[charlene]

SF: The drum sound you’re using in Gordon’s band is that very deep studio sound. Is that your sound or do you experiment with tuning your drums in different situations?

BK: Gordon is the only artist that I tour with. All the other work I do is in the form of studio work. With his band and with his sound I’m able to take a studio sounding kit. Because of the volume that the band projects, the sound of the drums is a little more important in this band than it is in a band where the sound of the drums can be altered through amplification. Almost any other rock band is louder than we are. So I have to make sure that the drums sound very good to my ear, because that’s almost what’s going to be heard in the house. There’s not much amplification going on. In some songs, we’re working with two acoustic guitars, a bass guitar, and a bit of pedal-steel guitar. There’s a lot of dynamics that have to be observed in this group. I think it’s great that I can work with a studio-sounding kit in the band, because that’s what I’m used to. The kit that I use with Gordon, I bought specifically for this job and that’s pretty much all that set of drums is used for. I have five sets of drums. Occasionally if I get so busy in town, I’ll pull this kit out and and I have to have drums set up all over the place, I may not have time to set them up from one date to another, so I may have to use these drums. But they’re almost exclusively for Gordon’s concerts, so they can stay tuned for his sound.

They’re not exclusively Premier drums. I’ve got 8″ and 10″ Ludwig concert toms; 12″, 14″ and 16″ Premier toms. The snare drum is a 7″ Ludwig chrome, I use a 20″ bass drum, and I have a couple of crash cymbals and a hi-hat.

SF: Do you have a favorite studio set? Are all 5 sets different?

BK: Just about. I have a set of Premiers at home that are older than this set. In terms of sound and size they’re almost identical. I’ve used them on Gordon’s albums and on all the records I’ve done with Anne Murray. I just did a couple of Roger Whittaker albums with them. For that kind of sound I love them. And it’s the same 8″ and 10″ Ludwig concert tom setup. Don’t ask my why. It just happened that way. The rest of the set is Premier. I’ve got about 10 different snare drums at home.

SF: All metal?

BK: Yes, they are different sizes, different makes, different sounds for different things. I tried a wood snare one time and it just didn’t work for some reason. It seems that some clients will ask for a certain snare drum sound. If I don’t have it in my own arsenal, I’ll go out and rent what I think would give me that sound. If the snare works out very well, I’ll just buy it from the store. Then I’ve got another snare drum and I know what it sounds like and how it responds. Next time I need that sound, I’ll just go to the closet and pull it out.

I’ve got another set of drums which is completely Ludwig. They’re single-headed Vistalites. I use them for rock-and-roll and disco dates. I did a lot of disco work when disco was hot, and they worked great. A little more BANG BOOM out of them. Not as much tone as the Premiers, but a little more action, a little more excitement for the rock and disco type of things. I was doing a disco album once every two months or something. I was part of a little disco factory in Toronto.

SF: I’ve heard that on disco cuts the drummers use a tape loop. The drummer plays for 8 to 16 bars, they tape it, and play it over and over on a loop.

BK: Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve also heard that, and many times I wished it had happened. But I worked for the THP Orchestra in Toronto. A lot of that stuff was very successful. The group had three top-10 disco albums. There was a whole flock of albums that did very, very well, and it was the same producers, engineer, studio, basic rhythm section, and arranger. It really was a team. We would do an album every two months with a different artist. An artist would fly into Toronto from Memphis or L.A. for instance. We worked for many different record companies, but these two guys produced the records. Their concept was that if a piece was going to be 12 minutes long, they wanted the band to play for 12 minutes. So when I knew these disco records were coming up, I’d go out and run four miles a day.

I play two different styles on the bass drum. One with the heel-to-toe method, and the other POUND-THE-LEG-DOWN-ON-THE-BASS-PEDAL stuff. You start playing for 12 mintues doing that! And maybe 16ths on the hi-hat! You won’t believe how you start sweating after awhile. Now, you do that on a sixhour date, where all you’ve got to do is 16ths on the hi-hat, pound the snare drum and pound the bass drum. Start doing that for six hours and you’d better be in shape!

Sometimes you can feel when it’s a take in the studio. Everybody plays just right. There’s a certain magic that happens. Now sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re wrong. You start playing your heart out, really going into overdrive. All the fills feel just right. You might start playing a little harder and everybody just gets into it. Sometimes you run down a 12-minute disco, put everything into it, and the engineer says, “Almost! Let’s try it one more time.” Now you’re sweating, you’re bleeding, and he says, “That was almost there,” and you’ve got to do it again. 12 minutes! You’d better be in shape. On all the albums I did with THP, they never used a drum loop. All of it was done live with a rhythm section.

SF: Do you have any other interests outside of music and drumming that you feel affect your playing?

BK: I think the mental aspect of your playing is extremely important in the studio. I think your attitude and how you react with other people is equally important, or more important, than what you play. When you’re locked in a room sometimes for 12 or 15 hours with creative people, when you’re in there creating and people are bouncing ideas off each other, if you don’t get along, or you’re on some kind of a trip. I don’t care how good a player you are, it’s not going to work! Especially in a rhythm section. Guys have got to work together.

When I’m not playing music, I play baseball and football. I’m a big team-sport man. Much of the same type thinking that goes into making a good baseball or football team goes into making good records. On a football team you need a quarterback, flashy receivers, and fast running backs. You need some guys who are going to block for them. A lot of that goes into making a good record. If the record is supposed to feature a lead vocalist with a lot of lyrics, those things are like the running backs. The bass player and the drummer should be the guards blocking for them. Set up a solid foundation, making sure that what is supposed to happen, happens! Don’t get in their way or try to steal their thunder.

SF: Why do you feel that you and the other members of Gordon’s band have been able to stay together for so long?

BK: It’s a combination of different tastes and styles. Personalities. We all get along extremely well, and when I say “we” I’m not just talking about the four of us. I’m talking about the five of us, with Gordon as well. He treats us like a band. It’s not a singer plus four sidemen. He doesn’t project the “star” image to us, “I’m the star and you guys are the band.” It’s not like that at all. It’s like, “We’re a five-piece band, and I’m the lead singer.” I think that says a lot for his attitude and ours. We realize that Gordon’s the star, and the main man. But he has respect for the individual players and it’s a mutual respect. That helps a lot.

We get along very well on the road. We don’t travel as much as other acts. Gordon does about 70 dates a year, which is fewer than most. We don’t go on the road for six weeks at a time, where you can end up wanting to kill somebody! We go out for a weekend and come home. Then we go out the next weekend and come home. Then maybe go out for a week. So it’s always refreshing to see the guys again.

I think we complement each other in our playing, much like a sports team. Certain people have their job and feel a certain pride and respect in handling that job, and not stepping into somebody else’s territory. We do support each other musically and in all other respects.

I think this band is pretty unique in that respect. Gordon is different. His music is Gordon Lightfoot! I think it’s quite a unique situation the way the band projects Gordon’s music. For example, Gordon doesn’t want to do a three-hour concert, which he could do. He feels that people don’t want to sit that long and listen. He wants it to be a two-hour concert. He wants them to enjoy. He doesn’t want them to be bored. So, he presents the best of what he has and he will always present new material in concert.