Drums for Life – a Brief Tribute to Taylor, Chad, Stewart & Dave

In 2022, just after Taylor Hawkins passed away, I sent this message to Tim from sleepmakeswaves:

“I don’t know if it’s the same for you, but I wrote a bit in my diary about why I think it’s hit me like this.

Basically – music/drumming is such a huge part of my life and how I identify myself. By extension, my influences are like my biggest teachers. Taylor, Dave, Stewart & Chad are the guys I would study endlessly to develop myself. They’ve literally made me who I am. Sometimes I would even pretend to be them whilst I was playing.

So there’s that & the fact I wasn’t ready for it. 50 is too young. He seemed to be doing great. It’s a big shock. Scott Weiland was different, I think I almost expected it at some point. Charlie Watts was different, 80 isn’t super old but he had a great run and had been sick for a while. Plus you add the fact that Taylor was close with Dave, Chad & Stewart, which means anytime I play or listen to anything I can’t help but get drawn back to this.

And then there’s his family, which was the first thing I thought of. The kids are so young, it sucks.

I know I’ll be OK eventually but will probably take a long time.”

He replied soon after:

“Yeah dude…same. Feel that a million percent. X”

SO.

Life is too short to wait until someone’s gone to express yourself. Which is why I’m taking this time to write my little tribute to these guys. Not for them to necessarily ever read, or for anything other than to know I put this out into the world whilst they were alive, to show that appreciation now, rather than when it’s too late.

Don’t worry I’m not going to make this my life story, it’s a total drum nerd out.

STEWART COPELAND

I was aware of The Police and their stuff, but the time I truly fell in love with the band and Stewart’s drumming, was in the Australian summer of 2002. I went for a road trip with my cousin Arvind and he put on a greatest hits CD whilst I was waiting for him to pack his bags. When I heard the bass line for ‘Bed’s Too Big Without You’ I was fascinated. This was a famous band, who I knew for their 80s pop-rock hit ‘Every Breath You Take’ - but this was some weird music right?

I asked him to take the CD with us in the car and it went on rotation – when I got round to putting it on again at home, ‘So Lonely’ was THE track. It had one of my favourite drum beats, the half time/double time tempo, it had an awesome chord progression and a catchy melody. I literally thought it might be the best song ever and showed my brother Alex excitedly as soon as we got home. I insisted on burning a copy of the CD there and then for us to play on repeat thereafter.

Not to mention, there was EPIC HIHAT WORK, these little flourishes and things sprinkled in amongst the song like tasty little treats. And of course, every chorus, there was a delicious little drum fill leading into every off-beat hit.

Here are some time stamps to follow along & the full song/video below:

Now, I want to point out some key moments.

00:16 – snare double followed by hihat flourish (btw this also happens in ‘Roxanne’ from the same album)

1:13 how good does that flam fill into the hits feel?

2:12 THIS FILL – this little jagged, seemingly out of time collapse into the perfect spot. It takes some kind of foresight to place this kind of thing into a song. Sometimes you can plan it in advance like I would, or sometimes you just have the rhythm inside you.

This kind of insane trickery is partly why Stewart is so revered.

Now, let’s skip ahead.

When I first heard the song ‘Generator’ by the Foo Fighters, I loved the song, great melody, riff etc. But I also LOVED the drumming.

Why? Because listen to this at time stamp

2:15

It’s the same kind of fill. Not the same fill, but the same kind of thing.

And how about this tasty fill from ‘Times Like These’ by Foo Fighters?

2:16 Here it is again.

This is important. Because some time after I’d fallen in love with Taylor’s drumming, I found out he was a massive Stewart Copeland fan. Obviously, a drummer I liked gushing over another drummer I liked made me very happy. And I knew that Taylor, although much older and better at drums than me, was exactly like me in one way.

Every time he played one of those fills, it was like a little tribute to his own drumming hero. I spent years colouring in the gaps of my own band’s songs with little Stewart Copeland and Chad Smith references. And here was one of the world’s most famous and successful drummers doing it on a series of hard rock hits – in the same band as one of the world’s most famous and successful drummers, ever.

This is also important, because recently I read Stewart himself saying how Taylor used to tell him he ripped off Stewart all the time, but that Stewart didn’t hear the similarities in the music. So I wanted to put out into the universe – Taylor’s been paying tribute to you all this time man, he loved your drumming, as we loved his and yours too.

Oh and this? Time stamp the bell of the ride cymbal.

And

The whole approach to drums as not just a background instrument, but an important part of the colour and texture and memorableness of a song, it’s all there.

CHAD SMITH

Here are a few other things I love about Chad

Firstly, he has what my brother and I haved dubbed ‘THE GROOVE.’

The groove is just something you have, or you don’t. It’s the feel of the music, the innate vibe, the ability to swing and yet still be super tight. It’s mostly a funk thing I guess, at least that’s where our intent came from.

It’s hard to describe. Some people don’t have it. Some don’t need it necessarily – if you’re playing superfast thrash or punk, you don’t have the space between the notes to notice.

Once we came up with this term, we smugly anointed drummers who had it or who didn’t, until we came to Taylor and Dave.

Then we got stuck and our definition was undone. I couldn’t imagine Dave playing ‘If You Had To Ask’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but equally I couldn’t deny that everything on ‘The Colour and the Shape’ not only sounded, but felt, amazing.

