Jimmy Marinos

percussionlover

Junior Member
I was wandering what you guys think about "Jimmy Marinos",the original drummer/vocalist for The Romantics ??
I think he should be included on the list of drummers on this site cause Jimmy is an awesome drummer with a very unique style of playing.
I was lucky enough to see The Romantics live in 1979 @ Brassy's Nite Club in Cocoa Beach Florida & Jimmy was Hot & very loud !!
Jimmy's Ludwig kit is very small & simple,i think maybe a 4 piece when i saw them & he plays his sticks with the handles to give it that heavy 60's beat & sound.
I don't think i'm the only one out here that thinks Jimmy Marinos is an awesome influential drummer & it's a shame that you don't hear much about him now.
Here's a video from 1983 of The Romantics with Jimmy Marinos on those very simple Ludwig kit & lead vocals...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTAxxiz8VUE&feature=related

p.s. i re-did this thread & posted it now in the right forum....
 
Re: JIMMY MARINOS...ORIGINAL DRUMMER FOR THE ROMANTICS

Hey, I used to love the Romantics, and Jimmy Marinos. Saw them many times in and around Chicago back in the day. They just weren't the same after he left.
 
Re: JIMMY MARINOS...ORIGINAL DRUMMER FOR THE ROMANTICS

My attention was caught, by Jimmy's open-handed playing style. I like his energy, inspiration, passion driven on the drums (4-piece traditional, Ludwig, Slingerland).

Good on you, to bring Jimmy Marinos up to surface.

Best Regards,
 

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Re: JIMMY MARINOS...ORIGINAL DRUMMER FOR THE ROMANTICS

Ian....WOW !!! thanxxxx 4 the awesome pics of Jimmy Marinos !! I thought I was the only one out there who truly loved his power of playing.
It's true,The Romantics "back beat" was never the same since Jimmy left the band. I also think that Jimmy was far better vocalist than Wally Palmer too.
I still find Jimmy Marinos style of playing very interesting with a 4 piece kit & playing the drums with the handles of the sticks.
When i saw them live in 1979,Jimmy was very loud but solid. It reminded me of all those drummers from the 1950's & early 1960's way of playing...
Does anyone know what Jimmy Marinos is up to now days & if he's still playing ?
 
Was searching for some Jimmy Marinos info tonight and found this thread.
Just re-bought the first Romantics record. He smokes.
Honestly I think he is one of the most non-rated (sub-underated) drummers of all time.
I cant think of anyone who has a better backbeat.
I did a bunch of shows in the 90's opening for his band The Motor City Rockers where he was the frontman, which he was great at. Plus the drummer was using his old kits, which are totally sweet.
Jimmy Marinos has the best backbeat period
ian
 
Listen to some of his 16th snare fills, he's just a little laid-back, like he's not gonna quite get to the "1" on time, but he's right there with it. I love his playing.

Bermuda
 
Yeah, I like his playing a lot, too. He was very well-regarded here in Detroit during the heyday of the Romantics, with them being a local band and all. But I haven't heard anything about him in a long time.
 
Jimmy's a great guy.
His M C Rockers band was cool too, and I was friends with Stevie the drummer in the band. I saw them quite a few times.
I've known Jimmy for quite a few years.

He's around, but I haven't heard of him doing any bands for a long time.

I re-created a Ludwig poster for him since he never got one of the original ones.
It's close to what I remember, but I'm pretty sure the original one was a B&W shot and the background was maybe blue or something like that.

I know Bob Alford the guy who took the pic in the first place-also a great guy.

JimmyLudwigjpg.jpg


I have another cool pic, but it's on a different computer.

This kit was 15x28, 13x15 and 18x20 (but he's using a 30 now....doing whatever it is he does). This kit was used for the M C Rockers, but it was plain Black and had White wood hoops. It looked cool too, but it's a shame he had the Zebra paint job sanded down.

Always dug his playing. Very solid and good groove. 2B OAK's butt ends too!
 
Fellows, I appreciate your input - keep them coming! We are giving Jimmy his well-deserved place in here.
 
Here's another pic.
Bob Alford took this one too.
I have a ton of kick ass Cheap Trick pics he took also.

JMZebraKit-1.jpg


I remember Jimmy telling me what a pain it was to get that 13x15" tom back then.
Now it's a common size, like the 21" "crash" he used (the one by the tom). Back then, he had to use 21" Rock Rides. Now it's a Sweet ride.

They didn't have 2 ply Black heads back then either, so his tech would spray black paint on the underside of Clear Emperors. Looked cool for TV and videos.

At 1:05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6f_ANMxjUQ

Behind the kit at 1:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTAxxiz8VUE&feature=related
 
I know Jimmy personally, he made a big mistake leaving the band.
He was a great drummer, his ego turned him into a frontman and he
gave up the drums. His new band, the Motor City Rockers never had
the same appeal. He was an awkward frontman and should have
stayed behind the drums
 
i always thought he was a good drummer, very under-rated...loved that zebra striped kit he had...it was pretty rad...
 
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