Crispin Taylor
talks to Eoghan Lyng
One of Crispin's latest projects is with the brilliant Monks Road Social listen below, link here.
Drum roll, ladies and gentleman! Eoghan Lyng caught up with one of Britain’s more exceptional sticksmen. And a one, and a two, and a Crispin Taylor:
You’ve worked with an incredible selection of artists. What was Dexys Midnight Runners like?
I really enjoyed the tour. I worked with Mick Talbot a few times, he was the MD, and he got me the gig with Dexys. Kevin is a very focused person, he knows how he wants the music to sound. We probably rehearsed for longer than we actually toured. We did, maybe, a six week rehearsal for a five week tour. That’s unheard of, normally it’s a few days! But it was great, we played in Dublin one night.Is it called The Point? There’s a few Dexys fans who follow Kevin all over the place. One guy, he was dangling down from the balcony and his friends were holding onto him. He didn’t realise how far down it was!
Mick Talbot is a wonderful keyboardist, isn’t he?
He’s fantastic. Have you heard of the Stone Foundation gig? They’re doing a concert, where Mick is playing at. So is Paul Weller,Graham Parker; it’s a sort of a virtual online gig. Years ago, I worked with Paul Weller on a track called “Mathar”. It’s a sitar tune, good fun to record. Right now, it’s like snow blindness in the diary. I have one thing prepared for October, but I don’t know if I will get to play that one, if I’m honest!
Tell me about Dr.Robert.
He’s a great bloke. I got to know him after The Blow Monkeys. I was depping for the drummer on The Blow Monkeys’ stuff. He lives in Spain now, he hasn’t lived in the UK in about fifteen years. Long time. The Blow Monkeys played Dublin, we were supporting Level 42. I love playing Dublin, but normally, after the gig, we’re off for the Guinness. We’re currently working on what we hope will be a new album. I have a studio setup, so he sends me the track and I play on it. If we’ve got to do this way, we will, and it sounds pretty good! He’s very tenacious, really goes for it in the music, much like Kevin Rowland. Although, I would say it’s probably more difficult playing for Kevin, of the two.
And P.P. Arnold?
Funnily enough, she lives in Spain too. I met her there with Dr.Robert. She was working with Roger Waters on The Wall and she told me that the plane picked up the various people across Europe. I did an album with her, we recorded it in Spain. Marco Nelson played bass. It’s a nice little album, it was re-released recently on vinyl. Whenever we played, we went through the obvious setlist. She has such a powerful voice, I remember at a gig in Valletta-Malta-where she hit a particular note. You could see buildings moving!
Would you care to share your memories of Martha Reeves?
That was quite funny, actually. She used the Push band, and we were given music sheets. We didn’t really read music, but we were given these charts. We bluffed it [chuckles], but we played the shows well. She was notorious for shouting, “play quieter” onstage. Luckily, she didn’t while she was with us.
The mercurial Tony Allen died recently. Was he an influence of yours?
I’ve always loved Fela Kuti, and got a lot of those records. In terms of influences, I’d say drummers like Average White Band’s Steve Ferrone or Harvey Mason. Those guys were more my influences. I do study that [Kuti] style, but not enough. I enjoy that funk style, I was big into funk music. I was big into Herbie Hancock.
How important is groove to you?
Groove is everything! It’s taken a bit of time to master the drum sound, it’s the dark arts of getting a drum sound in the studio. I got a lot from hip-hop. There’s a nod thing, you nod along to a good groove. I like the James Brown drummers.
What are your thoughts on Galliano’s legacy?
Yeah, I was the drummer throughout the whole thing. It was from ninety to ninety six. I think the peak was ninety three, four- then it petered out. Then Mick left, but before that, we could do no wrong. There was a lot of loops on the first album. I did some work on it, so did Steve White and I’m on the rest.
Did you know that Steve White was the youngest performer at Live Aid?
Was he? I remember watching that.Steve’s a good guy, a great drummer.
What advice would you like to leave novice drummers?
How to improve? Well, play along to James Brown records, and concentrate on keeping the feel. And also, pull back. Don’t be afraid to pull back, you don’t want that metronome sound. If you like funk, that’s the way to go.
