Since The Secret Diary of a Session Drummer was first published in Rhythm in 1996, (see the Secret Diary page), it has been a privilege to become a regular writer for what is undoubtedly the world's best magazine with drums in it. Through the magazine I have had the opportunity to meet most of my drum heroes, and go backstage with some of the biggest names in popular music, including Michael Jackson, Robbie Williams, The Corrs, S Club 7, Kylie Minogue, Travis, Coldplay, David Gray, Eric Clapton and Genesis. I've included here some of my favourite interviews, with Caroline Corr, Chris Sharrock from the Robbie Williams Band, and the legendary Clem Burke from Blondie, plus a tour diary I did of my first year with Rolf and Part 1 of the Beginners Guide to Percussion. Subscribe to Rhythm

Most of the photos that accompany these articles are taken by the lovely James Cumpsty. Check out his website at www.jamescphoto.demon.co.uk where there's more photos of gorgeous pop stars and drummers than you can shake a stick at.

For a full list of all the interviews I have done for Rhythm, including drum stars like Steve Gadd, Airto Moreira, Simon Phillips and David Garibaldi, click here.

Interview with Caroline Corr from The Corrs
Reproduced by kind permission of Future Publishing
First printed May 1999

"They're a great bunch to work with, really nice people, down to earth, you know, and the success isn't going to their heads, so it's a very very pleasant place to work.." (Declan Hogan, drum tech to Caroline Corr). These days, with everything you read about the Corrs related not just to their talent, but to how nice they are, you could be forgiven for thinking that nobody can be that perfect. Well, having spent an afternoon in their company, I can promise you, they really are the friendliest people you could ever hope to meet in this business, or indeed any other. And what's really remarkable is so are the people around them, from the security to the management. Over the last few years the Corrs have probably done more interviews, meet and greets, and photo shoots than any other band, (not to mention about a million gigs), yet they still have the ability to put you at ease and to make you feel that you're chatting with an old friend. In fact, Caroline positively thrives on it, exuding happiness and laughing constantly as she talks at lightning pace about how things are going. "It's going great, this tour has been really really great, we're doing six Wembleys, which is fantastic, so we couldn't be happier. The tour just keeps getting extended, I mean we started before Christmas, which was all of December in the UK, and then we started back again in January in Dublin and in Belfast, and then back to England, so it's just been great. I mean obviously it's a lot of work for us, but it's our time to do it now, and if we can fill these venues, better we do it now rather than never get to do it at all." With six sold out nights at Wembley, not to mention a couple more at Docklands, and that's just in London, it might seem that the Corrs are a bit of an overnight sensation. Nothing could be further from the truth. They've been huge in other parts of the world (most notably Australia, Japan and Europe) for several years, with over 2,000,000 sales of their debut album Forgiven Not Forgotten. But it's Talk On Corners, their current album, which has lifted them up into the stratosphere. "This album has just done so well, especially in the UK. Once we released Dreams it kind of took off for us and we released a few more singles and people got to know us. Before that it was a hard struggle, and we've been really working together as a band for eight years, which people mightn't realise, just how long we have been together, slogging away, ha ha." As Fleetwood Mac's Dreams was the song which really kick started the Corrs rise to megastardom over here, I wondered what it had been like meeting and playing with Mick Fleetwood at the Albert Hall where the Corrs performed last St.Patrick's night. "It was brilliant. He was lovely, and obviously for me, being the novice here, playing with him was a great experience, with such a great drummer, and getting up there. Somebody suggested, I don't know if it was our managers, you know 'Why don't you guys play together?' and I'm going 'How's this going to work? How is two drummers going to get up there and play together?' First of all he played on Dreams, and I went up front and did the bodhran thing, and sang a bit. And then for 'Haste for the Wedding' which is an Irish traditional piece, we both got together on that and it just worked out great, because he did all the kind of tom thing while I was doing the straight rhythm. He's so good, a lovely guy." It's interesting that Caroline describes herself as the novice, because watching her perform, both at the soundcheck where she jammed some nice funky grooves with bass player Keith Duffy, and at the gig, she looks like she's been playing the drums all her life. Owing to what maybe was a case of producer's paranoia, Caroline doesn't play kit on much of Talk on Corners, (although