Drummers Who Sound Loose While Keeping Perfect Time

[Son of Vistalite Black]

Saw this interesting question posed on another music forum.

Son of Vistalite Black agrees whole heartedly with the respondent who cited Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch.

Who do you think has the rare gift of seemingly loose metronomic timing?

Drummers that sound 'loose' but keep perfect time.

Mike Kellie (Spooky Tooth & The Only Ones) is the first one that springs to mind, but I suspect there must be loads. The Only Ones - "Breaking Down":...

forums.stevehoffman.tv

 

[vyacheslav]

Lots of good choices in that thread. One that comes to mind for me is Stanton Moore.

Another is Billy (not Bill) Ward.

 

[someguy01]

JPG is really underrated. So is Clutch for that matter. I saw them open for Sepultura in the Chaos A.D. tour at the OE Hammerjacks in Baltimore. Was a fan immediately.

 

[Benthedrummer]

Maybe Ngudu Chancler on Billie Jean?

Sounded pretty loose but right on the button I reckon.

 

[dboomer]

Lots of good choices in that thread. One that comes to mind for me is Stanton Moore.

You could probably point to any of the New Orleans drummers that play “in the crack” style.

 

[NackAttack]

JPG is really underrated. So is Clutch for that matter. I saw them open for Sepultura in the Chaos A.D. tour at the OE Hammerjacks in Baltimore. Was a fan immediately.

Yes! One of my favorite drummers. Clutch has always been one of my favorite bands and I can’t imagine them with a different drummer. I saw them last May and they were as awesome as they were 20 years ago, especially JPG.

 

[Cmdr. Ross]

Stan Lynch of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers fame felt like this to me. I studied his playing for a good minute while in high school & later that feeling was affirmed by Tom himself. In an interview, he said that Stan was so tight & "on it" that he didn't have to worry that he'd miss a cue or an unexpected change in a song.

Yet to the ear, he sounds so loose and relaxed it could almost be interpreted as being sloppy. Not true at all.

 

[yammyfan]

I didn't read the thread but Phil Collins strikes me as being like that.

 

[ravenson]

Levon Helm

Ralph Molina -

 

[TheLowerTownSound]

Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes and The Afghan Whigs. Killer drummer, super loose but keeps it together. I also think he comes up with great drum parts that incorporate some heavy grooves with really interesting accents that always catch my ear. I'm always irritated he doesn't get more attention.

 

[Jeremy Bender]

Richie Hayward was a great one at sounding loose while keeping good time with the band.

Manu Katché also gets my vote.

 

[Drummerrobin]

Ringo Starr is the first name that comes to mind in this category - for me a brilliant example of a "loose but tight" drummer.

 

[s1212z]

Loose with great time sound like another way to say 'swing' or 'groove'. I have no idea what is meant by 'perfect' here, playing on a grid and helping make babies are not the same thing.

 

[Tiges]

To my ear I would think Billy Cobham falls into that vocabulary his playing always looks so loose in a magical way.

 

[Dr_Watso]

JPG is really underrated. So is Clutch for that matter. I saw them open for Sepultura in the Chaos A.D. tour at the OE Hammerjacks in Baltimore. Was a fan immediately.

You know I see this comment a lot, but I don't really know anybody who's actually aware of JPG who rates him poorly. I think it's more a symptom of not being known on the huge chart circles as opposed to anyone "under-rating" his playing.

He's literally the reason I picked up drums seriously so you may infer that I do not rate him low.

It's like when people call Brian Blade "under-rated"... All I can do is be confused. If you're underrating someone like that you aren't really listening.

 

[Chunkaway]

Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes and The Afghan Whigs. Killer drummer, super loose but keeps it together. I also think he comes up with great drum parts that incorporate some heavy grooves with really interesting accents that always catch my ear. I'm always irritated he doesn't get more attention.

Really underrated drummer! Great choice.

 

[pgm554]

Bun E Carlos
Jim Gordon

 

[Chunkaway]

Steve Jordan was the first guy that came to my mind.

 

[opentune]

Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes and The Afghan Whigs. Killer drummer, super loose but keeps it together. I also think he comes up with great drum parts that incorporate some heavy grooves with really interesting accents that always catch my ear. I'm always irritated he doesn't get more attention.

Agree, I think part of the lacking recognition may be the Raconteurs are pretty patchy in getting together and thus not steady producers of material. He also had some great stuff on the Loretta Lynn album produced by Jack White.

 

[Push pull stroke]

Ringo Starr is the first name that comes to mind in this category - for me a brilliant example of a "loose but tight" drummer.

Yeah, Ringo gets unfairly branded as a chopless wonder with a good backbeat, but

1. His feel is really unique and so, so musical, he has EXCELLENT musical instincts, he’s really intuitive

2. He actually has pretty good hands. Just because he doesn’t show off doesn’t mean he can’t play fast.