Coming to you from crash studios in Music City, USA, Nashville.
This is the rich Redman show.
What's up, folks? Yep, it's time it's time for another exciting
episode of the rich Redman show where we talk about all things
music, motivation, success. These are the things that we
love it, they drive us, they inspire us. It's why we get out
of bed in the morning, and I get to talk to a drum hero. I'm
talking to childhood drum hero. This is such a special day,
hailing originally from Vancouver, Canada. And since
1979, has been a founding member of an award winning we're
talking selling platinum records. Our friend, Matt
Burnett, what's up, man? How are you, man?
Hey, man. I'm good. Matching
of Loverboy with us right now, man, where are you right now,
buddy?
I'm in Raleigh, North Carolina.
You learned how to pronounce Raleigh recant, say rally?
Not rally.
Yeah, man. So I we were just talking off camera. And we were
smart enough not to waste some of this good juice that happens
when we're just getting to know each other. But I saw you at the
El Paso Coliseum. The year was 1985. And it was a headlining
tour and the Hooters were opening up for you. And of
course, we've had our Meet I had my our mutual friend David was
sick. And then of the Hooters on the show. I think they're
celebrating 40 plus years as a band together. And I think it's
a similar story for you guys in Loverboy. Do you remember that
show?
I really do. And I remember that tour really vividly. And I had
this vintage drum collector out in Connecticut. And I laid a
drum on David at the end of the tour. One of my old it was like
an old Slayer land or something from way back, like the 50s or
late 40s. It was just a gift. You know, because we all really
bonded really well. And we did amazing business. And yeah, that
would have been a loving every minute of it tour.
It could have been in 84. But maybe it was 85 You're saying
85?
Seems like you're saying 85
I think I think it probably was I feel like I was a sophomore in
in high school. And I was really into both the bands and then and
it's a memorable show because I think you put your right foot
through the bass drum head.
Oh, my God,
and your tech came out that night was trying to make things.
Yeah, and
you would have only noticed that So probably what happened is the
felt beater came off the top of the whatever, whatever pedals I
was using at the time and it was it was it double bass, just
single bass on the big maple kit.
I think you just had that single kit, man. Yeah.
So I might have been playing a hard to say back when it was a
double kick. It was two Ludwigs and then the the felt beater
that a little nut on the top would come off. And then you
know the shaft would go right through the head and slice it
like a knife. Yeah, you'd have to like rather than tear it
stopping and everything we'd have to stop for like a small
break. And Reno would tell some jokes and stuff. And then we'd
have to put like a gaffer tape patch on Yeah,
that's what I that's what I would always say. Tell them a
joke. alDin like back in the day, you know, 20 years ago. I
mean, and we're using the flam slams and stuff on the kick
because you know, I bury the beater I think you would
probably I assume you would bury the beater or do you pull off
the head? Yeah, yeah, you pull off.
I play on my on my pads and my my feet. I don't play heel down.
So yeah, so heel up, boom, going through that going. And so
you're just playing with fire and as a boy scout in a slightly
not like Howie Mandel level but a slightly OCD person I have
that immediately sent myself. Oh my god, this is going to happen
to you at some point, you got to be ready, you got to have an
extra head. You got to have gaff tape, you got to have, you know
what I mean? And that makes us like a boy scout. In the sense
that even if we have a drum tech, we got to have that second
snare drum or we got to have, right yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And what we used to do is my drum tech back in those days,
we had a like a cut like a Mylar, like just either a square
or a circle from a snare head or whatever. single ply double ply
and that would go over the over the break and then gaffer tape
that and that will last the whole show. Hopefully pretty
much the rest of the set. Yeah, yeah.
So have you had had a one drum tech your entire career or it's
been multiple texts. Yeah. I started out when we started out
warming up, we toured Canada and 80 Because the first album came
out in 1980. Yeah, we recorded early part of the year like
February. And then we started touring and our first tour as
support was cheap trick in in Western Canada, back in 80. But
and then Turn Me Loose hit really big on the FM waves,
especially back east, like Montreal, everybody in New York.
And and was hearing it and, you know, Toronto was playing it on
Montreal was ShowMe FM, CH o FM. And people were calling their
local radio stations across the in Northern New York State and
calling their record radio stations and the program
director was going while we don't have this Loverboy you
know, and they're going, Oh, you gotta play termI loose. It's
this cool song. So that's kind of how we broke into the states.
Yeah. And so, the program directors in Detroit that we're
hearing from Toronto, and Missoula, Montana, south of
Calgary and Minneapolis, south of Winnipeg, and northern
Washington, like Bellingham, and stuff like that. We're hearing
it from Vancouver. You know, just all the Canadian because
all the main Canadian cities are along the border. Del Rey track
that they developed Canada on from east to west. Yeah. So. So,
the program directors called CBS Records did did their homework,
and CBS in New York called management, Bruce Allen in
Vancouver. And so, so that all of a sudden, we were like, going
to America going to New York at this build tower in in
Manhattan. You know,
it was like, the big city. Yeah, a
city like way bigger more people in New York City than all of
Canada, you know, at the time,
which is crazy, which is crazy. I you know what, I have never
had a bad time in Canada. That it there's the stereotypes for a
reason, because it's the truth. I have never had a bad time with
a Canadian person. Always. Hey, you want watch the moose? That
let's get it get me into Labatt. I mean, it's great. I mean, it's
in there always so friendly. Yeah. And and it's something
tells me you're you're, you're stereotypical because you got a
big smile on your face and all that. But this is a real thrill
to sit with you because you're such a musical player and great
drum parts, a lot of passion, a lot of fire. And just the right
part at the right time. Great showman. And of course, I'm a
child of MTV, and you guys were fortunate at the time. JJ
Jackson, Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn, of Alan Hunter, bringing
music 24/7 into into the living rooms. And I think we're a lot
of people were probably like, this will never work. Right? It
got really fast. And in 81 that MTV hit American television in
August of 81. Yeah, so we started in 81 supporting cans
Kansas, then ZZ on Mad mechanic tour for the summer, and then
journey after ZZ. And somewhere in there we went and demo tracks
for the Get Lucky album. At mushroom studios in Vancouver.
Yeah. And you know, just like 16 trap and a different studio, not
at little mountain with Bob Rock and all that stuff. So. And
anyway. So you asked me about drum tech. So I had a deal.
Yeah. In Canada. I'm just looping back because I just, you
know, you got a little I have add to my framing. And so then I
got I have that same tech at the beginning of 81. And then I met
Steve Smith and all the journey guys. Is drum tech was Lauren
Wheaton. That's right. from Toronto.
Yeah, we're Facebook friends.
And so he joined with me in 82 when the jet started taking off
really fast, right. And the Get Lucky album came out working for
the weekend hit and really fast. And so we started headlining in
America and Canada. I mean, 82. And we went to Japan in the fall
for just under a month in 82.
Wow. You know, so this this when I think about it, like, the
first six years of the 80s, were insane for you guys album after
album. Oh, seems like it was 80, maybe 81 or 82. It's like there
was like an album a year a cycle, and for the band had been
formed in 79. So you're, you're kicking around, you quickly get
a record deal. Then you're opening up for folks for maybe a
year and a half, maybe two years. MTV helps things along,
then you're headlining. So you're a band for about three
years. And then you're headlining arenas that
you have a lot of time to write materials. That's, I'm sorry to
cut you off. Oh, yeah. No. And that was the tough thing is the
guys are writing, the main writers are trying to write on
the road. And in hotel rooms, on on our on buses going down the
road. So management put us into into a jet in AD two, just so we
would have a little more time and less time on the bus. Oh,
yeah. But they were like, PS, you owe us all this money back
for renting the jets and all the fuel and that wine that you've
been sipping on? Oh, you owe us for that? I don't know. But
maybe there's a story there. You
know, not one I'm going to tell on the podcast that
we can gather. But that happens fast. I mean, that is amazing.
And then it's got to be an amazing feeling to say to
yourself, Wow, I achieved my childhood dreams. Before my 20s
were over, I was a rock star. And I get to travel the highways
and byways of the world with some of my best friends. And we
impact pop culture for all time. So that's got to be an amazing
feeling.
