April 1978 - Modern Drummer - Carmine Appice

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• APRIL 1978 $1.75MODERN DRUMMER A Contemporary Publication Exclusively for Drummers
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• LONG ISLAND DRUM CENTERLong Island's First and Only Percus- sion Shop announces special percus- sionist mail order service. 1. We ship anywhere at discounts of up to 40%.
• Page 4Everybody wants a piece of Appice. If you're good, you get noticed. If you're Carmine Appice, you get offers. Offers to play with everybody everywhere on earth. Appice is one of the all-time heavies and has been a driving force with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; KGB/Mike Bloomfield; Beck, Bogert & Appice; and is currently with The Rod Stewart Band. If you're striving for his kind of talent and his kind of recognition, do it on his kind of drum. Ludwig.
• SYNARE 3-THE ELECTRONIC DRUM... $195.00OSC1 asc 2 TUNE
• Page 6To a professional, purity and excellence of sound are absolute necessities. There is no middle ground. That's why, for almost 100 years, the finest percussionists through- out the world have insisted on Gretsch Drums. The plateau of excellence achieved by Gretsch Drums is no accident. Outstanding tonal capability is made possible by the superior workmanship of Gretsch craftsmen, using only the finest materials available. Six ply laminated wood shells, die-cast fully flanged hoops, self-aligning tension- ing are only a few of the reasons the best drummers choose Gretsch.
• Page 7APPICE: As I prepared myself for an interview with Carmine Appice, it seemed hard to believe that it had been ten years since his first appearance on record with Vanilla Fudge. Even then he was a drummer to be reckoned with. His influence on drummers in the 60's was considerable. Since the Vanilla Fudge, Carmine has anchored Cactus, Beck/Bogart and Appice, and KGB. Now he is the driving force behind Rod Stewart. We met at a Ludwig Drum Clinic presented by the Long Island Drum Shop in North Merrick, New York. The clinic was held around the corner at a firehouse and it was like old home week for Long Islander Carmine, as he was besieged by well-wishers, former students and autograph seekers. Three other musicians had been called to form a pick-up band, and after Carmine was introduced, the band kicked off with a jazz-rock jam. Appice was in rare form. He breezed through the jam in 4/4, and then through a demonstration in 7/8, 9/8 and 6/8. His use of Polyrhythms, dynamics and space were as good as any of the more popular drummers known for their jazz-rock drumming. After the clinic, Carmine invited me to his parents home in Brooklyn to do the interview. My first question was in regard to his practice routine. "I try to teach about six hours a week. That's the only way I get to practice. I'm so busy that it's hard to just sit down and practice. I force myself by teaching. I used to practice about an hour and a half a day with books, and at least two hours just playing with people. Whenever I'm home, I call my students up and say, 'Okay, if you want to come, I can put you in here or there! and we get it together. They understand that I travel and they take it for what it is." Carmine uses a unique right hand grip, holding the stick between his index and middle fingers rather than the thumb and index finger. "I hold it that way primarily to twirl the stick. That's the way it came about. It also helps when your hand sweats. It's a better grip between those two fingers, where there's a lot of pressure. This way the stick can't run away. When I'm playing loud, I use this grip about 75%
• Page 8The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra has been going strong for some thirteen years now, consistant poll winners, and the hit of almost every jazz festival they perform at. All the more reason for my shock when drummer co-leader Mel Lewis informed me that, "there haven't been any profits yet; the profits have all been in the music making — and in the fun and pleasure." Spending the better part of an afternoon at his plush New York City apartment, we listened first to a tape of the 1955 Stan Kenton band, the vehicle which brought the distinctive Mel Lewis brand of drumming to the attention of all who respect and admire him today. Later we listened to a Jones-Lewis Orchestra concert taped live a short time ago in France. In this relaxed and cordial atmosphere, we settled back for an afternoon of conversation where Mel spoke openly about drumming, and about the state of the art to which he's dedicated practically all of his adult life. Later — in transcribing his comments — I realized that some of what Mel said could easily be misinterpreted as egotistical. Not so. To know thyself is a virtue, and Mel Lewis might very well be the most honest person I've ever met. He spoke as an artist dedicated to "pure jazz," with the Kenton band, and this is not to MEL LEWIS with its roots firmly imbedded in bop. His style of playing hasn't changed all that much since he first gained recognition slight him. It's just that Mel Lewis has been an excellent drummerfor a long time.
