Have you ever met a famous drummer?

BeatlesFan

Senior Member
Or played together with that famous drummer? If anyone has any experiences they want to share, please post here. :)
 
met and talked to Buddy briefly back in the early 80's. nuff said!!

if you want to consider Mickey Dolenz a drummer, i met him back around 1988 from some gigs we were doing in Palm Springs CA. great guy. came back in our dressing room before one of the shows we did there....a show we did with Fabian, Del Shannon, and The Marcels. went over a couple of tunes and then he came out and did about 5 tunes with us!!

Myron Grombacher from Pat Benatar is from the hometown area here. haven't talked to him in years though.

other drummers i've met and played with over the years include guys from:
The Monkees (a different gig from Mickey and the Palm Springs show)
Three Dog Night
Tommy James and the Shondells
The Beach Boys
Jan and Dean
The Turtles
Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
Herman's Hermits
Guess Who
Grass Roots
Chubby Checker

and going back to bands i played with in the 70's who did shows with:
ZZ Top
Uriah Heep
James Gang
Frijid Pink
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Flash
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Canned Heat

and probably some others i'm forgetting at the moment. :)
 
Between working in drum shops, living in Los Angeles, and hanging out at drumming events, I've met more famous drummers than I can count.

Neil Peart is the major one I've never met, and given he doesn't like fans approaching him, I would respect his privacy and stay away if I were to run into him.
 
I've meat Jason Bittner at a clinic, He played great and had a lot of interesting things to say, It was a learning experience for sure. He signed some stuff for me and even answered some questions. I've also met Johnny Kelly from Type O Negative. It was just a little hey how are you doing type deal and he signed my stuff but it was still nice to meet him. I would like to meet Eric Singer.
 
I hung out with Vinnie Colaiuta in a recording studio one afternoon while he laid a drum track for Herbie Hancock's next album. Larry Klein was on bass. This happened like three months ago. My neighbor is a recording engineer and invited me.

A state-of-the-art recording studio with three legends, my neighbor and a yellow lab...I win! There was also a room with refreshments and danishes and what not. That's about all I can tell you.
 
Got to go backstage and meet Deep Purple and talk with Ian Paice. He was absolutely uber-cool. He could have easily said "Hello. Now get the hell out of here" but he was an extremely nice and personable guy (in fact the whole band was nice). My friend and I were like Wayne and Garth: "We're not worthy!!!!".
 
I met Virgil Donati when he was playing locally in the 90's. I've also met a couple of Aussie drummers that have (or had at the time) reasonable reputations here, but wouldn't be known on a broader scale.

I wonder if Bernhard has met any??
 
These were guys I met in the 80's from back in my L.A. club circuit days. Some were famous then, and some are famous now.

Bobby Blotzer - Ratt
Tommy Lee - Motley Crue
Buddy Miles - Famous for playing with Jimi Hendrix, but was in an unknown band at the time.
Chuck Ruff - Edgar Winter Group. Chuck is the guy who recorded the solo in the song Frankenstein. When I asked him about it, he explained that "They cut out all my good shit". That was because Edgar played some drums, so it had to be some thing Edgar could play, and they would play that solo live with two drum kits, and that's why the solo repeats every phrase twice, so Chuck could play the first phrase, then Edgar would "answer" with the repeated phrase, and so on.
 
I've run into a few in my travels, some just a handshake and a little chat, and others I'm comfortable emailing occasionally to see how they're doing. But I value my friendship with Hal Blaine above all. We keep in touch and exchange Xmas & birthday cards, he even called when my father passed away. He's a gentleman and a real treasure.

Bermuda
 
More than I can remember.

My business keeps me in very close contact with musicians and drummers. My high point was a meeting with Max Roach, a story I've recounted here on DW. I would have loved to have met Buddy.

My low point was a meeting with a big, highly respected technical master clinician with a lot of DVDs under his belt.

...
 
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Wow - some of you guys are really fortunate.

I can't claim to have met any famous but I have met one great drummer (Pierre Moerlen) and quite a few very good drummers....
 
I got to meet Louie Bellson once at a jazz club here in Chicago. You couldn't meet a nicer person. He took time to talk to everybody. Not just a quick hello and a handshake. He would talk to each person for a few minutes asking about what you did for work, who your favorite musicians were, etc. Truly the nicest musician, and one of the nicest persons, that I have ever met. We miss you Louie!
 
