<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For some strange reason, I can\u2019t for the life of me pass up a book or an article about a fellow drummer. \u00a0\u00a0The music trade magazines specifically aimed at drummers (<\/span>Drummers World, Modern Drummer<\/span><\/i>) will occasionally catch my eye, but after beating the skins for more than a half century, a lot of their \u2018how to\u2019 features are more technical than I need to read at this point. \u00a0Don\u2019t take this to mean \u201che thinks he is so good, he doesn\u2019t need to get better\u201d. \u00a0One can always improve, but later in this piece, you will get a better answer as to why I am not big on learning new techniques. \u00a0Biographies by drummers (ghost written or self penned) like Peter Rivera (Rare Earth, Classic Rock All-stars), Woody Woodmansey (Spiders From Mars, U-Boat), and John Densmore (The Doors) were a fun read because no matter how famous a drummer may become, they all pretty much start off in the same place. \u00a0My latest read about Phil Collins (<\/span>Not Dead Yet<\/span><\/i> – The Memoir <\/span><\/i>Three Rivers Press 2016) underscores my previous statement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now, one could read, \u201cThe egotistical jerk is now saying that he is in the same league as Phil Collins,\u201d into this, but that isn\u2019t my intent. \u00a0Although we are similar in age and both nearing retirement (actually, Phil retired in 2010 and only recently returned to performing on a very limited basis, but more on that later), it isn\u2019t the end of our careers where I found similarities. \u00a0As I said above, drummers all pretty much start off in the same place. \u00a0The path one takes to forge a life and a career has many twists, turns and forks in the road. \u00a0What fascinates me the most is how some careers are stumbled upon in a most random way and others are almost predetermined by the drummer himself. \u00a0Oh yes, we are also mostly deaf in one ear from the same type of viral ailment.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We better start with a brief checklist of our differences just to make sure you don\u2019t get us confused. \u00a0Phil Collins: \u00a0A left handed British drummer who dropped out of public school and played the Artful Dodger in the musical <\/span>Oliver!<\/span><\/i> before cycling through a number of bands. \u00a0\u00a0He decided he was good enough to make a living as a jobbing drummer, but only if he could get in the right band. \u00a0Me: \u00a0A right handed American drummer who got started playing drums in elementary school with the idea of joining the marching band before convincing my parents that I needed a full drum set to be able to play in a band. \u00a0I eventually realized I was good enough to work my way through college as a working drummer but probably not good enough to make it a career. \u00a0We certainly didn\u2019t take the same fork in the road or end up working in similar vocations, \u00a0We are separated by a cultural void, yet have made it to this age with fifty years of playing music in common. \u00a0\u00a0I can understand exactly the thoughts and emotions PC was experiencing as his career unfolded even though his career nearly killed him. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Phil was given a toy drum at age three and his uncles made him a set out of a wood frame, some cans, \u00a0a tambourine and other assorted things he could pound on. \u00a0He spent a lot of time playing along with the musical bits on the telly. \u00a0His mother ended up working as a talent agent for child actors, eventually helping found a school for the performing arts that allowed young Phil to escape regular school while pursuing acting. \u00a0His first band was formed with fellow students at the Barbara Speakes Theatrical school. \u00a0He went on one call and ended up as an extra in the Beatles\u2019 first movie <\/span>A Hard Day’s Night<\/span><\/i>, only to end up with his scenes during the Beatles concert footage cut (perhaps he didn\u2019t scream enough?). \u00a0His first major part in <\/span>Oliver!<\/span><\/i> (also played by future Monkee Davy Jones who took his part all the way to Broadway) lasted until his pre-teen voice broke and he was unceremoniously dumped from the show. \u00a0He did some minor acting turns, even returning to a more adult role in <\/span>Oliver!<\/span><\/i> much later, but he began to lose interest in acting while plotting how to become a full time drummer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By the time he had cycled through a few different groups, he managed to gain a foothold in a group that would be taken under the wing of two successful songwriter-producers by the names of<\/span><\/p>\n Howard and Blaikley. \u00a0They changed the band\u2019s name from Hickory to Flaming Youth and assigned them to record a futuristic rock opera about people having to leave Earth called <\/span>The Ark<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0It did modestly well and the band was well received, but as the album sank from sight, so did their prospects. \u00a0At age 19, he was called to a session at the fabled Abbey Road studio based on a limo driver he knew mentioning his name to someone looking for a percussionist for a session. \u00a0Getting a call to work at the same Abbey Road studio that the Beatles had made famous was just too good to be true, so Phil Collins, jobbing drummer, jumped at the chance.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As luck would have it, the session was with George Harrison and producer Phil Spector who were in the midst of George\u2019s first non-Beatle album <\/span>All Things Must Pass<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0With Ringo drumming on his right and Billy Preston playing keys on his left, Collins did his level best to play the conga drums for the tract <\/span>The Art of Dying<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0When the session evaporated, the limo driver was left to tell Phil they had gone to watch football. \u00a0\u00a0Phil was left wondering how he did. \u00a0When <\/span>All Things Must Pass<\/span><\/i> came out as a triple album, Collins couldn\u2019t wait to hear his contribution. \u00a0Not realizing that the recording process often involves many takes and variations of tracks, he was disappointed that <\/span>The Art of Dying<\/span><\/i> track include on the now triple album was not the one he worked on. \u00a0Not only that, his name was nowhere to be found in the credits. \u00a0He spent many years trying to convince himself that he wasn\u2019t cut out of the album because his playing wasn\u2019t up to par. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Collins worked on his musical career, his family more or less slid out from under him. \u00a0His father was disappointed that he didn\u2019t want to get a real job in at the Assurance company where he worked just as he had done at his father\u2019s direction. \u00a0Oh, the elder Collins had run away and joined the Merchant Marine for a short while, but Phil\u2019s grandfather had to talk some sense into him and put him on the track to a career in Assurance. \u00a0Phil\u2019s parents drifted apart and his older brother and sister eventually moved on with their own families, leaving Phil on his own at the family home in Hounslow. \u00a0Hounslow was at the end of the line, literally, in terms of train travel so going to the West End of London was a chore yet he worked the circuit and kept his ear to the ground looking for the next opportunity to be a drummer. \u00a0The rest of the family was supportive, but Collins was only 21 when his father passed away. \u00a0Young Phil would never know if his father came around to thinking that being a drummer could be a proper job.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once I convinced my folks that I was going to be a more dedicated (drum) student than I had been as a piano student, they got me a plastic red sparkle snare drum. \u00a0Satisfied that I could now play a drum to my hearts content, they must have been horrified as they watched me watch the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and declare that I would need a drum set to play in a band. \u00a0Having started banging on the bottom of an upturned waste paper basket to accompany my dad\u2019s harmonica playing, the red plastic drum was supposed to be the next and last step. \u00a0Both mom and dad were supportive and eventually agreed that if they found the right deal, a drum set would be a possibility.<\/span><\/p>\n In April of 1966, at age 12, I found myself sitting behind a silver sparkle set of Ludwig drums that were just like Ringo\u2019s, save the finish on his kit was Black Oyster Shell. \u00a0Dad decided we needed a new stereo with an extension speaker in the basement so I could practice along with records. \u00a0Dad suggested I needed to grow my hair longer so I wouldn\u2019t look like the drummer on Lawrence Welk. \u00a0The two years Dad worked for NMU security, he would bring home notices off the campus bulletin boards for bands looking for drummers. \u00a0Unlike Phil, I had plenty of parental support from both my mother and my father.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Phil discusses his attempts to learn how to read music. \u00a0In his grand plan to become a jobbing drummer, he was eyeing work in pit orchestras on the West End theater district. \u00a0To do that, he would have to learn to read music but he kept putting it off. \u00a0It turns out, he had \u2018quick ears\u2019, meaning when he heard a piece of music, he could pick it up instinctively. \u00a0Once he picked up the part, he wouldn\u2019t have to follow the score. \u00a0When he tinkered with the piano in his early songwriting days, he found he was somewhat limited by not being able to read music, but yet it somehow left him free to break the rules because he didn\u2019t really know what they were. \u00a0He never did learn to read music, but then again, he was able to forge ahead and did fine without it even when scoring Disney productions like the Broadway musical <\/span>Tarzan<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I read this, it kind of put into perspective why I failed as a piano student. \u00a0I was slow \u00a0sight reading piano pieces, but once I hashed through them, replicating the songs could be done from memory. \u00a0Playing from memory meant I really didn\u2019t dig into getting better at reading music. \u00a0When I transitioned to drum lessons in fourth grade, the same thing held true. \u00a0Once I heard a piece, I could play it by ear. \u00a0The rudiments (the way certain drum strokes are supposed to be played) would not be correct, but the sound of the piece would be correct, more or less freeing me from the tedious task of getting better at reading \u2018real music\u2019. \u00a0The piano definitely helped me reading the drum scores, but things like marimba and tubular bells were not percussion parts that <\/span><\/p>\n I was comfortable tackling. \u00a0Fortunately for Phil Collins, he was able to use his limitations to his advantage as a songwriter. Me, not so much, but it never stopped me from enjoying playing music a long time after my high school band career ended. \u00a0When I was asked to play in several versions of our community band, it took some woodshedding to get my drum score reading chops back, but it was also fun to go back and remember my high school band days.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Where Phil Collins and I really separate is on the homefront. \u00a0I have been happily married to my wife Christine for some thirty eight years. \u00a0We have enjoyed living the small town life and seeing our kids grow up in an environment that let them experience a lot of music, art and culture, in spite of living at the \u2018end of the road\u2019. \u00a0Phil Collins\u2019 marital road has been somewhat rockier. \u00a0His life on the road left him with three failed marriages, five children and an girl friend of eight years after he and his third wife divorced. \u00a0He found himself trying to hide in the bottom of a bottle, a problem compounded by mixing some heavy duty meds as he fought several serious health problems . \u00a0He finally came to the sobering conclusion that he was killing himself and that his children would soon be deprived of their father. \u00a0The longer version would take another segment to tell, so we will wrap this up by with a few bullet points: \u00a0Phil Collins did indeed sober up, reunited with his third wife while keeping the peace with his other ex-wives and he has retained a good relationship with his five children. \u00a0He physically does not have the stamina to play the drums at this point and he really isn\u2019t interested in getting back on the road. \u00a0Happily, he is fine with his current state of affairs as stated in the sub-title of his memoir: \u00a0\u201c<\/span>Not Dead Yet.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/i>Luckily, I haven\u2019t had the health problems that have dogged Phil in recent years, but I have a similar answer when asked \u201chow are you doing?\u201d \u00a0My reply is always, \u201cWell, I\u2019m still here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 One of the most recognizable Phil Collins songs taken live from his First Farewell Tour in 2009.\u00a0 It also represents one of his first attempts to write solo material and has been used a great deal in films, TV, commercials and so on for the last decade.<\/p>\n