You hit the nail on the head Rich Dad. Yeah, we were all
really close friends. And, you know, we still have four out of
five original members. And only because we lost Scott, who was
lost at sea in 2000 and November, sailing down the West
Coast, and he was swept overboard and never, never
discovered never, never recovered. I am so sorry. That
is so sad. Yeah. And otherwise, we'd probably be one of the very
only bands all running on full cylinders. Years later, exactly
of that era. You know,
it is pretty rare. You know, when talking to talking to David
from the Hooters he's like, Hey, man, we're on like you're 41 or
40. You know, like, I said to myself, Oh my God, I've been
playing with the guys in my band for 25 years, man. And then it
happens so fast, and you finish each other sentences. And in the
early days, you go through different periods and chapters,
like in the early days, we were full of piss and vinegar, and we
had something to prove. And we were like a motorcycle gang, big
wallet chains coming into your town. You know, it was like the
Bob Seger song, you know. And, and, and then you know, those
hits start to happen. And you're like, oh, let's do the Kraftwerk
thing and do like ties red ties with black shirts. And the next
thing you know, you're wearing the, the blazer with the rock T
and then everyone starts to buy houses and have families. You go
through these chapters, but you're still together. It's
amazing.
Yeah, you know, everybody's been pulling in the same direction
for decades and decades. You know, and God bless Mike and
Paul, and Doug for writing all this incredible material that
people still want to hear. We're very, very, very blessed. And we
think we count our blessings. Every year we go out and we have
another big huge year plan this year. I mean, we had two years
of down during COVID Because the borders were closed from Canada
to the US. And Mike and Paul and Doug are still in Vancouver. And
we in March of 2020, we did three shows in January. And that
was it. And then we had this cruise this 80s Cruise theme
would have been our second cruise planned for the first
week of March out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami or something
like that. A whole bunch of different bands and, you know,
80s groups and the first one we went on, you mentioned MTV DJs
and the first one we went on in 2018 or nine 18 was all the MTV
V J's, the remaining DJs. Yeah, it was amazing. Seeing them all
again and reminiscing and the whole boat was like, outfitted
like 80s and Pac Man and Marielle brothers and all that.
Intellivision Rubik's Cubes. ALFS. Yeah, yep, it was just
really themed. And that was great. And so what happened in
2020, is we were going to go out and then COVID kind of hit. And
we all had a conference call because I was still in Raleigh,
with with the management and band, and we decided to pull the
plug. And Bret Michaels was the other headliner on that cruise
in 2020. And he pulled just after us as well. And that ship
still went out, you know, did all the Caribbean and everything
and they just put some other bands on there cool in the gang
and went with a 70s theme and all that. And they got COVID on
that boat, and they were they were not allowed to port back in
southern Florida for three weeks.
Oh, my God, then the dysentery breaks out. And then because I
was gonna ask you what? And scurvy. What I was I always like
to say like, if I haven't seen people in like, two, three years
be like, how was your COVID? You know, it's just kind of like an
icebreaker. Like, you know, how did you spend your time? We did
did you get did you get to practice? Did you read books?
Did you? Did you bake sourdough? Did you? Did you take up art?
What do you do?
Well, I walked a lot. And obviously, income was was scaled
down considerably. And so I did get to practice. And I managed
at the old drum shop here called 2112. Yeah, and then a clinic
there. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And the last time I saw clinic there
was was Todd. Nice. He did one just last fall. And I went to
see him obviously, from the tour we did that we got to know each
other really well in 2022 with Oreo and sticks. Yeah, four
months. And that was incredible. And what an incredible person
and drummer he is. Oh my gosh. Lined up down the block to get
in there. And of course, I snuck in the door. You know, they went
Come on. Maddie. Just just some of the back door. Yeah, exactly.
It was like, oh, man, there was like, I don't even know how they
made room for everybody to get in there. And
Matt, just pause just a little bit. Maybe the Wi Fi is a little
strange. There you go. You're back, buddy. We lost it for a
second. Yeah, I
saw the screen freeze a little bit. No worries. It says my
internet connection is unstable. Well,
you know, we are drummers of course it's unstable. Gotta get
a splash. Somebody get the splash. Yeah, man. So so that's
the thing as COVID It was like you said you walked a lot. I
yeah, I got to practice at the old 2112 location down in the in
their stock room. And I bought my touring kit out from 2017, my
Yamaha kit hybrids and set that the whole kit up like the double
bass drum and my touring kit, and drove out in a minivan and
picked it up with a buddy and drove it all the way back on in
like two days. And our backline is in basically Fort Wayne,
Indiana. So we went out there and got it so that I could
practice during because I'm in an apartment, so I can't play
real drums here. And they let me work out for six months. That's
great.
That's super cool. So
I would just put like live sets on in my earbuds and just play
the whole 90 minutes show. Keep the material fresh. Yeah, yeah.
And just go for it. You know, and it's just have like a show
every day. You know, or when I wanted to go like at least three
times a week. And there was all this talk about management
saying we might go out in September we might blah blah,
blah, you know, 2021 and it never happened. Because REO went
out and Everybody got sick and kiss one out, everybody got sick
and Tesla went out and everybody got sick. We were just hearing
all of this. And so Paul and Mike and Doug, they've got
really nervous because they're all in a hump and down in
Vancouver, you know, hunkering down. And, you know, they're
having little chats amongst themselves. So they call me and
they go, yeah, we're not going to go out in September, because
everybody's getting sick out there. And we don't want to risk
it. Plus, the borders are still closed. And, you know, you have
to test going out and test coming back and, you know, all
this stuff and has to be done 24 hours ahead of time. And it's
such a rigmarole, you know, so we just ended up sitting for
pretty much two years, until 2022. Correct. And then we
started doing our own shows in the spring. And our first show
was in Pennsylvania, at a theater up there somewhere, I
don't know, burgettstown or something like that. Yeah. You
know, we went a day and two days before the show, to rehearse,
you know, and even though I had been practicing, you know,
playing the gig as you know, isn't like practicing at all.
It's just the adrenaline's going, and especially at a like
an Loverboy set, you know, it's just, you know, you can practice
all you want, and especially of the faster tunes, it's your life
and Lady of the 80s and weekend and all the Fast, fast rockers.
Yeah, you know, you got to drop it down for the ballads, you
know, and just, it doesn't take the place of plan. Live. You're
right. You're in my
You did the right thing, because I always tell my students, I
say, you don't have to get ready if you stay ready. So you are
walking, you are keeping your positive mental attitude. You
are running the set, you had the sticks in your hands. So when
the call came, guys, the world needs entertainment, we're going
back out, you are ready, and you are ready to do it. And you
probably just were just I mean, I remember when I will go saw my
band. I was like this. And we went, we went a year early, you
know, I mean, because Nashville, Tennessee did not really shut
down as much as the other parts of the country is like very
business as usual here. So we ended up going out. Late 2021.
And then by 2022 still felt a little bit weird, but weird.
Business was open, we were doing our thing. But man, when you
your sense of identity, or a large portion of it is wrapped
around seeing your brothers and playing a musical instrument
every day. And you don't do it. Doo doo doo doo mess with your
head a little bit.
Yeah, I had a lot of dark days. Just talking on the phone with
with buddies. Especially my my good buddy, Jeff West aver up in
Boston, who was with Zildjian for 30 plus years. And we would
have these think tanks on the phone and he check in with me
like every week, and he just go How you doing? And I'm going I'm
having kind of a blue week, you know, just like exactly what you
said, you know, like the camaraderie of the team and the
crew and making music together. I mean, this is just it's in my
DNA. Yes. I've never even been a paperboy. I've been drumming.
Pretty much my whole life. I started on bongos at five years
old
and play the country songs, right. And then I read that
somewhere where there's country music. I did.
Yeah. And I started. My parents rented me a snare drum when I
was in like, oh, I don't know, grade five. And we rented it for
a year. And then in my grade seven year, my dad was a floor
layer. And he he was going to work this job and do this
flooring and he took all his supplies and linoleum and his
cement and all his blowtorch and his trawls down to the basement.
And he saw this sheet hanging over what he imagined was a kid
of drums. Yeah. And so we pulled the sheet back. And there was
this single set of white marine Pearl drum set. And so dad went
and talked to the guy who was there upstairs and guess he was
a retired jazz drummer, and a big band drummer in Vancouver.
Wow. And he ended up cutting a deal for the drums where he just
did the bathroom for the set of drums and did all the tile and
the linoleum and everything in there.
That's a great story. So your dad right away was like this kid
has got it and he wants to do it. I'm gonna make it happen.
Yeah.
