Quotes About Drums

I really enjoyed playing drums on 'Born Again.' It was a good feeling about being alive. There was a good energy there about being sober.

I felt like I plateaued at playing drums, like I wasn't getting any better. I bought an electric pair of drums, sold my drum set, and got introduced to making beats.

I get to play what I'm feeling on my solo records, and I get to bang the hell out of a drum kit in Black Sabbath.

I like being in the back. I've done that for so many years, I'm really comfortable doing it. I don't like the solo thing as much as I like playing drums behind someone.

I'd be very honored to be the ambassador to drum solos.

Nowadays I get complaints about long drum solos, but in those days they wanted me to keep on going so they could go over to the bar and have a drink.

What's the essence of the Go-Go's? Great melodies, guitar hooks, driving drums. All of that.

If you're going to start with melody you'll need some tympani, I think.

I love the sound of a Fender Rhodes or James Jamerson-style bass lines that are their own melody, and live drums and Moogs.

Without Metallica, I wouldn't play the way that I do.

Metallica is my favorite band.

I have a method of working on music: I'll get up in the morning and throw down some drums on my drum machine, and then I'll come back later and try to pop off rhythms to it.

Dad bought me a toy drum one Christmas, and I eventually destroyed it. I wanted a real drum and he bought me a snare drum. Dad continued to buy me one drum after the other.

Simon: Anyone ever tell you your sense of timing really sucks? Derek: That's why I don't play the drums. Now what's up?

I don't think drums had ever sounded so big until Led Zeppelin's first album.

Led Zeppelin was pretty much what made me pick up drum sticks.

What made me want to play drums in the first place was Led Zeppelin and The Who. My parents had their records, and I grew up listening to them with the stereo cranked.

Led Zeppelin was Led Zeppelin when John Bonham was on drums. It's timeless.

My biggest 'Spinal Tap' moment was a stupid one as well. When we were rehearsing for the Zeppelin O2 gig, I was having an argument with my drum pedals. I actually took them outside, and drove over them several times with the car. Shouting at them and telling them they'll never work again.

He was a very quiet and shy person but that drum kit gave him that voice. 'Bonzo' was the guy in Zeppelin. John was my dad.

My father had a perfectly good drummer who he had an argument with. So one day, on a Tuesday, my father came in with a cheap pawn shop set of drums and said, 'Put your foot here, and you kick there, and you play this, and this is the high hat.' And Friday night, I was playing in a honky-tonk.

Drums usually seem to tune themselves.

You listen to a Metallica song, and you listen to the drums, and they're not necessarily swinging, but the arrangements are different. Why is that? Because it's more in tune with jazz arrangements. It's very different. It's not a traditional rock and roll production, in terms of the drums.

I based my tuning on Gene Krupa, Buddy and Joe Morello. I knew how I wanted the drums to sound and we did the best we could with a beat up Ludwig kit. I spent a lot of time around drummers learning how to get sound. I knew the sound I was after and what would work for what we were playing.