Best Rock Drummer - Rhythm Readers Poll 2005
Well done on another victory in the Rock Drummer category...
Thank you to everyone, it’s awesome to keep winning. I’m very flattered that people enjoy what I do, but I feel slightly sheepish and undeserving at the same time, considering how many great drummers there are out there.
Who would you have voted for?
Jon Theodore from Mars Volta is definitely one of the best around and Roger Taylor, who’s playing again, is still one of my favourite rock drummers of all time. Fab Moretti also deserves some love...The Strokes’ new album is going to blow you away and he has really stepped things up this time round with some amazing and very interesting drum parts.
You’re out on the road at the moment - everything going well?
It’s going great. I’m especially enjoying the tour now because we are able to play longer shows, which means we can fit more new songs into the set and still play all the old songs people want to hear, which is really important to us. We are not one of those bands who take themselves so seriously that they will only play songs from the new album.
This tour has seen you step out from behind the drum kit to sing and play guitar on the song you wrote on In Your Honour, “Cold Day in the Sun”.
It’s a fun and very lighthearted part of the set and Dave gets to go back and play the drums, which people really enjoy. I’m awful at guitar though - I can write songs on one, but I can’t run around on stage and play!
2006 is set to be another exciting year for you with the release of the Coattail Riders debut record. Are you going to do any live shows with the trio?
At this point there is nothing planned, but i hope so. I’ll play drums and sing - I don’t want to go to the front of the stage and be the front guy. As we are a trio the shows will be more broken down from the record and we’ll be stretching stuff out. More of a Cream template, you know? It might sound corny but it’s all about the music, and this band gives me the chance to do stuff - like odd time things - that just aren’t called for in the Foo Fighters.