One time back in high school, I was at this hotel party and heard that REO Speedwagon was staying there. Me and a friend went down to the bar and I met Brian Hitt. I was sitting at the bar between him and the keyboard player, who kept telling me all kinds of dirty jokes. I didn't get kicked out for being too young but I didn't try to order a beer either.
Growing up in a small town near Omaha, Nebraska, I was always visiting Joe Voda's Drum City. 311's Chad Sexton worked there for a while when he was just out of high school. His mom also worked there. I later worked with her at Mars Music when it was still around. Now, she manages Chad Sexton's Drum City in North Hollywood, California. She sent me a free hat. Chad is still one of my favorite and most influential drummers. I never really "knew" him but knew who he was before he was famous.
Just from hanging out at Ranch Bowl (bowling alley/sand volleyball court/billiards bar/rock club/recording studio) here in Omaha (it's been bulldozed and is now a Walmart), I've met a lot of different guys. Ive met Anthony Watson from The Wailers, Philip "Fish" Fisher from Fishbone, John Pessoni from The Urge, as well as John Stanier from Helmet. They were all very nice people. I should also mention that 311 used to play there every Monday for a little while before they moved to Los Angelas.
Thanks to locally sponsored drum clinics in Omaha and Kansas City, I've been able to shake hands and briefly talk to the likes of Steve Gadd, Steve Smith, Virgil Donati, Terry Bozzio, Bob Rock, Mark Schulman, Greg Bisonette, Rod Morgenstein, and Dennis Chambers.
I don't live in a major music hub like some of you so I feel pretty lucky to have had the exposure that I've had. Although I try to be as cool as possible whenever I meet any of these amazing drummers, I'm pretty sure I've been on par with the most annoying of fanboys. I just can't help it. I'm easily star-struck.
 
Around '98 or so, Jason Bonham and his band at that time came to Guitar Center in north Houston. He had a short clinic--45 minutes or so--then his band kicked in and played 4-5 Zep tunes and just rocked the place hard. I did however notice while Jason was doing his clinic that he was sniffling and coughing and clearing his throat a lot. Had that whole head cold thingy sound going on, but I didn't think much of it. After the band had finished, they were all seated and met with everyone there, handed out autographs, signed drum heads and such and I was able to shake his hand and talk one-on-one with him for some time. He was a pleasant chap! Had a great time. And I also got sick as shit over the next few days! Thanks a lot Jason! Ha! Hope to see ya around soon!
 
I have met a few at clinics. Gavin Harrison, Gregg Bissonette, Mike Mangini, Pat Petrillo, Simon Phillips..all were very kind and cool guys.

I did BRIEFLY shake the hand of Dennis Chambers once at a PASIC..very gracious guy..

Aydee...I think I had a similiar experience as you with perhaps the same guy!...EGO comes to mind, am I correct? Very unfortunate, and unnecessary, really, because he's not really "all that"!
 
Wow - some of you guys are really fortunate.

I can't claim to have met any famous but I have met one great drummer (Pierre Moerlen) and quite a few very good drummers....

Chalk up a zero for me too. I've hung out and played with drummers and other musos who've played with "name bands" or artists in Oz but the musos themselves never had a profile. Not wild about meeting celebs because I'd probably just bug them by saying something inappropriate :)

Hercules, if Pierre Moerlen wasn't famous, he deserved to be. We've chatted about him before but too many people have missed out on the work of this wonderful drummer. Was he a nice guy?
 
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I met Dennis Chambers once, when I was taking jazz lessons in Baltimore. Very down to earth guy.
 
I met Tommy Igoe at a clinic he did at my school, NYU during an annual event we hold called Percussion Weekend. He's such an awesome dude....and he's fricken tall....

I also talked with Dave King of The Bad Plus. He's also an awesome dude...
 
Clinics also. Dom Famularo. Acts like he's known you his entire life.
John Blackwell. Very quiet humble guy.
Steve Ferrone. Mr . Groove.
Ray Luzier. Now of (K)orn.
and JoJo Mayer
Update.... Stanton Moore, Felipe Torez, Benny Greb, Terry Bozzio, Joel Rosenblatt, Aaron Kennedy
Update, update....Danny Seraphine, Chicago
Further update...Florian Alexandru-Zorn
Duane Norman...Crystal Gayle et.al.
Tony Coleman....B.B. King
 
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