Manu Katche speaks about working with MK

[Eddie Fox]

All that being said, as a Christian (no pun intended) I think it’s time to make peace with rough times and perhaps reach out to the man himself and have a good talk. He seems different now.

I honestly have no need. Of course he could have reached out to me and apologised (for the blatant bullying) at any point over the last 30+ years. It's not up to ME.
I did a tour playing drums last year and it couldn't have been more different. The artist praised my playing every single night. The crew would often compliment me. After the last show the whole band thanked me and said what a fantastic job I'd done.

Perhaps he feels bad about his actions during that period and doesn’t want to revisit it. I don’t know.

I wonder what the atmosphere was like during the tours with EC.

[Chris W]

I've moved on - professionally.
I've worked at British Grove a couple of times and Mark wasn't there either time.
I'm happy not to see anyone from that time period, except Chris White who I see regularly.
(And Ed, who wasn't really around on the tour and I would not hold responsible for any of Mark or the band's behaviour).

[dustyvalentino]

Hang on a minute… Dusty is actually Ed Bicknell? WTF lol

What am I missing here?!

I'm not Ed Bicknell, he has a much better haircut than me.

Ed has kindly been sending messages to myself and Jules over the last year to post on the forum, have a look through them, a TON of great stuff!

[dustyvalentino]

The only thing I can’t help commenting on is Chris softly blaming Mark for taking a ten year break from drumming. Come on, mate. Really? Apart from that it’s kind of surreal interacting with someone I watched playing over a thousand times on that VHS.

I'm not 'softly' blaming Mark, I'm saying it out loud.
The whole DS experience was pretty miserable, not just because of Mark, but one or two other things that went down.
Half the band wouldn't talk to me at rehearsals, apparently because their favourite choice of new drummer wasn't me.
Early in rehearsals we started learning 'Walk Of Life' and about a verse and chorus in Mark kept stopping us and would turn to me and say rather angrily "you're slowing down". I've never been a slowing down drummer. As a professional I try to keep a steady tempo, but if anything I had a tendency to slightly speed up. After a` day of this I was in despair and it was actually good old Danny Cummings who saved the day. he said, why don't you bring in a drum machine tomorrow, play along with that and we'll get to the bottom if this.
So yeah, we did that, we all agreed a tempo, we started to play 'Walk Of Life' and Mark and several others were like greyhounds chasing a rabbit.
Case closed.
Both Pick and Terry were speeding up drummers and because I was a steady drummer it was assumed I was slowing down.
Anyway, if you are locked in an unpleasant situation for more than a year, almost every day of every week, sure.... I lost my love of drumming, I lost my confidence, I started to dislike guitar based rock.
You can think what you like, but the reality is I put my drums in a storage facility and rarely played through most of the 1990's and most of the 2000's, really only going back to drumming around 2016 when I hooked up with Chris White and DSE.

This is an absolute disgrace. Shame on them.

[Eddie Fox]

I've moved on - professionally.
I've worked at British Grove a couple of times and Mark wasn't there either time.
I'm happy not to see anyone from that time period, except Chris White who I see regularly.
(And Ed, who wasn't really around on the tour and I would not hold responsible for any of Mark or the band's behaviour).

Hasn’t Chris White worked with Mark a few times after that tour? I’m pretty sure he plays sax on In the Sky.

Anyway, I’m glad you’re in a good place now. I hope you didn’t take my ‘criticism’ personally, it was never about you as a drummer in general but as a DS drummer, which are two completely different things. As for the other members who didn’t treat you right because they wanted another guy, they should’ve got pissed at whoever left their mate out, not at you. And last but not least, Danny is the coolest.

[Eddie Fox]

Oh by the way, almost forgot… considering I’ve been expelled for no apparent reason from a certain other forum by its owner I think I know exactly who one of the a-holes was.

[Love Expresso]

Chris is NOT!! coming to Germany with The The this summer.. dates are out today. Hamburg Elbphilharmonie very special venue! Just check it out.

LE

Edit: The are touring Germany but not with Chris, I was wrong in posting it
 

[mariosboss]

Again....and again....and again.
It's not a personal battle. It is ONLY about correcting misinformation, untruths and guess work.
That's it. End of story.
I honestly don't care wether someone I don't know and will never meet thinks I'm the 'worst drummer Dire Straits ever had'. I called out someone on the forum for personal comments about my mental state etc, etc...
It's ok for someone to not enjoy a musician's work. It isn't to speculate about their mental state or personality....while that is on a public forum that the person being talked about can read.

I read this entire thread and it’s exhausting… everyone wants to be right when it’s mostly opinions (fellow forum members) on facts (musician and manager). I have no problem accepting that Mark wasn’t exactly friendly and gentle as well as I understand it’s not right to judge without knowing what might have triggered it. The only thing I can’t help commenting on is Chris softly blaming Mark for taking a ten year break from drumming. Come on, mate. Really? Apart from that it’s kind of surreal interacting with someone I watched playing over a thousand times on that VHS.

