PRAIRIE PRINCE, MIKE BAIRD & THE ART OF DRUMMING

PRAIRIE PRINCE, MIKE BAIRD & THE ART OF DRUMMING

CREEM SHOWCASE

Billy Cioffl

If ever there were two drummers who debunked the myth that percussionists are insensitive or tunnel-visioned skin pounders, both Mike Baird and Prairie Prince lay that false perception to rest. Prairie Prince is a founding (and continuing) member of the Tubes, one of the most underrated and creative groups of the last decade. The Tubes have always been well ahead of their time in combining the music and visual media. Prairie is—along with Bill Spooner and the rest of the crew—a prime motivator of the band’s quirky, eclectic vision. His artwork and art direction have graced Tubes’ albums and videos, as well as their highly-regarded stage show. While living in the San Francisco area, Prairie has become one of the most sought-after project drummers around. His work has been heard on John Fogerty’s spectacular comeback LP, Centerfield, as well as XTC’s newest release, and the soon to be released Waterboy’s LP. He also recently finished up the new Chris Isaak record. But while the artists that he works with are eclectic and seem to seek him out, he remains a Tube—a band member, which could be the reason for his popularity with this type of artist. Prairie lends a sensitivity to his work that never lets the listener think he is a session cat doing “just another date.”

It’s ironic that both drummers seem to be at either end of Journey’s history. Prairie was in Journey’s first line-up, but turned down a permanent job with the band to stay with his beloved Tubes.

Mike Baird has been one of those behind-the-scenes guys that have a name familiar only to those of us who read the album credits on the back of studio albums. Until recently, when he joined Journey.

Baird is the consummate studio musician who stands head, hands and feet above the preconceived notion of the uncaring, cold studio player, having played on literally hundreds of hit records, albums, movie and TV dates. And he’s managed to keep his integrity and his chops intact. So much so, that a band as performance-oriented as Journey chose him over 75 other players they auditioned.

Herein, the two musicians expound on the various elements and nuances of their percussive art.

Prairie Prince: “lam not really considered a session drummer. If I lived in Los Angeles, I probably would be a session drummer, but there isn’t that much work up here in San Francisco. People hear about me and call me in for a project. You almost have to join the band in a sense, you get to know the people, rehearse. Being a session drummer you more or less just go in, do it, and get paid.

“The lyrics definitely have a lot to do with how sensitive or how hard you want to play; how detailed you want to get the rhythms. I usually just absorb the lyrics as they are played. To Chris Isaak, that was all-important to him, that I knew the lyrics. He was a very sensitive writer. The lyrics of the Tubes’ records are so widely diverse—pick a subject, any subject.”

Mike Baird: “It’s always kind of a rule of thumb that the reason a producer is a producer is because he knows what combination of players—or the player, if it’s an overdub session—is going to work for the particular project. I ask, what kind of an artist, what kind of tunes? What’s the overall feel you want, or why is it you called me? Is it a rhythm date, or do you want me to replace a machine? Basically now, 95 percent of my work is replacing a machine. There’s been very few rhythm dates, at least as far as records. This seems to be the norm, although it’s been going back the other way.

“Normally, when I get on the date, if the artist is there I like to know the artist, what their singing’s like, their direction, or where they want to go artistically.

“Then my responsibility is ... ‘Well, does it take this kind of snare, or how do I tune the bass drum and toms for this kind of music, or is it electronic?’ You go from there.”

Prairie Prince—Working on the new XTC LP, Skylarking: “Have you heard the XTC record? It was kind of a fluke; I was just kind of hanging around town, not doing anything, and Todd called me up and said he had just got the job to produce XTC, and we’d like to do it at your studio just so we can use you. That was quite a compliment! I went in and met them, just the three of them, Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, and Dave ... they are just the most wonderful English gentlemen, and I have always loved their music. I hadn’t heard Dukes Of The Stratosphere until after I had done this album, and it blew my mind completely. It is right where I was coming from when I grew up, Electric Prunes and all that. So we just went in there and they had 30 songs—we recorded almost all of them and had a wonderful time. It turned out to be very eclectic. It is doing pretty well. Andy was pretty much my producer as far as telling me how he wanted the drums and stuff. He was very particular, he wanted things just so, and I was accommodating to him. He would tell me to play these things I probably would never have heard myself, totally opposite from what I would have played. It was really neat having this guitar player tell me these almost impossible things to play, very challenging. I’d love to go on tour with them sometime. That might be a possibility, since the album is doing so well.”

