Read more of Gregg Bissonette: Plays Well With Others

ISSUE 21
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RIKKI ROCKETT DAN KONOPKA ETHAN JOHNS BILL BATEMAN
MAY / JUNE 2010
GREGG
BISSONETTE
GREGG BISSONETTE
ROGERS DRUMS
DREAM CYMBALS
MUSIKMESSE 2010
MAY - JUNE 2010 | NO. 021
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Gregg
Bissonette
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PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
interview: mover
story: stan hall
photos: rob shanahan
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Gregg Bissonette does it all: from big band to rock to jazz
to pop to movie scores–and he does it all at the A level. Need
proof? Do the names Maynard Ferguson, David Lee Roth,
Joe Satriani, Toto or Ringo Starr ring a bell? If not, ponder this:
Stewart Copeland, himself the king of the punkazoid reggae
splashdown, who knows a thing or two about drumming, calls
Gregg Bissonette when he needs a drummer for his film or TV
scoring. As if that wasn’t enough, Gregg also finds the time to lend
his talents to his children’s school music classes, by composing
drum pieces and tutoring the students. Oh, and did we mention
Gregg’s a two-time Grammy winner, having played on Santana’s
“El Farol,” (2000 Best Pop Instrumental Performance) and Steve
Lukather and Larry Carlton’s No Substitutions (2002 Best Pop
Instrumental Album). Combine all that with his unflappable
optimism, enthusiasm, and never-say-no work ethic and you’ve
got the perfect working drummer.
RINGO – PART 1
Like many baby boomer drummers,
Gregg had his musical awakening courtesy
of The Beatles. Though, at first it was the
guitar that attracted him, not, as you might
expect, the drums. He recalls, “When I was
a kid, I was freaked out by The Beatles. I
just loved The Beatles and wanted to be
a guitar player because I thought John
Lennon was so great. But my dad said,
‘Well, we’ve got a drum set in the basement,
why don’t you go down there and play some
drums?’ I said, ‘Okay, but I really want to
play guitar.’ I finally got a guitar and realized
it just wasn’t my thing. Dad’s my hero: Dad
plays first base on the baseball team–I want
to play first base. Dad’s a drummer–I want
to be a drummer.
“And then, the next weekend, after I
decided I really wanted to play, my dad
came home with tickets to see The Beatles.
I was only seven, I couldn’t believe it. He
had a gig with his band (the Bud Bissonette
Band), and he was playing a wedding at
the Ambassador Hotel where The Beatles
were staying in downtown Detroit. He heard
all the screaming in the lobby and said,
‘What’s going on? What are all these girls
doing here?’ ‘Bud, The Beatles are staying
upstairs, they’re playing tomorrow night at
Olympia Hockey Arena.’ ‘The Beatles. My
kids love The Beatles, my wife loves The
Beatles...’ My dad, being the schmoozy
guy he was, ‘Any chance of getting me…’
Not one or two, but...‘Six tickets?’ The guy
goes, ‘Bud, you’re out of your mind! It’s The
Beatles, man. They’ve been sold out for six
months! But come back after your gig at
1:00 AM, I’ll see what I can do.’ “My dad goes back and the guy says,
‘Bud, I’ve got good news and bad news.
The good news is, I got six tickets. The bad
news is, it’s gonna be thirty-six bucks total.
Six bucks apiece!’ My dad’s thinking, ‘Well,
I’m making fifty on the gig, I’ll clear fourteen.
I gotta do it!’ And the next night, we went to
see The Beatles!”
Photo: Bissonette Stock
“When I told Ringo, he said, [Ringo voice]
‘What were you, two?’ ‘No, seven!’ I asked
him if he remembered playing in Detroit, and
he said, [Ringo voice] ‘I remember that first
gig in Detroit because I got hit in the back of
the head with a piece of hard rock candy!
They had to stop the show. I remember that
Detroit audience, ‘We love you!’ Ping!’”
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YOU CAN’T PLAY
TOO LOUD
And that’s how it started for Gregg. Shortly
after his Beatles experience, his folks took
him in their VW van across the Ambassador
Bridge to Canada to see Buddy Rich play at
a club called The Top Hat in Windsor. Gregg
was sitting right next to Buddy and he was
“freakin’ out.” On the way home when his
dad asked him what he thought of the show,
Gregg distilled his first exposure to Buddy
down to, “Well, Mom and Dad, you know, I
guess you really can’t play too loud.”
His father was aghast, but the faux pas
were just starting. Gregg recalls putting on
his Sugarloaf 45 “Green Eyed Lady” the
very next night and asking his dad if Buddy
Rich could play the infamous intro drum fill.
Bud, possibly beginning to doubt Gregg’s
parentage, replied, “I took you to see Buddy
last night, you said you realized you can’t
play too loud, and now tonight you ask, ‘Can
he play that?’ Single-stroke rolls around the
drums? Of course he can play that!” Hey,
everybody’s gotta start somewhere.
THIS BUD’S FOR YOU
Gregg obviously enjoyed a close
relationship with his dad. Although Bud
never really played full time (he had a band
that played on the weekends), when Gregg
attained success as a professional drummer,
he paid his dad back for encouraging him to
study, to learn to read music, and to go to
music school by hiring him as his cartage
guy, thus giving Bud a taste of the business
at a level he was never able to achieve on
his own. Bud’s passing is a strong memory
for his son: “He wanted to go peacefully in
his condo, with the big screen and the World
Series on. He was about to go, and I was
standing there above his bed, his left hand’s
got my left hand, and he’s just fading in and
out, real peaceful, slowly passing away.
He’s almost gone, and I look and I see [The
Buddy Rich Big Band] Big Swing Face over
on the CD player.
