I’ve already done two blog lists of drummers who I don’t think get their proper recognition as players who should be better known than they are. You can check those blogs out elsewhere on this site.
With this 3rd list, the same principles apply as before - in order to qualify for the list, I need to have seen the individual concerned at least once live…so Animal still isn’t getting in, more’s the pity
Anyway, here we go…in no particular order
Gregg Bissonnette (DLR, Satriani and more)
I think Gregg is one of those drummers that gets overlooked simply because he’s done so much with so many different people in so many different musical styles and not just played in one band for 40 years. He’s an incredibly gifted player and his instructional video that I bought many years ago during his time with Roth was probably the most instructive tape that I ever got, getting me into 2/3 and 3/2 claves!!
I finally got to see him play with Joe Satriani in Birmingham on The Extremist tour along with his brother Matt on bass guitar and he was smooth as silk with great feel and amazing chops. Everyone should watch his tutorial on just how good Ringo Starr was to know how much he cares about drumming. He’s also incredibly enthusiastic about the craft and an infectious personality into the bargain. Met him once a drum show in Birmingham and he was so lovely. But what a bloody player.
Key track: Shyboy
Pete Jupp (FM)
The first time I ever got down the front at Birmingham Odeon was for the Bon Jovi gig in late 1986, when FM were the support band. My eyes immediately locked onto Pete behind the kit as soon as he played a really cool fill during opening number “That Girl” and I watched him pretty much exclusively from that moment on till the end of their set.
He’s another brilliant “song” drummer like Mickey Curry who I’ve mentioned before in previous blogs like this. Plays with real power yet with finesse too. I’ve got to know him in recent years and what brilliant company him and his band mates are. It’s wonderful to see the renaissance that FM have had over the past decade or so, and Pete’s rock solid playing is a huge part of that deserved comeback…and he now plays a gorgeous British Drum Co. kit that sounds the absolute business!
Key Track: That Girl
Joey Gold (Love/Hate)
Love/Hate never quite got the recognition that they deserved in the late 80s/early 90s. It might have been the slightly weird, slightly infantile lyrics that worked against them as much as anything else, but they were great songs on those first two albums and Joey really impressed me with his playing. Shotgun Wedding (my band at that time) drew heavily on Love/Hate as an influence and I tried to take as much as I could from what Joey was doing in those songs.
We got to see the band a couple of times in the UK around that time and Joey formed an excellent live rhythm section with Skid Rose on bass. I think the production on those early albums of theirs probably helped his style of playing catch my ear a little better. Tom Werman did a stunning job on Blackout In The Red Room for sure. Not sure what he’s doing now as a drummer, but I don’t think he got his due as one of the smarter hard rock players of that Sunset Strip LA era
Key track: Tranquiliser
Anton Fig (Spider/KISS/Ace Frehley/Joe Bonamassa)
Well here’s a guy that needs bigging up for definite. Ace Frehley’s solo LP was one of the first KISS albums I ever heard at the age of 10 or 11, and despite the fact that I was only just getting into drums around this period, something told my young brain that this guy playing with Ace could play rings around Peter Criss…those fills on ‘Rip It Out’ just stop you in your tracks (I later found out Anton doubled tracked those fills for extra emphasis…that worked well, then!!!). I can remember being so excited to subsequently work out some of the patterns he played, like the funky one on ‘Wiped Out’.
It was years later before it was officially revealed that Anton had secretly played on the KISS albums Dynasty & Unmasked, but I can tell you I’d worked THAT out by the age of 12!! Listen to the drum fills played in the breakdown section of ‘Two Sides Of The Coin’ off Unmasked and you’ll hear the similarities between those and the ‘Rip It Out’ ones I mentioned earlier!! It’s obvious really!!
I was fully expecting to see Anton on drums when Frehley’s Comet played their one and only UK gig at Hammy Odeon in early 1988, but NO! He’d left to play in Letterman’s House Band, meaning Jamie Oldaker did that show…not to denigrate Jamie but those ‘Rip It Out’ fills he did in the first number weren’t even close to Anton quality…I did finally get to see Anton about 10 years ago playing for Joe Bonamassa in Bournemouth and his playing was as tasty as I was hoping for.
Key Track: Rip It Out
Will Calhoun (Living Colour)
Living Colour always like to live a little dangerously onstage and take risks. Will Calhoun is a BIG part of that behind the kit. Vernon Reid is a very experimental guitarist who clearly loves the jazz/fusion elements of music but brings them into the rock sphere, and with someone as powerful as Will backing him up, it all meshed together beautifully. I always thought his snare sound was a little too loud on the 2nd LP Times Up, but the drumming on that album is so good - thrash, funk, African, straight ahead rock, blues…it’s all there.
Similar to the story in my first blog in this series when i got to watch the incredible Vinnie Appice up close and personal from side stage at Steelhouse Festival one year, i was afforded the same opportunity up the mountain when Living Colour came to play a few years later. Amazing to watch him fly around the kit meshing styles together so naturally. And another lovely fella to meet too.
Key Track: Cult Of Personality / Under Cover Of Darkness
Your thoughts welcome on these guys in the comments below - or indeed on my previous selections for overlooked drummers!!