And so he brought the old guy and I got a grade seven and came
home one day from school walked across the park and the drums
were set up in the living room. With the old guy and my parents,
and my kids, sister, and it was in South Vancouver, I don't know
what year that would have been. grade seven. graduated in 72. So
go back, what nine years?
72. So it'd be like 6463.
Yeah, yeah.
So that was a couple years before
the Beatles. Exactly. And so it had Xin cymbals, silver cymbals,
and they were white marine oyster. And they were probably
like really rare. And they weren't pearl. They weren't Tama
they weren't anything like that or slinger lands. They weren't
like a big or W FL. They weren't anything like that. They were
just this cool drum set. And dad built me a soundproof room down
in the, in the lower basement, in my bedroom, so I could play
and drum my heart's content.
What a cool dad man a REIT reminds me of my dad. My dad was
I think, secretly wanted to be a drummer. And so he was like, you
know, he'd crank up the radio and we listened to like Jimi
Hendrix or something, and he and Mitch Mitchell be playing and
he'd be like, can you do this? And I was like, Well, I hear a
lot of para Digital's is I'm sure I could do it. And he and
but he loved the big band drummers Gene Krupa. And so,
yeah, he's so proud. I'm sure your dad was very, very proud.
Yeah, absolutely.
And both my parents Yeah, it was a lot of support. And so when I
did marching, starting in grade eight, through grade 10. They
were involved and it was through the community center not through
the high school. And Killarney Park was in South Vancouver, and
we live right on Killarney Park. So, I joined the Killarney Jr.
band through the community center, and my parents were both
involved. And would we are marching in concert. So I
learned to read my first sheet music and all that stuff back
then.
I was just gonna ask you if you read music, I said something
tells me this guy reads music the way he approaches things.
And the stick control that you have.
Well, I did back then. Yeah, that's very kind risk. But I
learned a lot from those marching days of stick control
and, and the parallels and the double stroke rolls and the
rolls, press rolls. And we had this it was British band based.
It was really, you know, Colonel bogey on parade, Philip Sousa
and all that stuff. I
love me some Susa, man, come on. Oh, yeah, you know, the horns
and
Sousa phones and the two bows and the trombones and the
clarinets and the, you know, all the woodwinds and the trumpets,
and all of that stuff. And then for snare drums in a big bass
drummer, and then a guy play in cymbals, you know,
exactly. Amazing. And that's the, that's the beautiful thing
about the drum set is that one guy does it all, you know,
he walked by with his little nylon baton under his arm, like
all British and everything, and you'd be doing practice
practicing outside in the rain rolling on these old Ludwig
snare drums that just played terribly at the time anyway, and
especially in the rain, you know, and you're trying to roll
do a press roll, and then he would go straight across the
wrists. And it would be just like, capital punishment, you
know, like, yeah, oh, my God, you know, he says, kick, kick.
Cool. Gonna do a final press roll. And I'm trying to turn it
in in the rain. It's
always it was at a those were calfskin heads back then. Yeah,
yeah. Wow.
Yeah, only a snare on the bottom. So, you know, it almost
sounded like a deep Tom, with with a little bit of girdle
snare on the bottom, you know, they were,
I can, I can picture that sound. So fast forward a generation or
two, and I'm a merchant, I was a marching band guy four years in
high school, four years in college. And we had those
gigantic super deep white Slingerland drums with Ludwig
rocker heads Dennis to Lucius sticks, and then a strap not a
harness. So all of our you know, we all walk to the side because
of the strap, you know, on our and you're out here. Route
and then a leg brace that was attached to the drum at the
bottom. Yeah, it was metal and it folded up and you could brace
cross your thigh just to keep it kind of settled from swinging
back and like you said, like, all out to kill. Everybody was
supposed to be square and everything. But
it's all paid off great man because you have the stick
control. And then when you have when you have a musical mind and
you can read it's just to me, it's just the secret to the
universe. It's like the whole background at the whole backbone
of my teaching philosophy. Yeah, gotta read, you know. So when so
then you keep developing as a musician. How did Loverboy come
together? Because I'm looking here on the wiki, and you were
in a band called street heart. Now isn't street heart if I'm
not mistaken? Isn't that a, a seminal Canadian rite of passage
band?
Yes. And Paul Dean was in that band in the original band. The
bass player who came in after Scott passed, is was in that
band and is still a founding member. And out of Winnipeg,
Manitoba, the band was originally founded in Regina,
Saskatchewan.
I always like saying, Regina, that's great. Yeah.
So Paul was in a band before St. Hart with me. He joined a group
that I joined out of high school, like my dad basically
pushed me out the door. That's a whole other story. I don't know
how much time we have. We got all the time in the world, man.
Okay, so I'll try and stay on track here. So the great
Canadian River Race was a band that I joined out of high school
and it was a band that had already been together from
Penticton, British Columbia, in the Okanagan in central BC.
Really beautiful out there and all that and kind of resort
summer waterski waterskiing, and fishing and camping and swimming
and great stuff, and lots of orchards and everything out
there. And now it's all a lot of wineries and, and all of that
kind of stuff. So that ban was from there. But they were
playing in Vancouver, in 1972. And I had just graduated from
high school grade 12. And I'd only been out of school for a
couple of weeks. And then my dad got a call from a Florida layin
buddy. And this friend of my dad says, Hey, Gil, is your kids
still playing the drums? And of course, my old man Nolan Gill,
you goes, yeah, he's going to be the next buddy. Rich. Yes. Nice.
Like, stop dad. So he goes, why? And he says, Well, I'm down here
laying floors and doing new tile in the bathrooms at this club,
called Pharaohs retreat down and gas down in Vancouver, and
during the day, and they seem to be auditioning drummers down
here. And so my dad got a hold of somebody from the club and
spoke to this person who ended up being Bruce Allen. Yeah, we
ended up CO managing the band. Yeah. Fast forwarding. So
there's this synchronicity going on. So dad sets up a listening
session. But in bit British Columbia, it's 21 in in the
clubs to drink alcohol. So I'm only 18. So I can't legally be
in the club to listen to the band to see if it's something
that I would be able to join. Yeah. So we stood in the fire
escape, came down from the street down the set of stairs
and they held the fire door open a little bit so I could watch
the band while they were playing. And caught the end of
one set. And then the break was like 15 minutes. And we just
kind of hung out and then heard, like half of the second set. And
then we left and dad had set up on the break. He had gone and
talk to the manager of the group who was with them at the time in
Vancouver. And so he set up an audition for me on the Saturday
which was the next day. So we listened to the band. I got to
listen to the band on a Friday night. And they had been there
for two weeks. So it was at the end of their stint. And so I
auditioned and I knew most of of their set, like Doobie Brothers
all the late 70s Carole King James Taylor, you know, Chicago?
Yeah, you know, all all the hit parade stuff. And I was drumming
to that in my in my soundproof bedroom, you know, to record
without headphones. Like to happen to
try to stay with it. Make sure the record wasn't skipping.
Exactly, you know, so yeah. So anyway, so they showed me the
setlist and they said pick pick five songs that you you know
from from our setlist so I picked on an old James Taylor,
Carole King tune tapestry color my world by Chicago and
something else you're gonna
have to you're gonna have to remember this for your memoir.
Yeah, exactly.
So I went up and played and the drummer who was leaving because
he was getting married and his wife didn't want him to play in
the band anymore. From Edmonton.
That's like a Bryan Adams song Jenny quit Johnny got married.
Yeah. And
so he he had a set of black fuzzy fives. Wow.
vibes drums are great. Austin, Texas, man. That's good. I'm
drinking out of my Keep Austin weird mug today. So exactly.
So I've never even seen or heard of fives. And so I finished the
four, four or five songs came back down. We all had like this
little powwow at one of the tables there sat management, and
then, you know, the four band got the three band guys. And I
don't know if I can. It's a family show, right? Oh, no,
you we can get the X rating. No problem. Okay,
so the manager opening question was, have you ever had the clap?
I'm 18. And I just got out of high school. Wow. What's the
clap? Exactly. Clap. And so they all have a big laugh. And then
and then the keyboard player interrupts him, because there's
like this deadpan air. And I don't know what to even say from
that. And then he says, Do you have a set of drums? And I said,
Yeah, what color are they? And I said pink champagne. Ludwig,
pink champagne sparkled Ludwig's that I my dad co signed the loan
for and 69. We traded that first drum kit, the white, no names,
whatever they were on the Ludwigs and that cosign the loan
and all that stuff. So that's was the drums that I played at
home. And I said, Yeah, and he said, they're not black. And I
went, No, they're they're pink. sparkled. Like, Pink Pink. And I
went nah, they're kind of gold pink, pinkish gold. That
champagne sparkled. Ludwig that. Mitch Mitchell. And, and, and,
and everybody played. And I can't remember what Michael
Shrieve from Santana when I saw Woodstock, and
it's 17 years old at that. I think he was
on pink champagne, sparkling Ludwigs. Nice. And I saw ginger
with blind faith, and something and I saw the original Hendrix
and 67 in Vancouver with Mitch and he was on pink champagne.