“I put it in, and my dad’s eyes open up–he
starts moving. He was almost gone, but he
starts singing, and responds, ‘Yeah!’ He’s
pointing to the sections, me and him–we’re
conducting. I said, ‘Dad, you took me to see
Buddy when I was seven. I would’ve never
gotten to work with Maynard or play on the
same bill with Buddy or the scholarship
concerts or have a love for him if it wasn’t
for you.’
“He came back; he was so alive in that
moment. I said, ‘And Ringo. I got to tour all
last summer with Ringo thanks to you taking
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Photo: Rob Shanahan
“It's not who you know, it's how well you know him!”
“I get to go onstage, look to the right
and see my favorite drummer.”
Photo: Rob Shanahan
me to see The Beatles!’ He said, ‘I’m ready
to be with the Lord, and to be with your
mom.’ I said, ‘Dad, very soon. God gave us
music, God gave us Buddy Rich and Ringo,
and you turned me onto it.’ And he said, ‘It
was my pleasure.’ And that was the last
thing I ever said to my dad.” My brother, my
sister and I have our careers because our
folks turned us on to this stuff, and I have
no regrets.”
CHICAGO DEUX
Once Gregg caught the fire, he started
a band in middle school with his brother
Matt, ambitiously playing “ninety-percent
Chicago, with a little Beatles, Zeppelin and
Aerosmith.” Gregg remembers especially
loving Danny Seraphine’s drum fills. But no
matter how good the Bissonette brothers
may have sounded, he admits they were not
the visually hippest thing in town: “We were
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so corny. We bought light blue t-shirts with
the iron-on Chicago logo, and then a Roman
numeral two, so we were ‘Chicago II!’” his buddy from Detroit and bass player with
Elton John for eighteen years, and Marc
Bonilla, guitarist with Keith Emerson.
Gregg counts Danny as one of his biggest
influences, alongside Buddy and Ringo.
Coincidentally enough, Danny now lives
only a couple of miles away from Gregg:
a fact that Bissonette turned into a mutual
advantage a few years ago. When told
by Don Lombardi of Drum Workshop that
Seraphine was unsure of what to talk about
at an upcoming clinic he was scheduled to
do, Gregg suggested that he play some
classic Chicago tracks. Don then mentioned
it might be a good idea to bring Danny over
to Gregg’s house so they could play some
double drums to get Danny inspired. Gregg
took the idea a step further and rounded
up two of his musical buddies who also
happened to be Chicago fanatics: Bob Birch,
When Danny showed up, they were
ready to rock some Chicago tunes, and it
got Seraphine excited enough to jump back
into the business again, this time with a new
CTA – the California Transit Authority, with
Marc Bonilla included.
undeterred in denton
Gregg made his first serious impact as
a professional when he joined Maynard
Ferguson’s big band, a very brassy affair
that was a far cry from the world of rock ‘n’
roll. It’s probably not inaccurate to say that
most drummers who picked up a pair of
drumsticks because of Ringo play rock and
pop, so this seemed an unusual move for
someone so besotted with The Beatles.
jazz songs. I remember being at North
Texas State and getting the One O’Clock
[Lab] Band gig and thinking, ‘I gotta get with
Maynard! How am I gonna do this? I keep
sending these demo tapes and I know they
never get heard.’”
When he found out that Maynard was
playing in Denton, Gregg went over to
the Denton Holiday Inn where he spotted
Maynard’s bus, called the hotel, and when
he asked for Maynard Ferguson’s room;
they actually connected him. So far, so
good. Unfortunately, Gregg’s string of good
luck seemed like it was about to play out;
instead of Ferguson, Stan Mark, the band’s
lead trumpet player, picked up the phone.
Sensing this was his only opportunity,
Gregg worked it hard: “I know who you are
Stan. I’m a huge fan of yours and Maynard’s
band. I’m the drummer in the One O’Clock
Band and I love Maynard.” Stan pushed
back, retorting that nobody from Bissonette’s
“uppity jazz school” liked Maynard because
they considered them to be a rock band. But
Gregg was not to be deterred, describing
himself as a Maynard fanatic and saying he
loved the fact that they played rock. Then
he mentioned that he was playing at a club
in Dallas with a funk band covering a lot of
Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire, and
invited them to come down and bring their
horns and sit in.
Close, but no cigar: Stan still hesitated,
explaining that they were an hour from
Dallas and could never get down there after
the gig. Gregg offered to have three of his
friends with station wagons pick them up.
Still nothing. Then he played his trump card:
“Drinks are on the house.” Gregg laughingly
remembers, “As soon as I said that, Stan
accepted, ‘We’ll be there!’” Sure enough, the whole band showed up
and had a ball. Afterwards, Stan told Gregg,
“I do the hiring and firing. Our drummer
Dave Mancini is great and we love him, but
when he leaves, you’ve got the gig!”
That was Gregg’s a-ha moment: “That’s
how it’s done! It’s not who you know, it’s
how well you know him!” When they were
looking for a bass player and asked Gregg if
he knew anyone, his immediately suggested
his brother. It all fell together from there: “He
sends a tape, gets the gig, keeps bringing
my name up, and then I got the gig. So it
all came from figuring out how to work the
room.”
LA THE HARD WAY
So that explains Gregg’s sojourn into jazz.
But then he achieved the almost-impossible
feat of moving over from jazz into rock,
and in a big way–landing the drum spot for
David Lee Roth. At first, it seemed almost
impossible, even to Gregg himself.
