WEBVTT - Abe Laboriel Jr. Keeps Time for Sir Paul 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:06.520 I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:37.440 from My Heart Radio back. When you think of the 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.400 rhythm section of the Beatles, Paul McCartney on bass guitar 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:45.199 and Ringo Star on drums immediately come to mind. But 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.919 my guest today has played with Paul McCartney longer than 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.440 Ringo Starr. He's been a member of Paul's band for 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:57.200 two decades. He's also played with Eric Clapton, Chris Isaac, 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:02.200 Katie Lange Sting, My Lean Armor, Steve Winwood. The list 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.880 goes on and on. I'm talking, of course, about the 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:11.040 illustrious drummer Abel Boreal Jr. This is a bon drums 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.480 with Paul McCartney performing back in the USSR live in 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:21.679 New York City. Musical talent of this caliber runs deep 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.720 in the Laboreal family. His father, Mexican bass guitarist Abraham 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.800 La Boreal, and his uncle, Mexican rocker Johnny Laboreal. We're 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.960 both accomplished musicians in their own right. Abe, a Berkeley 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.800 School of Music trained musician, has a particular view of 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.760 his role in a band. To me, the drummer is 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:48.720 in service of the music. Number one, Number two to lead, 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.160 to drive the bus, if you will, to tell people 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.240 where to go, pay attention to everything. I see my 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:59.160 job as listener. First then I have to do But 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.640 first I have to listen, you know, to really hear 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:04.120 what's going on. And I can hear when someone's maybe 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.640 falling behind or a little bit lost or forgotten something, 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.640 and so I have to be paying attention to all 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:13.960 of that. And then on top of that, like for me, 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.600 Keith Moon was like a lead drummer, you know, like 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.639 Pete Townsend held the rhythm together while Keith play lead 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.000 guitar on the drums. It's funny. It's something my dad 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:25.960 and I would always speak of. My dad is a 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:28.880 great musician, you know, like he when he plays live, 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.720 he believes that half the audience is deaf and the 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.840 other half is blind. And so you have to be 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.240 able to reach all of them, you know, So you can't. 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:41.880 For me, I just can't sit still and pretend like 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.920 I'm not in it with my entire soul, you know, 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.520 I have to try and reach every single person out there. 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.679 You grew up in l A. Yeah, born in Boston, 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.600 and your family when I was five with a short 0:02:55.639 --> 0:03:00.160 stint in Cleveland. Well, my dad being a musician and 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.400 he went to Berkeley College of Music, graduated from there, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.639 and my mom was going to medical school at BU 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.720 when they met, and uh, when she graduated, she had 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.639 an internship in Cleveland, and my dad put his career 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.480 on pause for the two years that we were there, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.320 and he raised me you know during that. Yeah, yeah, 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:22.760 she's a doctor. Who who there's a doctor when she 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.880 married a musician? Yeah, where did her smarts go when 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.400 it came down to get married? Well, I have no no, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.840 And honestly, the two of them compliment each other so beautifully. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:37.600 They're still together. Just had their fiftieth year anniversary. And um, 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:42.680 my mom she's a behavioral specialist now, a pediatric behavioral 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.200 specialist that deals with kids who have fetal alcohol syndrome 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.160 and helps diagnose and treat all that kind of stuff. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.040 But she was a classically trained opera singer as a kid, 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.080 you know, in high school and in college and plays guitar. 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.760 And I used to lead folk worship at the local 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.400 Catholic church. That's where my dad first saw her and 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.200 fell in love. Was this beautiful woman playing guitar and 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.320 was like, I need to I need to meet her. Yeah, 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:15.080 so it's so uh, it's an interesting mix of cultures there. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:16.800 And she said, I'm going to medical school and he 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:21.120 was like, I think I love you. Yeah, exactly. See, 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.240 he's a smart man. He's a genius. He's a genius. 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.320 Go to l A when you're five, and what part 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.520 of town are you living in for a brief period 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.360 of time in Santa Monica, and then when they finally 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:34.440 bought a home, it was deep in the valley and 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:42.000 Woodland hills, yeh, off of a street called Winnetka. So like, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.000 that's where I lived for twenty years. No way, are 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.560 you serious? I mean, I'm I'm a good deal older 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.479 than you, but I mean I said everything I hated 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:51.760 about the valley I grew to love. Yeah. Yeah, it's 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.279 it's a lack of pretension. Everybody just normal exactly. Yeah. 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.760 Really it's it is a it's a great normalizer, isn't it. Like, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.960 you know, the houses are all pretty cookie cutter. You know, 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.640 maybe someone has a double lot here about kids in 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.160 schools and soccer teams and baseball team. Yeah. Now, when 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.880 you you know, you graduated high school, you pick up 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.440 the first instrument you play the drums. Yeah, yeah, that 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.240 was the thing that came naturally. Pots and pans at 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.760 the age of four, you know, just headphones on, rocking 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.919 out to things. I would dabble, you know. They my 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.640 parents encouraged, like piano lessons. I didn't really like them. 