How the drummer does it
Paicey talks how he got back in shape for recording of Turning to Crime after the somewhat forced pandemic hiatus, and shares his practice footage.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/glover5.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice2.jpg)
Paicey talks how he got back in shape for recording of Turning to Crime after the somewhat forced pandemic hiatus, and shares his practice footage.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Simply amazing. Mistakes?! If Don can give him most of the credit for the new album, I say give the sticks credit here for how fast he can play.
January 1st, 2022 at 23:11Statement of fitness 👍
January 2nd, 2022 at 09:28What does Ian Gillan do to keep his voice in shape?
I think lots of artists will be in the same boat regarding been a bit rusty.
Peace
While Ian and Roger keep rhythm … real rock is still alive
Happy New Year All DP family
January 2nd, 2022 at 11:52I find it interesting that he used solos as a way of practicing when he couldn’t perform songs with bandmates.
January 3rd, 2022 at 20:13By far my favorite all time rock drummer
January 4th, 2022 at 17:55The man has incredible feel as a drummer (plus an incredible technique). If I wasn’t such a great DP fan, I’d even say he is too good for Purple. But in fact he is one of the major, yet often overlooked ingredients of Deep Purple.
January 4th, 2022 at 23:36Uwe @6, agreed. He has such finesse in his technique. An incredibly fine drummer who is so under-rated. Lots of other big names get all the attention.
January 5th, 2022 at 13:51Uwe @6
January 5th, 2022 at 20:56I think it’s hard to say that little Ian was too good for purple ( wether you are a fan or not) when you have the likes of Ritchie and Jon lord and the screaming voice of Ian Gillan.
He didn’t even stay with Whitesnake as Mr Coverdale replaced him with Cozy.
The chemistry of MK2 line up was amazing even in the 1984 reunion it was amazing.
I think he is by far the best drummer for his age bracket at this moment of time.
Peace
DC kicking out Little Ian was the beginning of the demise of WS as one of the great Brit blues-rock bands. You can credibly argue that Cozy was the right drummer for Rainbow’s “Barbarians at the gate”-sledgehammer attacks (though I never particularly liked bis heavy-handed drumming and the way he played everything too fast), but for WS he was all wrong as Micky Moody already noticed early on. I saw the Galley/Moody line-up several times and the Galley/Sykes line-up once, neuer did they do the old songs justice und Cozy was unfortunately the main culprit.
Cozy was a showman and a character – plus a percussive one- or two-trick pony, but he totally lacked empathy for his fellow WS musicians and had zero feel for their music.
January 7th, 2022 at 00:18I agree the departure of Paice from WH ( Bernie and Neil too) beginning of the end of WS British hard rock-blues band. Great musician was Cozy but Paice is compatible playing WS sound
Little Ian’s arrival in Gary Moore made the band much better, the best in Gary’s hard rock era. Gary and Ian together exciting rock collaboration (1982-1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxMl7NP5Jf8
Craig Gruber- bass original … Rainbow
January 8th, 2022 at 08:30@ Uwe: I’m afraid you’re true. Cozy did not do the old WS-songs justice. And from that on DC had a row of drummers that even sometimes butchered the songs … just listen to live recordings of Don’t break my Heart again or Walking in the shadow of the Blues. I never saw why DC stuck with Tommy Aldridge … that man kinda slays everything …
January 10th, 2022 at 11:33Liked Cozy in rainbow though.
Aldridge has chops no doubt, but I always found his drumming mechanical, like listening to a drum clinic. Of the later WS drummers, only Denny Carmassi stood out.
Rainbow was never a groove-oriented band. The only Rainbow album that ever grooved was the debut, because Elf were a groovy band, but then Ritchie quickly got rid of exactly the people who had provided that (in Elf’s case: very American) groove. And neither Powell/Bain nor Powell/Daisley nor Powell/Glover nor Rondinelli/Glover nor Burgi/Glover could ever replicate live that rhythm section groove from the debut, compared to Driscoll/Gruber they all sounded a little angular (listen to the Rainbow debut and concentrate on drums and bass if you don’t believe me, Gary Driscoll and Craig Gruber had amazing interplay from years and years together).