Photo: Rob Shanahan
How did Gregg go all jazzy with his
bad self? The answer lies in his love of
all types of music, which he had from the
get-go: “Luckily for me, I love and studied
all styles of music. We just jammed in the
garage and went through everything from
Tower Of Power to Cuban, trading fours
and displacing notes, and that’s the same
thing that I have always loved. And because
of my mom and dad, jazz musicians were
respected. In fifth grade, my teacher said,
‘Well, we’ve got a lot of drummers in the
band, what if you played something else?’
I replied, ‘I love trumpet,’ because I loved
Maynard Ferguson and Herb Alpert. So, my
mom signed me up for trumpet.
“My dream was always to be in Maynard’s
band because they played “Chameleon”
and “Rocky” and all these cool rockin’
songs; as well as “Airegin” and all the great
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this one that we’ve been writing called “Hot
Dog And A Shake” and it goes like this.’ I’m
writing it down, and Steve says, ‘You write?
You can transcribe?’ ‘Yeah!’ ‘Well, I went to
Berklee!’ ‘I know you went to Berklee. I went
to North Texas!’ ‘Bro, I’m pulling for you...I
want somebody in the band who knows how
to count, a drummer who can write out little
things so we can get things done. This’ll be
great! I’m gonna tell Dave tomorrow!’” DIAMOND DAVE
Photo: Richard Pierce
At Bissonette’s request Vai gave him two
cassettes of material they had been working
on, twenty songs, and Gregg made little
cheat-sheet notes for himself so he’d be
prepared at rehearsal the next day in Dave’s
basement.
Getting the Ferguson gig was a doubleedged sword in Tinseltown, as Bissonette
clearly recalls: “When I moved to LA, I was
so freaked out because I was ‘the jazz guy.’
Everyone wants to label you. ‘Oh, you’re
Maynard Ferguson’s guy; you’re big band
jazz.’ Not even just jazz...’big band jazz!’”
Years later, it’s still fresh in his mind. “The
audition was, [Vinnie] ‘Play to these tracks I
did.’ Well, the speakers were way far away,
no click, I’m trying to play with this thing, and
he goes, ‘Nope, it’s just not grooving.’ Then
he said, ‘I’m gonna hire this guy that came
out in a Winnebago from Texas, Bobby
Rock. He really locked and he’s got the
passion. You’re doing some other stuff, and
he can dedicate his life to this right now.’ I
said, ‘That’s cool Vinnie, thanks.’
“Then Vinnie says, ‘But you ought to
check out Dave Roth’s band. Dave Roth
is looking for a drummer.’ I asked, ‘Who’s
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True to his word, Vinnie
called Steve and got Gregg an audition,
which turned out to be a big cattle call with
hundreds of drummers. As Gregg recalls, it
wasn’t pretty: “I see the first guy come out,
and it’s a friend of mine, Matt Sorum, preGuns N’ Roses. ‘Matt, how’d it go?’ He says,
‘Man, they wanted me to play double bass.
They had this Olympic-size double-bass kit,
and I don’t wanna play double bass!’ Okay,
so I make a note to myself. Then I see my
old college buddy Russ McKinnon. ‘Russ,
how’d it go?’ ‘Oh, I don’t think I got the gig.
They said I didn’t hit hard enough.’ Hmm,
okay. And then a guy I can’t remember said,
‘Oh man, Vai pulled out all this weird stuff,
and I can’t remember all that. They wanted
me to retain all of it.’ Immediately I get a
Sharpie so I can make notes. Sure enough,
they go, ‘Play a solo, do some double bass!
Now we’re gonna teach you a song, it’s
Photo: Bissonette Stock
Praying hard on his knees every night,
Gregg hoped for what seemed like the
impossible; to land “a gig like Journey
or Genesis or Van Halen.” Dream on:
Phil Collins wasn’t going anywhere, plus
Chester Thompson already had the second
drummer spot; Steve Smith was in Journey;
and Alex and Eddie were brothers. Score:
0 for 3, so Gregg went looking for targets
of opportunity and auditioned for Vinnie
Vincent from KISS, hoping to get that gig.
Dave Roth?’ He looked at me in
disbelief, ‘David Lee Roth! Van
Halen?! He put out that EP with
“California Girls” and “Gigolo.”
He quit Van Halen and he’s
starting a new band. I happen
to know he hired Billy Sheehan
and Steve Vai.’ I said, ‘Steve
Vai from Zappa and Alcatraz?’
‘Yeah, he’s the new guitar
player and they’re looking for a
drummer. I’ll call Steve and get
you an audition.’”
While the band was running through the
tunes, Diamond Dave came in from another
room, introduced himself to Gregg, and then
asked how Gregg had managed to learn
all those songs since his audition the day
before. After Gregg explained what he had
done, David expressed his amazement and
asked him where he had learned to read
music. Gregg was equally amazed when he
discovered that Roth actually knew of North
Texas State and its reputation: “Yeah, the
big band school!”
When David learned that Gregg had
toured and recorded with Maynard Ferguson,
that was good enough for him: “The highnote lead trumpet big band leader, “Rocky.”
Bro, I’ve heard what you’ve done with those
guys. If you can power that big band, surely
you can power the three of us! Welcome to
the band, payday starts Friday!”
A LATIN LOVER
Photo: Jeff Ivester
Interestingly, between leaving Maynard
and picking up the David Lee Roth gig, Gregg
chalked up a couple of interesting situations.
One (with his bass-playing brother) working
with Gino Vannelli, and another syncing up
with percussionist Luis Conte behind Tania
Maria: “I remember playing in Japan with
Maynard at a Japanese festival up in the
north island there, and every night I would
go see Tania with John Peña, Ron Powell
and Joey Heredia.” When Gregg asked
Joey to teach him the Cuban songo stuff he
was doing, Heredia suggested that he go
to Discolandia on Sherman Way and buy a
bunch of records. When Gregg pressed him
auditioning drummers in the
other room. Steve Perry asked
if Gregg wanted to try out
for the band, but Bissonette
politely declined, as he was
now a member of David Lee
Roth’s band.