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.919 Saxophone lessons wasn't for me. I was always fascinated with 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.400 guitar and bass, but was also intimidated because my dad 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.560 is such an amazing prolific musician, So I always gravitated 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.640 towards the thing that I could jam with him. He's 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.880 a bass player, your dad. Yeah, interesting that the path 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:45.960 your career went. Yeah, you know, I've I've known a 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:51.599 few for some reason, bass players like me. Base players 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.520 want to bond with you. Yeah. So you decide you 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:56.400 don't what you You don't want to play guitar, you 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:58.680 don't think it's right for you, and you're drumming, and 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.120 how does that happen? Is your dad the one encouraging you? Who? 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.040 Or is it you? Are you completely self propelled? It's 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:09.520 it was a combination. So it would be that I 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:14.599 innately just understood music that way, you know, would sing songs, 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.400 would play little things, pick up things around the house. 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.120 Music was always playing in our home. You know, we'd 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.320 be listening to the Bulgarian Women's Choir and then Peter, 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.200 Paul and Mary and then everything earth Wind and Fire 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.680 and just like you name it. It was always in 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.000 rot music. They loved, they loved music. Yeah, you know, 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.680 we'd be listening to Pa Pavarotti and you know, whatever 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.520 you name it, it was on in our home. My 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.040 mom loves to tell a story of going to to 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.720 see the Bill Evans Trio when I when when I 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.360 was still in her belly, and every time the music 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.640 would start, I'd start kicking and was like excited and 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:53.599 the music would stop and then I'd calm down. Yeah 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.440 pretty much. So five, yeah, so it's just always around, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.479 you know, always a part of my life. Oh yeah, 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.159 you know, I think for me, you know, they finally 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:07.000 got me a drum kit when I was five years old, 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.680 and um, it was a gift actually from a percussionist 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.360 named Jamie had Ad who plays with Paul Simon now. 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.160 But yeah, he put together a little baby kit for 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.600 me and I'd sit down and start to play a 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.000 little something that my dad would show me something and 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:23.920 then he'd pick up a bass or a guitar and 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.080 we jam and that was that. That was me growing 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.560 up for at least five years, just kind of every 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.960 other day we'd get together and just hang out together 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.640 and and play music for an hour or so. And yeah, 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.280 so very encouraging. And when I was ten, I finally said, 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:40.880 you know what, I think, I really want to do 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.720 this professionally. And so my dad got me then official 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.160 lessons at that point, and who was the teacher and 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:49.920 what were they like? So my my first teacher was, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:55.480 unbelievably this drummer named alex A Kuna who famously played 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.440 drums in the Weather Report and uh, you know, played 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.560 on you know, percussion on Blondie records and every you know, 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:05.560 I don't know, like all kinds of stuff. He's a 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.760 world renowned percussionist and drummer. And yes, so he was 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.240 my first teacher. And what was great is that he 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.760 he wasn't regimented in the way that you know, here 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.920 are the dots and pay attention to just this. He 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:24.480 would have the dialogue with me of playing music together 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.840 and encouraging me to explore things. So it was always 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:32.280 more of an intuitive style of learning rather than a 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.719 very strict you know, restrictive thing that didn't work for 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.120 me trying to have that kind of structured I needed 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.080 to be able to like, oh I I hear this thought, 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.199 I feel this rhythm, and I want to try that, 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.400 And luckily I was surrounded with people who encouraged that. Now, 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.959 most people, when they're most musicians I've spoken to, talk 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.199 about like the early days being the cover days. You're 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.680 doing covers before you get into songwriting, and you're writing 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.880 your own song as you're doing cover of other people's music. 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:03.439 What was music you're ten years old, you think you 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.559 want to do this professionally. What's the music that's in 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.679 your head, that's on the radio or in your Sony Walkman. 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:12.720 I don't know what technology was available when you were 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:16.160 a kid, but I'm assuming Walkman was coming along in 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.959 the in the eighties, just starting to happen. You know, 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.720 what are you? Who are you? And who are you loving? 