That's why I wanted those drums. Because they were my biggest
influences. Okay, so anyway. So these went, Oh, okay. So we're
going to talk amongst ourselves. And then I left. And they came
to a decision. And I came back in 20 minutes, and they said,
You're in a good you got the gig. Yeah, where do you live?
And I said, well in South Vancouver, I'll write my address
down for you. And he said, we'll pick you up tomorrow. Um, and
then we're going to drive to Penticton which is five hours
through the mountains to get into the central into the
Okanagan, and you are easily
the youngest man in the band. Right. You are the young lion. I
was the same
age as the guitar player. We were both born in 54. So he, he
didn't finish grade 12 But the other the bass player who was
his brother, the guitar players, brother, so there was brothers
on guitar and bass. And then the keyboard player was was the
oldest. And Marcus was oldest can't remember the bass player.
They were a couple of years older than me and Selwyn guitar
player. So, ironically, they had a gig the following weekend. So
not only was I trying to learn four or 545 minutes sets of
material. They wanted audition, a lead singer because the lead
singer had walked out the week before about something they
weren't stroking his ego enough and he's like this is an
unacceptable
yeah wasn't it was a whole other story.
I don't know these guys want me to load in gear I'm out of here.
Yeah, something to
do with the setlist and he drew the line in the sand and they
wanted to play a certain song for Bruce Allen, who was like
the bouncer and co owner of the club and all that stuff with his
other partner Sam Feldman. And anyway, so guess who auditioned
for lead vocals? Mike
Marino? Correct. There you go.
And he was living in Penticton singing in a band called
synergy.
Now wasn't Mike a drummer originally?
Yes.
Nice. Now was he was Was he a kind lead singer that used to
play drums? Or was he like a Steven Tallarico? That was all
over Joey. No, he was nice. He was Canadian. Yeah.
I'm not gonna throw Mike under the box. So nice. Yeah, actually
sat in for me one night in the club, because I had broken my
foot or something. And he tried to sing lead from behind the
drum kit with the microphone thing. That's tough. It
couldn't, it couldn't pull it off. You know, he did the best
he could. But I'd always Let Mike come and sit down. And he
came up with a lot of parts and things that were really cool
when we were writing materials, wow. Writing tunes in the early
days, and he would have this idea for a groove and he'd sit
down. And I just go, you know, rather than telling me just show
me, you know what you're talking about the kick and the snare and
where to lay the snare and the hi hat pattern. And you know, he
would do stuff like that amazing, which was great. Yeah.
So, you know, it was kind of inspiring. But it was really
ironic that he auditioned for that gig and didn't get the gig.
So he didn't sing in the river race. So when Sal when the
guitar player left in 75, Paul Dean joined the group in
Alberta, when we were living in up in Edmonton, gotcha. So he
joined the group and so that we were for peace. And then when
the river race ended in late 75, we fought we left the band and
formed St. Hart in Regina.
There you go. And then that quickly became Loverboy.
Well, Paul, and Paul left first, and I left. A year later, in 79,
we went out and toured with Russia across the country, and
did the second album Atlas studio with Manny Charlton
producing. And I left the following fall in 79. So I came
back to Vancouver. And the phone rang one day at my girlfriend's
place at the time. And it was Mike on the phone. And he said,
Hey, what are you doing? And I said, nothing, just hanging out
here in the rain and in Surrey. And he went, Okay, we got this
little band together. And I'm sure you know, Paul dean. And I
went, Yeah. And he said, we got this bass player from Calgary
called Vern wills. And this keyboard player named Doug
Johnson. And we'd like you to come down and, and try out kind
of thing. Yeah, see if you'd like the songs and the direction
we're taking. And I went cool. So I put my Ludwigs in the ranch
wagon of my ex girlfriends, and drove down to practice and ran
through all the tunes. turned me loose lady, the 80s kid is hot.
All those early tunes.
Those are already written. Yeah. Turn Me Loose stop. Now. Right
there is the mark of a musical mind. Like creating a Mona Lisa
moment without distracting from the storytelling, the riffs or
the vocal. It's brilliant. It's brilliant. And I didn't know I
didn't know why I liked you in the 80s. I just did and then now
that I'm an overeducated, overanalyzing person I'm like,
listen to this MF er, man. He's on it. This is great stuff, man.
You know what I mean? A great that did you guys record with
click tracks back then? Was that a thing in AD? No.
And you're recording to tape right? To correct and pretty
much everybody live on the floor and then would go back and redo
vocals and redo the harmonies and redo guitars and trying to
get the good feeling drum take. Yeah, which is still the case
with everybody live on the floor. Mike would sing in a
vocal booth. So we were all basically playing the tunes live
and everything that sounded great and the basics, you know,
on those old days have to inch reel to reel, you know, and
Fairburn would come out like like the manager to the pitching
mound,
so Fairbairn Bruce Fairburn was your producer and biolab rock, a
young Bob Rock was the engineer.
Correct? Amazing. Yeah. And so Bob rocks, was was was was an
engineer at little mountain sound. So we were in Studio A
the big studio, where the symphony used to be able to set
up and record the Vancouver Symphony, blah, blah, blah. So
Fairburn would come out and he would walk out and we had the
drums. My baffled, baffled, yeah, with plexiglass up in the
top so I could see to the control room and see the other
guys and everything went to the loading bay. And they they
microphone, the loading bay with the Speaker of the drums come in
the drum track so they could make the splotch so it was real.
And not Ken Yeah. So the drum nuts how Bob Rock recorded all
that early stuff.
And you know, it was really interesting is like I was going
back and I was doing a deep dive starting in 1980. And listening
to the evolution of the band and buy in a 1980 the snare drum
sounds very smaller, it's much smaller with it sounds gafi lot
of gaff tape, right? Because we're coming out of the 70s no
bottom heads, a lot of gaff tape, hydraulic heads by 86
show. You know, I mean, I'm like, Whoa,
I know. The Akai sampler and all that stuff. You know that that
the the splodge as Bob called it, you know, and I don't know
Def Leppard really put their mark on that with Lange, you
know, well, you know, loving every minute garage to dish.
That's Def Leppard dos. That was written by Matt Lang.
Was that song, your song? That one was written by Matt Lang?
Correct. And it because it's got the same internal rhythm dude,
dude got to done. So that reappeared in another hit by a
little group called Def Leppard.
Yeah, but was was the was the golden child behind Def Leppard
and AC DC. And I said I and Shanaya Yeah, all early stuff,
you know, and he had this formula that he liked to work
with. And, you know, we jumped on the bandwagon. Yeah. In the
mid 80s.
No, as an as you're recording that first record, or when
you're around 28 years old, and you're, you're a great drummer,
you're confident you're hard working. You're in the studio,
you're trying to get these cheaper tracks. Were you utterly
confident or was there a little thing in the back of your mind?
Don't screw this up, man. Go we got this. You can get this Yes,
three minutes of your life, because you're not even 30 yet.
Yeah, you know, there was a lot of yes, you can no, you can,
yes, you can. Don't mess up. Yes, you can don't mess up, you
know, devil's advocate, you know, just mind games going on.
