Good points Kris. A good live drummer contributes much more than just the drum part: feel, groove, dialog with the other players, the ability to move around in the song. The band I'm in now is primarily a classic rock cover band, so the songs have been played a bazillion times and everyone knows them. But everytime we play them, they're a little different because we have "conversations". We're not reading the book nor reciting it from memory; we're discussing it. And the dialogs work so well because we listen more than we "talk". A drum machine can't participate in such a dialog. I've been with these guys for about a year and a half, and we've had a grand total of 5 practices! We have over 100 songs in our repertoire, and we nail every one every time. By contrast, the last band I was in was simply a collection of 5 guys all playing their instruments at the same time - no listening, no conversing. They had to practice twice a week just to remember the songs. If the singer came back in one measure late, the whole thing would crumble.

On a parting note, if anyone in the South-Central PA / Northern MD areas needs a good steady conversationalist on the drums, whether it's live last-minute fill-in or studio collaboration, give me a shout. I'm not nearly as busy as I'd like to be.

Rick Taormino

I AM smiling...on the inside!