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.280 What music was you love? Did you love? The big 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:29.600 one for me at that point was Genesis and Phil Collins. Yeah, 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:31.679 that was I mean, you know, I always listened to 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.920 a lot of Beatles, listened to you know, led Zeppelin, 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:39.320 all this stuff, Police, But your fathers from where he's 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.599 from Mexico City. If your father's Mexican, yeah, born and 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:50.240 from where from Boston. She's Irish Portuguese's Yeah, she's Irish, 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:56.000 Irish Portuguese Mexican and he's a black Mexican. Was there 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.400 black music he was craving? Was he into earth Wind 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.520 and Fire and well? He interestingly, he was a staff 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.920 producer when he was like thirteen years old at Capitol Records, Mexico. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:12.240 So they would send Beatles records another artist that were 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.719 on Capitol down to Mexico. He would study those and 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.880 then they would re enact or do cover versions. And 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.600 he was in bands the Mexican flavor to it, yeah exactly, 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.040 so that's where he kind of got his passion for it. Um, 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:32.199 you know my loves you c C C exactly, I 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:39.160 want to hold your your manos. So yeah, you know, 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:45.640 my my grandfather was was also a singer songwriter actor there, 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.280 so he was kind of the equivalent of like Paul 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:53.679 Robeson or something and that in that time. Yeah exactly. Uh, 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:58.199 you know, very deep basso profundo voice and uh and 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:02.439 and beautiful song. So my my dad, his brother was 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:07.239 like an Elvis equivalent there, you know, that Johnny Laborelle 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.520 and uh yeah, so the they they were an artist's 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.400 family growing up in Mexico, so he brought that energy 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.120 and this love of all styles of music, but yeah, 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.160 in particular rock and roll. He loves. He loves good 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:27.640 old fashioned garage rock. So Phil Collins and Journey are 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.199 front and center for you. Was it because Collins was 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.000 one of the few percussionist trump men. Yeah, well, it's 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.040 also one of the first shows that I saw that 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.760 wasn't my dad's bands, So I got to see the 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:41.760 I think it was The Mama Tour was my one 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.000 of my first big shows, you know, the laser lights 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:49.040 and the most amazing visuals, and that was my first 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.199 experience of an arena concert. You know. Everything else until 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.400 then had been clubs or theaters, seeing my dad play 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.079 with different people like you know, Al Jaro or musicians 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.280 like Larry Carlton and and and these jazz kind of scenarios. 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.160 But then to see a big rock concert and my 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.240 whole life changed to see that, so I will I 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.199 realized I wanted to do that, so I started studying 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.880 as much of that as I could. Years ago, when 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.559 we did the show thirty Rock, my character. Someone was 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:19.160 talking about Phil Collins and they said, are you a 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:21.439 Phil Collins fan? And I looked around the eye with 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:22.679 I think it was a woman I was trying to 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.040 seduce on the show. I took a long pause and 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:31.679 I said, I have two years and a heart and 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.599 I love Phil. I love Phil because he knew you know, 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.360 I met him and Townsend who I worship him. And 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.800 I was a raging, raging I mean, nobody smoked more weed. 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:44.160 And I couldn't afford a We see the same line. 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.760 I couldn't afford headphones when I was a kid and 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:48.439 didn't have the money. So I had these two A 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.800 and R speakers that I bought from my friend. My 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.040 friend needed money, he was broke. He was desperate to 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:56.240 buy like a guitar or something. He was into music. 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.760 And I said, he said, I'll sell you my speakers 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.160 for like two hundred bucks when they were worth far 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.920 more than that. I got these big acoustic research speakers 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.200 and I lay down with them next to my head. 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:08.760 BEAUTI I laying on the floor and I smoke a 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.280 huge joint out the window, and then laying on the 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.480 floor and listen to Quadra Fenia and all that other 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.360 stuff and and and when I saw I want to 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.360 mention this aspect of it to you because you go 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.160 from rooms or clubs or shows you do which I 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.560 want to get to your earliest career, when you start 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.280 to play with in front of an audience, What does 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:31.040 that look like? What are your first audiences? Where? Uh, 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.280 the first few places. There's this great local club that 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.920 I grew up at basically watching my dad play, called 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.720 the Baked Potato and um, you know I know that. Yeah, 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.480 famously they served the world's largest, most delicious baked potatoes. 