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Re[2]: Drummers



On Wed, 3 Jan 1996, MISS AMIRA E BOCTOR wrote:
          
> I think John Sutter is right.  There isn't another human being in 
> this world who can drum like Keith Moon, so the only way to continue 
> the band would have been to hire two to replace him.  BTW, that would 
> have made a great blurb, John, if you'd sent in for that Entwistle 
> book.
          
It would?
          
Anyway, I'm sick of this replace Keith Moon stuff.  Musicians are not 
sportsmen, you can't trade Daltrey for Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke, and a 
session drummer to be named later, and then pull Mark Brzezicki out from 
AAA and go on with three drummers (if you count the DTBNL).
          
          Gang,
          
          I think Lev has made some very good points about having 
          multiple drummers replace Keith Moon.  I have felt that 
          having multiple drummers is not necessarily a good idea. You 
          can get the drummers dragging the band into a drum-based 
          groove (which is not what the Who were ever about) and you 
          make it more difficult to be spontaneous onstage.  In rock 
          music, more players onstage make it more difficult to go off 
          on to tangents, which the Who did do rather frequently.  
          
          One time multiple drummers did work was when Yes did their 
          8-man reunion tour several years ago. Alan White became the 
          main timekeeper on his Ludwigs and Bill Bruford played 
          additional percussion and electronic drums. They did a super 
          two-man solo intro to CHANGES.  The reason it worked is 
          because Alan is a solid timekeeper who has musical training 
          beyond rock (Kenney Jones was basically a rock and roll 
          timekeeper).  And Bruford easily adopted Jody Linscott's 
          role, if you will.  
          
          It's easy for Daltrey to say that the Who needed 3 drummers 
          to replace Moon, but Roger's approach to drumming is too 
          simplistic.  I do not consider Daltrey a credible source 
          when it comes to drumming.  
          
          Lev is also right when he says that the Who became a new 
          band (a phrase used by Townshend all the time in '79).  
          
          --Jim