ERIC SINGER INTERVIEW WITH FURY ROCKS

Fury Rocks: In the '80s it seemed that a lot of drummers wanted to be fast and faster like Dave Lombardo (SLAYER), for example. What do you think about it?

Singer: I call it the "Drummer Olympics." It's like who can be the fastest human in the race. I gotta say, there are some amazing drummers nowadays. I think the reason is that nowadays they have much better tools to learn from than when I grew up. At that time we didn't have DVDs, videos, MTV and all these instruction tapes and private lessons. Now you can go and take lessons from some of these drummers by buying their instruction DVDs, using computer programs. Now you have all this best information available to you. These kids have a lot of great learning tools nowadays. I also realized that I never had the ambition to be faster than everybody. That is not important to me. I leave it up to the guys that enjoy it. When I see it, I am blown away by these guys' fantastic technique. I admire what they do but it is not something that I aspire to do.

Fury Rocks: You grew up during the beat generation. In that time, the drums were recorded with only two microphones and the sound was, let's say, slight. Nowadays drummers have much more possibilities. Where do you see further capabilities?

Singer: I was influenced by a lot of '60s music, but probably more by the '70s stuff. I was born 1958 so by the time the early '70s were around, I was a teenager. That's the age when music has the most impact. Well, I think everybody should explore whatever different styles and technologies that they like. For me, I still like the idea of just playing real drums and live in a band. In some bands it works good with backing tracks or loops, you know, especially in bands like those of MADONNA and BEYONCÉ. Something like this would have these really big productions on record and to reproduce it live you almost have to do it. And also they have everything with the lights synchronized with the computers and with the dancers, it is very important to keep in. To me, one of the most important things in rock 'n' roll is the human aspect. You know, playing the instruments and keeping it real and live. The beauty is, sometimes you are not having such a good night and you make mistakes. But the great thing is, when you play the next show you have the chance to make it better or try something different and experiment. And that's the beauty of playing live drums. To me, you can't reinvent the wheel. I mean, a drummer is basically a drummer. The function of a drummer in the band is to hold the beat and to provide the rhythm. A drummer like Terry Bozzio really took drumming to another level and created it more to an individual voice of an instrument, he has done some incredible things like making drums an instrument that is not just only there to keep time. But that's not the kind of drummer I am. I enjoy just playing live in a band and doing my part of creating this chemistry of sound.
Read the entire interview from Fury Rocks.