Rainbow rocked, but it never rolled. Purple’s ability to not just rock, but also roll (= true of any DP line-up), was what actually set it apart the most from Rainbow. The difference between Lady Starstruck off Rising and Hold On off Stormbringer – both of them shuffles – is revelatory in nature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ughtJ6nLowY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XezQpweNYOk
Rainbow’s consistent stiffness in the rhythm department always marred their music for me. That is why I loved early Whitesnake so much because both the Dowle/Murray and the Paice/Murray rhythm sections had that groove shtick going. And then DC went and hired Cozy of all people! I was aghast when I heard it. Plus Colin Hodkinson as the bass player, technically a notable, idiosyncratic player, but very angular too. To boot, Powell/Hodkinson were a mismatch only DC could come up with as they both didn’t really listen to each other. Which at one point had Cozy storming out of his drum booth in the studio and walking over to Colin with the caustic remark: “Let me introduce myself, I’M THE DRUMMER!”
: – )
January 11th, 2022 at 14:35The saying ‘never compare an apple to an orange’ is well documented in Uwe’s ongoing displeasure with the rock band Rainbow or Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow & Cozy Powell’s drumming technique. I wasn’t initially going to reply to his latest comments as I would be repeating myself, but I will ‘elaborate’ a little further. How is that for getting around my lack of discipline? Firstly, Rainbow were never ever going to be a ‘groove orientate band’ & we (or most of us) are glad for that. After the Glenn Hughes influenced Stormbringer feel, no thanks. More on that later. Secondly, comparing ‘live’ rhythm sections of later incarnations of Rainbow to a studio only debut album is rather pointless. None of those mentioned rhythm players would have been trying to replicate the first lineup, why would they want to do that. Every musician has their own technique & feel etc, whether it works or not is another thing. But replicate, no need to bother for a new band. Wasn’t it Robert Fripp telling the 2 new members & one previous member of King Crimson in the early 80s, ‘if you have heard it or played it before, forget it” or words to that effect. It will be all new material etc, etc. It is what musicians attempting to move forward do & not to drag the past along with them (I have been Mistreated excepted it seems). ‘Rainbow rocked but didn’t roll” well each to their own on that interpretation, I presume Uwe means swing, groove etc. However we return to the previous thing of replicate etc. Why? Rainbow created epic compositions & sound wise were eons ahead of all the post Purple bands. Whitesnake & Gillan were ok at times, but not in that grandiose stratosphere that Blackmore & Dio & company did venture into. Blackmore wanted to move in a different direction. DP is DP, Rainbow is Rainbow. Does anyone compare Whitesnake to DP? I certainly never have & I don’t recall others saying anything along those lines & as we know there were 3 ex Purple members in that Coverdale lead band back when it mattered. Are Gillan & his various bands comparable to DP, no they are not. Never have been. Not sure why Rainbow should or could be. They are all different bands not attempting to compete with earlier era’s of DP. Finally the ‘comparison’ with the two entirely different songs & with no musical connection at all except for the guitarist. Holy Man, a track Blackmore had nothing to do with the composition of at all apparently. The Rainbow track Starstruck is obviously Blackmore & Dio composed no doubt. Enough said there. They are stratospheres apart. I can understand Uwe & others not liking Rainbow for different reasons, each to their own or even being annoyed with Cozy Powell’s technique etc, but the comparison of Rainbow to Purple is irrelevant. As for the Cozy comment regarding the caustic remark, I have never heard that before, classic. Cheers.
January 12th, 2022 at 06:32Not compare the other post-split bands to Purple? Why the hell not? Easy, Herr MacGregor, you ole Rainbow nut:
Whitesnake came for me closest to Purple in groove and warmth (hence they were probably my favorite in their Marsden/Moody days, the music was so good, I could ignore David’s often inane lyrics).
The Ian Gillan Band I liked for the prog-jazzy influence and Big Ian’s vocal melodies, reminiscent of Purple’s more proggy work on, say, Fireball.
GILLAN (the band) for its punkish energy, off-the-wall humor and its Purplish willingness to take chances. Plus John McCoy’s larger-than-life bass playing and stage presence.
PAL I dug for the groove, for being similarly daring as IGB, Bernie Marsden’s melodic singing and playing plus Little Ian’s great interplay with Paul Martinez (who played much like Glenn Hughes in case nobody noticed, evidencing that the funk tendencies in Mk III and Mk IV did not just come from Glenn, Little Ian was reinventing himself too and Americanizing his style, his drumming with PAL was a perfect continuation of what he had done with Mk IV).
Glenn’s Play Me Out and Tommy’s Private Eyes were both wonderfully committed solo albums with tons of feel: Glenn’s sense of timing immediately reminded me of his work with DP Mk III and IV; Tommy’s greater integration of keyboards into his sound was no doubt a bow to his stint with Purple.
