This slightly overdue: my subscription to Modern Drummer arrives at my mom's house. I found one unread issue at her house today (November 2005) with Ringo Starr of the Beatles on the cover. The cover story is entitled, "The Starr Treatment: 21 Top Drummers Ask Ringo 35 Questions. Charlie just happens to be one of those top drummers! Here we go:
Charlie Benante (Anthrax)
Charlie: I have read that you felt "Rain" was your finest performance. Can you tell us why?
Ringo: I never said it was my finest performance. I just felt at that time, with "Rain," being played differently than I had before. There were alot more fast fills in there, which is different for me, because my style usually is to play half time, whatever that time may be. And I just thought I was doing a lot of faster things on that one. I do love the track.
Charlie: How long would you go before you changed your snare drum head in the studio?
Ringo: Forever. Also, like the cymbals, there were very few snare drum changes in the studio. In fact, I had a few plastic heads, of course, in the beginning. Then I ended up with a calf head that for some reason, I poured milk all over, which stretched it. Somebody said milk was good. That head lasted me for years and years. It's on practically every track from '67 and '68. It actually had a hole in it, which I just stuffed chewing gum in, and it still survived.
In the '70's, when I was spending a lot of time in LA, they used to have a get-together on Sunday nights called "the Jim Keltner Fan Club," and my kit was over there one time-it was in all different studios, usually the Record Plant-and everybody would come down and just jam, including Mick [Jagger]. Anyway, Paul [McCartney] came down one night. When I got off the kit, he started playing and put a stick right through the snare head. But I'm not bitter. [laughs] Anyway, that was the end of that.
So, I'm not one for changing skins all the time. And here in America I'm well hooked up because Jeff Chonis, my drum tech, is just the finest. I appreciate him so much, I love him, and I want to thank him because drum techs are very important.
Charlie Benante (Anthrax)
Charlie: I have read that you felt "Rain" was your finest performance. Can you tell us why?
Ringo: I never said it was my finest performance. I just felt at that time, with "Rain," being played differently than I had before. There were alot more fast fills in there, which is different for me, because my style usually is to play half time, whatever that time may be. And I just thought I was doing a lot of faster things on that one. I do love the track.
Charlie: How long would you go before you changed your snare drum head in the studio?
Ringo: Forever. Also, like the cymbals, there were very few snare drum changes in the studio. In fact, I had a few plastic heads, of course, in the beginning. Then I ended up with a calf head that for some reason, I poured milk all over, which stretched it. Somebody said milk was good. That head lasted me for years and years. It's on practically every track from '67 and '68. It actually had a hole in it, which I just stuffed chewing gum in, and it still survived.
In the '70's, when I was spending a lot of time in LA, they used to have a get-together on Sunday nights called "the Jim Keltner Fan Club," and my kit was over there one time-it was in all different studios, usually the Record Plant-and everybody would come down and just jam, including Mick [Jagger]. Anyway, Paul [McCartney] came down one night. When I got off the kit, he started playing and put a stick right through the snare head. But I'm not bitter. [laughs] Anyway, that was the end of that.
So, I'm not one for changing skins all the time. And here in America I'm well hooked up because Jeff Chonis, my drum tech, is just the finest. I appreciate him so much, I love him, and I want to thank him because drum techs are very important.
