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<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nBy Russell Hall<\/b><\/p>\n
Twenty-six years have passed since Ringo Starr was approached about staging his first solo tour. He still recalls his trepidation. \u201cMy immediate thought was, \u2018What are you doing, saying yes?\u2019\u201d he remembers. \u201cI didn\u2019t have anybody to play with. So I opened my phonebook and started calling friends. We ended up with a great band.\u201d<\/p>\n
That simple philosophy\u2014music is best made with friends\u2014has been a recurring theme for the man born Richard Starkey. In the 1960s, of course, those friends happened to be members of the world\u2019s most influential pop group. Besides being the Beatles\u2019 gifted timekeeper, Starr was the band\u2019s amiable center, a steady presence on whom John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison could always rely.<\/p>\n
The drumming legend did storm out of a studio session\u2014once. When he returned, he found his drum kit covered in flowers. \u201cWe worked hard,\u201d says Starr, recalling his Fab Four years with profound understatement. \u201cWe didn\u2019t sit around and say, \u2018Let\u2019s be famous.\u2019 We only wanted to be musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the Beatles\u2019 breakup in 1970, Lennon famously voiced concern about Starr\u2019s future. He needn\u2019t have worried. Starr hit the ground running as a solo artist in the early \u201970s\u2014\u201cIt Don\u2019t Come Easy,\u201d \u201cPhotograph\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re Sixteen (You\u2019re Beautiful and You\u2019re Mine)\u201d were among seven Starr hits that achieved Top 10 status. Once again, friendships were key. Ringo<\/i>, his platinum-selling 1973 album, featured contributions from each of his former bandmates\u2014as writers and as players. \u201cI was friendly with everybody,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd it was easy. We knew each other. I went to George with my first real writing endeavors\u2014\u2018It Don\u2019t Come Easy,\u2019 \u2018Photograph\u2019\u2014because he was more into the production side. I just wanted to hit the drums.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starr\u2019s spectacular success was marked by a period of decline beginning in the late \u201970s as he struggled with alcohol abuse. A promising comeback album, 1981\u2019s Stop and Smell the Roses<\/i>,
\nwas slated to feature two songs by Lennon, but in the wake of the legend\u2019s death, Starr felt uncomfortable recording those compositions. The drummer kept busy with side projects, but his artistic skid didn\u2019t end until 1988, when he and his wife, actress Barbara Bach, checked into a rehab facility.<\/p>\n
Starr emerged a new man when the proposal to tour came the following year. \u201cI hadn\u2019t had a drink or drug in six months,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI was mad as a hatter.\u201d Since then, Starr, 74, has enjoyed a steady stream of critically acclaimed albums and numerous touring stints with his famed All-Starr Band. The lineup\u2014which has included Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter and Peter Frampton\u2014tends to change every year or so. However the current band\u2014Todd Rundgren, Steve Lukather (Toto), Gregg Rolie (Santana), and Gregg Bissonette (ELO)\u2014has remained the same for three years, a testament to the group\u2019s chemistry. \u201cI\u2019ve kept it together for three years because as personalities we get on so well,\u201d says Starr. \u201cI\u2019ve had some
\nAll-Starr Bands where two or three people get on, but there\u2019s always somebody who doesn\u2019t like anybody. This time I lucked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starr put that special camaraderie to use on his latest album, Postcards From Paradise<\/i>. \u201cSince the first All-Starr Band in 1989, I\u2019ve wanted us all to sit around and write songs,\u201d he explains. \u201cI tried it with every band but it never worked until now.\u201d The most collaborative song, \u201cIsland in the Sun,\u201d grew out of a soundcheck. \u201cGregg Rolie started the ball rolling,\u201d says Starr. \u201cWe all listened to it and tossed around ideas. After the tour everybody put their parts down at my little studio in my guesthouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other high points include \u201cTouch and Go,\u201d an infectious pop-rocker that recalls Starr\u2019s \u201970s hits; \u201cRory and the Hurricanes,\u201d a fond remembrance of his pre-Beatles band; and \u201cBamboula,\u201d a drum-heavy dance tune\u2014written with Van Dyke Parks\u2014that puts a British spin on New Orleans music. \u201cFor that one I played every drum I had in the studio, including three huge 100-year-old drums Joe Walsh sent me from Africa,\u201d says Starr, who produced the album.<\/p>\n