Hell, I even liked the two Nick Simper’s Fandango albums and found parallels to his work with Purple!
Alas!, Rainbow shared with Purple the main songwriter and, uhum, guitar smashing on stage, but consistently stayed under its true potential … No, I am being needlessly nasty here, the debut had good song material (Rising had some fillers and padding for such a short album, I thought LLRnR stronger) and for a while Dio and Blackmore did create a heavy rock sub-genre with their sword & sorcery stuff, granted. Plus there were moments of sheer beauty (Catch the Rainbow, Temple of the King & Rainbow Eyes) and monumental brilliance (Tarot Woman – the synth intro alone is a musical drama seminar, and Gates of Babylon of course).
And I would never say Ritchie had “nothing to do with” Hold On (not Holy Man though his slide solo on that track is great as well), he graced that song with one of his most brilliant off-the-cuff solos ever which elevates the track irrespective of his not being involved in the writing. His solo on that track is genius, entirely musical and idiosyncratic. Sheer wonder, every guitarist I have played it to says so.
Finally, since when doesn’t groove matter to you? What would Lazy be without groove? And that Rainbow could never do a proper (even just instrumental) version of that song is the proof in the pudding, they massacred it. Roger Glover once said to the question what to him is decisive for a DP guitarist: “Can he play Lazy?”
January 13th, 2022 at 01:43I really like Blackmore’s solo’s on Holy Man & Hold On & a few other songs also on Stormbringer that he had little interest in. The groove does matter at certain times on songs etc, so does the straighter rhythm also for me. I do notice the difference in different drummers interpretations of a previous drummers original material. Alan White from Yes playing Bill Bruford’s Yes material is a fine example of different strokes for different folks. I think Alan White is a fine drummer by the way, just not as jazz inspired as Bruford. Same with Cozy being not as inclined to that jazz feel that Ian Paice has. Also Cozy Powell playing Carl Palmer’s ELP material in 1986. It doesn’t bother me too much though as long as the songs are played to a certain level & I am content.There are plenty of other examples as you have stated previously. I don’t recall Rainbow ever playing Lazy, oh hang on, maybe JLT era with Rondinelli on drums possibly, on that old VHS of the concert. I can’t remember it though, Rondinelli is not one of my favourite drummers, he is a good drummer, just not to my taste so to speak. Did the classic Dio era ever attempt it, I am not sure. Is there a snippet of Lazy on live in Munich or the On Stage double album, my memory is testing me again. Cheers.
January 13th, 2022 at 08:41To be honest, I can’t understand why Coverdale has stuck with Tommy Aldridge for so long. I saw them once with Brian Tichy, and he was a much more fluid drummer. Aldridge is very well respected in the drummer community, but he is too much of a basher. I’ve seen live footage of him playing with Ozzy in the early 80’s and I think he was a better drummer then. Saw Whitesnake on the Purple Tour, and him playing Paicey’s songs especially You Fool No One was awful.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:28Yeah, all Rainbow line ups would play a groove-ruining ultra-fast instrumental snippet of Lazy in one of their medleys, generally as an (ill-fitting me thought) intro to MOTSM. Cozy really hammered it to death, but then Blackmore rushed it intentionally as if to pastiche his past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpgu9wKJVbc
I never had issues with Alan White’s drumming, but Bruford had that slightly frenzied inspiration which I always like with a musician. I dug his work with UK too (and King Crimson’s Red of course) though Terry Bozzio as his successor was no slouch either. Danger Money and Night After Night were brilliant albums.
January 13th, 2022 at 12:23@sidroman: To give Ole Cov’ some credit for once, Aldridge’s most recent reinstatement into WS ranks was the result of a band referendum, DC asked and his band members “voted” overwhelmingly for TA though DC had qualms because he found him a bit “too technical”.
Even within Ozzy, I prefered Lee Kerslake’s original work on those first two albums (he had great feel) and later on Carmine Appice’s drumming in the Jake E. Lee line-up with Daisley and Airey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_sc3JUyrSk
That whole line-up was great, only the lead vocalist, of course, had some inherent limits. ; – ) And who knew back then where we would see that keyboarder again?
I’ve seen Ozzy with Randy Rhoads (plus Aldridge & Sarzo), they were nowhere near as good as these guys. There, I’ve said it.