Photo: Bissonette Stock
to show him some of those grooves, Joey
said, “If you really wanna learn, you should
go to Luis Conte.” So Gregg got with Luis,
and Walfredo [Reyes] who was working with
Tania at the time, and through both of them,
got that gig and “fell in love with Latin music,
especially Cuban music.”
FEAST OR FAMINE
Gino’s thing was just coming together
when Bissonette aced the David Lee Roth
audition, fortunately Vannelli “was really cool”
with Gregg moving on to the mega-tour level
of the business. Soon thereafter, the band
was recording Eat ‘em And Smile at Fantasy
Studios in Berkley, California with producer
Ted Templeman. While they were tracking
“Tobacco Road,” Gregg heard that Journey,
having parted ways with Steve Smith, was
After Dave, Gregg and his
brother Matt got to work with
Joe Satriani whose original trio
with Jonathan Mover and Stu
Hamm had run its course. Joe
and the brothers Bissonette
recorded and toured behind
the Extremist album, with some live tracks
making it onto Satriani’s next record,
Time Machine. After that, the two brothers
decided it was time to start their own band,
The Mustard Seeds.
CUTTING THE MUSTARD
The new band came together at a time
when Gregg was sitting at the top of the
musical heap, with a list of drum clinics
and recording sessions as long as his arm.
He had toured and recorded with all kinds
of heavyweights in all styles of music,
and had serious credibility, a name, and
tons of contacts in the business. Putting
together his own band and securing a
record contract looked easy, almost like a
foregone conclusion. Put his dream band
together with his brother Matt, make a few
phone calls to managers, agents, attorneys
and some record labels and–voila–instant
success. But that’s not exactly how it
turned out.
Timing, as they say, is everything, and
in 1994 the time was not right for a new
LA band. Thanks to the seismic shift that
relocated rock’s musical epicenter up to the
Seattle environs, everything coming out of
LA was deemed passe: no matter what its
actual merits may have been. By definition,
“pop” music must be “popular,” a term
whose definition is ever shifting.
At that time, Gregg went to check out
something called The Concrete Foundation,
a big operation featuring a lot of industry
pundits, seminars about new bands and
who’s gonna be big next week–the typical
thing. He went around the back, looked at
the running order of what he thought was
happening on the stage, and at the end he
spotted “Pearl Jam” and thought, “I can’t
believe those guys at Pearl drums. I’m an
endorser of theirs, they’re having a big jam
session and I’m not invited. They didn’t
even call me to play in the jam at the end!
(Laughs).
It starts off with Soundgarden, then Alice
In Chains and Pearl Jam.” I’m thinking, “I’ve
never heard of any of these other bands,
but this is a ‘Pearl’ jam session?” Curious...
he checked them out. “Soundgarden, this
guy Matt Cameron is amazing, doing all this
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odd time, ‘Spoonman’ and everything. Then
I hear Alice In Chains with Sean Kinney and
I’m just freaking out. And then I hear Pearl
Jam...Wow!
The Mustard Seeds just couldn’t get
arrested because it was all about wearing
flannel and work boots.” Well established in
the business, Gregg had been doing lots of
touring with different bands for good money,
and was doing a lot of drum clinics to boot.
As he says, “I almost couldn’t do enough
of them. I could continue to write my ticket
to a bunch of drum clinics and recording
sessions, but I said, ‘For the next year I’m
just gonna give my all to this band.’” And
he did.
Gregg stuck to his guns, turning down
numerous drum clinics and recording
sessions while rehearsing and trying to
sell the band. Their two guitarists, Doug
Bossi and George Bernhardt, had gambled
everything, quitting their jobs and moving
to LA from Texas and Toronto, respectively,
in order to give it their best shot, putting all
their eggs in one rock ‘n’ roll basket. Fully
aware of that, Gregg held on as long as he
could, trying to roll their rock up the hill of
industry indifference. But try as he might,
the situation kept getting grimmer.
For over a year Bissonette watched his
bank account and professional opportunities
shrink, before he finally gave up in tears and
quit his own band to go back out on his
Photo: Rob Shanahan
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own. “I loved the band, and of course, my
brother is my best pal and favorite bass
player, and a great songwriter. It was really
heartbreaking to leave a band that you
helped start.”
Gregg is happy to see that The Mustard
Seeds managed to carry on: “They got a
deal, the album came out, they did a little
tour in Europe and they’ve done two albums
since. They’re on their third album now. It’s
all in the name–if you have the faith of a
mustard seed, all it takes is a little bit of faith
to be able to have great things happen.”
In short order he was back in the majors
again. When Toto drummer Simon Phillips
injured his back, at guitarist Steve Lukather’s
request, Bissonette covered for Simon on
the band’s tour, which then led to him doing
an album and tour with Lukather. Soon after,
he went on to work with ELO and Jeff Lynne,
along with his favorite bassist, brother Matt,
and it was business as usual.
RINGO – PART 2
Flash forward a decade, it’s 2003, and
Gregg’s doing a session for Mark Hudson,
who had produced many of Ringo’s albums.
He had a Ringo drum set in his studio in
Santa Monica, when he called and asked
Gregg if he could come down and do a
quick fix for a drum machine track that
Steven Tyler did for his daughter. Tyler’s
on a flatbed truck singing “Santa Claus Is
Coming To Town,” and they needed real
Photo: Rob Shanahan
“It’s all about the melody;
there’s nothing more important.”
drums instead of the drum machine. When
Gregg heard the magic words: “Come on
down, you can play on Ringo’s kit,” he
zoomed down right away.