As with all of Starr\u2019s albums, autobiography figures prominently, but never more so than on the title track, a playful tune that strings together titles of classic Beatles songs. Recently, Starr revisited some of those songs at the 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, where he was inducted as a solo artist, with McCartney doing the honors. \u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible journey,\u201d he said. From his L.A. home, Starr spoke with us about the new album, his creative process and the Beatles legacy.<\/p>\n
Describe your writing method.<\/b><\/p>\n
For the last three albums I\u2019ve started out with a synthesizer, getting some rhythm patterns and establishing the key. I find something I like and then play drums to it. Once I\u2019ve got that basic track, I begin thinking, \u201cOK, I\u2019ll play this part here. This part sounds like a verse. This other part sounds like a chorus.\u201d I\u2019ll do maybe a dozen, and call some songwriting friends and offer each of them the choice of two of those tracks to write a song to. I\u2019ve got ideas, verses and sometimes just titles. That\u2019s how it starts. It\u2019s a mad way of working, but it works for me. The lead track, \u201cRory and the Hurricanes,\u201d was the only one that was done differently. Dave Stewart and I wrote that one together from scratch. I gave him a synopsis of moments in my life, and he put it together musically. He played guitar and I played drums, and then we put everything else on.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Tell us about the exotic drums used\u00a0<\/b>on the song \u201cBamboula.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
That\u2019s a good example of how I begin a song, where I just play along to a track. I started playing my English version of New Orleans style, and called Van Dyke Parks. Van Dyke is a music connoisseur\u2014he knows everything about any music, from anywhere. He loved the track, and he told me about this drum\u2014a bamboula\u2014that\u2019s made from giant bamboo. Once we got into the song, I decided I wanted it to be more of a street experience, like a New Orleans marching band. I have these drums that Joe Walsh picked up in Africa\u2014huge conga drums that are around 100 years old. They sound really deep.
\nI added bongos, congas, and standard kits in no strict fashion at all\u2014imagine 50 people in the street playing drums. I just faded it up, like they were approaching from four or five blocks away. And then we go into the actual song, and fade out, as if they\u2019re passing by\u2014sort of a Mardi Gras feel.<\/p>\n
You got the All-Starrs in the studio.<\/b><\/p>\n
That was a miracle. I\u2019ve been trying for 25 years to get the All-Starrs to write and record together\u2014and finally succeeded. Gregg Rolie started playing some riffs at a soundcheck, and we all joined in. It sounded like we were going somewhere. The next time we did a gig we worked on it some more. By the third soundcheck it had some form. Eventually we ended up in Biloxi, Miss., where I called the band into my hotel room and said, \u201cLet\u2019s write a song to that track.\u201d Richard Page had written a couple of verses, I had written a verse, and Todd Rundgren had a verse. Warren Ham blew his sax and Gregg Bissonette played the steel drum. It sounded great.<\/p>\n
The social aspect of making music seems especially important to you.<\/b><\/p>\n
It is. The requirement for past All-Starr Band members has been that they\u2019ve had hits. The other requirement is that we don\u2019t torture each other, that we have fun and support each other. Some players from the past had the hits and did their jobs well, but there was no contact after we got offstage. This band hangs out together\u2014the personalities gel. Of course we have some heated discussions\u2014that\u2019s life\u2014but overall it\u2019s a great situation I haven\u2019t experienced in a long time.<\/p>\n
How\u2019d you develop your distinctive style?<\/b><\/p>\n
Some of it has to do with being left-handed but playing a right-handed kit. It takes me maybe a nanosecond longer to get my left hand into the correct position to play with my right. My left hand is my dominant hand but it\u2019s playing the snare, while my right hand is playing the ride and crash cymbals and everything else. So there\u2019s that delay when I have to bring in the left hand. But the way I play also just came out of the atmosphere. It\u2019s not as if I said, \u201cI want to play in this style.\u201d It was partly a result of not knowing how to play when I was starting out. When I first started, if you had a drum kit or a guitar, then you were in the band. We all learned how to play together.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a compositional aspect that rock drummers weren\u2019t doing back then.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
