Has anyone dug back to see who really influenced your playing style (not just some current popoular drummer - but perhaps who influenced them)? It can be an interesting and rewarding process.
Please allow me to relay something I discovered about an influence on me, that I did not even know was an influence: Like many musicians I was influenced by drummers in the current "pop" bands as I "grew up" - since those were the songs I practised to on the radio and were eventually the bands/songs in bands that I joined
Since I reached my teens in the early 60's I was originally very influenced by the 60's R&B drummers Clyde Stubblefield & Jabo Starks (James Brown), Benny Benjamin (Motown) and a little later, Greg Errico (Sly & Family Stone). In the 60's rock hit I was very much influnced by Don Brewer (Grand Funk), Charlie Ward (Black Sabbeth) and Keith Moon (Who) - but I never really stopped having solid R&B roots. A little later Danny Seraphine (Chicago) and Bobby Columby (Blood, Sweat & Tears) merged R&B with rock and that was exactly what I needed based on my earlier influnces.
However, as I started to read Modern Drummer magazine (somewhere in the early 80's) I saw many drummers - including people who influenced me, discussed New Orleans "second line" drumming, etc. (I'd never heard of second line drummer to that point) and one name that came up often was Zigaboo Modeliste (Meters). I had never heard a Meters recording and to the best of my knowledge I had never heard Modeliste play. I had mentioned to my wife that someday I would like to buy some Meter's recordings - but never got around to it.
I few years ago, my wife tracked down a CD of early Meters and put it in the car CD player while we were on a road trip. The drummer sounded exactly like me (or at least like my funk playing in the 60's/70's - which still influences my drumming to this day). I actually thought she had tracked down a recording of a some band I may have been in (but I did not recognize the songs).
Long story short - Zigaboo had clearly influenced many of the people who influenced me and by learning the styles of those people and using that to create my own "style" - I actually ended up sounding like the original influence - without even knowing it.
Please allow me to relay something I discovered about an influence on me, that I did not even know was an influence: Like many musicians I was influenced by drummers in the current "pop" bands as I "grew up" - since those were the songs I practised to on the radio and were eventually the bands/songs in bands that I joined
Since I reached my teens in the early 60's I was originally very influenced by the 60's R&B drummers Clyde Stubblefield & Jabo Starks (James Brown), Benny Benjamin (Motown) and a little later, Greg Errico (Sly & Family Stone). In the 60's rock hit I was very much influnced by Don Brewer (Grand Funk), Charlie Ward (Black Sabbeth) and Keith Moon (Who) - but I never really stopped having solid R&B roots. A little later Danny Seraphine (Chicago) and Bobby Columby (Blood, Sweat & Tears) merged R&B with rock and that was exactly what I needed based on my earlier influnces.
However, as I started to read Modern Drummer magazine (somewhere in the early 80's) I saw many drummers - including people who influenced me, discussed New Orleans "second line" drumming, etc. (I'd never heard of second line drummer to that point) and one name that came up often was Zigaboo Modeliste (Meters). I had never heard a Meters recording and to the best of my knowledge I had never heard Modeliste play. I had mentioned to my wife that someday I would like to buy some Meter's recordings - but never got around to it.
I few years ago, my wife tracked down a CD of early Meters and put it in the car CD player while we were on a road trip. The drummer sounded exactly like me (or at least like my funk playing in the 60's/70's - which still influences my drumming to this day). I actually thought she had tracked down a recording of a some band I may have been in (but I did not recognize the songs).
Long story short - Zigaboo had clearly influenced many of the people who influenced me and by learning the styles of those people and using that to create my own "style" - I actually ended up sounding like the original influence - without even knowing it.