And you just go for it. And you're in the moment, and I am
playing on that big kit. And then and then Fairburn would
walk out after a really amazing take, and sweat would be running
down and my headphones would be fallen off. We used to have to
gaffer tape my headphones to my head, because I'm drumming so
animated, you know, flipping around on that big kid, and he
come out he go, that was amazing. Now, take that. And
kidney. Just go for everything. Go get all the drums. it
everything you got. Exactly. And God bless him, you know, and
then I would just like take the next track and just like punch
it and then just like overplay almost would that would that
would that be the keeper? Usually, not necessarily because
what they were trying to do was get Tom fields because Bob was
really good with the razor blade in cutting tape. Because back in
those days, you couldn't just copy and paste and drop in on on
a computer. Have you had to cut takes this, you know, and make
sure there's not any leakage and stuff like that. So we used to
have this gaffer gaffer tape my headphones, like you're wearing
to my hair. Yeah. And they made this joke that we should gaffer
tape my mouth because I grunted and groaned in the overheads you
could, you could pick it up and they would isolate the overheads
and take down all the drums and you'd hear
Yeah, like, yeah, like, like, like, like Keith Jarrett. I
mean, I do the same thing. I mean, just still, yeah,
it's crazy. Just going for it, you know, like, just, you know,
guttural things. And they play this back to me or record it,
you know, like, put it on a cassette. It's like, Oh, you
guys are our souls. So
that is, that's amazing. But you're always very adventurous
with your Tom feels like, good. You know, your heritage is
around. And the extreme accuracy really, I love that you have the
three up in the two down like I always say, it's like a
pentatonic scale. You know, I mean, it's I've never, at some
point, I'd like to have the five times I'm such a little Ringo
Barnum guy, just two to three times, but the five really nice.
Yeah.
Speaking of Barnum, you know, this year, we're going out with
Sammy, Hagar July and August. Oh, cool. And Jason is going to
be on drums with drumming royalty there. And Jason. So,
you know, we're Sammy and his All Star band Satriani on
guitar, Michael Anthony on bass. And it's just going to be
amazing. We're really, really looking forward to that. July
and August with with with salmon. Incredible. I'm not
looking forward to what's going to be the hot weather this
summer outdoors. And I just watched the weather thing this
morning on my weather channel out. It's just, it's going to be
even hotter than it was last summer and the summer before.
Yeah, global warming is a real thing. You know, you know what's
crazy is that for years and years and years, I would have
two gigantic industrial strength fans blowing hot July air on me.
And then finally one day we stole the idea from Zukerman to
have an air conditioner. So I've had an air conditioner for six
years. And it makes all the difference in the level of
enjoyment I get from the job.
Yeah. Now I have one now too, but Brian hit from reo. Sean,
John Aldridge is his tech. Yeah. Tech during that tour, and
probably still is, and Jay diekman, my drum tech. And John
worked a thing out because I overran one night in St. Louis,
in late July, and I got to Catering and I was just like
really dizzy. And we were doing only a 45 minute set, but the
sun would come down rate always facing the stage. And we'd hit
the state set at 730. And just the Sun's right in your face.
And I'm going for that firecrackers set, you know, 45
all the hits, and just go Go, go go go and then stop when you're
at the end is Oh, and good night. You know, I barely had
time to like drink a water. And so I, Brian and Todd both had
their ice machines, their air conditioner, blown on their
back. And so they would lend me after that incident in the
Midwest somewhere Kansas or St. Louis, wherever that was, and
they would lend it to me after. And then whoever was closing the
show, because there wasn't really a clear headliner two
years ago. It was reo and sticks. And they would just swap
going from the second place. The second band and then the closing
band.
Yeah, you know, you know, when it's, uh, it makes all the
difference. And you know, I feel I feel it was the original guy
to do that. The OG was I heard that bunny bunny. Carlos always
had an air conditioner back there. Yeah.
Old bunny. Yeah, I miss seeing him. Behind the kid. Yeah. And
you guys were out with one last year just to be able to go out
and do the summer with foreigner last last summer. So yeah,
great.
Yeah. Chris Fraser lives here now. Yeah, 30 minutes from me. I
never see him. You know, everybody lives her. Keith
Carlock lives in Spring Hill. I went to college with Keith never
see him. It's crazy. You really have to make the effort to like
get people out of their houses these days and it's harder than
ever because I Think COVID just created this new thing where
it's like, ah, go to a nightclub tonight. Now I'm gonna sit here.
I'm just gonna watch Friends. You know? You're not
there to write. Yeah, yeah.
It's crazy man. But I know. But very musical, and I'm so glad
you get to do that. So you guys are doing what 60 shows a year,
that kind of thing still?
Well, with the summer packages, the last two years since COVID,
it's pushing more like 75. Possibly. That's again, over on
an average year when we're not doing the warm up Summer Tour.
Like to a headliner. It's it was averaging kind of around 6065
Max, usually really solid, like a couple in January, maybe a
couple in March, you know, just casino work in stuff like that,
you know, when you're indoors, and then you start to go
outdoors, you know, in some of the warmer states in like May,
and stuff like that county fairs, state fairs,
amphitheaters, indoor theaters, and then, you know, a festival
or something like that. But since we started up after COVID,
we landed reo and sticks for 2022 For four months, and that
was amazing. Best tour ever. I mean, the camaraderie and
everybody, I mean, just, I mean, Kevin Cronin and guys from
sticks. Were like watching the set, like, almost every night.
Yeah, it's nice. And I'd come off the stage. And just like,
towel around my neck, and like, my tech would put an ice pack
around my neck, you know, to try and cool me down or an ice towel
that was in the ice cooler. And, and I'd walk off the back of the
set, you know, because timing was everything. It was a 15
minute set change between fast all three baths. Yeah, so we
would finish at quarter at quarter after eat. And the
second band would start at 830 on the dot. That's and that's a
nice turnaround. That's great for the audience. Because we
have we have big multiple act festivals in cut in the country
genre. But usually the turnaround between sets is 30
minutes.
Yeah, yeah. I saw I saw your itinerary. Yesterday when I was
looking online to see Jason's. What you're up against this
year? Yeah. I saw the complete package there. That's that's a
lot of groups to get on and off the stick and a
DJ in between each one to keep everybody because it's an it's
an it's an add world. So everyone's like, we it's
constant. We need music. Yeah, who've those aremeyaw molecules.
So we also have a mutual friend Ian Lee Kelly. I just had Lee on
the show because we moved to Nashville together. The same
time he's kind of my graduating class was like me, Jim Riley,
Pat McDonald, previously with the Troy Daniels band, and Lee
and we all kind of like found our way together. And I'm super
proud of a man but but I know that he went out and tech free
before he filled in for you before so I figured I'd drop his
name.
Yeah. I was down for the count with my first hip surgery for
two months, and he came out and did, I don't know, month and a
half or something for me. And I think he knew Mike and Mike's
wife, who has family in Nashville. She does and they're
all in the entertainment. And I think we had done some corporate
gigs with Mike with Kathy's singing Almost paradise or
something like that. Oh, yeah. We was was the the drummer on
those things. Crazy. You'd played a couple of Loverboy
tunes. So yeah, amazing,
amazing man. Such a such a small world. Now now your influences.
It says here Ginger Baker Billy Cobham turns 80 years old today,
man.
Oh my God today. Today, yesterday or today.
I've been seeing a lot of posts your Don brewers your Mitch
Mitchell's Garrison, so kikbuild got arrested. So Bobby Colombi
Danny Serafin, man you're you're you're speaking you're breaching
man. I love all these cats man because they were they were
mixing they're my master class teachers off of record. You
know, I would have loved to have been able to sit down. But when
I saw the original Hendrix and the opening act, there was three
opening acts and 67 one I saw Jimmy with no reading on bass
and Mitch on drums was was Vanilla Fudge. Went on rate
before with Carmine. Ooh, he's The even had his red sparkle
Ludwig's back then, and him and Tim Bogart did this drum and
bass thing. And I was at the back of the room, and it was
packed, and I just ran, it was just like, I just, it was like a
magnet for me. And I had to just get closer and see what he was
doing and the way he was attacking his drums and and I
really just wanted that I wanted to absorb as much as possible,
you know? Yeah, the way that the plate and the bass and drums
were connected in fudge, you know, and then it was
unbelievable and the crowd was just like blown away. And then
Hendrix came on and he was just kind of you know, LAX just
really laid back and I think he had gone through some hassle at
the border crossing up from Washington. And so So vanilla
was on fire that night. I mean, Carmine, huge inspiration of
course the book realistic rock and the whole thing that gong
bass drums the leopard skin shirt, the you know, the
flavors, savor the all the stuff, man, you know, his his.
His brother is such a great drummer to my other stuff with
you know, Vinnie, do Oh, just fantastic drumming. And
I got to see and meet Carmine forgot who he was drumming at
Drummond with in a big stadium back in like 82. And
could have been Ted Nugent. It could have been Ozzy. It was it
was Ozzy. Yeah. bark at the moon tour.
And it wasn't Tom.
You Yeah, yeah. No, I think it I think Carmine did the bark at
the moon tour. And then Sharon fired him because he was trying
to sell too much merch at the merch at the merchandise table.