January 13th, 2022 at 17:28Indeed Blackmore does set the pace for that Munich gig in many ways, you were there & as we know he was rushed to the gig after the jail incident. His adrenaline was high, to put it mildly. I just found the Purple 1984 reunion concert on Prime streaming yesterday & watched parts of it. I presume that is the Melbourne concert. I enjoyed watching it after all these decades as it took me back to Sydney 1984. Something that I never noticed at the ’84 Sydney show, in the moment I suppose enjoying it live was an exciting time. Blackmore is playing too fast in his solos at times & Lazy sounds too quick there also. I might have a look at the Come Hell or High Water version again, see if Blackers has slowed it a little. It is a pity Ian Paice cannot start the song, we would get a more disciplined tempo. Cheers.
January 13th, 2022 at 20:33Tommy Aldridge, a decent drummer but not my cup of tea. He is on Gary Moore’s Dirty Fingers album if I am not mistaken & with Don Airey also. I left the Ozzy circus behind around the time of the Bark at the Moon era. This lineup on the link is no doubt the second best lineup. A shame the original band didn’t get to gig more, as time would have seen just how good they would have been. Lee Kerslake has wonderful feel on the kit & Randy Rhoads wrote & played all those wonderful guitar pieces & songs with Bob Daisley & Kerslake. Jake E Lee is very good here & was a decent replacement. As one comment on the tube says, back when Ozzy had a guitarist who didn’t harmonic pinch every 3 seconds. The last of the Ozz circus quality guitarists & he was ripped off also wasn’t he?. Nice to see Sir Don playing Mr Crowley, wonderful. You cannot get better than the original musicians who played & composed the music. Are there any decent live filmed songs from the original lineup? Good to see Carmine Appice here also. Cheers.
January 13th, 2022 at 23:10Just to clarify my query regarding live Ozzy with Randy Rhoads clips. I have the two with Mr Crowley & I Don’t Know from the Aldridge & Sarzo lineup. We need to see some of the original lineup, but alas I doubt there is any out there. Cheers.
January 13th, 2022 at 23:29Blackmore had an unfortunate tendency in the 80ies to play everything (both songs and solos) too fast at live gigs (I hated how he rushed the shuffle part of Child in Time for instance), both with Rainbow and Purple, as if he was trying to show the EvHs, Gary Moores, Randy Rhoadses and Malmsteens of this world where it’s at. Perhaps it came from opening for too many US acts in arenas, trying to deliver an explosive performance in 45 minutes. Sometimes his solos would become a noisy barrage, he also lost some of the natural fluidity he had shown in the 70ies. On albums, however, he contained himself.
He might have been the fastest gun in town in the 70ies, but come the 80ies he didn’t have the new shredding techniques to keep up with guys ten to fifteen years younger than him (and raised on his influence plus that of Al Di Meola and others ). But it shouldn’t have mattered, Ritchie can be just as amazing if not more so when he is playing at a more measured pace. A lot of my favorite solos of his are not really fast at all. Come the 90ies he slowed down again.
Sheer speed can be fun – Ten Years After’s/Alvin Lee’s coked up Woodstock performance of Going Home is rightfully legendary – but it never mattered to me with Blackmore’s solos. Flashes of it in Highway Star or Burn were enough for me. But I also like him slow and subdued – like in Place in Line where he builds up that long solo so masterfully.
Re Munich 1977, Herr MacGregor, not only was his adrenaline spurting over the stage, he was positively joyous and all smiles that night – free at last! Apart from a very inebriated Blackmore’s Night gig decades later, I’ve never seen him again in as good a mood.
January 14th, 2022 at 00:04Well said Uwe, you nailed it there in regards to Blackmore & his attempt at really fast playing. I looked at the CHOHW concert & Lazy is played too fast there also. Other fans on youtube say the same thing. Wasn’t Blackmore not that keen on a DP reunion in the first place? I wonder in my cynicism if he was sort treating that with disdain at times, he looks like he doesn’t give a toss, so to speak. Mind you he often can look like that, but the way he plays has that ‘this will do, there you go’ sort of feel about it. Regarding other old school guitarist trying that too fast thing, I was shocked to see Martin Barre trying that on Tull’s Under Wraps 1984 tour recently online. He was never that way inclined & maybe he was caught up in that attempt also regarding the newer guitarists, ‘I can do it too’. It just didn’t suit him & thankfully he didn’t continue with it. Gary Moore was a little annoying doing that to my ears at times & Barre is on record saying he was impressed by Moore back then. Those whizz bang shredders from the 80’s have a lot to answer for. I remember Alvin Lee & wasn’t he dubbed ‘the fastest guitarist in the west’ by journalists back in the early 70’s. That is where David Gilmour shines, ‘less is more’. Cheers.