Playing on Ringo’s kit was like Christmas
for Bissonette: he immediately started
playing Beatle songs–”Tomorrow Never
Knows,” “Come Together,” “Ticket to Ride.”
Realizing how much of a Beatle/Ringo-nut
Gregg really was, Hudson told him, “If Zak
[Starkey] doesn’t do this next tour, you’ll
get the gig.” And sure enough, when Zak
couldn’t do it because he was out with
The Who, Gregg got the call to do the
2003 promo tour. When they needed a
bass player, his brother Matt jumped right
in. Then they did a live DVD, PBS special
(Ringo Starr Live At Soundstage) on their
second tour in 2005.
Afterwards Ringo told Gregg, “I love
playin’ with ya, but in order to be in the AllStar band, ya gotta have two hit singles that
you sang.” So that looked like the end of the
Ringo experience.
stare at his snare and make sure there are
no flams. (Laughs) His pocket is so deep,
it’s like putting on your favorite pair of jeans
or slippers that you’ve had for a million
years.
Three years later, Starr’s manager called
and said, “Ringo’s run out of drummers with
top-ten hit singles. You got the gig.” Gregg
then did the All-Star Band gig in 2008, had
a blast, and now two years later, Ringo has
called and offered him the drum spot on the
2010 summer tour. Back in hog heaven for
Mr. Bissonette: “I get to go out on a six-week
all-star tour with my favorite drummer. And
playing double drums with him is just wild.”
“We do ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ and
‘Photograph’ with Ringo out front. Then we
do double drums on the others; ‘Boys,’ ‘I
Wanna Be Your Man’ and ‘Choose Love,’
and then the song he wrote for George,
‘Never Without You,’ he’s out front again
and stays out for ‘Yellow Submarine,’ ‘With A
Little Help From My Friends,’ ‘Act Naturally’
and ‘Octopus’s Garden.’
Just thinking about it gets Gregg as
excited as a teenager: “Ringo’s always to
my right, and my number one goal is; just
“It’s just incredible. Last tour, Hamish
Stewart was the bass player, so we did
‘Pick Up The Pieces’ and ‘Work To Do,’
all these funky songs. With Billy Squier,
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doin’ ‘The Stroke’ and ‘Lonely Is The
Night.’ Colin Hay [Men At Work] with ‘Who
Can It Be Now’ and ‘Land Down Under.’
Gary Wright, ‘Dreamweaver’ and ‘Love Is
Alive,’ and Edgar [Winter], ‘Free Ride’ and
then ‘Frankenstein.’ Ringo said, “You do
Frankenstein, that’s not my bit.” So he
goes off and has a cup of tea, and I do
‘Frankenstein.’ What a ball! “This summer it’s Rick Derringer on
‘Frankenstein,’ and he’ll be doing ‘Rock ‘n’
Roll Hoochie Coo’ and ‘Hang On Sloopy.’
On rhythm guitar it’ll be Wally Palmar from
The Romantics, doing ‘That’s What I Like
About You’ and ‘Secrets That You Keep,’
and Richard Page from Mr. Mister doing
‘Kyrie’ and ‘Broken Wings.’ I’m so excited.”
tap dancing
The life of a professional musician can
go from the sublime to the ridiculous,
sometimes in back-to-back gigs. Gregg
recently rediscovered this when he went
from playing with Andrea Boccelli in
Tuscany to rocking Wembley Stadium with
the world’s most dysfunctional heavy-metal
band, Spinal Tap. Even for someone as
versatile as Gregg, that’s a bit of a stretch.
How did it all come about?
David Foster was the musical director for
a gig called David Foster Presents Andrea
Boccelli: Live in Tuscany. The guest artists
were Kenny G, Sarah Brightman, Chris Boti,
Lang-Lang and “all kinds of other people.”
Bassist Nathan East, a buddy of Gregg’s,
“my number one goal is;
just stare at his snare
and make sure
there are no flams.”
Photo: Rob Shanahan
022
got Bissonette on the gig. A sweet little deal:
Go to Tuscany, Italy, rehearse for two days
and record for two days. Needless to say,
Gregg jumped on it immediately, but there
was a problem: he was then asked to play
with Spinal Tap at the Live Earth concert in
London.
Gregg picks up the story: “I think it was
Tuesday and Wednesday, rehearsals with
Boccelli and the orchestra, the click, the
charts and Foster–all these guest artists.
Thursday and Friday, shows in Italy. But,
I find out there’s a Friday rehearsal with
Spinal Tap in England, and Vinnie [Colaiuta]
was rehearsing with Jeff Beck in the next
room. I didn’t need to rehearse, since we
had rehearsed in LA a week before, but
Photo: Rob Shanahan
not only was there was the rehearsal on
Friday, now there was a 9 AM soundcheck
on Saturday morning.
“So I just told the guys, ‘Look, I really
want to do this. It’s really good money, and
I’m a self-employed musician.’ As you know,
I don’t have acting careers like those guys.
And they were so cool, they said, ‘Yeah,
go ahead and do it!’” So Bissonette got his
friend and U.K. drumming ace Steve White
to rehearse in London with Tap. “I sent
him the tunes and he learned everything,
charted them out, and did a great job at
rehearsal.”
But, then the next day, Saturday, there’s
that 9 AM sound check. He finished the gig
with Boccelli at 11 PM and took the 6 AM
flight out, getting into London Heathrow at
7:10. He recounts: “I remember staying up
all night emailing with Nathan in the lobby
of the hotel. Then flying into London, and
sleeping in the black cab. I was so tired…
and all of a sudden, we pull up and there’s
the hotel.