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.760 But what is that. It's a family place. So even 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.839 though it's jazz music and you know, yeah at the 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.800 time people smoking like crazy and drinking like crazy, but 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.520 kids were allowed, you know. So I was able to 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.960 go watch my dad play and all the bands there 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.120 and those were some of the few first times I 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.040 would play live were there. Um, And so then to 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.120 go from that to then going to college. I also 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.760 went to Berkeley College of Music in Boston and started 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.280 playing in bands around there, in clubs you know, small, 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.640 you know, two hundred to five hundred. But then I graduated, 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:25.600 go back to l A. And then I get this 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.600 gig with Steve v I, who's this guitar legend um. 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.240 And that's the first kind of real professional gig that 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.000 I got. And that's a theater tour of you know, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.320 two thousand to three thousand cedars. Where Where'd you go? 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:46.560 That was all over the States. So really I was 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:53.160 twenty one when I when I started a kid. Yeah, yeah, exactly. No. 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:55.880 Franton told us when he was he was a child, 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.680 he's out there. He's in a car with Ronnie wood Yo, 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.080 and Ronnie when wanted him to come and play something 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:04.280 with him or whenever, and they heard he was this phenom. 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:06.840 And he said, he's in the rooms with these guys 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:08.720 and they were all partying their asses off, and he's 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:13.160 like sixteen or fifteen years old. Wow, that's not playing 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:15.800 in local places. It could have been. My parents were 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.920 very wise though, and they advised me in saying, look, 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.960 you are amazing now, but you don't l A is 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:27.480 a small town. That's one of the largest small towns 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.880 out there, and you don't want to be known as 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.840 the guy who's pretty good for his age. You want 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.400 to wait until you really have your sense of self. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:38.960 So they encouraged me, and also one of my other 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.800 mentors was Jeff brecro Uh, the drummer for Toto, who 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.280 sadly is no longer with us. But you don't you 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.400 don't want to go right from high school to the NBA? Yeah, basically, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.360 which is what he did. He played in Sonny and 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.760 Share when he was fifteen, and then he was in 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.320 Steely Dan and then did all this kind of stuff 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.720 and he he just he pulled me aside. He said, 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:01.880 the one thing I regret is that I didn't take 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.520 time to go to college and really really figure out 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.320 who I am. So he gave me a drum kit 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.760 as a gift, one of his personal ones, and sent 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.640 me off to college with you know, saying, come on, 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.040 I want you to do this. So I went to 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.320 Berkeley and Boston. Yeah. So I went right back to Boston, 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.520 fell in love with how were there? I was like, 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.760 I did the full four for the Kid from l 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.640 A going back east? What was that like? Oh? Scene, 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.000 music scene was amazing. Although the Kid from l A. 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.080 One of my favorite stories is in the middle of 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.640 winter seeing the sun come out for the first time 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.320 in about three months, and I put on shorts and 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:44.720 a T shirt and went outside not realized fifteen degrees outside, 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.440 you know, so lessons like that. But I I loved 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.880 it to the late eighties by now, right, So yeah, 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.920 eighty nine through nine I was there, And what and 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.840 what music is in your head? Then? Uh, it starts 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:02.760 to shift from this very frantic jazz infusion jazz to 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.240 too much more rock and roll. And I'm falling in 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.560 love with the whole grunge movement sound Garden and nine 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.440 nine inch Nails and Pearl Jam and that's what you 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.000 think you should be playing? Yeah, so that's what this 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.520 is what I want to play exactly. And it really 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.800 speaks to me on on all the levels, um, you know, 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.320 just the the intensity of the riffs and and the 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:30.879 intensity of the dynamics musically, and and the fact that 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.480 it wasn't you know about just sex, drugs and rock 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.520 and roll. It was there was some thoughtful lyrics and 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:41.639 thoughtful emotions. Actually make use of your Berkeley School of 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:46.600 music exactly. It was a musicianship required. Yeah, yeah, I 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.760 know that and that that that exactly. Uh. And and 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.240 what was great is that the club scene there. It 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.480 was one of those things where you would play a 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:59.080 show and be experimental and I would honestly have these 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.600 conversations or friends would say, Wow, man, that really sucked. 