His fills on the outros of Narrow Way and Fat Old Sun are quite funny. Actually Gilmour programmed a drum track but Mason played it in the end.
I suppose as a drummer myself (of sorts), it sounds to me like an enthusiastic novice pounding away without any concern for timing, precision, restraint etc. It's funny but not in a bad way.
That was my first thought: IIRC, it's Carlos Alomar on drums, Dennis Davis on bass and George Murray on guitar for the basic track. Eno gets the credit for the idea because it came from an Oblique Strategies card ("Change instrument roles").
Gruff Ryhs played drums on a track or two on Super Furry Animals's "Mwng". I think Dafydd Ieuan had gone home feeling ill and the tight schedule and low budget meant they had to press on without him.
It seems I'm wrong - it was only one track and was a demo that was kept because everyone liked the overall sound and feel of the recording so it was decided not to re-do it.
I'm a drummer, too. I've heard the song many times, and always focus on the drums because I know it's Gilmour. I'm listening to it now, his fills seem like he's holding the sticks sooo hard, as the execution is stiff, despite them being decent fills, very reminiscent of Nick Mason.
Not too much overall. He played drums on all the early all-solo albums (S/A, Hermit, TEPTAE). All the Utopia drumming was Willie though, and the later solo albums used electronic drums.
You can see Richard Manuel playing some funky drums behind Joni Mitchell in the Last Waltz alternate footage (@ about 28:15 on):
Isn't that Drayton on The Cult's Ceremony ? (edit: no, he plays bass guitar). Charley also played drums with David Letterman's "World's Most Dangerous Band" on some shows. He's a good drummer. It was his first instrument. He's a multi-talented musician. Speaking of which, we're seeing a lot of "Stevie Wonder" 0r "Prince" or whomever. Guys that are known as multi-instrumentalists. I believe the OP was talking about musicians, not known for playing drums, that wind up behind the kit for a song or for another band or project. But, I could wrong ... or Wong.
In truth, anyone in Pink Floyd was probably as good as Nick Mason on the kit. Let's face it, he's extremely rudimentary and has even professed he had little interest in getting better or improving his technique.
Kurt Cobain started out as a drummer and many of the drum parts you hear on Nirvana albums were "composed" by him. He told the band's drummers what to play if he wasn't happy.
Well yes and no... Professionally, on stage, they brought in a drummer to play on the 1966 Dylan tour when Levon quit. It was the following year during the informal Dylan "Basement Tapes" recordings when Richard took up the slack and started occasionally playing drums, before Levon returned.
Nick wasn't great live, but he has some tasty fills on record, and knew (like the others) about space, knowing what and when not to play. But yeah, he didn't seem very dedicated, and didn't deviate much from the rock/jazz/funk style... By the mid-70s, his drumming got stiffer throughout the rest of his career.
From the OP’s initial post: Adrian Belew was not King Crimson’s drummer. ‘Nuff said. I don’t think this thread was ever about people who can’t play drums playing drums, for whatever reason, in a band where they’re not the drummer. As for solo albums, the first was shortly after King Crimson’s “Beat”. I don’t remember saying, or even suggesting, that “Fripp would play with a drummer who can't play at a professional level (especially when they are the only drummer in the band)?” You do realize that that the ProjeKcts were well after “Beat”, right? So were you simply feeling combative?
No - were YOU? When someone pointed out that Belew was originally a drummer you dismissed it with: The claim that he was "a high school drummer" is: 1 - dismissive - implying he wasn't very good 2 - incorrect - since he worked as a PROFESSIONAL drummer both BEFORE - and while - working as a professional guitarist Either you didn't know these things when you posted (and if that was the case then - "you're welcome") or you did know these facts and YOU were being combative just for the sake of it, since all you provided to the discussion was one short snarky dismissive comment with nothing of value (such as evidence) to back it up, so....
Somebody probably mentioned this but... in the Get Back montage that just hit the interweb, there are short clips of Paul, John and George playing Ringo's drums.
Can't seem to find it, but there was a 60s show video where Beach Boys Dennis and Carl switch places and Carl does the drumming. Maybe Merv Griffin or possibly Ed Sullivan ?