And I'm like, Well, what? You can't fault the guy for trying I
mean, I believe me I can relate man let you know let's let's we
got to work hard at this drumming thing to put it
together man. But no he big influence. I had the poster on
the wall. The whole thing man, Carmine is fan
past. And we played rate. I can't remember who was
headlining. Ozzy wasn't the headliner. And it was a massive
stadium and I want to say like rich Stadium in Buffalo or
something like that. And
Ozzy wasn't headlining
I could be wrong. It might have been. We went out with with
foreigner, when Lou and and and Mick were in the band. And
Dennis was drumming, and Mark Rivera on sax. And it was just
an unbelievable killer band. And we went out in 82 as support.
And there was multiple bands, you know, Tesla, and a 911, and
whoever, whoever, whoever, and then Loverboy, and then
foreigner. But there was one of those bills like that, where
Ozzy was on the bill.
And just trying to think who would have been bigger than
Ozzie in 1982? It'll come to us.
Anyway, it's all a blur? Probably not.
It is a blur. Did you journal? I mean, do you think you got a
book in you? I always ask everyone, because now I have a
man of a certain age or a man of a certain age, I'd
have to talk it out, you know, with and do an autobiography to
have like, just tell stories to somebody? At a ghostwriter or a
co writer. Yeah, yeah, I need somebody to like feed me like
you've been doing on this podcast, your thoughts? No. I
mean, it's a so well, is it safe to say that of all the years in
the music business, like the 70s, where you're the 60s and
the 70s are your formative years and 80s You found massive
success and was a springboard 40 years later, you're still doing
it? Is it safe to say that the 80s may have been your favorite
era in the music business or
Yes. But going back, you say you say my informative years, the
years I was learning and absorbing from the likes of
Danny Serafin and, and and Michael Shrieve, from Santana
all of the all of those early drummers and so going back when
I was 13, my going back to my dad, who was such a big
influence, and and everything on me. He was he played guitar and
harmonica, and his love was Country and Western. Yeah. For
your country, Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Hanks, no Hank Williams,
Ray price,
storytellers.
All those original storytellers. Yeah, yeah, gosh. I know I'm
leaving Loretta
Patsy yah, yah,
yah, yah, yah, all that and those records were spinning all
the time at home. So I would learning to play to those
records and mom like Tom Jones and a bit more Boston ova Lena
Horne press Peredo Harry Belafonte, Tom Jones Ingleburn
you know, music like that blue. You know, Frank Sinatra, Nancy
Sinatra and all that kind of stuff was going on. And that was
a Tom Jones live record that my parents had that I played the
the living daylights out of and wore that LP out on my on my
turntable. That's drumming to that, and whoever was drumming
in that band was unbelievable. Just fired, you know, just like,
fired up, you know? Yeah. So I just My dad took me to Buddy
Rich when I was 13. So
did mine about the same age. My five man. Yeah.
So he, it was obviously underage in there. But it was a separate
club, serving food. So I was allowed to go in there. And it
was afternoon set. And so we were in there sitting at a
table. And buddy came on and doing his thing. And he goes
into his solo. And he starts this press roll. And he's flying
around the kit, you know, doing one handed press rolls and shit,
you know, playing all this stuff. And these two drunk guys
salesmen had been there all day drinking liquid lunch, and they
were sitting right at the front of the stage at this little
table, and it is completely ignoring what's going on on
stage. Everybody else in the room was there to see the Buddy
Rich big band. And there was a lot of parents with kids. Like
young drummers, yeah. Like like myself. And so buddy brought the
soul down to a press roll and stopped. And they were
oblivious. Oh, so buddy had a sticks under his arm. And he
walked to the edge of the stage and he was just standing looking
over them. And they were oblivious. Just yeah, you don't
know where? And I
pretty good. Pretty good, man. Yeah,
so not bad for guys been sober for 33 years. Oh my god. Okay.
Okay. So anyway, so he, he just kind of took his sticks
together. And he wrapped them on the table to get their
attention. And then they kind of looked up and they went, Oh, and
they stop, you know their banter. And he just said, a lot
enough for everybody in the room to hear. Everybody in this
effing room is here to see me and my band. You guys are a
major effing distraction, and the air was just blew. And he
went off on these two guys. Awesome. I suggest you get the f
out of here. If you're not interested in listening to this
music, because nobody else can hear what we're doing in the
quiet parts. You know, etc, etc. Yeah. And so the bouncer came
over and escorted these two guys out the door. Amazing. Buddy
went back and started that press roll and built it up and
finished a solo a one, two, a 1234 Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop,
bop and went into his, whatever channel one sweet or something
like that.
And it was that story.
That has always stayed with me rich. And if I was to ever pass
on, and I tell that story, I told that story when I was doing
clinics back in the 90s and stuff, just as an inspirational
story to young drummers who were starting out and look for a fire
in somebody to take take the baton and get a small piece of
it. And the fire was lit in me that day. Bye Birdie rich. I
really, really wanted to command a band like he commanded and
attack the drums and play the drums musically and and not get
in the way of the vocals and not get in the way of other stuff.
Pick and choose your holes. Yes. Where to shine Turn
Me Loose stop to that there's a conversation it there's a
there's the there's the conversation right there you
filling in the cracks between the vocal phrase you just heard
that song on the radio not but two days ago. And it still
sounds great. Going back to that Bob Rock Mike Fraser, Bruce
Fairburn, teen and delay they recorded all those early tracks
and it still sounds great, you know, compared to everything
else on the radio and I just felt well, yes, you bought you
know, and it's go so great is that is that I experienced that
same thing. My dad took me to a supper club to see Buddy Rich
and the girls were dressed. The waitresses were dressed in like
heavy metal like chainmail and like fishnet stockings and
stuff. Because it was like 84, right? And he comes out and he
starts doing a solo and he stops the solo and he goes, who the
fuck booked me in this place. And then he just continued to
rip it up. Then my dad took me to see the Maynard Ferguson big
band with Ray Brinker, Ray Brinker, now, Angeleno drummer,
fantastic all around musician took me to see Chuck Berry play.
And Chuck Berry would always hire local musicians. So my drum
teacher was the guy that got selected to play with Chuck
Berry that night. So I got to see my drum teacher. But you
your dad and my dad were the same guy. And it makes gives me
goosebumps. And I could tell you're getting a little
emotional. And I was getting emotional listening to your
story. Because that's such a special time in someone's life
when a parent champions their child and is willing to climb up
a fire escape to get someone in to to an audition. Yeah, yeah.
And that is figuring out the drums and getting good at the
drums and having my parents be so so that was a very special
time.
It was, you know, and that still lives with me. God bless my old
man, you know. real inspiration back in the day, and just pushed
me almost pushed me out the door after high school, pretty much.
Like he said, he said, go do this. Yeah. And then I was
Rewinding back a little bit if he gives you a little bit. I
shouldn't go on so much about my old man. I'll please do it's
great. Anyway, between grade 11 and grade 12. So go back a year,
I had a country gig with this royal Overson cover band called
Larry Branson and downstream from Vancouver. And we had a gig
in northern BC for a month up there playing in the club with a
band house and all that summer months. And I called home. And
it was in August, because school started after Labor Day in
Vancouver, in in British Columbia and Canada. So I called
and got my mom on the phone. And I said Hey, Mom, no, I got my
dad on the phone first. And I said, Hey, can you guys register
me for grade 12? And my old man said, no goddamn way. You know,
French Canadian, kind of speak Do you speak French? He spoke
really good French. But we grew up on the west coast, where he
met my mom in Calgary. And so all his relatives were in
Quebec. So he didn't have a lot of reason to speak French, in on
the west coast in Vancouver with the family growing up. So he he
only cussed in French when he would come or with a hammer or
something working in his tool shop. Whatever. So you know, he
was the story. I was telling him. Sorry.
No. Oh, you were telling me. I shouldn't have I shouldn't
interrupted you about the French language thing. But um, yeah,
you're old man. was doing Oh, we were talking about you know how
great they were to us and supportive.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So he, he, um, I said, Put mom on the phone. He
what he said before, before I said that was he said, You're
gonna stay out there. Your road, the road and your drums is your
education. I'm not signing you up for grade 12. And I said put
mom on the phone. So mom came on. And I said you just heard
what dad just said, right? He doesn't want me coming back for
grade 12. And he said If she said, Yeah. And I said, Well,
you will register me for grade 12. And she said, Sure, I will.