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.639 We'll see you next week. You know, you're like so 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.879 people would come back and support each other and and 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.480 be into the journey of trying stuff. And I could 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.120 not have done that if I had started right away 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.399 in l A. So when you're there, what does a 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:23.000 school you're a famous rock and roll drummer, What does 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.440 Berkeley have to offer? What do they teach you? What 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:29.840 it does is it It gave me a place to grow, 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.680 It gave me fertile ground. It gave me it's not 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:37.480 so much specifically what the teachers had, but what the 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.359 other students that were there had. So we were learning 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.960 from each other. You know, I again, go hang out 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.800 with another drummer, gop jam with the guitar player, do 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.639 all this stuff, and you realize that you're just in 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:55.480 this incredibly fertile area where you can be as creative 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:59.520 as you feel and and try things and and suddenly 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.760 discover new sounds and you know, play with different combinations 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:08.200 of musicians and instruments. And then yes, obviously their structure there, 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.600 but again the structure, like even for me, it was 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.240 too restrictive. To be just a drum student. There So 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.119 I ended up switching my major to music synthesis and 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.000 production because I figured, if I'm going to learn something 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.600 that's outside of my wheelhouse, it should be something applicable 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:27.680 to other things. It's drumming hard, is it trumping? You 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:29.800 think drumming is hard for people to learn? Well, the 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.160 elements of it, and and depends on your in my soul, 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.840 I'm a drummer cool because I can't stop banging on things. 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.400 I'm always banging out the rhythm. Is it hard to learn? 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.720 It is hard? Well, there again, it's it's like anything 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.680 that you start out at. You have to suck, you know, 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.920 dare dare to suck is basically the name of it. 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.840 So the coordination of getting everything to line up is 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.240 one element, and then obviously keeping the tempo is the 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.640 next element, and then making not only both to those things. 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:02.399 Then they have to feel good. You have to make 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.600 people dance, you have to make them want to yeah. 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:08.639 And then the fills that's a whole other thing. To 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.080 not speed up or slow down, or to be consistent 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.400 with the sound. And so after a while, though, these 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.360 these are the things you tweak over time. So it's 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.720 the ten thousand hours thing. It's all of that, and 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.320 you know like you have you have to, Yeah, dare 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:34.320 to suck. Musician Abe Laboreal Jr. If you love conversations 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.440 with legendary drummers, be sure to check out my talk 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.240 with Mick Fleetwood. What did you think of when you 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.320 first came across the TikTok phenomena? It happened in the 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.400 most charming way. I said, I can't get on a skateboard, 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:51.159 so I hung myself off the back of a of 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:54.080 a golf cart. And the next thing I know, we're 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.360 all on halftime sports programs and god knows what else 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.639 his whole life has changed. And I said, let me 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:07.200 tell you, Nathan Fleetwood micos here the rest of my 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:11.080 conversation with Mick Fleetwood at Here's the Thing dot org. 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:15.240 After the break, Abe la Boreal Jr. Tells us about 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.600 the fateful day when he was invited to play with 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:46.320 Sir Paul. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:50.439 the Thing. My guest today is drummer Abel Boreal Jr. 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:01.840 This is Abe showcasing his talent with French Canadian singer 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:07.200 songwriter milean farmer on her tour. While it may seem 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.720 like La Boreal is completely at home on every stage 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.080 he walks on, there was a growing period between that 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.399 first big break to being the drummer everyone has on 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:21.240 speed dial. La Boreal shared with us how he came 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:25.720 into his own alongside another major star. I got a 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:30.000 chance to audition for Seal and ended up doing his 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:35.879 first big US tour that um and through that, you know, 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.520 he was how does he find you? He through Uh, 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:46.720 this amazing band called Eleven, this producer, engineer, guitar player, 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:52.240 singer songwriter named Alan Johnnies and his now sadly departed wife, um, 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:58.240 Natasha Schneider, And they were fans of mine and friends 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:00.919 with Seal, and he was for a drummer and they 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:04.920 recommended me to him, and uh, yeah, he called me 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:07.679 out of the blue one day and I couldn't believe 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:09.600 that it was really him on the other end of 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:12.399 the phone, and you know, you know, hey man, you 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:15.359 know it's Seal. It's like, you mean the guy whose 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.960 record I like? And you know, so yeah, he invited 0:23:19.000 --> 0:23:23.520 me to come audition, and um, where that actually in 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:27.440 this in the building that I'm in right now Center staging. Yeah, 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:30.520 so it's it's yeah, this place that has been a 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:32.960 very important part of my life for a long time. 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:35.800 So then I toured with him for about four or 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:39.040 five months, and uh, it was great to be a 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:41.360 part of that's when Kiss from a Rose came out 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:44.600 and Prayer for the Dying and all these great songs 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:47.200 and uh, to be a part of that journey, to 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:52.960 see him transition from again theaters to then arenas and uh, 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:55.840 and then I I took a step back from that 0:23:56.480 --> 0:24:00.480 ended up going I worked with this French artist, a 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:04.040 woman named Milen Farmer. That's the first time I ever 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:08.680