We expanded our definition to include a sub category – “THE ROCK GROOVE.”

Part of both of these, is the ability to hit hard. Man, I love the spectacle of a hard hitting drummer. I was absolutely taken aback when I saw how hard Chad hits even on some of the laid back material in their 1999-2000 era live videos.

Take a look at this:

Both Chad and Taylor play their single stroke rolls with a lot of power.

Another thing about Chad…oh yes, he’s into Stewart Copeland too!

I didn’t ever really notice it in his playing on Red Hot Chili Peppers and Glenn Hughes records. But when I watched his later solo stuff, I noticed he was doing hihat/rim click jams – again, just like I had been trying to imitate myself – inspired by this iconic intro to ‘Reggatta de Blanc’ by The Police.

Check this out:

Now, Stewart later explained he was messing around with echo boxes and stuff, but that didn’t matter to me. Here I was, trying to memorise the exact pattern of rim clicks and hihat taps so I could play it live. When Chad does his version, it’s Chad Smith groove + Stewart Copeland inspiration and sounds fantastic.

Recently, when reflecting on how I could articulate Chad’s style, I realised that he naturally features a lot of the same elements that make up Stewart’s style. Maybe this is more a comment on myself rather than him, but here are some examples.

His approach to the hihats. Listen to the opening of Californication & Scar Tissue, where he tends to open the hihats slightly on the first beat of the bar.

He also uses the dynamics of the hihats to build intensity, where people might normally hit a crash cymbal instead. Time stamp here in Californication:

His approach to the ride cymbal. Again, much like Stewart and Taylor (but in his own right), he doesn’t just play straight ride cymbal/bell patterns. He dances on them. Often live he’ll be playing the loud part on the ride cymbal, but not actually hit it for a bar or two. Watching him play is sometimes mind bending, as he makes it seem like time slows down without ever dropping the pulse of the song.

But even when he’s playing more restrained on recordings, these tasty little bell licks creep in – listen to how he hits the bell just before the chorus hits in Californication:

Oh he’s got chops. Man.

He rarely does flashy stuff on recordings, but listen to Purple Stain on the album Californication here. So good man, I could hardly believe it.

I used to get a bit annoyed that he wouldn’t cut loose more on recordings (for example the way Flea does), but this almost made up for it entirely.

Then I heard ‘Live in Hyde Park.’ It only took 2 minutes for me to realise that Chad had indeed not slowed down. Firstly there’s the opening jam, then it’s…just Chad shredding all over the set. Time stamp the fill at 1:38 which I must have played about 1000 times since then.

But it’s not just about chops and flashy playing. Playing like this is like coming from the school of Keith Moon. You have to be relaxed to be able to feel the music like this, see the spaces between notes and let loose across the kit. It’s a great feeling to have and a great way to play because you aren’t tight and you’re really vibing the music. Again, there are some styles of music where you have to be more precisely dialled in, but if you’re into this stuff, this is the top shelf version.

Time stamp 5:11 for this little fill before the second verse.

Also I love when he plays a fill then goes to the crash but hits the left crash slightly before the right crash. 6:04

Then, this lovely little sequence to re-enter the song at 7:00-7:06

Let’s go to Around The World and just listen to the first 1:30 and enjoy the interplay between the drums the bass and the vocals

Oh and that little drum fill at 1min, nice hey?

Oh and also this video was when I realised I could play the intro to ‘Can’t Stop’ but – not like this. THE POWER.

Just found this too:

One more thing. The age of these guys – maybe it’s from watching tennis, or swimming, where 30 used to be considered ancient.

But seeing RHCP play at the age of 60, with more energy than most other live acts.

Or even watching the above videos, when RHCP are in their 40s, with seemingly endless youthful energy.

Or Foo Fighters at 50.

Or even Stewart at 56 playing 151 shows around the world on the reunion tour for the The Police in 2007…90mins per night, with all the travel and everything else.

Man it’s hard to stay in shape on the road, unless you really focus. These guys are athletes and very inspiring from that perspective.

Yessh I haven’t even mentioned peak Stewart either? Here you go:

Look at this dude’s legs and arms. Look how he dances on the ride and the bell.

2:31 there’s that kinda fill again

2:33 that takes energy and accuracy man

3:08 to the end man I can’t even tell you how good this is, how hard it is and how easy he makes it look and sound.

DAVE GROHL

I can’t not mention Dave. I figured it out a bit later compared to the other guys.

Partly, because Taylor was in all the promo videos and touring for The Colour and the Shape, I thought it was him drumming.

Then I found out Dave was the drummer and realised I needed to add him to my top 4.

Partly, because I know of Nirvana, but didn’t know Dave was in both bands until around 2002 when the driver at my part time job told me (educated me) whilst listening to the radio.

Then, when YouTube came around and I saw one of these videos – it sealed the deal. I was all about hard hitting then – and Dave impressed the heck out of me with his power and passion on the kid.

Crucially, there’s also this drum fill:

Every Little She Does Is Magic at 2:56

This Is A Call at 2:01

Generator at 1:20 & 3:00

Hmm? HMM??!!

I LOVE IT

Simmer Down at 2:08

Listen mate, you still here?

Go to 6:15 of this video and just WATCH