Drum Dungeon Interview with Carl Palmer, www.thedrumdungeon.com

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Drum Dungeon Exclusive Interview with Drum Legend CARL PALMER - by Lew Bowman

DD - Like to start off of course by saying thanks for giving the Dungeon a few moments to chat with you Carl. Your impressive body of work and accomplishments precede you.

CP - yeah, great to do it.

DD - We have always heard of the various ways you stay in shape not only for drumming but for sound mind and body; How has your martial arts discipline, workout, and practice regimen changed from earlier in your career to the present?

CP - I haven't practiced martial arts for many years since I had my hands operated on, but I do various other things such as swimming, a little bit of fencing - I like to run quite a lot to keep the cardio up.

DD - Do you rehearse when touring?

CP - As you've seen here yourself today, we go through a very structured and lengthy sound check starting with every aspect of my kit, then checking the details of every instrument and sound settings for each song - then we run through some bits and pieces of certain songs so we can hear the room as a complete band.

DD - You give credit to Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich as some of your earliest influences; What was it about them in your own words that really grabbed your attention? When you rehearse, do you go back to any of the big-band stuff?

CP - Gene Krupa had a movie come out on his life and it was the first movie I had seen at the time about a drummer - it was called "The Gene Krupa Story" in the US and "Drum Crazy" in the UK, and it was a big influence on me. I thought to myself I'd like to do that and I did. I would think Buddy Rich was the first of the technical drummers I got to see, but saying that, there were so many other great drummers at the time like Sonny Payne from the Count Basie Orchestra that I saw, Joe Morrello, many happened to be American, there were so many drummers around that period, and Buddy Rich seems to always get pulled out as the main influence, but there were many influences.

My father was involved in music, my Grandfather and his brother, their Mother, a long chain of music in the family that also helped influence me.

I started off in an actual traditional jazz group, like a New Orleans type of band, that's how I actually started - I actually started with an accordion player and myself, but that was the first gig I ever did...but was actually playing traditional jazz for a long time.

DD - Traditional grip exclusively? Or do you ever switch up matched [Timpani playing aside]?

CP - I switch over occasionally, but I would say, yeah, 95% traditional grip, sometimes when I use the beaters [mallets], I play down or matched grip

DD - Any solo original music in development right now aside from the release of Omega? Or just having fun touring with your band and Asia?

CP - We just released our [the Carl Palmer Band] third LIVE CD "Working LIVE Volume 3" October the 19th [2010] of the new album with this band featuring a lot of classical adaptations, there's also a piece on there called "In a Moroccan Market" which is like a complete sort-of drum piece. We're playing Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" on the album and that all came out the 19th...18th or 19th I believe.

DD - What was it like recording and touring again with your old mates in Asia? How does the chemistry vary from your first recording with the original line-up?

CP - Well we've been back together five years now [the original line-up] so it's been great, we got back for the 25th anniversary and we've remained sort of doing you know, two or three months work a year ever since.

DD - Asia's 2010 release "Omega" has really gotten a lot of praise from fans, almost all proclaiming it as the best you've put out since the grand debut back in the day; Why do you feel that is? Was there a conscious effort to do something different in the studio?

CP - it was fine being back in the studio with Asia, obviously the Phoenix album didn't do very well, the Omega album hasn't done very well, but we knew they weren't going to be blockbusters, but you never know I mean you can promote this sort of thing for the next year and it might not do anything. I think Omega is a better album, I agree.

DD - I have read that during the making of ELP's definitive second album, Tarkus, you and Keith were experimenting and really pushing the prog-rock envelope so to speak - Greg Lake was indecisive and a bit hesitant at first?

CP - Oh, we just sorted it out internally I can't remember the actual conversations, I mean you are going back to the seventies - we sorted it out, he [Greg Lake] didn't want to go that way, we did, so we went that way and he followed, basically.

DD - Have you ever practiced going between German and French grip?

CP - No I don't switch up much with my right hand, I play traditional grip with my left, and my right hand knuckles up, thumb at the side...whatever you want to call that.

The Drum Dungeon had the honor of sitting down for a chat with legendary drummer and percussionist extraordinaire Carl Palmer.

We also had the pleasure of sitting through one of his meticulous sound checks - the man literally is "hands-on" with every aspect, instrument, and sound effect for each song. Running back and forth from his kit on stage to the front of house to work with his sound engineers to make sure everything was up to snuff in the room. His manager told us 'he does this every single night in each venue we play"

November 2010 - Las Vegas

For interview requests with The Drum Dungeon, send your inquiries and requests to media@thedrumdungeon.com

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DD - In July of this year [2010] you did a one-off re-union show with ELP; When the original line-up gets back together, is it any less exciting to play off of that original chemistry today?

