Have you seen the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin? Or watched Spinal Tap perform on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien? Or maybe caught a rerun of the ever-popular NBC sitcom Friends? If so, you've heard one of the most versatile drummers in the business, Gregg Bissonette.
Since coming out of the North Texas State University (now the University Of North Texas) One O'Clock Lab Band, Bissonette has worked steadily across a number of genres, from jazz with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson to rock with David Lee Roth. He's also been a regular at top studios in Los Angeles and a member of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr's band. Gregg, who recently celebrated his fiftieth birthday, caught us up on his latest projects.
MD: This past June you played two high-profile concerts with Spinal Tap, “Britain's loudest band.” How did that musical relationship come about?
Gregg: I started playing with them [real-life actor/musicians Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer] in the late 1990s to promote their comedy tour. We did a lot of television shows, including The Late Show With David Letterman. I also played the Live Earth concert with them on 7/7/07 to raise awareness of global warming. At that time, the concert had the largest viewing audience ever. Two billion people saw it on the BBC, on other television networks, and via streaming over the Internet.
Spinal Tap's new album, Back From The Dead, debuted this past June 16, just before their concerts at the Glastonbury Festival on June 27—for 150,000 people!—and their One Night Only World Tour at Wembley Arena on June 30. The new album is basically fresh recordings from their first CD, This Is Spinal Tap, plus some new material. We also recorded all the downloads for the computer game Rock Band: Spinal Tap.
MD: What movie soundtracks have you played on in the past few years?
Gregg: Flash Of Genius, The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, Enchanted, Finding Nemo, Superbad, Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Polar Express with Tom Hanks, and John Q with Denzel Washington.
MD: What other studio work have you done recently?
Gregg: I got to play on the nine-time Grammy-winning Santana recording Supernatural, which sold more than 25 million copies. The tune “El Farol” was named Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 2000 Grammy Awards. In 2002, I played on Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather's CD No Substitutions, recorded live in Osaka, Japan, which won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Another project I did was a concert with Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra, which was released in 2001 on a DVD called Zoom Tour Live. My brother, Matt, played bass on that. And I did a really cool album with my brother and Ty Tabor of King's X called Jughead.
I played on an album with Katharine McPhee, who was the runner-up on American Idol's fifth season. I recorded with Ryan Cabrera and with Kenny G on his last album, which featured a lot of standards. In June I recorded on the new Doobie Brothers CD, which was produced by Ted Templeman and engineered by my good friend Ross Hogarth—I've been a fan of the Doobie Brothers since I was a kid. In July I recorded with Barry Manilow, and my brother played bass with me on four songs. I played for Clay Aiken, Keith Emerson, and Andrea Bocelli, on his DVD Vivere Live In Tuscany. I've also toured several times with James Taylor, who's a wonderful guy to work with.
MD: In 2003 and 2005, you toured with Ringo Starr as he promoted his albums Ringo Rama and Choose Love. And in 2008, you toured with his All-Starr Band. What was that experience like?
Gregg: It was just a dream come true! He's been my drumming hero since my dad took me to see the Beatles live in 1966 when I was seven years old. On these recent tours, when Ringo would go up front to sing his hits, I would be playing drums behind him. And when he would come back to play drums and sing behind the kit—which is his favorite thing to do—we would play double drums. To play alongside him, travel with him, talk about the Beatles, talk about life…it was an honor and a thrill! I will be featured on his new DVD, Live From The Greek Theatre, which we recorded last summer.
MD: After Ringo, your favorite musician to play with would probably be your brother, Matt. How important is the relationship between the drummer and the bass player?
Gregg: I play with my brother more than any bass player, and we've been in bands together since we were in junior high. It really is the most important relationship that you can have with any musician in the band. If the bass and drums are really locked, then the tempo can't move too much. Most of the bass players that I've had the honor of playing with have just been fantastic. But Matt and I grew up together and had exactly the same musical influences. We really feel all different styles of music in the same place. The placement of the bass player's beat is what's key. The way he or she plays 8th notes in relation to where you're hearing the 8th notes on the hi-hat in a rock groove, or the way the quarter notes on the bass fall in relation to your ride cymbal with a jazz groove—that placement is everything.
MD: You've done drum clinics all over the world. What do you try to teach in your clinics?
Gregg: I hope to get across the fact that you should be a musical drummer. You need to concentrate on keeping the tempo and the groove for the whole song and on playing dynamically. Learn to play Latin, funk, R&B, big band, playing with brushes, playing in small groups, Afro-Cuban, hip-hop—all kinds of different stylistic approaches. But mostly I want to talk about being a musical drummer. It's important to tell drummers of all ages that it's not just about going out there and playing drum solos and “me, me, me.” It doesn't matter where you're playing—if it's at a VFW hall or a huge stadium. You're able to play drums with other musicians, make a joyful noise, and hopefully make a living out of it someday.
MD: Do you have some practice tips you can share?
Gregg: The best practice tip that I could give would be to really work on your tempo. And the best way to do that is to record yourself. I would recommend taking a recorder of some kind into the practice room, going back to the drums, putting on your headphones, and plugging them into a metronome. Then start off at a certain tempo and play along with that for a minute, really locking in the grooves, and then reach down with your hand and turn off the metronome to see if you can keep that tempo solid for another two or three minutes. So now you've got three or four minutes, the length of a song.
Then take off the headphones, walk over to the recorder, sit down, and listen. Usually when you're with the click track, you're pretty on the money, but when you turn it off, what are your tendencies? Are you slowing down? Speeding up? Keeping it the same but rushing certain fills? How about when you go to the bell of the cymbal? Certain things tend to speed up or slow down. Realize your tendencies and work every day on getting your tempo better, because that's what the great recording session drummers do. They play and they listen, all day long
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MD: One of the most important influences in your life, both musically and personally, was your dad, Bud Bissonette. He passed away last fall. How are you dealing with your loss?
Gregg: My dad was my biggest fan. He and my mom would follow the Maynard Ferguson tour bus around because they both loved music. For eighteen years, he set up my drums for me and was a part of the Los Angeles recording session scene. Just before he passed away, he was in his bed, watching the World Series on TV, and I put on a Buddy Rich CD. As soon as he heard that hi-hat, his eyes got as wide as saucers and he said, “Buddy!” And when Buddy started playing “Love For Sale,” I looked at my dad and he started moving his hands like he was conducting the band, or playing a ride cymbal, or pointing at the horn section like Maynard would do. I said, “Dad, God gave us music and God gave us Buddy Rich. You took me to see Buddy when I was seven. I'm so thankful to have you as a dad.” He just looked at me and said, “I feel the same way about you, son. I'm ready to go be with the Lord and be with your mom.” It was really heavy, but I had forty-nine great years with him and no regrets.
One of the people who came to his funeral was Louie Bellson. Louie's widow, Francine, told me that was the last public event that Louie attended before he was hospitalized and passed away. It was such an honor to have Louie there. He was one of my dad's heroes.
Check out more with Gregg under www.mapexdrums.com and in his Update in the December issue of Modern Drummer.
Photos by Rob Shanahan. |
