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My drumming chum Billy Doherty was on Talkback last week being asked about the theory that drummers should be classified as athletes, following research on Blondie's Clem Burke. I missed Billy's words as the remote control for the radio was just out of my reach when I was lying on the sofa but both he and Clem are great examples of the type of drummer who gives you more beats for your for your bucks. Have a look at in 1977. Without getting too technical (for my benefit rather than yours) I much prefer the drummer who hits the hi-hat cymbal for the full sixteen beatsÌý rather than the drummer who takes a more stately approach and makes do with eight. Its a subtle difference , admittedly, but for me it marks out the punk rock drummer from the more common rock drummer. Tommy Ramone only became the Ramones drummer because they couldn't find anyone in New York who could drum as fast as he could. He was really supposed to be the manager/producer/musical director but in 1974 drummers didn't do frantic. In fact, years later, while Blondie were in limbo, Clem joined the Ramones. He became Elvis Ramone but legend has it that he had to leave before he even played any shows with them. He simply couldn't keep up with the rest of the band.
I always suspect the drummer who halves his hi-hat beat doesn't really like punk at all. He'd rather be in a proper rock band, playing songs with more chords but a smaller bpm. Of course the same could be said of the bass player who employs the up stroke as well as the down stroke. Simply put, going up and down means you can play a very fast repeat note with half the effort. Again, the template was Dee Dee Ramone, whose right hand was a blur. I, being a lesser bass player, start off a song with that intention - all down strokes - but its just too painful. A build up of lactic acid in my lower arm, according to my science homework of April 1976. It only affects bass players, not drummers. Funny, that.