her mighty bodhran is present throughout), but seeing her live makes it hard to understand why. She plays with a passion, feel and energy that belies her petite frame, and the groove is perfect. Plus she's so darned physical! "I've always played like that, and I think everybody just plays naturally at the end of the day. I've always kind of had the arms going, and people will say this to me, like 'You're using up a lot of energy.' But it's just been very very natural for me to do that. I don't know why. Probably because I started late, I didn't start until I was about eighteen playing drums. I had no really proper, well, I learned for a little while but not very long, it's like I was thrown out on the stage, I kind of feel like I was just sort of thrown out there. I used to play the piano as my main instrument originally. So people say to me it looks pretty physical and I remember at the beginning it definitely was physically more demanding for me, but as you know yourself, you build up a kind of stamina. I do though have to keep my back in shape. I was just talking to Larry Mullen a couple of weeks ago, he came to the show at Dublin which was great, I was really happy to see him there. I was talking to him afterwards and he was telling me to get one of those seats with the backs on them for your back, because you do have to watch all that stuff, you really do." Confirmation of Caroline's physical approach comes from her tech Declan: "Cymbal breaking is a big one with Caroline, we're constantly on the phone to Zildjian, she breaks a lot of cymbals, which just goes to show she hits them really really hard. Also the tom skins we change quite often, every other gig actually!" At the gigs Caroline plays most of the time to clicks, something she is very used to. "I don't know any different. To me, I've learned that way and I've done it that way because we've always used click just by the nature of our music. Except for the traditional stuff I don't use click, and that's kind of refreshing. But I'm so used to it now, I get the balance right in my head and I find it okay. I quite like it actually. I used not to like it years ago sometimes." Caroline is a genuine all round musician, and, as she mentioned, her first instrument was piano, (she started at the age of six). During the live show, in addition to playing kit, she comes to the front of the stage to play piano, sing a duet with sister Sharon, and perform an awesome bodhran solo. She clearly enjoys the variety of her roles. "I love playing the traditional stuff, I love playing Toss the Feathers which is the last song, it's just a basic rock track. But I also like to do Dreams because when the bass kicks in on Dreams, the kick and the bass come in together, I love playing that in the show. It's not just what I'm doing, it's what everybody else is doing, it just feels good." "I've only been singing for this tour, I didn't do that before, I used to do the bodhran solo thing, and it's just that as we extended the tour we needed to do more things, and myself and Sharon decided we'd do a song together, which is No Frontiers, written by Jimmy McCarthy. We decided we'd like to sing a nice Irish ballady thing, and it goes down great every night so, you know...." Caroline's progression from piano to kit can be traced back to an old flame. "I had a boyfriend from my hometown Dundalk, he was a drummer, and he was a crazy U2 fan, I mean Larry Mullen was his hero, that was it, total hero, and he had a drum kit. We had the band going, we were just writing together, but at the time Sharon wasn't playing the violin in the band which is really really strange, it sounds hard to believe, but we were really experimenting with our sound and instruments. Nobody knew what they were doing, we just knew we were making music, but we didn't know how the live set up was going to work. And he was playing one day and I says 'I'll have a wee go' so I learnt how to play just a straight eight beat or whatever, and I kind of liked it, so I just started to learn a little bit more, and he showed me a few things. And I think the rest, Jim, Sharon and Andrea, came in one day to hear me play because I said I was learning the drums. And they came in and said 'That sounds really good, that's what we'll do, we'll incorporate this in the band.' So I says 'Cool!' and that was it, that's kind of how it happened, and suddenly I was playing the drums." "And my first time I remember playing drums live was on a TV show, right! The first time ever in front of people was on a TV show, and I was so bad, ha ha ha! It was a good few years ago and I was so nervous, I remember it very well. But that's how it started." So playing the bodhran, which I presumed had been joined to Caroline at the hip since birth, actually came after she'd started the kit. "Yeah, well, we did an awful lot of acoustic sessions, especially touring in the States, and like going into radio stations, just the four of us, and basically having to play and being good at that. So using the voices and the instruments I needed something percussive, and I always loved