Mike Baird—Studio versus live: “I actually enjoy combining the objectivity of playing live and playing in the studio. In the studio you get a great amount of satisfaction, but after a while, if you don’t mix it up or get away from it, you sort of get sterilized. You’re always pumping yourself to stay up in the studio, but a lot of projects kind of tend to be the same thing because everybody is trying to jump on the bandwagon.

“You don’t want everything to sound the same, so it can be frustrating at times. The live thing allows you to look beyond that. In the studio the producer says it’s great, the artist says it’s great, you fill out your form and you go home. Live, is a different story. When you’re in front of 12,000 people, it’s instant gratification. The more the crowd gives you, the more you want to give them, and that’s something that you can’t capture in the studio. It just allows you to play, and if you make a mistake it’s not like being under a microscope. In the studio, it is. If you mess up, you can’t let it bum you out so much that you can’t go on to the next tune!”

Prairie Prince—Working with the Waterboys: “I also just did something on the Waterboys’ album. That was very interesting. It was like turning the tape deck on and jamming for three days! I don’t know how long they’ve been playing together, but it just seems like they can pick up on each other’s next move. Their work kind of goes along great with their name, the Waterboys—the music just flows from one type of music into the next.

“Basically, we just went in and rehearsed. The bass player was Ross Valery, from Journey. We were just called in—I guess they Were just auditioning drummers—and they fell in love with us immediately. We played for about three hours, pretty much the same stuff, just jamming. I haven’t heard any of it yet.”

Mike Baird—The Journey tour and rehearsals: “The Journey tour was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. I could not play any harder than I played; I went through every stick company known to man breaking them. Promark finally custom-designed me a stick that would last, thankfully. After the fourth tune, every drum head looked like English muffins! It was a hard gig. It was two hours and if I didn’t drive the band, everybody relaxed. Every drummer knows this: if you don’t take charge, somebody else is gonna. You can’t let anything bother you.. It was a very hard tour, but Journey takes it very hard if it is the slightest bit off. The band was very hard on itself if it wasn’t 150 percent.”

“I had about two weeks to learn 25 tunes. Rehearsals were in a warehouse that was 30’ x 25’, no air conditioning in the hot part of the year, with a full blown P.A. and stack of Marshalls. You couldn’t sit in the room and listen, it was so loud! We would run through the show in the first weektwo, maybe three times a day. We’re talking about a twohour show. It was intense. I think that’s where I got my endurance up. It was constant pounding. The studio is a * mental thing, this w;as physical.”

Mike Baird’s kit: “I’m using a Pearl Kit. I use a double bass drum, 23” x 19”; three rack-mounted toms, 12”, 13”, 14”; floor tom, 16”—they’re Power Toms. I’m currently using a Noble & Cooley snare drum; I have three of those. Sabian cymbals: I’ve got a ride and four crashes, two 18”, 17” and 19”. Hi-hats: Sabian “sizzle” hi-hats with the rivets in the bottom, which work* real well when playing live.

“All my drums were MIDI’d underneath the stage with ‘gated’ sounds. I also use Dynacord electronic pads with a Roland octapad. It was an easy way to assign to the other pads.” (Drum Workshop is the sole distributor of Dynacord Electronic Drums. For further information please contact DW at 2697 Lavery Ct. #16, Newbury Park, CA 91320.)

Prairie Prince’s kit: “Well, I use Yamaha. I have been endorsed by Yamaha since the beginning of their drum line in ’77.

