Im dying to know more about how to try and get closer to that kind of ambient "thing" they always get. How were the mics placed? What kinds of mics were being used on the piano and bass and drums

Think we're good now...

Administrator — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:18:39 GMT

I pulled the plug on the approval process. Please post away!