“I walk into the lobby and all the guys are
there, ‘Skippy!’ (My name with the Tapsters
is Skippy Scuffelton.) They were literally
getting in the car to go to the gig. We did
the sound check and we do the gig, and I’m
thinking, ‘I can’t believe I pulled this off!’ It
was such a blast. Phil Collins and Chester
Thompson started it off with Genesis, and
then ten other bands. The Chili Peppers,
Metallica, and then the Foo Fighters, and
Madonna. What a day, man.”
Is it scary playing with Spinal Tap? After
all, Gregg is the one and only drummer
who has survived…so far. But danger be
damned, Gregg loves playing and hanging
out with a bunch of guys who are essentially
America’s Monty Python.
He gives a little nervous laugh: “It’s
amazing I’m not a green globule. The first
gig I did with them was back in ’97, and we
just recorded that whole first album over
again about six months ago. It came out
really good. It’s called Back From The Dead
and it’s a really cool album. It’s all more
modern-sounding versions of the same
songs like ‘Big Bottom,’ ‘Give Me Some
Lovin’,’ ‘Tonight, We’re Gonna Rock You,’
‘Stonehenge,’ all that stuff. And then we did
‘Jazz Odyssey,’ in three different choppedup segments.
So with another record coming out, can
the great unwashed expect to see the
023
“It’s amazing
I’m not a green globule.”
band trampling Stonehenge underfoot and
getting stuck in uncooperative futuristic
cocoons onstage? Not likely, according to
our danger-defying drummer. Blink and
you missed: “I think we did our whole big
world tour. We printed up t-shirts, and right
after the album came out, we went over
and played Glastonbury with Springsteen
and The E Street Band and Crobsy, Stills &
Nash. Coldplay had canceled, and Spinal
Tap’s pretty big in England, so they put us
in there. The next night, we booked a gig
where they opened for themselves as The
Folksmen. They sold out Wembley Arena
and opened for themselves, so the entire
tour was Glastonbury with one set of ten
songs, and then the whole two-and-a-half
hour show at Wembley. The t-shirts were,
‘One Night Only! World Tour!’” (Laughs)
“But there will always be more stuff with
those guys, and there’s always the movies.
The first film I worked on with Chris [Guest]
was Waiting For Guffman. They had the
scene where the whole town takes over
the band. The dentist is the bass drummer
and the barber is the clarinetist. And you’ve
got to play the concert bass drum and play
these bad snare rolls–it was a blast. And
then Best In Show, A Mighty Wind and
For Your Consideration. I was just thinking
about that the other day; I’m sure Chris
has got a movie in the works right now. I’m
not supposed to say ‘movie’ though, it’s
Hollywood, right? It’s a ‘film.’”
SOLO ALBUM
After being sideman El Supremo for years
and years, Gregg was asked to do a solo
album by former bandmate Steve Vai for
Steve’s Favored Nations label. Even though
he doesn’t write much, Bissonette jumped
at the chance, roping his brother Matt into
penning all the material. Vai encouraged
Gregg to take it out, remarking, “I know you
like lots of different styles of music–hard
rock, pop rock, Afro-Cuban, bebop, funk,
odd times, all this wacky stuff. Don’t have
any limits on it, do whatever you want. It’s
our label, we want musician-oriented stuff.”
Photo: Bissonette Stock
With that freedom, Gregg had Matt write
tunes in a variety of different styles. The
only restrictions were: no brush ballads,
and a drum solo in almost every song.
At the end of the day, they ended up
with an eclectic mix of eleven songs that
included a Steve Jordan-type funk tune,
which they called “Marbles,” (named after
all their relatives on their father’s side whose
middle names were Marble); a Stevie Ray
Vaughn-esque blues shuffle with guitarist
Robben Ford; a Foo Fighers/Dave Grohl,
“There Goes My Hero” beat thing–two drum
sets double-tracked, with guitarist Steve
024
Play Me
a Melody
As we’ve noted, Gregg can and does play almost anything under the
sun. But what really rings his bell? “I have to say, my favorite kind of
music is rock. I love jazz and I love Latin music, I love everything. But my
favorite kind of music is rock, especially Beatle-y rock. I’m still a sucker
for pop rock. It’s all about the melody; there’s nothing more important.”
Photo: Rob Shanahan
025
Photo: Richard Pierce
Stevens; a Hendrix-y thing with guitarist
Michael Landau; and a Beatle-y thing called
“The Son Man,” with Tim Pierce playing sitar
and Echoplex. In addition to his enthusiastic
tub thumping, Gregg also stepped up as a
lead vocalist for the first time, taking the mic
on “The Son Man,” “Submarine” and “Train
To Willoughby,” as well as playing trumpet
(with brother Matt on trombone), on an Afro
Cuban 2-3 rumba clave called “No Hay
Parqueo,” with Gary Hoey on guitar and
David Garfield on piano and organ.
DIY DVD
Photo: Bissonette Stock
After his solo album, Gregg next tackled
doing a DVD, which turned out to be an epic
adventure. “I had several instructional drum
videos out, but those were like, ‘They’re
offering this much of a deal; so if I do it
myself and I pay for everything, and just
give them a mastered finished video, I’ll get
a better percentage rate.’ Yeah, true, but that
was a year of my life on each one of those
videos. From getting the crew together, to
finding the location, to the lighting, and the
editing at four hundred dollars an hour, the
photos and the packaging, and sending it
all off to be done–that was like a year. Then
I did another one after that, same kind of
deal, all on my own. Finally I said, ‘It’s time
to do a DVD.’
