WEBVTT - Michael Shrieve 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.680 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.760 My guest today is drummer Michael Schreen. Michael, tell us 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.000 about your new album, Drums of Compassion. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:27.000 Drums of Compassion is the record that's been an interesting 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.240 journey for me, literally taking me over twenty years to 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:36.200 get it out. It began with the idea a question 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.640 I asked myself after coming home at two in the 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:42.000 morning here in Seattle, when I used to go listen 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.559 to all kinds of music and family was asleep and 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.440 I'd come home and want to chill out, but I 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.159 would listen to music like choral music or you know, 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.560 it wasn't heavy music. And then it occurred to me, 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:00.000 what kind of music could I make that I would 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.080 want to listen to personally at two two thirty in 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.120 the morning as a drummer. How would I approach that? 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.240 And that's the question that started on the path. 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.880 We'll continue the story. 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:20.200 Okay, So I had a setup that I learned from 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:26.039 percussion master, Japanese percussion master stonemul Yumashta, who I had 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.280 the pleasure of working with in the seventies. Stone was 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.200 somebody that I looked up to as a percussionist and 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.120 as a kind of a force actually the way he 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:40.640 would approach his career, and he had a setup that 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:45.520 was like sixteen toms in a semi circle. We did 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:49.240 a project with him called Go with Al Damiola and 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:55.960 Klaus Schultz and Pat Thrall and Steve Winwood, and so 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:00.840 his setup was this beautiful setup where you could you 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.480 could kind of run around the stage and play the drums, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:08.560 and I was very influenced by him. It even goes 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.120 further back. So I thought, I want this to be 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:14.920 a kind of record where drums are going to have 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.959 to be featured, but it's not going to be backbeats 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.760 and it's not going to be like groove heavy. I 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.200 want the drums to speak in a different way, in 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:29.000 a different language than they usually usually are, at least 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:33.200 in the States. I called upon a friend of mine, 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:40.160 a synthesizer sound designer from Seattle named Jeff Grinky, and 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.280 we began the project together. So it was very spacey, 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:50.400 and I went into a studio we rehearsed and went 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:55.239 into a studio called Bob Lang which is in northern Settle, 0:02:55.840 --> 0:03:00.919 Richmond Beach. And that's a whole story about that studio 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.880 where he'd bob for years, dug into the side of 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.280 the mountain of a hill, literally and I thought it 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:09.880 would be great because it had like thirty foot ceilings. 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.520 So we did recording there and it was too much. 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:18.320 There was too much ambient reverb on the drums. And 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.840 at that point then we went to London Bridge Studios, 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:27.359 which is a very well known Seattle studio where Pearl 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.600 Jam recorded their first album ten there and tons of 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:37.560 other records, so that became the drums and the synthesizer tracks. 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.000 At a certain point I kept listening to I thought 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:44.640 it sounded too new age, and I started adding other 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:50.240 percussionists as they came into town, like Ayerto Morierra, who 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.760 famous for playing with Chick Corea, and Miles Davis and 0:03:54.920 --> 0:04:02.160 Jack D. Jennette, also Miles Davis zuk Heir who s Tablamster. 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:08.640 And I started layering these percussionists onto the tracks and 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.800 then just grew it and grew it and grew it, 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.440 and I just lived with it forever. But there was 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:21.880 a skip forward eighteen twenty years. I kept wondering, why 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.040 am I not putting this sucker out? You know, I 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:27.320 really love it, but what's going on with me, And 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.280 when I changed insurance companies, they offered me to see 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:36.679 a psychoanalysis for free for six months, and I said sure, 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:42.839 and I went and I recorded every session on my phone, 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.440 and then this issue came up, What's going on with 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:50.400 me with this recording? Why is it that? What is 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:52.800 it that's happening with myself that I'm not putting it out? 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.720 Is it procrastination? Is it fear of what people will think. 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.600 Let's get to the bottom of it, because I really 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.320 love it, and I just talked it through myself and 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.360 I came up with the I realized. I came to 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:12.800 the realization that I really love this record, and it's 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.080 almost like the world doesn't really need another record, you know. 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:18.880 I mean, he's like, who gives a fuck? You know? 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.480 And and I've put other records out in the past. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.600 I've done a lot of solo work and stuff like that, 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.279 and most of it's left of center. Most of the 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:32.560 stuff my contemporaries don't care for that I do. They're 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.440 kind enough to say they don't like it, but they 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.000 don't say anything. And so all along I'm following my 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.240 own muse. But what I came to this realization is 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:46.320 I like this record too much. It's okay if I 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.480 don't put it out. I like it and I want 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:51.159 to keep it that way. I don't want to just 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.040 put it out and nobody gives a shit, or you know, 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.400 people say, oh, Michael, here he goes again. He lost 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.520 his lower chakras, you know. And and then once I 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:05.719 realized that that was the reason it wasn't being put out, Bob, 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.320 then I felt free to put it out. And I said, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.400 this is what you gotta do. You put it out, 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:16.039 and it doesn't matter what other people think. In fact, 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.000 this is the way you should make music. You should 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.240 make the music that you love and that you dig 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:25.240 deep enough inside yourself to bring out. And that's what 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.000 you put out. And you don't do it with expectations 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:34.080 of people loving it or adoring you. And so finally, 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:36.680 you know, I was tweaking it until the last hour 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:40.760 of when I needed to let it go for deadline 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.040 for the release. And now it's out and I'm perfectly 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:50.880 happy with everything about it, from the packaging to the artwork, 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:56.799 to the musicians, the mixes. And so that's the story 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.960 of Drums and Compassion. Also, I should say that they're 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.720 interesting thing because when I started the record, it was 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.640 a period. I remember that the Dalai Lama was talking 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.600 about the human kind is coming into a period where 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:14.880 what we need is more compassion, and I thought, well, 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:25.200 Baba Olatunji, Michael Olatunji, the great African drummer who put 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:29.960 out in the sixties a record called Drums of Passion, 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:35.240 and in fact, Santana on their first album, recorded a 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:39.360 piece of music from that record called Jingo Loba, and 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.440 so I thought I'd play off of that and I'd 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:49.040 go I'd call it Drums of Compassion, honoring Olatunji and 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:53.440 also honoring what the Dhalai Lama said. And it turns 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:58.080 out that I was able to have Olatunji give the 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:03.720 opening incantation on the recording, which was done in another 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.360 recording session with a group I was involved with, called 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.400 a Praxis Pool, with all the original Santana guys aside 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:15.080 from Carlos, and they decided not to use this incantation, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.920 and that's how the record starts out, Drums of Compassion. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:21.520 So it's been a long road and it feels really 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.520 good to finally have it out and I can move 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:24.400 on to other things. 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.840 So for those who haven't heard it yet, how can 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.760 you describe it? And what should they think when they're 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.640 pulling it up online. 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.600 Well, they don't have to think anything better if they don't. 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:46.800 For me, it's a The desire anyway, was to be 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:51.040 transportive and that the music really takes you somewhere you 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.680 can get inside it and just let it be. Just 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.400 let it be, you know, just let it watch over you. Also, 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.320 I have a lot of material, but I ended up 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.520 only using like thirty five thirty seven minutes worth of 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:10.360 music because to me, an album, just because you can 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:15.000 have seventy five minutes on it doesn't mean you should. 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:20.280 And that I always thought the listening experiences when we 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:24.719 came up in the sixties and seventies were just the 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.880 right amount of time because it was A and a 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:32.560 B side of vinyl, and the maximum recording time you 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:37.600 should have on each side would be twenty minutes, so 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.160 that the sonically it would sound better because the grooves 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:45.520 are wider, preferably eighteen minutes aside, so I thought, I 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.760 want to make this. I mean, it's hard enough to 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.240 get anybody to listen to anything anyway, much less an 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.600 album nowadays, and I'm very aware of that, and so 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.480 I thought, make it, you know, make it thirty five 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.800 minutes long, so it doesn't take up so much time, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.480 but it could still take you on a journey. I mean, 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.520 it's not a buffet all you can eat, it's a 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:06.120 fine meal. 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.480 Okay, you had all these anxieties before you put the 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.480 album out, you came to an inner belief. Now the 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.640 album is out, other people are scrutinizing it or not 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.120 listening at all. So what's that experience been. 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:28.840 Like, Well, it's been very rewarding people who are saying 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.640 some really beautiful things about it that it seems it's 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.320 paid off that I went to where I went to 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:40.480 myself to bring this music. Had some you know, kind 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:45.079 words from people that I really respect, and so that 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.800 feels good. I mean, there was somebody that said something 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:52.200 online last week about I got this record and it's 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:53.599 just horrible. 