We converse to music journalist Christopher Weingarten about why so many high-profile drummers have both been fired or retired this 12 months in what’s been dubbed the “Drumpocalypse.”
(SOUNDBITE OF FOO FIGHTERS SONG, “MY HERO”)
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
With regards to bands, drummers are hardly ever within the highlight, and but they supply the rhythm, the tempo, the beat that may make a track unforgettable.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOO FIGHTERS SONG, “MY HERO”)
RASCOE: However in well-liked tradition, they’re usually the punch line. Within the 1984 mockumentary, “This Is Spinal Faucet,” one drummer famously met a weird finish.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THIS IS SPINAL TAP”)
MICHAEL MCKEAN: (As David St. Hubbins) Dozens of individuals spontaneously combust every year.
RASCOE: Right now, although, drummers are dealing with a brand new sort of menace. Greater than a dozen high-profile drummers have both been fired or retired from their bands this 12 months in what’s been dubbed…
CHRISTOPHER WEINGARTEN: The drumpocalypse.
RASCOE: That is Christopher Weingarten, a music journalist who’s been writing concerning the development for the web music weblog Stereogum. Among the many bands parting methods with their drummers – Weapons N’ Roses, Foo Fighters and The Who.
WEINGARTEN: I feel that is unprecedented.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE WHO SONG, “WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN”)
WEINGARTEN: The Who firing Zak Starkey was headlines as a result of he is been within the band for nearly 30 years, . He was – he was within the band longer than Keith Moon was within the band.
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RASCOE: One other firing, Josh Freese, the drummer of the Foo Fighters.
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WEINGARTEN: Josh Freese might be probably the most dependable employed gun in all of different rock. He’s a machine.
RASCOE: And he is obtained the resume to again it up.
WEINGARTEN: He is performed for Devo for a few years. He is performed with 9 Inch Nails, with Weapons N’ Roses, with Weezer, with The Offspring. He’s the man.
RASCOE: So what’s behind the drumpocalypse?
WEINGARTEN: Occam’s razor will inform you that it is only a coincidence.
RASCOE: However Weingarten says age is a giant issue and…
WEINGARTEN: The financial actuality now’s completely different than it was 20 years in the past.
RASCOE: Drummers aren’t making the large bucks they used to, and the life-style is not glamorous. Years on the highway takes its toll. However when one drummer steps down, another person will get to choose up the drumsticks.
JOHN HOFFMAN: I sort of needed to go trial by hearth.
RASCOE: That is John Hoffman, who not too long ago joined the rock band Primus.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RASCOE: He beat out greater than 6,000 different drummers for the gig.
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RASCOE: And now he says his new bandmates are watching him develop into his new position and develop into a rock star.
HOFFMAN: I feel that on one hand, they’re giving me type of room to develop and area to unfold my wings, however I feel in addition they sort of in some methods, get a kick out of watching me type of expertise these new issues that they have been, , concerned in for many years and a long time.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMUS SONG, “DUCHESS (AND THE PROVERBIAL MIND SPREAD)”)
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