And my kids sister, Lisa was starting grade eight. It was a
big high school. And, like, over 2000 student population, wow, I
was concerned for her. And I wanted to finish all my track
and field and sports and stuff. I wasn't a great student. You
know, c, c, minus d, blah, blah, blah. Always looking out the
window. Thinking of sports and music.
You're a dreamer, like Luke Skywalker. Yeah, yeah.
that'll that'll go with the Pisces. So, yeah. So I ended up
getting registered, and I came back for grade 12. But that just
gives you an idea about how dedicated the oh man one. He
just wanted me out to live his dream. You know, to be me.
That's
incredible. He didn't even want you to finish high school. He
was ready for you to go do it.
Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. So basically, by grade 12, when he
got that audition idea, he basically pushed me out the door
said, Here you go, kid. Go make a life for yourself.
So when you guys won the six Juno Awards, which is like the
equivalent to the Grammys? Yeah,
that had to be a big night. It was six for six. Nobody has ever
been nominated for six and won all six in a single night like
that.
Yeah, I think you said you won for Best Group, best band, best
writer, best producer best single and best engineer.
Correct. Wow. And so
we're on a we're bullying us at the end, by the time we got to
the fifth and sixth because they wanted their local bands like
Rush and, and, you know, commit your stuff to when something
else you know, rather than Oh, here we are again, you know, and
then we
you guys take turns doing little acceptance speeches, or was
there always just the point man that spoke on behalf of the
band?
Ah, a little bit of both. Yeah. You know?
Because my dad was always like, I can't wait to see you on the
Grammy stage. Now. I played the Grammys, but as a sideman, I've
never been able to go up there and go, yo, Drew Gera, you know
what I mean? It's, it's a different thing. But you know,
exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, there was a bunch of award shows that
we went to, and ironically enough, we were inducted into
the Canadian Canadian Music Hall of Fame many years ago. And the
inductee was Bob Rock. But it was in Vancouver at the Pacific
Coliseum rather than back east, so it was just really timely and
all that good stuff. So, you know, we have that to think
about and to, to thank, you know, that. And then last year,
June, we were inducted into the British Columbia entertainment,
Walk of Fame in Vancouver, in June. And then in September, we
were inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame in Toronto, but
only Mike and Paul went. And we had a gig the next day, and the
weather. Back east was really, really bad. And they got stuck
in New Jersey trying to fly back from Toronto to New Jersey, to
Charlotte. And we had a gig the next day in hickory wood with
night ranger at a casino. And we never ended up playing night
Ranger ended up doing a full set thing. So anyway,
man. Yeah, well, the other thing that just comes to mind that I
wanted to mention was it seems like you're an incredibly loyal
endorser forever with Yamaha drums forever with Zildjian
cymbals
very loyal.
I'm gonna get in trouble like I'm a longtime DW endorser, but
they know and I'm just on a roll here. I'm having a million
Yamaha artists. Some great drums. Great drums. Yeah. I had
so how long have you been there? 30 years.
I signed a 91 Yeah, so 33 years nice when I signed with Zildjian
and 81. So that's 43 years. There you go. And Lenny do museo
signed me. Originally,
he was a character right is like hey, hey, kid. We want you to
try this new Z crash. Okay,
it's the bomb. read his book and everything to the whole.
Are you a remote guy?
Yes.
Yeah. What and there you go.
They you know, it's I've been remote for life.
And I Remote since 1995.
Yep. Yeah. I've tried all the other companies, but I just
think remote is my sound. And it's the soundtrack of my life
of all those early drummers we were speaking about earlier in
the program. You know, it's it's the sound for me. And
anyway, me too.
I'm playing Vader. drumsticks Nice. Since 94 or 95. Early on.
Yeah. Yep. In the beginning, it was collateral. And I played
these great big to be nylon tips. Oh,
yeah. Cuz you're you are a nylon tip guy is is a rare thing
nowadays. Yeah. So what's the appeal? There? The brightness on
the cymbals? Correct. On the rod. Nice. But here's the deal.
I don't hear a lot of right in Loverboy music. Am I crazy? Or
what?
There is a lot of Bell more Bell. But in songs like, take me
to the top. Especially live. You know that?
Oh, yeah. It's like dang, did it get a ding ding God dang. did.
Good to get he kind of get on that during that section. Right
to that song. Yeah, yeah.
And Lady of the 80s has that kind of parody Polish thing with
the bell and the snare? Return, you know, and but take me to the
top as expanded live now, where we have fact solo going into a
keyboard soul. So what's the Doug Johnson feature in the in
the kind of about halfway through the tune, which is nice.
And it just drops down to like real quiet. And I get to play
like the ride like, kind of almost, I won't say jazzy, but
just like ride and I've always been a nylon tip guy. And I just
liked the extra ping and the top end. So I started with with
collateral, the two B's and then I did about a five or six year
stint with Vic Firth. And then I went to Zildjian for a little
while when they were making drumsticks. And Johnny D was was
shipping me out sticks. And then I jumped to Vader.
Yeah, Chad. Yeah, yeah, and chat.
And they take really good care of me. And as they should. Yeah,
and I love the five B, and nylon tip. And it's just a regular
five D natural hickory stick. I don't have them do anything
special. You know, to them. They're not a signature stick.
But I get my my signature and the band logo on them. So they
stamp them, which is cool. Yeah,
we're both five beat guys, man. It's perfect for the way you
know, we played five ages seems like we're gonna go through a
lot of these, you know what I mean? So it's like, yeah, yeah.
On those years, when the band stopped playing between late 89
and 94, or 93, the group just kind of parked the old Chevy in
the garage, put it up on blocks. It wasn't like a bitter breakup.
Guys just wanted to do different things in life solo records,
write differently, work with different people, whatever, go
on a holiday, spend money, get divorced, get married, you know,
whatever, you know, start a family. So there was a break
there. And that was a good 10 years of of going hard.
Especially from like 80 to, you know, 89 supporting five studio
records and hits, you know, so guys just wanted to, you know,
do their own thing. And I played on Mike's sub first solo record,
the whole the whole record. He just hired me to come in. And I
played on Paul's solo stuff. And
I play on the big tom tom Cochran song.
I did not Mickey curry. Oh, it's Mickey. Okay, well, you're on
Mad Mad World down in Memphis with Joe Hardy. Oh, yeah. Okay.
And spider can Sunniva our bass player was was with Tom then. He
was in the red Ryder. So he recorded on that track. So that
Dickey on the whole album. Brilliant, good friend and great
drummer.
I mean, I love Mickey. He was on the show. And I just I just love
that he's a he grew up in Guilford, Connecticut. And he
still lives in Guilford, Connecticut. Yeah.
Wallen oats, you know, and Jonathan Wilson. Our management
has Hall notes now the new home
and greatest that Hall and Oates as they call it, acquits man.
Yeah, that's so crazy to think. But we still are Brooks and
Dunn. It's the it's the country, the hall notes. And then the
other thing that has happened recently that I cannot even
believe because you mentioned saxophone Can you believe we
lost David Sanborn man the greatest one of the greatest
saxophone tones of instantly recognizable man, a big fan. I
was a big fan man. What was the cowbell on gang gang gang?
Black. You got it. Oh, ladies and gentlemen. Matt is in his
studio and he's going to there it is. It's a it's a silver I
don't know what the brand is. But it's covered in duct tape.
It's it's an LP called a deluxe. And they don't make it anymore.
Don't get rid of that. It No. And it's got the old brace and
it's been welded a million freakin times.
Are you still playing it live or no, it's it now. It's like a
museum piece.
No, it's a museum piece. Now. It's got all the old gaffer on
it. You know,
I've had many cables that look like that. Because that's not
even gaffer. That's, that's just electrical tape, I
think. Right? Which is extra sticking? Just gaffer tape.
Tape.
Yeah, man. So you usually will end up things with the Fave
Five. And I usually like to ask people what their favorite
color is. I played LP for a long time. until 2022, when I met
Mark Petruzzelli, who's taught Zuckerman's drum tech. Yes, he
also works with Toka.
And, and Grover now, which is TM RM Rmi. Music. Yeah.
Yeah. So he came to me just in a relaxed session after you know,
after our soundcheck and, and that break before we would hit
the stage, you know, rate rate around dinner, and catering and
all that. And he said, you know, just, I'm a big fan, blah, blah,
blah, you know, and I just wanted to talk to you, and
there's no pressure that would you consider ever trying a
different cowbell. And I went, actually funny that you ask,
because I've been, we've been trying, including management to
get a hold of LP, for almost two years now, with no response.