January 14th, 2022 at 08:08To my knowledge there is absolutely zilch filmed live material of the Daisley/Kerslake/Ozzy/Rhoads line-up, not even a TV appearance. Sharon made sure that the world would never see them. A pity.
I remember seeing Daisley first with Widowmaker in 1976 when they were opening for Ted Nugent. They had that Mott the Hoople raucousness/controlled chaos on stage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTd2OQWg-yc
About a year later I saw him again with Rainbow at that legendary Munich “escape from jail/I have a new hair-weave”-gig and a few more years onward with Gary Moore. Exquisite bass player and also the most handsome guy in Rainbow!
Widowmaker of course had Ariel Bender aka Luther Grosvenor (alongside ex-Hawkwindster Huw Lloyd-Langton) as one of their guitarists so I don’t need to tell you who considered himself the most handsome and important man on stage!
January 14th, 2022 at 21:39Here’s a good Bob Daisley interview about his time with Widowmaker, Rainbow and his on/off relationship with Ozzy. It appears that he was initially fired because he would not agree to Tommy Aldridge replacing Lee Kerslake – something Sharon desired. And it is noteworthy that Ozzy many years later agreed that firing Kerslake was a mistake.
https://eddietrunk.com/bassist-bob-daisley-discusses-working-with-rainbow-ozzy-randy-rhoads-cozy-powell-and-more-says-having-his-bass-tracks-replaced-on-osbournes-recordings-was-pathetic-and-the-fans-hated-them-fo/
January 14th, 2022 at 23:00Bob Daisley, all round nice chap & a very good bass player. He has done incredibly well since leaving Australia back in the early 70’s. Widowmaker had the talent & some decent music, alas internal politics plus a few other issues seems to have destroyed that band. Daisley did the right thing joining Rainbow, a positive move if ever there was one. Huw Lloyd Langton, another nice guy & very humble also & a wonderful guitarist. He was much better off in rejoining Hawkwind, bless him. In regards to Daisley & his repeated connections ( I always wondered why he kept going back to the vipers nest) to the O$Bourne’s, he was used & being a nice down to earth talented individual, that often happens in this world unfortunately. He was simply earning a living doing what he loved to do & was repeatedly being hung out to dry at the same time. Where would O$Bourne be without Daisley eh?
January 15th, 2022 at 23:57I met him briefly at the Jon Lord Hoochie Coochie band gig in Australia in 2003. I wished him all the best in his attempt at nailing the O$Bourne’s, unfortunately for him & Lee Kerslake they failed, again. Thanks for the link, I have read bits here & there over the years, that was a more in depth interview & for the Widowmaker link also. Cheers.
Speaking of the late great Lee Kerslake, whatever happened to the documentary Not on the Heep?
January 16th, 2022 at 09:09I’ve seen the trailer for it, Ian Paice is in the film along with Joe Elliot, and Mick Box. Was it ever completed?
I’ve looked for it on dvd on Amazon and Ebay and haven’t been able to find it.
@ 27 – the last I read not long before Lee passed was that they were finishing it off so to speak. However not long before that he was still asking for the donations if possible, from fans so they could complete it before he went.
January 16th, 2022 at 21:27I haven’t noticed anything since then. mind you I haven’t looked either. I just keep an eye on the rock music sites for any ‘news’. Mick Box maybe the only link band wise to Lee now. As we know Ken Hensley unfortunately passed away suddenly not long after Kerslake. I might have a dig around online also. Cheers.
Thanx for the info Mac!
January 16th, 2022 at 23:42Cheers
@ 29 – This link is the latest (Sep 2020) info I can find about the documentary. Still needing $15,000 to complete it at that time apparently. I cannot find any later news or information at all since that date. Although I just noticed a recent posting about a rare Uriah Heep Helsinki interview from 1974 mentioned on a facebook site & Tayla Goodman (director) thanks the person who posted it. I think it is still in post production by the sound of it, things have slowed somewhat but hopefully it will one day be released. Cheers.
//www.themetalvoice.com/post/lee-kerslake-documentary-details-kiss-joe-elliot-bob-daisley-ian-paice-will-be-appearing-in-film
January 17th, 2022 at 21:27Thanx, Mac.
I hope it gets released eventually, it would be a shame for all that footage to sit in some warehouse somewhere collecting dust.
January 18th, 2022 at 09:35