the bodhran, and I don't know how I got interested.... I remember saying to a friend I'd love to get one. This was very soon after playing the drums, and a friend of mine bought me one and I started to learn. How I learnt was through a video, there's a guy called Stefan Hannigan, I got his video and used to watch that, because that was great for technique. And once I got the technique I just experimented myself and played more." With her brother and sisters Caroline spent her youth listening to the likes of Genesis, the Police and Prince, ("I was a mad Prince fan when I was young"), so it's not surprising The Artist's most famous collaborator was one of her first drum heroines. "When I was younger, I didn't have these idols growing up because I wasn't learning it, I never had drum heroes. Then when I did get into it I loved looking at the girl drummers, like Sheila E or Cindy Blackman from Lenny Kravitz, and now I watch much much more." These days she gets to meet some of her favourite players, and even play with them!. "I met Steve Gadd actually, and Pino Paladino as well, the two of them were doing the Pavaroti show we did, with a load of artists and Luciano (she says in her best Irish-Italian accent)! And we were singing a song with them, and on the show we had to play Dreams and stuff so they kind of augmented us as well, it was great. I have a signed skin from Vinnie Colaiuta as well, ha ha ha." Like Steve Gadd and Vinnie, Caroline plays Yamaha drums and Zildjian cymbals, and has taken delivery of a lovely new champagne sparkle kit for this tour. "Before this set I had the Maple Custom in a greeny black colour, and that was great, and then I decided we need to get sparkly, get the champagne one, so I asked Yamaha. But the good thing about this kit is it's actually the 30th anniversary kit, so I think they've only made a few. It's great and sounds great, so they'd better not take this one back off me, I'll be very very upset, ha ha ha." Anyone who has seen Caroline play will have noticed she wears gloves whilst performing. She's been using them for a while, but it's only recently that she's found the perfect pair. "I was originally using, well, I kept trying to find ones that were slim and had good grips. I remember the first tour I ever did I was using these things, they had thick pads in them and the sticks just went flinging out of my hands every few minutes, so they were out of the question. I used equestrian gloves, horse riding gloves, for a while, but they kept tearing. And then I started using golf gloves because they're really thin and they've got really great grips on them and they're not too hot, your hands don't get too hot. For me it's great, it just protects my hands and I used to get quite a lot of blisters and stuff, so it's just extra protection for me." Whilst on the subject of looking after yourself, I wondered whether Caroline had any thoughts, tips or opinions about drumming she would like to share with Rhythm. Her response was immediate! "We need more girls playing I think still. Definitely! I think women are put off by it, seeing as so many men are playing, but I think definitely more girls." Amen to that! The Corrs are now one of the biggest bands in the world, and they've got there by bucket loads of talent, phenomenally hard work and total dedication. The looks they had already, but the rest they've worked their socks off for, with not just constant promotion, but endless hours of individual practice to become high class musicians that can stand alone in front of thousands of people and move them. For Caroline it's all been worth it. "Yeah, you know, I think it gets better, I think when you're at it for a long time, when you gain success it just makes it all so worthwhile, all that work you really put in, and for us we're just having a great time. We're still working as hard as ever as usual, but it's so worth it, and we're having ourselves a great time with it.

'Keith Duffy, Corrs bass player on Caroline'
What is it like playing with the Corrs? "Well, Caroline is definitely the best looking drummer I've ever played with! It's great, the way things have gone in the last few years it's just sky rocketed." How long have you been with the band? "I've been with them now for three years, so myself and Anton the guitar player, we were the first people who played with them when they wanted to put a band together to do a tour, that was late '95". So you've seen their rise to global dominance? "Yeah, right from the start, because when I got the call to do it, I really didn't know who they were". Do you enjoy playing with Caroline in the rhythm section? "Oh yeah, she's great, she listens to lots of loopy type things, and she has these loop grooves that she does, so it's great fun playing with her, and she's got great time. And for the size of her she smacks 'em, you know! She really does. So it's been very enjoyable, especially moving into these gigs. The thing about Caroline is she's the perfect drummer for these type of sized gigs, she works so well on the big venues, because of the weight behind everything."