Once
I can just get to the email address. I'm an LP guy.
So it just seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. So I said your
timing couldn't be better. And so he laid on their cimbali
Bell, which was white with a black logo on the sides. And I
put it up for soundcheck and loved it.
So now you're Toka guy. No, I'm
a talker guy.
There you go. Awesome, man. They're sending me these
nice white kettlebells and I'm a happy camper. And it actually
plays easier, especially in lucky ones with the sixteenths
with one. Yeah,
that's awesome, man. So great. Yep. Okay, so hey, I was gonna
ask you what's your favorite color? Black. Come on, we're
both wearing black. That's classic and never goes out of
style. Darth Vader approved.
What about your thumbs?
I almost every drum set I've ever had in my entire life is
either black or red or black matte or black panel black or
black sparkle, or red sparkle or black and red sparkle. You know?
It's I'm not a yellow drum guy. I'm never I'm never gonna have
lime green drums. I'm more of like a solid color
guy. Yeah. Right. I tend to swing towards sparkle drumkits I
don't know if that's just being really retro. My first Yamaha
kit in 91 was piano black, recording custom with Rock Tour
custom bass drums 22 by 18 long with poplin for those three
years I drummed with him. And then I sold the drum kit to a
recording studio in North Vancouver Baker Street sound
because I was doing a record there and I just left them set
up and on their downtime on those four years that we weren't
working with Loverboy and I just left the kit with them and they
ended up going while we love this drum kit. And
now it's the house kids still there but it probably is So
and then you know, Yamaha every four years would send me another
kit. And you know, I've done my best to collect them and you
know, sell them and you know after four years or whatever, so
my my year is in Canada, so I moved to the United States in
2008 to Southern California, and go okay, the following year in
2009, I jumped on the Yamaha American roster. So Greg crane
out in California is is my rep with Yamaha. I'm playing the
hybrid Maples now. Beautiful, and the kit that I toured last
year and the previous year with REO and sticks last year with
foreigner was my orange sparkle the hybrids 1012 1316 18 to 20
twos. Nice. The left 22 is a dummy and I play a slave pedal
Yamaha's pedal on the right bass drum beautiful and sights snare
and I managed to when they were still making signature snare
drums I use the side snare drum as it snares off like a Tim
barley sound.
Yeah, what is what is you second call that it's like the reggae
drum he's got on the side there. Yeah.
David garibaldi, the blue, steel or brass. It's only about three
inches deep.
And how long? How long were you in Southern California?
Four years?
Isn't it isn't a magical place Sunday and 70 every day? Yes. I
was you ate you pay.
You pay for that magic.
You. You pay more than ever, you pay more than ever. So I went
back and forth between LA and Nashville for 10 years, but six
years very aggressively. And it took a lot of my money, but it
sure was fun. Yeah, yeah. Really great. Where were you? Where
were you? Are you in Orange County guy? Were you a Silver
Lake County,
living in Tustin for four years, okay. Went down for ballet
training for our son and daughter. Okay. And there was a
Russian Academy down in Mission Viejo. And so we went down for
that, you know, son was turning 14 At the time, and he needed
male tutorship proper body building and weightlifting, for
ballet for the stage not sprinter or a football player or
a weightlifter. You know, and the Russians teach the men how
to partner and hold a woman like up on their arm and make it look
effortless, effortlessly. Yeah,
so that's a some incredible strength. Still, graceful
strength?
Graceful strength?
Graceful strength? And
yeah, that was in imperative that yeah, it's that kind of
training. So
what do you what do you do so you're a walker, you hit the you
just walk every day for your for your health and fitness.
Ah, as much as I can. I have a trainer here at a fitness
center, here in RX, in here in Raleigh called RX wellness. And
I'm seeing him tomorrow, and just kind of booked training
sessions like a little six pack, and go there and work on my
stamina and we've had a pretty quiet fall, winter and spring.
Mike had her ankle replacement surgery last November, middle of
November, last year. And that's that's a tough rehab, you know.
And I know because I've had two hips, and you know, coming back,
because that's such a weight bearing joint. And it's, it's
going to take some time. So we've been trying to stay off
the off the stage and, and let Mike just do his thing and rest
and get ready to rock this 2024 out.
I'm excited. I'm excited for you guys. We're getting ready to
fight. I mean, we've been flirting you know, press award
shows casinos festivals. But then we're gonna get ready to do
the big Live Nation tour and go boom, boom, boom in a very
compressed period of time. Yeah. Which which I love. But it's so
funny. What I what my band calls that we call it surgery season.
So late November to early February is surgery season. So
in the voice of the guy that does behind the music, as the
band prepared for the 2024 tour. They were easing into surgery
season. Yeah, it's like exactly. Like we get all of our repairing
and gluing together done. Yeah, at that time of year,
they'll see the doctor, the dermatologist, the dentist, the
mechanic, you know, all of it, it's trainer go do all this
stuff, because when you come off that kind of grueling tour,
yeah, you're just knackered and you're beat up, especially a
guy's like, at our age, you're, you're in your 40s Thank
goodness, you know, and you guys are still rocking it big, big,
big time, as long as you've been there, you know, and admire
that. But, you know, the band's like reo, you know, and, and
sticks and foreigner, you know, like, you know, everybody's out
there, truck and enroll. And then and going down the road and
doing great business. And that fan base that was available.
After the two years of pretty much dryness of COVID. Some
bands went out and 2021 and kind of tiptoed around and night
Ranger and a few few bands went out, but you know, it was it was
a volatile atmosphere out there. Yeah. And, you know, the last
thing you wanted to do promoters were really nervous, because
they book a string of dates, and then the band would get COVID
And then everybody would be off the road. You know, and, you
know, all the tour buses and stuff like that, like drivers
and that whole base to put a put a tour on an audio and, and
lighting companies. You know, I mean, when we went to start up
in for those four months start June, July, August and September
with our own sticks two years ago, we couldn't find a tour bus
for months and months and months. All the tour bus
companies bailed out during COVID. And all they lost all
their drivers who were driving for FedEx or UPS or just being
at home, you know, and they sold all their stock, so there was
hardly any buses to pick from. That's
crazy. It's crazy with live music is back. And it's better
than ever, not so much in nightclubs, but in
big venues were bad. The fan base was just rabid. Like when
we hit the stage like that June, you know, was just packed houses
every night for four months with REO and sticks. And every night
with foreigner last summer, July and August. Awesome. Awesome.
Yep.
I tell you what, man, this has been such a thrill. It's you're
such a great guy. It's such a great musician. And I appreciate
the inspiration over the years. And I will consider you a friend
man and I'm putting it on the to do list to us for to all connect
we can get together with Chris Cohen. You smoke cigars or
anything we can get together and smoke cigar no watch the sunset
something. No, Chris. Yeah,
you know what? Chris is my other good friend here. And when we
hang up, I gotta send him a text and and say hello. Because I
kind of lost track. You know, with him. We usually get
together for lunch at law farm bakery or something and meet up
over and carry. You know, it's been like two hours talking like
this. You know,
we'll do it. We'll do it. Well, all three of us will do it. And
we'll it will close the place down. Yeah. All right. Be crazy.
Well, thank you so much. And hey, if somebody wants to ask
you a question, they want to follow your career, they want to
reach out what's the best way that people find you on the on
the web, you got a.com or something?
I don't want that for you. Off The Grid, off social media for
five years. Just for personal reasons, gotcha. Stuff that just
became Yeah, arduous out there for me, and I just kind of
haven't gone there. But I will just we'll just Loverboy
Loverboy band.com There's lots of Instagram and Facebook, and
all of that. You can track me down through there.
Loverboy band.com?
Correct. Knees boy.com Because you don't want to go there.
Because we didn't get that handle when everybody was
grabbing the dot coms. Way back when?
Oh my god, it's a porn site
that went to a porn site in San Francisco. That's really
really funny. Oh my god, that is crazy. Man. Thank you so much
for your time, buddy. Really appreciate it man. Thanks,
brother. God, ladies and gentlemen. That was the math for
net word winning drummer from Loverboy. And we appreciate you
guys tuning in. If you liked the show, be sure to subscribe,
share rate and review it helps people find the show. And until
next time. See you then. Thanks Matt.
This has been the rich Redmond show, subscribe rate and follow
along At rich redman.com forward slash podcasts