“It ended up being two discs, four and a
half hours long. I completely scripted out the
whole vibe myself and did everything. It was
such a big part of my life that I think I’m still
recuperating from it. Down the road there
will be another CD and a DVD, but right now
I’m having a ball just being a sideman and
going on the road with Ringo this summer.”
GEAR, GEAR, GEAR...
Photo: Bissonette Stock
When it comes to drums, Gregg’s been
around the block a few times. Way back
when, he started out on Yamaha, moved
to Pearl, then had a short-lived association
with Gibson-owned Slingerland (including
a signature double-bass kit in a very classy
maple frost finish) before hooking up
with newcomer Mapex. How did all that
happen?
Photo: Bissonette Stock
“Back in ‘82 with Maynard Ferguson’s
band, I wanted to play Yamaha drums. Lots
of my favorites were playing them–Vinnie
Colaiuta, Steve Gadd, Steve Houghton,
Ed Soph, Peter Erskine, Alex Acuña–so I
wanted to be a Yamaha guy. At the time, it
was, ‘Okay, you’re with Maynard, come on
up and buy a kit real cheap.’ So that was my
endorsement; I bought a Yamaha kit and I
was in their catalog. Then I got the gig with
Gino Vannelli, and it was still, no free drums
or being a clinician for them or having ads in
magazines. But it was like, cool!
026
“It was really
heart-breaking
to leave a band
that you helped
start.”
Photo: Jeff Ivester
“Then I got David Lee Roth’s gig and
Yamaha stepped up, ‘Oh man, we gotta
do a poster, we’re gonna put ads in the
magazines and we’re gonna do all this stuff.
And, how many drums do you need for
free?’ I told them I had just worked with this
producer Ted Templeman [David Lee Roth],
who said, ‘Ya know, those birch drums aren’t
really gettin’ it for me for rock ‘n’ roll–I really
like old Ludwigs. In Van Halen, the band
that David Lee Roth was in before, Alex
always used old Ludwig drums. They’re all
thin maple shells and I love the way they
really project and sing. The birch drums are
deader.’ “I said, ‘But Steve Gadd and all
these drummers...’ Ted didn’t miss a beat,
‘Yeah, but Steve Gadd’s not doing a Van
Halen thing. This hydraulic head or pinstripe
on birch drums, it’s not gonna cut through
Marshalls. We need Remo Ambassadors
with thin maple shells.”
Myron Grombacher, [Pat Benatar’s
drummer] one of my best friends, said, ‘You
can take my oversized Ludwigs and do the
album.’ So I recorded the first David Lee
Roth album with Myron’s Ludwig drums.
They were just kickin’: they were loud! “I
went back to Yamaha and said, ‘Guys, if I’m
gonna stay with Yamaha, I really need to
have maple drums...this is a creative thing.’
Their answer was, ‘We’ll never make maple
drums. Never. We’re doing birch and we’re
not gonna do maple drums–ever.’
So I left and went to Pearl, a company
that really wanted me. They said, ‘We’ll
give you as many clinics as you can do,
we’ll give you all the drums you need and
put your face in magazines.’ I said, ‘Wow,
this is amazing!’ I love doing clinics. It’s a
great way to supplement your income. But
then, after seven years, they said, ‘Well,
the budgetary things, the economy...we’re
gonna scale back on the clinics with all of
our endorsers.’ And, they didn’t really need
me as much as they needed me in 1987.
I thought, ‘Well, I wanna be where I’m
needed! I wanna be where I love the drums,
and I wanna be where I can be used.’
Then the people at Gibson guitars had a
really great offer to buy Slingerland. They
asked, ‘What were the first drums you
ever played when you were a kid?’ I said,
‘I had Slingerlands.’ And they said, ‘Well,
we’re gonna do Radio King Slingerlands
with maple shells, and we want you to be
behind it.’ They did a signature set for me,
but unfortunately Slingerland never got off
the ground.
“But, Gibson was the distributor for
Mapex. I said, ‘I love Mapex, can I play
them?’ They said, ‘Well, Mapex is gonna be
doing their own thing now as Mapex USA.’
And Ken Austin, who had brought me to
Pearl, was now the president of Mapex
USA. Before I said anything, Ken called,
‘Can I send you a drum set?’ ‘Can you send
me a drum set?! Yeah, hello?!’ (Laughs) He
said, ‘I know what you like: thin maple shells
with no reinforcing hoops, the way we used
to make our drums at Pearl.’ I said, ‘Yes,
please send me a set of Mapex drums,’ and
I just fell in love with them.
“We struck up a great relationship, and
I’ve been with Mapex since ‘97. Thirteen
years, the longest I’ve ever been with any
drum company. I’ve been to the factory
many times. I just love the people there; I
love that whenever I have a request about
an idea, it seems to happen. I do a lot of
clinics for them–they’re very involved in
education.
“And they still make amazing, thin-shell
maple drums. But then they’re very creative.
They’ll do the Deep Forest drums, which are
walnut or cherry wood, and then they’ll stop
with the Deep Forest drums, and they’ll do
a maple kit with an inner ply of walnut that
just brings the whole tone down really nice;
you can tune it super low. And they’ve got
the Meridian now–they are the best drums
in the world to me.
“I put Remo white-coated heads on top
and clears on the bottom. They’re extremely
consistent, the bearing edges are always
spot-on. I tune them up and they just sing.
