Last night we had our first rehearsal with drummer Owen Tennyson, who's taking over behind the kit for departed wunderkind Zack Mykula. Owen's a whiz. He's played with Blue Peter and countless others, got a million stories and such an effusive guy. Really looking forward to doing the next show with him.
Running through our set for Friday with Owen, it really hit me how important a top-notch drummer is to a band. Zack's very creative in his approach, fusing an almost jazz sensibility with a hard-rock style. And Owen's superb, settling into a brand new (for him) nine-song set with confidence and aplomb.
The other thing about our three-month quest to find a replacement for Zack is it's shown me that our songs are surprisingly tough for a lot of people. They're hardly the most technical stuff out there, but there's a lot of structure. Amazing how many musicians aren't interested in structure. "There's a lot of parts," one guy would mumble, before crashing through the condensed epic-osity of "Young Love" like a bulldozer stuck in first gear. But to me all of our songs are very organic. Just listening to "Young Love", you don't notice the myriad time-shifts taking place. I've always love bands that can do that, like Pink Floyd's "Money" or the Beatles "Good Morning" or Them Crooked Vultures, where the song's time is complicated, but it just flows.
It's great to find another drummer who gets that. The stories about The Police infighting on tour are pretty hilarious, too.
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