The No.1 website for musicians
Drummer discusses fund-raising and record making
Rich Chamberlain, Tue 24 Jan 2012, 10:15 am UTC

Brit rock post-grunge survivors InMe return this month with a new album, but they've gone and done something a little different. Drummer Simon Taylor and co have financed the record through Pledge Music donations, with some of the cash raised going to the Alzheimer's Society charity.
With that in mind we caught up with Simon to chat drums, good causes and a whole new paradigm for the music industry to get its head around.
The band is now 15 years and 5 albums in, how did you approach writing and recording the new record?
"This was the most collaborative effort we've done to date, it was a real enjoyable experience this time around. We generally rehearse at least once every week, so Either Dave (guitar/lvocals) would come in with either some ideas or a completed song and we would then attempt to turn whatever he had into something we were all comfortable with and could put our stamp on.Technology has played a massive part for us as we can demo ideas and send them to each other prior to getting together, this really speeds up the process and lets us focus on a song at our leisure before actually playing it together."
"The charity aspect is a really important part of it, we give 5% of everything that comes in to the Alzheimer's Society as it's a charity that is held in close regard to a lot of people including us."
Did you try anything new from a drumming perspective?
"My drumming perspective is always changing, day to day sometimes. I try and keep on top of who's out there and what's being tried. A real help in that was when I got the chance to work with some of the best in the business whilst spending sometime with the London Drum Company in South London. I was totally surrounded by all things drums and all sorts of drummers. Sorting out Kits and getting to go to sessions with some idols was incredible. It was during the time I had there I fell in love with Benny Greb's groove. Just getting a vibe from his playing and helped change the way I approach my kit.
"Groove has always been (as we all know) the most important part being a drummer, getting from each hit to the next in the smoothest possible way and even when pushing yourself with harder stuff, only laying down beats that you know you can play at your best consistently, not what you think you can get away with because it's more complicated or diverse. Drumming for me, is often what you leave out. I'm not adverse in anyway to million hits a minute drummers, as many of them still manage a real groove. But it's not the way I enjoy playing. I want the person listening to feel the beat more than listen to it."
Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows auctions drum kit for...
Me in my studio: Carl Taylor
10 Riffs: InMe
You need to be logged in to post a comment. Login or Register to post a comment.
Follow Rhythm...