CP - It was great, it's been 12 years, it was the fourtieth anniversary. It was great to play all that music, it was extremely nostalgic, we all enjoyed it, and the festival [for] all intents and purposes went down very well, it was received well. There will be a DVD that will come from that and there will be a sound file or CD that will be released eventually I would imagine. As a matter of fact we're working on the DVD now [as of Nov. 2010].

DD - How does the movie "solos" differ from your instructional DVD "Carl Palmer Drum Solos"?

CP - They're completely different; one is like an art form of like photography and like just filming a drummer in a beautiful location...and the solos I played have not really been heard before. So, that'll come out some time next year [2011]. It was recorded in the UK [PAL] so it has to be transferred to NTSC and once that's done you'll get that. The other more instructional type DVD is more like my solos through the generations and we just decided to put them on DVD, put a PDF [transcription] in there so you could download it and look at it musically and then you can also adjust the speed [3 different meters] of each solo as well.

DD - Aside from keeping busy with The Carl Palmer Band, Asia, and clinics; Have you given any thought to doing additional instructional DVD's beyond your "Carl Palmer Drum Solos" DVD? I think the world would love a more one-on-one clinic based instruction or even a series from you - for those who cannot attend in person.

CP - Well the solo thing will come out, and you can see that as a real kind of an art form as far as like they're not drum solos which you do in a show, they're the kind of a drum solo where I'm just playing a snare drum. I'm just playing with little hand cymbals on the drums, very atmospheric, it's all worked out, it's all designed and there's another time where I'm playing an ostinato with the bass drum pedal's and I'm playing Darbuka which is an egyptian drum. So, that's going to come out, and once that comes out, I think, to actually do an instructional DVD; this is how I do that and do these exercises, um, I've never really been tempted to do that.

So, I thought I'd get this solo thing done because I got a grant from the British government, the arts council to make these four drum solos, in the solo form, and they would all be like done in a different way; different photography, different angles type of thing, great color. And I did it with the guy that, um the chap who did the promotional video for the Eurostaff tunnel between England and France, under the channel - there was a promotional film which we made in England to promote this new tunnel, this new crossing, cause it goes under water basically, the train, and the guy that did it contacted me and said do you want to make a film about, like drum solos somehow and I said yeah. We'll shoot a film with me playing the snare drum and all the tricks and things I can do with that and take it from there, and that there is on YouTube you can pull that up, and that's how it started really. I'm gonna get that out there [the solos movie], and then look at um instructional DVD...there's so much out there and I don't know how much of a need there is for more.

DD - So much out there Carl, but not from YOU, I really think there is a whole generation of pupils out there who would love to work with something instructional from Carl Palmer.

CP - When I have these two out there [solo DVD's] I don't know that I want to sit in a room and doing what's all been done already. I just don't feel in a rush to do that. Who knows, I've got time..I've got time. I actually want to release a book first, my biography.

DD - After all you have accomplished, goals and dreams you have surpassed; Is there still any one or two mountains you would still love to climb in your career? Or are you a satisfied man as look back on your life and body of work?

CP - I think every day I climb the mountain I personally want to climb, um, I've got a philosophy in life that...I'm 60 now so, I've had a great career, had a great period, been in three bands that have had number one singles [or better]. So I've had more luck than the average drummer could ever wish for really in his life, although I'm not an average drummer and I know that. I think as long as I'm improving, then I'm extremely happy, and I still do feel that I am improving...and that really is my goal, to just keep improving, [as far as performing] and even if I no longer have the ability to improve, as long as I can maintain my standard I'll carry on - the minute I'm not improving and I cannot carry on to standard...I will stop...so, I'm living my dream right now.

DD - Thanks again for giving us a bit of your time, and here's wishing you, your family and friends have some great holdiays. Stay safe on the road...

CP - Thank you so much, and you're more than welcome!

NOTE: To anyone who even has a remote chance of seeing The Carl Palmer Band in your area or nearby, DO IT! Carl is utilizing two young virtuoso guitarists, Paul Bielatowicz [Lead], Stuart Clayton [bass] and doing the songs without keyboards, you have to hear it to believe it! The Dungeon also HIGHLY recommends getting Carl's LIVE discs "Working LIVE Volumes 1-3". We [The Dungeon] got our hands on the newly released Volume 3 and it is absolutely amazing! Vintage Carl with some new twists. We will have a full review of the CD and Carl's Drum Solos DVD in our "Talk to the Tech" section very soon.

To buy The Carl Palmer Band's CD's follow the link: http://www.oneshoprock.com/products.asp?cat=306

For Carl's Official Website: www.carlpalmer.com

Send Tony an email with any tidbits or photos for the ELP Archives: elptony@msn.com

Click on the image above to order The Carl Palmer Bands "Working LIVE Vol. 3"

Dungeon Rating

5 stix out of 5