The thread is exhausting because it probably doesn't meet your criteria/agenda. That's the go-to answer when people who don't like what's going down want to change the narrative as it doesn't suit them. "I'm bored of this..." is another one or even "let's lock this thread."
Yeah really. That's what happened in terms of the decade break. According to the man himself Chris Whitten, drummer for Dire Straits 1991-1992. I don't doubt him at all. In fact as i've mentioned in other posts I reckon he could be underplaying things a tad... that's natural for humans to kind of reconfigure and forget the really bad stuff. Also to give people the benefit of the doubt etc. But I could be wrong. That's my opinion. I can't be sure like you can't be... only Chris can be of his own opinions and how he saw things unfold in the early 90's.

[mariosboss]

The only thing I can’t help commenting on is Chris softly blaming Mark for taking a ten year break from drumming. Come on, mate. Really? Apart from that it’s kind of surreal interacting with someone I watched playing over a thousand times on that VHS.

I'm not 'softly' blaming Mark, I'm saying it out loud.
The whole DS experience was pretty miserable, not just because of Mark, but one or two other things that went down.
Half the band wouldn't talk to me at rehearsals, apparently because their favourite choice of new drummer wasn't me.
Early in rehearsals we started learning 'Walk Of Life' and about a verse and chorus in Mark kept stopping us and would turn to me and say rather angrily "you're slowing down". I've never been a slowing down drummer. As a professional I try to keep a steady tempo, but if anything I had a tendency to slightly speed up. After a` day of this I was in despair and it was actually good old Danny Cummings who saved the day. he said, why don't you bring in a drum machine tomorrow, play along with that and we'll get to the bottom if this.
So yeah, we did that, we all agreed a tempo, we started to play 'Walk Of Life' and Mark and several others were like greyhounds chasing a rabbit.
Case closed.
Both Pick and Terry were speeding up drummers and because I was a steady drummer it was assumed I was slowing down.
Anyway, if you are locked in an unpleasant situation for more than a year, almost every day of every week, sure.... I lost my love of drumming, I lost my confidence, I started to dislike guitar based rock.
You can think what you like, but the reality is I put my drums in a storage facility and rarely played through most of the 1990's and most of the 2000's, really only going back to drumming around 2016 when I hooked up with Chris White and DSE.

I gotta be honest, I don’t think your style matched the DS vibe, but it doesn’t make a lesser drummer of you. You played with Paul McCartney, for God’s sake. Of course you were young and all that but Mark hired you for a reason, he must’ve seen you play hundreds of times before approaching you, that’s all you needed to know to ease your mind. If he was unhappy with Manu, Jeff and you the problem was obviously him, not the drummers.

I must say that after listening to the Dublin bootleg from that tour your playing with DS grew on me, felt like you’d been unleashed, the arrangements weren’t so tight like on the official recordings.

All that being said, as a Christian (no pun intended) I think it’s time to make peace with rough times and perhaps reach out to the man himself and have a good talk. He seems different now.

I disagree regarding the sound. It was spot on for the era and for the vibe. Chris actually for me personally lifted some of those songs and improved them.
You do though make a good point regarding Manu/Jeff.

[Eddie Fox]

I can’t be wrong, it’s an opinion on a subjective topic.

Won’t even answer your first comment, you’re so far off it seems pointless to try.

[Chris W]

Chris is coming to Germany with The The this summer.. dates are out today.

I am not.
I filled in for their regular drummer Earl for the tour at the end of 2024. Earl is back onboard.

[Chris W]

The drumming style doesn't matter. It's water under the bridge now.
For me, speeding up is a bad habit for drummers. Previous DS drummers sped up when playing live.
At mark's say so, I ended up playing too many busy drum parts and allowing myself to speed up. That is the drumming they were used to. While I assumed as they had used rock steady studio professionals like Omar Hakim and Jeff Porcaro on the previous two albums that was their ideal.
Steady time keeping and stripped back performances.
I was wrong.

[Love Expresso]

Chris is coming to Germany with The The this summer.. dates are out today.

I am not.
I filled in for their regular drummer Earl for the tour at the end of 2024. Earl is back onboard.

Oh sorry then for spreading wrong Information. The ad showed a video clip with you on drums and off I went. I will edit my post.

LE

[Chris W]

Oh, I haven't seen that ad.

[mariosboss]

I can’t be wrong, it’s an opinion on a subjective topic.

Won’t even answer your first comment, you’re so far off it seems pointless to try.

 

Of course you won't answer my first comment. It's far too factual and against your own personal narrative.

Best wishes.