“ i followed my heart. I was willing to turn down a paycheck, a job, move back to Stockbridge.”
play, Kenny?” I’ m 30 feet from the drums,“ I don’ t know.” Twenty feet.“ Dude, you’ re gonna lose your job. What are you gonna play?” Ten feet.“ I don’ t know.” I get to the drums, I sit down, I look at them, and I’ m freaking out. Then the light goes off in my head.“ I’ ll just take what you’ ve already been doing and rearrange it.” I came up with a drum solo, and that song made it on the record. Touchdown! They released the album six months later. The first single goes to number two on the top 100 charts. The song that kept it out of the number one slot was“ Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky. Then they released this song with my drum solo, and it goes to number one. Now we got two songs on Top 10.“ Jack and Diane” became this huge hit.“ Hurts So Good” was number two. That album, American Fool, sold millions of copies. John Cougar got two Grammys ®. That completely blew up John’ s career and launched my career.
ANASTASIA: It takes perseverance, time, and believing in yourself, right? KENNY: And you got to feel it. When I saw The Beatles, that spark ignited and has not stopped. I’ m now going out with Sammy Hagar and The Best of All Worlds Band. We’ re going to do two residencies this year in Vegas. I’ m basically in Van Halen. I love it. We’ re also doing two weeks in June across America, then four big shows in the UK— London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds— where rock and roll started, with Joan Jett in arenas, and then more residencies. Then I’ m going down in a private jet and a bus with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai in the same band called the SatchVai Band for nine weeks straight, April and May. I just played with Billy Gibbons at The Troubadour for three nights. I’ m the guy who wakes up every morning and can’ t wait to do what I’ m going to do.
ANASTASIA: And it all began in the Berkshires, where you were classically trained first. KENNY: When I was in The Alley Cats at age ten, we were all self-taught. A buddy of mine, Tommy Gibson, was getting better. And I said,“ What are you doing?” He said he was studying with Arthur Press from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. So I started studying with Arthur Press, and he is the one that pivoted me into going to college. There was no hand-holding or trophies given out. There was no coddling. These BSO guys were tough. They came from families with no money, and they busted their asses, practicing eight hours a day. And so they instilled this in me. I realized the value of what they were giving me. When I went to Aspen, I saw George Gaber from Indiana University. He was so deep and rich with so much information, both as a percussionist and as a philosopher, I said,“ I’ m going with him.” So yes, the environment of the Berkshires was a big impact.
ANASTASIA: Did you meet any other notable people here when you were growing up? KENNY: I used to go over to Norman Rockwell’ s house. I stole cigarettes from his pewter dishes to give them my friend’ s older brother so he would like me. I was maybe in third grade. Rockwell used to come to our house, too. He’ d ride his bike with his wife-to-be or maybe his wife at that point, Molly Punderson. We lived on Yale Hill Road. If I walked an eighth of a mile, I was at the home of Norman Mailer. I used to hang out over his house all the time. My brother, Jonathan, and my sister, Nina, we were always going to rock concerts at Tanglewood and Music Inn. My dad was a businessman. He worked at a paper mill in Lee. My mom was a school teacher. But then they would do acting. They were in plays in Stockbridge, right on Main Street, at the Riggs Theatre. My mom was in Who’ s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? My dad would have men’ s groups come to the house, where they would discuss things or have poetry readings.
The day I graduated Monument Mountain High School, I started practicing eight hours a day because I was going to college and I felt I was behind, and I wanted to be the greatest percussionist and drummer possible. I would practice two hours a day in the dining room on a set of vibes, doing scales and reading technique; two hours on timpani in the living room, tuning, technique, playing music, reading; two hours on a snare drum in my bedroom, rudiments. And then two hours on my favorite instrument in the barn, the drum set. My brother and sister, all they heard was banging all the time, and so they just left the house. Not my mom; she loved it. I would play at the Red Lion Inn at night with a jazz group with John Sauer. There was this community and support. In high school, I was on three varsity sports: soccer, skiing, lacrosse. My brother and I were into sports, and then we would come home, do homework, and then we’ d have rock-and-roll band practice in the barn, and all our friends would come over. That was normal for us.
ANASTASIA: And then you were a Tanglewood Music Center fellow? KENNY: Yes. It was as good as a symphony orchestra anywhere, and I got to play on the big stage. There were seven percussionists at the time, six of them came from New England Conservatory, and me. Our teacher was