You’ve reminded me of that James Brown quote: “keep it tight, but keep it loose”.
Haha! Exactly, that sums it up perfectly!
Crispin Taylor, thank you.
You’ve worked with an incredible selection of artists. What was Dexys Midnight Runners like?
I really enjoyed the tour. I worked with Mick Talbot a few times, he was the MD, and he got me the gig with Dexys. Kevin is a very focused person, he knows how he wants the music to sound. We probably rehearsed for longer than we actually toured. We did, maybe, a six week rehearsal for a five week tour. That’s unheard of, normally it’s a few days! But it was great, we played in Dublin one night.Is it called The Point? There’s a few Dexys fans who follow Kevin all over the place. One guy, he was dangling down from the balcony and his friends were holding onto him. He didn’t realise how far down it was!
Mick Talbot is a wonderful keyboardist, isn’t he?
He’s fantastic. Have you heard of the Stone Foundation gig? They’re doing a concert, where Mick is playing at. So is Paul Weller,Graham Parker; it’s a sort of a virtual online gig. Years ago, I worked with Paul Weller on a track called “Mathar”. It’s a sitar tune, good fun to record. Right now, it’s like snow blindness in the diary. I have one thing prepared for October, but I don’t know if I will get to play that one, if I’m honest!
Tell me about Dr.Robert.
He’s a great bloke. I got to know him after The Blow Monkeys. I was depping for the drummer on The Blow Monkeys’ stuff. He lives in Spain now, he hasn’t lived in the UK in about fifteen years. Long time. The Blow Monkeys played Dublin, we were supporting Level 42. I love playing Dublin, but normally, after the gig, we’re off for the Guinness. We’re currently working on what we hope will be a new album. I have a studio setup, so he sends me the track and I play on it. If we’ve got to do this way, we will, and it sounds pretty good! He’s very tenacious, really goes for it in the music, much like Kevin Rowland. Although, I would say it’s probably more difficult playing for Kevin, of the two.
And P.P. Arnold?
Funnily enough, she lives in Spain too. I met her there with Dr.Robert. She was working with Roger Waters on The Wall and she told me that the plane picked up the various people across Europe. I did an album with her, we recorded it in Spain. Marco Nelson played bass. It’s a nice little album, it was re-released recently on vinyl. Whenever we played, we went through the obvious setlist. She has such a powerful voice, I remember at a gig in Valletta-Malta-where she hit a particular note. You could see buildings moving!
Would you care to share your memories of Martha Reeves?
That was quite funny, actually. She used the Push band, and we were given music sheets. We didn’t really read music, but we were given these charts. We bluffed it [chuckles], but we played the shows well. She was notorious for shouting, “play quieter” onstage. Luckily, she didn’t while she was with us.
The mercurial Tony Allen died recently. Was he an influence of yours?
I’ve always loved Fela Kuti, and got a lot of those records. In terms of influences, I’d say drummers like Average White Band’s Steve Ferrone or Harvey Mason. Those guys were more my influences. I do study that [Kuti] style, but not enough. I enjoy that funk style, I was big into funk music. I was big into Herbie Hancock.
How important is groove to you?
Groove is everything! It’s taken a bit of time to master the drum sound, it’s the dark arts of getting a drum sound in the studio. I got a lot from hip-hop. There’s a nod thing, you nod along to a good groove. I like the James Brown drummers.
What are your thoughts on Galliano’s legacy?
Yeah, I was the drummer throughout the whole thing. It was from ninety to ninety six. I think the peak was ninety three, four- then it petered out. Then Mick left, but before that, we could do no wrong. There was a lot of loops on the first album. I did some work on it, so did Steve White and I’m on the rest.
Did you know that Steve White was the youngest performer at Live Aid?
Was he? I remember watching that.Steve’s a good guy, a great drummer.
What advice would you like to leave novice drummers?
How to improve? Well, play along to James Brown records, and concentrate on keeping the feel. And also, pull back. Don’t be afraid to pull back, you don’t want that metronome sound. If you like funk, that’s the way to go.
You’ve reminded me of that James Brown quote: “keep it tight, but keep it loose”.
Haha! Exactly, that sums it up perfectly!
Crispin Taylor, thank you.
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