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:54.120 And. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.400 Okay, come on, come on, you know, so I engaged 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.720 with the guy, not that I care, but I'm curious. 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.560 I said, so, what were you expecting, because obviously you 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.760 were expecting something else. He said, well, yeah, you know 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.280 the stuff you used to do with Carlos, and you 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.679 know Santana for and this that, And I said, of course, 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:18.600 that's why you didn't like it, because you're expecting me 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:20.840 to live in the past, and my job is to 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:25.720 move forward. And I recommended some other records of mine 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:26.760 that he might like better. 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:32.480 Okay, you went to for psychoanalysis because you had that 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:37.280 benefit from insurance. You learned about why you weren't releasing 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:38.600 the record. What else did you. 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:47.360 Learn, mean aside from this, mean in the psychoanalysis, Yeah, 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:51.520 that's private, bob, Okay, no, no, no, I it was 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.839 what I found was that I had been to psychoanalysis before, 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.120 but more like couples, a couple of psychoanalysis, and that 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.599 never seemed to work out, you know, and so it 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:05.280 didn't didn't make me feel positive about you know, you know. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.240 But anyway, I found this to be a really wonderful 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:16.000 experience that you couldn't shut me up, you know, and 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.280 I just kept talking and talking that I'd listened during 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:23.319 the week to the recordings, and I found what I've 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.600 what I learned is that it can be very helpful 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:30.440 to be engaged in psychoanalysis, if for nothing else, to 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.160 just be talking and have someone to talk to and 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.280 in a safe space and they throw ideas back at you, 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.080 and you so, I mean, I haven't gone back to 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.920 any After that, I felt like, ah, I kind of 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.360 got what I wanted with this record. But I must 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:51.280 say also that I wasn't living in anxiety about this record. 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:53.800 It was just like, why the hell am I not 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.040 putting this thing out? You know, I'm making all the 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.120 other kinds of music in this but this one seems 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:03.920 to be a different issue for me. And so once 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.120 I realized that I loved it so much, I didn't 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:10.000 want anybody to say anything negative about it. Then it 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.200 was like, who gives a shit, this is what I love. 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.200 Put it out there so you can move on to 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:14.880 other stuff. 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:17.160 How'd you end up in Seattle? 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.560 My ex wife is from here. We had our first kid. 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.720 We met in New York City. I lived there through 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:31.080 the through the eighties. Interesting time to be in New York. 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.439 And then we moved to the Bay Area, where I'm from, 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:39.840 and we had our first son, Sam, and thought that 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:42.920 she thought to move up to the Northwest would be 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:44.680 a good place to start raising a family. 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.320 So you grew up in the Bay Area. What was 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:50.360 it like in Seattle? What's it like now? 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:59.280 Well, Seattle's a wonderful city. The music scene I found 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.800 because I was very would very much go out at 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:07.079 night and look at stuff, look at bands, and I'm 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.640 I'm also very curious about more avant garde stuff, whether 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:15.320 it's dance or theater or and so I would go 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:18.400 and explore that sort of thing. In Seattle. I've always 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:24.120 been attracted to people like, you know, different, not mainstream artists, 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:29.880 so so it was great, you know. I mean, it 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.320 never felt quite like home to me. And I think 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.120 that I realized that while driving through the Bay Area 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.680 a couple of years ago. It's the topography. It's actually 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.680 the trees and the and the hills and the you know, 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.400 it's it's eucalyptus trees and oak trees, where up here 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.480 it's pine trees. And it's this, that and the other. 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:54.440 It's a wonderful place. I'm considering, you know, moving somewhere else, 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:58.400 but I don't know where in the hell they go anymore. 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.080 With the way everything is going, it might be better 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:02.000 just to stay put. 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.080 You talk about your flues, kid, how many kids do 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:11.360 you have? 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:12.920 I have two? 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:14.120 What are they up to? 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:20.040 Well? My oldest is graduate of Berkeley School of music 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:28.760 and is in La producing and writing pop material. In fact, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:35.080 he's the girl that just won I guess it's American Idol. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.240 I think it's American Idol or the Voice. He wrote 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.800 that and they put that as a single, so you 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.760 know he's into that scene and starting to do well. 