Danny Cummings about Drumming and Ian Thomas and more

[LoveExpresso]

He was in a good mood obviously and let himself into a talk with his facebook friends about drumming. He wanted to go to bed several times but stayed as he enjoyed it so much. Here are the most interesting parts (from my point of view):

About why Ian is in the band now and Mark's decision:
"He did it for his own reasons and that has to be enough for me and for everyone else. but I do miss it terribly".

"Well.. when I first started with Mark it was an emergency situation (don't ask) but it took me a while to assimilate what was required. I did my first gig in Portugal without a rehearsal and barely a sound check and I stayed for 5 years".

"What Chat did was fantastic, he applied very simple, modern country beats and R&B Memphis style, he did it with great mastery and the first year or so I was taking it all in. Meanwhile I got used to the monitor sound on nears and grew to get past just trying to copy Chad. Chat though, set a brilliant president, he did exactly what was required an got right "inside" the music. Once I knew what was what I did the same but could then think of myself. I gave it my own weighty feel and though i still followed the code which was simplicitiy and precision, I gave it passion which you cannot fake. Ian's doing his thing and he's a monster player and a deep thinker as a musician so I can't empathize with any negative said about my exit from the band. Ian's in the chair and it's up to you and him, to make the most of it."

Someone said he misses his Hi-Hat on Romeo & Juliet:

"You're the first person ever commenting on the hats on Romeo.. that was my feel but it's not a big thing like Speedway so people don't pick up on it.. there were lots of things... little things of which I felt I'd brought something into the equation.. Nuance... a much mis understood thing as it suggests insignificance but sometimes the little things are the biggest of them all. Any musician playing with Mark sonner or later has to understand that. I had that message drilled into me in that beautiful band and I take it everywhere I go or try to.

About Jeff Pocaro:
"He could do it both ways and was a fairly technical play however most or maybe all the music he played sounded good due in part of the way he played."
"Did you hear his drumming on Fade To Black? - Wonderful!"

Great words of an obviously great person!

LE

[ds1984]

Great.

I really miss his drumming on SOS.

I met him once in the streets after one RAH gig on his way back to the hotel, I think it was in 2008, very nice people he is.

[LoveExpresso]

I guess he is the mostly missed person in MK's career, I definitely prefer his playing on Iantos. . I think Ianto butchered Sultans to death so MK lost interest in it.. also all his playing live is great and perfect but has this kind of too-much-personality in it, all the gimmicks, all these little last rolls (last words) at the end of a lot of songs.. it seems he has to show-off a lot. Mark is the only one in the band who should show-off more.. The band should be working on the song, and I think Danny did that perfectly well.
Also the high quality and the extraordinaire standard of the Get Lucky album has to do a lot with Danny...

There were more than 90 comments in that facebook thread in a short time, it seems he is really missed by a lot of people still..

LE

[LoveExpresso]

Oh and a little sentence that is so nice and that I forgot in my first post:

"We miss u"

"God knows I miss you too... the gigs were the best thing about it."

 

LE

[dustyvalentino]

Brilliant, thanks for posting.

[dmg]

I know exactly what you mean about IT showing off LE.  He always has to get the last word in with his final rolls etc.  His increasingly elaborated intros to CBC last tour are a good example of this.  RB is exactly the opposite in terms of character.

[LoveExpresso]

Yeah, it was in the other thread    but good to know that I am not the only one. I am biased because I could not understand Danny being kicked out, and everything, from the nose-stick to the mistake with Submariner and all these intros just said to me: It is no problem for a musician to show off a bit, but it is unusual for a musician in any MK band to show off.  I am pretty sure Ianto has more influence in the recording process than Danny had. That what Danny called "deep thinker". So with Jim Mark has now two "real" musicians, we all know Glen and Richard are such anyway.. maybe it is more that and not the drumming alone that made MK decide against Danny...

LE

[dmg]

Yeah, it was in the other thread    but good to know that I am not the only one. I am biased because I could not understand Danny being kicked out, and everything, from the nose-stick to the mistake with Submariner and all these intros just said to me: It is no problem for a musician to show off a bit, but it is unusual for a musician in any MK band to show off.  I am pretty sure Ianto has more influence in the recording process than Danny had. That what Danny called "deep thinker". So with Jim Mark has now two "real" musicians, we all know Glen and Richard are such anyway.. maybe it is more that and not the drumming alone that made MK decide against Danny...

LE

Although Jim gets his chance to show off he doesn't have the same arrogance the IT has with it and I really respect Jim as a musician and like him in the band.

[LoveExpresso]

Yes. Remember Jim did all the great things on the albums, on STP and RPD and Shangi-La...
However, on Privateering, it is always his very own signature piano style.. together with Kim Wilson you can hear more personality on that double album in the playing of Jim and Kim compared to the man who has his name on the sleeve.. again, on Get Lucky, I thought Matt played better because he chose a more general style, Monteleone is beautiful, Rembembrance Day the same, and Jim sounds always VERY much like Jim.. it is good sometimes. Maybe that's the reason he will not appear on Tracker..

LE

[ingridswing]

Thanks LE for posting this. I miss Danny a lot. Both as a person and as a drummer.
For me he did the best job. Ian is a great drummer but Danny made me listen to drums (I never did) so his playing Will always be my favorite

[NicoMK]

Hi all,

Thanks for sharing this and good to have some fresh news about Danny. He has understandably been more than discreet about the whole story -- how he got into the band and why he left.

He says that he can't empathize with any negative said about him not being in the band any more so he may not empathize with anything I have ever said about this lol.

I still think, for what it's worth of course, that it was Mark's best decision to hire him -- and I do think the same since I first saw him live during the 2002 London gigs -- and Mark's worst ever not to use him anymore.

It still hurts me when I listen to past records and past gigs, mainly the last ones of the 2010 tour

[superval99]

I agree with Ingrid - it was Danny that made the drums very important for me.  I remember at The Edinburgh Playhouse in 2005, hearing Song for Sonny Liston played live for the very first time and being blown away by Danny's drumming.  I wish he was back in the band. 

[LoveExpresso]

NicoMK, not sure about reading a facebook conversation apart from facebook - but I pretty much summed up all the important stuff. On FB there's always a lot of "unimportant" and  partly annoying commenting, so everything of value referring Danny was posted here.

LE

[NicoMK]

Thanks anyway LE, thanks for sharing this, it IS great !!   

[Banjo99uk]

I agree with Ingrid - it was Danny that made the drums very important for me.  I remember at The Edinburgh Playhouse in 2005, hearing Song for Sonny Liston played live for the very first time and being blown away by Danny's drumming.  I wish he was back in the band.

Yep, Sonny was the first song that made an impact on me. I got to shake his hand at a bluesclub gig, he was a very nice chap and it is a huge shame he's still not in the band.