Who played drums on "Summer In the City"? Was it really Joe Butler?*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by varispeed, Aug 29, 2014.

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  1. varispeed

    varispeed what if? Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles Ca
    I'm on a kick of listening to fat sounding mono 45s today, including "Summer In the City". I remember an interview with Joe Butler in 1966 or so in Hit Parader or something where he said he'd only been playing drums a year and a half.... and this was at the time of their biggest hits.

    Did he really play on the "Summer In the City" track? As well as the other hits? If so, his timing and fill ideas are really pretty good for a guy who was only playing drums less than two years. If they were tracking to a click, that would've been even harder to pull off for a new drummer (I would think)

    Joe is sort of a basic drum "basher" on the live videos (which is cool) and gets completely turned around on the lead-in beat at one live show and has to stop the entire song. So I started wondering if there was an un-credited studio drummer in the history there somewhere.

    I notice Joe doesn't even play drums now at LS gigs. Which could be for lots of reasons. Anyway, does anyone know the story? If it is Joe on those tracks and he was only in a year and a half with playing, those are some pretty nice sounds and ideas he had. Wish I could find Erik Jacobsen to talk to him about those great sounding records.
     
  2. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    I'm reading Steve Boone's new autobiography, and Joe was the drummer in Steve's older brother's band when Steve first picked up an instrument. He wasn't the Spoonful's first drummer, though, so he probably meant he'd only been playing drums for them for less than two years. Maybe I'll be able to answer your question once I get farther along in the book.
     
  3. swedwards1960

    swedwards1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canton OH
    The song has two drum tracks, which adds to its power and interest.
    Stylistically, it does sound like both are Joe, based on listening to his playing on other Spoonful works.
     
  4. cwitt1980

    cwitt1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    Carbondale, IL USA
    I always thought it sounded like Joe. Those little fills are his style. Is he on "Six O'Clock"? That one has even more cool fills happening. Some other random favorite drum tunes they have are "Respoken," "Full Measure," and "Girl Beautiful Girl."
     
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  5. Rickchick

    Rickchick Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    I loved his voice and he was pretty good looking too. Full Measure is one of my favorite Spoonful songs.
     
  6. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    It's Joe, I can tell his drumming.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2014
  7. alylemoss

    alylemoss Forum Resident

    Joe and John both. John did overdubs.
     
  8. John DeAngelis

    John DeAngelis Senior Member

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I also suspect it's Joe AND John, because Sebastian overdubbed drum fills on some of the Spoonful's earlier singles.
     
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