• Page 9STRAIGHT AHEAD by Scott Kevin Fish time. No muffling on the outside head of the bass drum. Just a thin felt strip and a Gretsch bass drum tone control on the batter head. That's all I still use. SF: No mufflers on your snare drum?
• Page 10Alex Acuna, world-famous percussionist/ drummer, has earned an amazing breadth of musical credentials. In addition to his important role with Weather Report, he has played with noted musicians representing nearly every part of the music spectrum...ranging from Pablo Casals, Perez Prado and Sergio Mendes to Elvis Presley and Diana Ross. ROGERS
• Page 11special kind of discipline...so that each instrument blends into the total musical fabric. With the wide variety of drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments that I use, the exact positioning of each instrument becomes critical. That's one reason I use Rogers. The MemriLoc hardware lets me set up in the identical way for each performance...quickly and accurately! On the dual tom there is a Memri-dial that helps me fix the three- dimensional position of each drum and a key-lock principle that sets the precise height!
• Page 12APPICE lan Paice. They're good friends of mine. When Carl Palmer and I are around, we'll call each other up and rap for an hour. I've talked with Louie Bellson and Joe Morello. Like tonight, I'll get to see Max for the first time. Hopefully, I'll get to rap with him, but I feel funny going up to him and saying, 'Hi, I'm Carmine Appice, and I play Ludwig Drums', y'know. The first time I saw Tony Williams was when he had Jack Bruce in Lifetime. He was the only drummer to ever floor me in twenty seconds. Totally blew my mind. When I was with the Fudge, I was on an ego trip. I went to hear Tony and said to myself, 'Alright, let's see what you can do' — well, he played like twenty seconds, and I said, 'are you kidding'. He had a four-piece set with an 18" bass drum and I didn't know where he was coming from, or where he got his rhythms from. As I progressed and started doing more clinics and getting into it, I started realizing what was going on. I probably do the same thing to these young kids. I'll play some odd figure and they look at me like, 'Wow, what is it?' " Drumming has both progressed and digressed since the heydey of the 60's, when Carmine first came on the scene. There are many good players around but there seems to be an increasing public demand for bands that offer little creativity for drummers. We reminisced about the 60's and tried to bring the current music scene, especially the drummers, into perspective. "The business now is almost like it was ten years ago. Underground progressive music like Cream and Mahavishnu aren't making it. All the big Madison Square Garden things are not progressive music anymore. It's all commercial. The Rod Stewart's. . . the Zeppelin's. . . it's very easy drumming. Simple drumming. I feel I was lucky to come into this business when I did. I made my reputation by my association with a lot of big name people. Being with Beck, and now with Stewart. I couldn't play in a band if I didn't have my little spot. I'm known as a soloist. That's where I shine. I shine playing with the band also, to a point, but like playing with Rod, I just play rock. Very simple and powerful. I play eighty-five percent of what I play, with him. But most of my stuff, I do during my solo. I'm worried. I don't think it's a very good time for drummers. I mean, what new drummer has come along that has really blown everybody's mind? Cobham was the last one with Mahavishnu in '72. That kind of music just isn't around anymore. Today, it's all very commercial, image oriented music. Disco, rock, heavy rock, and Kiss type music. When I first made it with Fudge, there was Cream, Hendrix. .all the instrumental based music. People were freaking out over it. Nowadays, it's wierd.
• Cobham and Tama-MagicBilly Cobham...the state of the playing art in drumming. Tama....the state of the art in percussion products Billy and Tama together...the magical comgination. "Before I found Tama, most of my equipment was custom made. I was amazed to find that there was really a drum company who made products designed for the touring drummer. Tama Drums and hardware are twice as strong as anything the industry has to offer and the sound projects better than anything I've heard. You owe it to yourself as a player to consider Tama before you get your next set."
• Page 14Great cymbals are made, not manufactured. The one thing that mass pro- duction cannot produce is greatness. That's why no cym- bal with the Zildjian name on it will ever be stamped out of sheet metal.