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.120 My youngest son is a real estate agent here in Seattle. 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.400 And you talk about getting divorced. You have a relationship. 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:58.280 Now, yes, I do, happily married for fifteen years. 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.160 So how'd you meet her? 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.440 I met her at a friend of mine ran a 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:09.960 biotech company here in Seattle, and she was his executive assistant. 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:16.320 And I told I saw her at an event that 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.760 I was invited to, like a charity event where one 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.120 of the one of the founders of the Microsoft. You know, 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.120 it's all a lot of wealthy people here because of 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.600 Microsoft and Amazon and everything else, and so one of 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:35.240 the first early founders had a place where it's kind 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.200 of like jay Leno, you know, like a ton of 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.520 cars that nobody else would have, and they held this 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:47.000 event there and the woman that was the greeter there 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:52.440 I was very much attracted to. And so I found 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.440 out that this was his personal assistant and we had 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.840 met before, but I asked him if he might if 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.680 I asked her out. So I did, and we've been 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:06.040 together ever since. Funny thing about that night, though, I 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.440 told her about ten years ago, I'll never forget this 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:13.119 outfit that you were wearing. I described the outfit and 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.919 it wasn't until like six years ago. She said, I 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:23.720 gotta tell you, I never had an outfit like, I'm like, wow, 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:30.080 do maybe I have the wrong woman? No? But yeah, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:35.000 So that's that's how we met. Pamela. I know that 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.080 a friend of mine is friend of your wife of 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:39.600 Dorian Ringer Ross. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:44.800 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely from BMI in the soundtrack world. 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.080 I sent this record to her and she is head 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.480 over heels about it. She just loves it, like like crazy. 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.880 She said some of the strongest things than anybody has 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.160 said yet. So that's a good sign. 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:03.520 Absolutely. You mentioned in all Microsoft, Amazon people who made 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.760 a lot of money there. To what degree did you 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:10.760 interact with those people? Were there any opportunities there? 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:15.119 No opportunities for me there. I mean I did have 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:20.080 interaction with Paul Allen, who I found to be really enjoyable. 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.240 I mean it's amazing. I mean really, it's like Okay, 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:26.200 you go to his house and you can do some recording. 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:31.840 The recording studio is an exact replica of Peter Gabriel's 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.960 studio in Bath, England. And then and then he replicated 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.119 that in la and on two or three of his 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.399 yachts as well. You know, it's like before it was 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.280 before anybody did this kind of thing. He had his 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:51.280 whole music collection digitized and you know, you could just 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.879 push a button and the music came up. Now we 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:59.600 all do that, but at that time, I, you know, 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.760 I really respected what he did is starting the museum here, 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.919 which is supposed to be a Jimi Hendrix museum. But no, 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.520 I haven't had opportunity to get rich. Even though there's 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.679 rich people. It's a it's a different thing. I'm not 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.639 a you know, there's ways that I thought I could 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:25.040 have interacted with them in terms of Amazon even or 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.920 or companies that like provide music, because I really love 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.800 what music does in different environments. I'm a big fan 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:38.119 of you know, it's like I don't listen to the 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:41.120 blues for years, and then you walk into a tavern 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.520 or something and the blues is playing and you go, wow, 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.760 nothing nothing like the blues man. I mean in the 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.720 right place, in the right you know. I don't know 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.920 if you're like that when you listen, but so much 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.160 has to do with your mood, the time of day, 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.800 and the and where you are specifically, you know, physically. 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.560 And I like to make playlists. I love to make 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.480 playlists for different you know. I'll be in a restaurant 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.640 and I think this is a really great restaurant, really cool, 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.520 really hip, really kind of international, but the music sucks, 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:18.000 and so I'll go home and I'll make a playlist 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:19.920 for them that I think this would really make your 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:24.120 place much better, much much like I found out later, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.560 like Riuichi Sakamoto did. I don't know if you heard 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:32.919 about this. Where the great you know, the great piano 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:39.439 player composer riu Chi Sakamoto frequented a sushi bar in 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.840 New York City that he absolutely adored, the food, the chef, 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.840 And finally, one day he went to the owner chef 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:53.440 and he said, whatever his name, son, I really think 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:55.760 you're a genius with the food. I come here all 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:59.480 the time because I appreciate you and the place, But 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.240 I would you mind if I make a playlist for here? 