with the two of us we really play well together. were still in their plastic sleeves. I asked Bruce harder than your snare drum… your snare
It wasn’t like a fight in any sense. There would about them and he said he’d just traded for drum shouldn’t be out of context with your hi-
be some songs where he’d count in and start it them and they’d never been used. I still have hat and your kick.
because I had total faith in him doing that. them today and that was probably twenty-two or twenty-three years ago. So those are my When you’re playing as a drummer you should
main cymbals for recording, they just sound like be kind of thinking about it as a mix, what you
a classic rock kit. So that’s my kit. I love a Black send that sound guy. Even if there isn’t a sound
[Peter] When we did the “Go” record, the Beauty snare, that’s one of my favorite snares, guy, it’s what you’re sending the congregation
Newsboys record, Phil Madeira had sold Ted but this one off this Ludwig, I don’t know what and it’s got to be in balance. Think about the
T a ’62 Ludwig drum kit. So Ted bought it off it is but it’s a great snare (5” X 14”). balance of what you’re playing, especially as
[WM] What kind of kit do you have now?
of Phil, and for those who don’t know Phil he’s
the drummer. The bass player, maybe with his
an amazing musician all around, but at the [WM] So you started out drumming in church, technique you get the right feel. You can get a
time he was an avid drum collector. He still and then all the way up until now… what advice really great bass player who you give any bass
is I believe today. So he had these beautiful do you have for worship musician drummers, in the world and it’s going to sound great. You
drums and he’d refurbished them, maybe put guys who are playing on their worship teams? can get a really good guitar player who can pick
some different rims and hardware on them just
up the junkiest, worst guitar, but he just knows
to strengthen them a little for studio use, or [Peter] Two things. One is that, any musician, how to use finger control. Drums are the same,
touring. So we used that kit on the “Go” record, any singer, you’ve got to play to serve the song, it’s not about how good your drum kit is, it’s
and I just loved it, it still sounds great when the song should never serve you. It’s not about what you push into it.
you hear it today, just a killer sounding kit. So what you can do.
Ted was gracious enough to sell me that drum
In my solo career, I’ve played a lot of churches
kit. About halfway through the record I was And dynamics are so important on the drums. where I’ve used the church band, and man…
like, “Ted, I really need this drum kit”. (Laughs) You might be able to out play that song, but give me a great drummer and a terrible rest of
And he was great about it. I’ve kept that and that’s where you’ve stepped over the line. It’s the band, and I’ll be happy.
it’s been the main drum kit on everything I’ve really a self-absorbed thing, if you take it too far, done since. especially in church with cymbals. [WM] What are you using for cymbals? I think the second thing is to mix yourself. When all falls apart. If the drummer is just playing for
you’re playing to mix yourself, and what I mean himself… then it’s going to be a lonely night.
But with the wrong drummer, even with a killer
keyboard player and killer background singer it
[Peter] There was a guy named Bruce Barr
by that is your cymbals shouldn’t be belting
and he had a music store, on of those dream
music stores in Chattanooga Tennessee, it
was called Sound Barrier. Bruce passed away
tragically maybe ten years ago now, but I would
go to that store all the time. I bought guitar
pedals off of him that were featured on Guitar
Player Magazine. Besides that it was vintage,
he had an amazing collection of vintage pedals
like nothing I’ve seen today in the world. He
was a guitar store and there would always be
something quirky or some wacky stuff, but
generally it was guitar pedals, a few guitars,
but mainly pedals. I met him at the Nashville
guitar show, and I was always there looking for
gear if I was producing records, just something
inspiring. One day I went in and there was this
1970 set of Zildjian cymbals, I think it was a
fourteen-inch hi-hat, and maybe an eighteen
and a twenty crash, and then the ride, and they
January 2019
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