Manu Katch

[dmg]

Seems fairly clear he could be a bit of a dick back in the day.

Flip side is that he was at his most commercially successful then,  and making what many people here consider his best music...

Indeed.  Bring back the dick!

To be serious though I don't think people ever really change completely:   "It's like those sticks of rock: bite it all the way down, you'll still read Brighton. That's human nature.

[Rolleyway Man]

I personally am more familiar with Manu as one of Sting's drummers.  He first played on the '...Nothing Like the Sun' album and then on 'The Soul Cages', but repeatedly declined to tour with him.  This turned out to be a positive thing given that, for the 1991/92 Soul Cages tour, Sting recruited Vinnie Colaiuta who is, without question or shadow of a doubt, the finest drummer who has ever lived.  He continues to play for Sting to this day. 

My point is, Manu finally toured with Sting on the Brand New Day tour from 1999 to 2001.  And, I have to say, though Manu sounded absolutely brilliant before - particularly on 'The Soul Cages' album and of course on 'Planet of New Orleans' - on the BND tour I felt that his drumming sort of bogged the sound of the band down and held it back.  His snare sound just sounded far too dull and his whole style just seemed to lack power for me.  He just didn't cut through the mix well enough.  So, based on that experience, I'm kind of glad that he declined to tour with Dire Straits and that they went for Chris Whitten in the end!  And I think Chris sounded terrific on that tour.

[jbaent]

Imho, Chris Whitten is the worst drummer MK had with him.

Manu Katch

[El Macho]

Manu Katch

[jbaent]

Manu Katch

[JF]

Manu Katch

[zeusjazmin]

for me chris whitten was a bad choice as drummer,as said before mk seems to go through a lot of drummers,perhaps there may be an element of ( drummers who may not be suitable to touring) i think on a tour everyone must get on with everyone else,it seems mk shows no mercy when it comes to drummers.

[dmg]

for me chris whitten was a bad choice as drummer,as said before mk seems to go through a lot of drummers,perhaps there may be an element of ( drummers who may not be suitable to touring) i think on a tour everyone must get on with everyone else,it seems mk shows no mercy when it comes to drummers.

Keyboard players too.

[Rolleyway Man]

Going off topic here, but I never quite understood why fans didn't like Chris Whitten. I think he had a great sound to his playing which suited that particular situation. And what about the solos during Calling Elvis and at the end of Money for Nothing? I'm not sure his style would have worked too well in MK's present line-up, but for those big stadium gigs, I think he was perfect. And of course he'd had good experience of playing these large gigs having toured with Paul McCartney.

In any case, I do think that all of the drummers MK has worked with over the years have ultimately fitted in neatly with whatever sound he was into at the time, whether it was Pick Withers in the early years or Ian Thomas now. With musicians of this calibre, I feel it's more a case of how well they're style fits in, rather than how good they are.

[kaleo74]

I have the feeling that Ian Thomas is the good one.
Mark says once "if you decide to get into this kind of business I suggest you have a good drummer"

[dustyvalentino]

for me chris whitten was a bad choice as drummer,as said before mk seems to go through a lot of drummers,perhaps there may be an element of ( drummers who may not be suitable to touring) i think on a tour everyone must get on with everyone else,it seems mk shows no mercy when it comes to drummers.

Keyboard players too.

Not just keyboard players,  poor Bobby Valentino hasn't been seen since John appeared.

[jbaent]

Probably McCusker fits better to the Scotish flavour that MK wants in his music that Bobby Valentino.

Any of our French friends has the Manu Katch

[ds1984]

The OES time was bad days for Mark.
I see that story as Mark being into his thing and Manu being at first just an hired musician to finish some recording work (Jeff wasn't available to do it?).

At least three musicians asked to tour refused (Jeff Porcaro, Manu Katch

[dmg]

for me chris whitten was a bad choice as drummer,as said before mk seems to go through a lot of drummers,perhaps there may be an element of ( drummers who may not be suitable to touring) i think on a tour everyone must get on with everyone else,it seems mk shows no mercy when it comes to drummers.

Keyboard players too.

Not just keyboard players,  poor Bobby Valentino hasn't been seen since John appeared.

...and not forgetting Stuart Duncan.

Mark Knopfler and the conveyer belt of band personnel!

[superval99]

Wasn't the reason MK ended DS and became "solo", to give him the freedom to replace musicians according to the style of the music on the various albums, without being constrained by a static band?