There’s nothing holding them back; nothing
027
CD TRACK
01
GEARBOX
Drums
Mapex Orion
24” x 18” Kick
12” x 10” Rack
16” x 16” Floor
14” X 5.5” Snare
Cymbals
Zildjian
14” K. Mastersound Hi-hats
17” K. Custom Crash
18” K. Custom Crash
12” A. Splash
20” A. Ping Ride
Heads
Remo
Rack & Floor - Coated Amb Top / Clear Amb Bottom
Kick - Power Stroke 3
Snare - Coated Reverse Dot
Sticks
Vic Firth
Gregg Bissonette Model
Hardware
DW5002 Chain Turbo Pedal
Percussion
LP Salsa Bell
028
restricting the tone of the shell, and the
hardware’s fantastic. The people are great,
and they’re based here in the U.S., in
Nashville. They’re a Taiwanese company
and they manufacture in China, I’ve been
there and it’s just second to none. The
Mapex factory is amazing.
“I’ve been with Zildjian since I was with
Maynard–I love Zildjian cymbals. And I was
the first guy to road-test the DW double
pedal with Maynard in ‘82. Don Lombardi
loaned me a pedal to take out. They’d just
designed the 5000 pedal, and it had cotterpins. I’ve been with Vic Firth with my own
signature sticks since I was with Maynard’s
band in ‘82, and LP percussion, too.
Then when I subbed for Simon with Toto,
he said, ‘You’ve got to have all the Shure
microphones.’ So I have Simon to thank
for my great relationship with Shure. I get
to go out and do clinics and do all kinds of
fun stuff for Roland–I love their electronic
drums. And Hudson Video, they kick in for
educational clinics too, and they’re just the
best in educational stuff, I think.”
Another company that I’m really happy to
be with is Zoom. I use their audio and video
recorders for everything from rehearsals to
sessions and tours. And they also take part
in supporting the educational stuff.
STILL THRILLED
with John Williams and the LA Philharmonic
over the Fourth of July. I couldn’t believe it,
‘This is James Taylor!’”
2010 All-Star Tour Dates
RINGO – PART 3
06.24.10 Niagra Falls
ON
“But my favorite – if I had to pick one – has
to be Ringo. Being on that stage, and now
being a friend of his, is just unfathomable.
I was extremely honored to be with him
for his Walk of Fame Star on Hollywood
Boulevard a couple of weeks ago. And,
I get to go onstage, look to the right and
see my favorite drummer–the guy whose
records I used to play to. I played a lot to
Chicago, and Blood, Sweat & Tears, Alice
Cooper, Grand Funk, Emerson, Lake &
Palmer, Yes, and every other band under
the sun, but nowhere near as much as I
did to The Beatles. Now I’m looking over at
him and I’m playing, and all I’m trying to do
is just fall into his vibe. Which is easy to do,
because he just wraps his drumming arms
around you.
06.25.10 Niagra Falls
ON
06.26.10 Bethel
NY
06.27.10 Uncasville
CT
06.29.10 Boston
MA
06.30.10 Westbury
NY
07.02.10 Easton
PA
07.03.10 Atlantic City
NJ
07.05.10 New Brunswick
NJ
07.06.10 Lancaster
PA
07.07.10 New York
NY
07.09.10 Cincinnati
OH
07.10.10 Atlanta
GA
07.11.10 Durham
NC
07.11.10 Durham
NC
07.13.10 Clearwater
FL
07.15.10 Hollywood
FL
07.17.10 Saint Augustine
FL
07.18.10 Biloxi
MS
07.20.10 Cleveland
OH
07.20.10 Cleveland
OH
07.21.10 Canandaigua
OH
07.23.10 WIndsor
ON
07.24.10 Hammond
IN
07.25.10 Prior Lake
MN
07.28.10 Calgary
AB
07.30.10 Spokane
WA
07.31.10 Woodinville
WA
08.01.10 Eugene
OR
08.03.10 Saratoga
CA
08.05.10 Rancho Mirage
CA
08.06.10 San Diego
CA
08.07.10 Los Angeles
CA
“The fact that I get to play with Ringo–that
I’m gonna just groove with the guy that
made me want to be a drummer in the first
place–is it for me.
And to top it off, we’re gonna play
Radio City Music Hall on July 7th, Ringo’s
birthday. What an inspiration. It was Buddy
Rich, Ringo and my dad. I just think, ‘God,
thank you for letting me be able to be a
drummer.’”
Gregg’s one of the most well-rounded
drummers on the planet. Stylistically, he
plays everything from big band brush work
to driving an orchestra, cooking up Latin
fusion and pounding out arena rock with
David Lee Roth. Plus, he also plays with
one of The Beatles: it doesn’t get much
better than that. With all that, what’s his
favorite?
“That’s a hard one because my first gig
was Maynard, and I’d always wanted to
play drums for him. And then David Lee
Roth was such a thrill to me. I was, and still
am, such a huge old Van Halen freak–those
early albums with Dave, Eddie, Alex and
Michael.
Date
City
State
2010 All-Stars
“I love every gig I get to do, whether it’s
Keith Emerson’s solo album, Jeff Lynne
and ELO, Toto with Steve Lukather and
Mike Porcaro, or Joe Satriani and working
with Andy Johns–every gig has just been
so much fun.
Ringo Starr - Drums, Vocals
Wally Palmar - Guitar, Vocals
Rick Derringer - Guitar, Vocals
Edgar Winter - Keyboards, Sax, Vocals
The Spinal Tap thing, and playing with
James Taylor is also great. I got to work a
lot with James because Gadd was so busy
with Paul Simon and/or Eric Clapton. We
played three nights at the Hollywood Bowl
Photo: Richard Pierce
WEBFOOT
greggbissonette.com
drummerworld.com
Gary Wright - Keyboards, Vocals
Richard Page - Bass, Vocals
youtube.com
Gregg Bissonette - Drums, Vocals
029