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.239 Because I don't like the music that you play. And 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.959 it's a great story. And they ended up writing an 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.480 article about it in the New York Times, and then 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:17.080 the playlist was published on Spotify, and I thought, this 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.400 is so great. I completely get this. You know, I 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:23.639 love the place, but I can't stand the music. So 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.400 I'm a big fan of creating playlists for different sort 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:30.120 of vibes. And I do it for friends if they're 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:32.480 getting married or if they're doing this and that, just 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:35.000 because I enjoy it. 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:37.320 So did you give the restaurant your playlist? 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:40.600 I did, And now I don't know if they've played 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:44.600 it or not. I haven't heard like, oh wow, it 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:46.960 really changes the vibe, man, thank you so much or 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.040 anything like that. But it was a good excuse to 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:54.080 put together like what I thought was like a sophisticated 0:21:54.440 --> 0:22:00.280 international cool vibe and much like it used to be 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:03.880 in the was the eighties, when the when the Buddha 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:08.159 Bar was happening. I think it started in Paris, and 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:11.679 I always liked their playlist and somebody took me in 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:13.840 there one night when I was in Paris and they 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:17.480 were playing music of mine, and I thought, this is 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:20.719 the fucking coolest thing. I mean, I'm in the Buddha 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:26.000 Bar and my album transfer Station Blue with Klaus Schultz 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.719 and my brother Kevin was playing, and I thought, this 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:32.800 is this is what I like. I mean, I see 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.120 my music going in different places than most people. I mean, 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:38.199 what I do now is I look at websites like 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:41.400 Sedition Arts, and I look at the graphic artists from 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:45.800 around the world, Berlin and Japan, and they make the 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:52.360 most beautiful you know, digital art, moving art, and I'll 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:54.960 take down their music and I'll put my music in there, 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:59.199 various pieces and see what works, and then if it 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.520 works out, con attack the artist and I'll say, let's collaborate, 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:05.439 let's do you know. I mean, I would like to 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:10.160 see music more look for more interesting ways than than 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:19.159 you know, like like more environ you know, complete environments, 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:24.320 and and so I'm excited about I'm excited about the 0:23:24.359 --> 0:23:25.440 future in that way. 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:29.240 Let's go back to the beginning. How'd you become a drummer? 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:34.679 I was, I had just been kicked out of a 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:41.359 Catholic school in seventh grade. Why oh, some silly thing 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:48.159 where you know, have a bunch of pens in your pocket, 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:51.240 and one of them happened to be the kind of 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:55.320 smoke bomb that you make from a from a ballpoint 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:59.080 pen where you had a h what is it, a 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:03.879 bobby pin? Bobby pin and a and a match, a 0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:08.200 wooden match, and so when you pull the bobby pin, 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:12.879 it smells like rotten eggs and and that accidentally went off. 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:18.359 And it was so funny because it was taught by sisters. 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:23.000 And the sister said, oh, somebody must be having some 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.440 problems in the neighborhood, and let's let's stop and say 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:31.960 a prayer and and all that. So everything was fine 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:35.919 until some kids, you know, actually went and told on me, 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:44.439 you know, like really so uh, and it was a 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:46.840 big deal. My father had come down and my father 0:24:47.280 --> 0:24:49.880 was like, come on really, And then my father got 0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:56.240 an argument with the main nun and and and I 0:24:56.280 --> 0:24:59.560 got kicked out, so that there went my There went 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:02.320 my My career is being a priest, which I was 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:06.520 considering doing. So I went to this public school and 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:09.680 I must have been banging on the desk or trying 0:25:09.720 --> 0:25:12.240 to be funny. I got kicked out of the class, 0:25:12.280 --> 0:25:15.240 and I told me to go to the principal's office. 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:18.919 So I went to the principal's office and I got scolded, 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:23.240 And on the way back to the class, I passed 0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:25.960 a room that was the band room, and the whole 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:29.760 percussion section was right there at the door, and the 0:25:29.840 --> 0:25:34.040 door was open, and it just stopped me in my 0:25:34.160 --> 0:25:36.920 tracks enough so that I got in trouble for being 0:25:37.000 --> 0:25:38.879 taking so long to get back to the other class. 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:43.480 But that day I went and bought drumsticks and got 0:25:43.520 --> 0:25:47.120 three rug samples and started playing the drums. 0:25:48.320 --> 0:25:50.440 Now what year were we in and what was happening 0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:52.080 in music? Did the Beatles hit yet? 0:25:53.920 --> 0:25:58.040 The Beatles had not hit yet. It was just before 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:02.160 so I'm not so with the years. But the Beatles 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:05.879 had not hit. But I started taking drum lessons. I 0:26:05.880 --> 0:26:09.719 went to high school. I was playing in bands, and 0:26:09.760 --> 0:26:12.639 then in high school the Beatles because I was already 0:26:12.640 --> 0:26:16.080