That\u2019s right. Most drummers just played straight, whereas I played with the singer or the song. That\u2019s my number one rule: The singer really doesn\u2019t need a lot from me. I play the breaks and for the atmosphere. Sometimes things need to be brought down and other times they need to be kicked up, and I can do all that. But the main thing is, I play with the song in a way that other drummers weren\u2019t doing.<\/p>\n
Were you surprised by your early success as a solo artist?<\/b><\/p>\n
Everyone was shocked that I had that No. 1 single and the big album with Ringo<\/i>. You know how life is. Sometimes the moves just make themselves. I was doing the Grammys with Harry Nilsson, and he had worked with the producer Richard Perry\u2014so I called him. If I had phoned another producer things might have been different. Richard did a great job, even though he drove us all crazy. If you look at those songs, they\u2019re really like All-Starr records with lots of different artists. The Band was on it, George was of course, and John happened to be in town and had a song. It was an \u201cof the moment, peace and love\u201d record.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
How did you create the All-Starr concept?<\/b><\/p>\n
A promoter approached a friend of mine about a concept sponsored by Pepsi\u2014and asked if I\u2019d put a band together and go on tour. I had never thought of doing that. I started calling up friends\u2014Dr. John, Billy Preston, Levon Helm, Joe Walsh, Rick Danko and Nils Lofgren. It was like an orchestra. Think it was the first and only time there were three drummers in the band: I\u2019m in the middle, Levon\u2019s on my right, and Jim Keltner is on my left. That was 1989. It was such a great experience I just kept doing it.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve produced your last three albums. How do you see that role?<\/b><\/p>\n
Like being a team captain. I had never produced before but things just came to a point where it made sense. The first album I produced was done the same way as Postcards<\/i>. It\u2019s all about collaborations, and I\u2019m simply the one in charge. If there\u2019s something I truly don\u2019t like, I take it off. And if I like something, I play it for the musician I\u2019m collaborating with to see if they agree. They usually say yes.<\/p>\n
If proper stage monitors existed in the mid-\u201960s, would the Beatles have continued to perform live?<\/b><\/p>\n
Yes. That was the drawback back then\u2014we were working with the house PA, had no monitors, and didn\u2019t have all the outboard gear that exists now. If we had had the technology to reproduce what we did on our albums\u2014say, a song like \u201cA Day in the Life\u201d\u2014the way we could now, there would have been a discussion about it, and I feel we may have carried on. We all loved performing. We didn\u2019t get into music thinking we\u2019re going to be at Shea Stadium one day. We just got into it thinking, \u201cLet\u2019s play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thoughts on the Beatles\u2019 legacy?<\/b><\/p>\n
I just know I\u2019m really proud of the music we made. I\u2019m proud that it\u2019s still being played and that it\u2019s still relevant. The songs, the production and our playing are still as fresh as they were when we did it, in some weird and wild way. I look at that more than I think about the Beatlemania \u2026 I just think, \u201cMan, we made a lot of great music.\u201d<\/p>\n
What drives you?<\/b><\/p>\n
It comes from the same place as when I was in the Darktown Skiffle group, or with Rory Storm. My mother used to come to the gigs in the early days\u2014including the Beatles gigs, when we played Liverpool. She would always say, \u201cYou know what, son? You\u2019re always at your happiest when you\u2019re playing your drums.\u201d That\u2019s true to this day.\u00a0 M<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DIFFERENT\u00a0DRUMMER Ringo Starr makes music his way with a little help from his friends By Russell Hall Twenty-six years have passed since Ringo Starr was approached about staging his first solo tour. He still recalls his trepidation. \u201cMy immediate thought was, \u2018What are you doing, saying yes?\u2019\u201d he remembers. \u201cI didn\u2019t have anybody to play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[7681,28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14805,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801\/revisions\/14805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}