“I just got a new kit, the 9000 power recording series— bright red, it’s called hot red rouge vermillion. Beautiful drums. I use a 22” and 24” bass drum and 8”, 10”, 12”, 13”, 14”, 15”, 16” and 18” toms. Cymbals—I am endorsed by Paiste. They just came out with their 3000 series and they’re wonderful—clear and exciting. I played with Mingo Lewis a long time, and he got into Simmons real early and he was my electronic counterpart there. He played the Simmons drums, so I really never got into them. I’m interested,

I just don’t have any. The thing I have been using lately is the Emulator SP12 sampling drum machine. I was called in to do the actual sound samples at a sound studio. So the set of drums that I had before this red one, my purple Yamaha drums, I took down to the studio in Menlo Park, and sat them there for about eight hours a day counting on each one of my drums until I got a sample for each one of the sounds they wanted that comes in the factory.”

NEW GEAR

The Stepp DG1 Digital Guitar

The Stepp DG1 is a totally electronic guitar—the first musical instrument introduced by the prestigious Stepp Electronics of London. The DG1 is the result of four years of r&d, and is the first electronic guitar with its own onboard sounds. It requires no external MIDI slave unit for sound generation.

The DG1 consists of the guitar itself and the aptly labeled LSU (life support system). The LSU contains the synth voice boards, power supply and communications interface. All of the LSU functions are contained in the DG1 guitar stand. The instrument itself uses frets that are not metal, but semiconductor intelligent electronic facsimiles. The traditional metal frets are unnecessary because the Stepp never needs to be tuned in the conventional manner. The SCI method of reading the note information enables the Stepp to produce a sound from a plucked string faster than a regular electric guitar! This being the case, the major defect in the delay qf MIDI guitars will be overcome.

When hooked up to a MIDI sequencer the Stepp can virtually become an entire orchestra of new or traditional sounds. The price tag is up there ($6995) but, considering the options, it’s well worth consideration. It could take a lifetime just to find the instrument’s limitations! Stepp DG1 Group Center, Inc., 23917 Craftsman Road, Calabasas, CA, 91302.

The NBT Guitar

On the other end of the spectrum: The Four Designs Company, in association with Norm’s Rare Guitars, have introduced a new product called the NBT Guitar. “Next best thing” guitars, conceived by guitarist designer Guy Marshall (pictured) are full-scale, three-dimensional photographic replicas of some of the most sought-after vintage axes known to music. To guarantee authenticity, NBT guitars sought out Norman Harris—one of America’s most respected collectors and historians. Harris provided the company with the choicest modern artifacts from his personal collection. These priceless axes were then photographed with a high-resolution camera. The photographs were then transformed into exact replicas of the instruments, using the latest laser printing technology and precision die cutting. Each NBT Guitar comes with a “Certificate of Authenticity” containing specific information on the model, serial number, year issued, color and manufacturing history. NBT Guitars are provided with a hanger for wall mounting, or may remain in their display frame. Whether a collector, player or admirer of classic instrument design, the NBT Guitars are a great idea for the $24.95 price. Four Design Company, 6531 Gross Avenue, Canoga Park, CA 91307.

DigiTech RDS 7.6 Digital Delay/Sampler DigiTech has introduced a new musical digital delay and sampler with an extended delay/sample time of up to 7.6 seconds—the DigiTech RDS 7.6. The new unit has the capability of digitally recording a sound for a period up to 7.6 seconds. The delay features modulation controls that allow musical effects as chorusing, flanging, phasing, doubling, echoes, and infinite repeat. Many of the. functions of the delay unit are accessible through 1/4-inch phone jacks on the rear panel of the unit. This new generation delay has soft-touch buttons, a computer designed circuit board, and an input level selection switch along with a more precise feedback control scheme. The RDS digital delays are pro-

fessional effect units, built to demanding specifications. The new unit has a suggested retail price of $379.95. DigiTech, 5639 South Riley Lane, Salt Lake City, UT 84107.

Korg DP-2000C Digital Plano

Korg’s new DP-2000C Digital Piano has a 76-key, touchsensitive keyboard with a weighted action that approximates the feel and touch of an acoustic instrument. The keyboard is a 16-voice instrument with 30 internal preset sounds.

Korg also offers a library of ROM sound cards, each with 30 additional sounds to expand the instrument’s capabilities beyond the internal presets. The DP-2000C has full MIDI capability, to allow control of other MIDI synthesizers. Additional features include a two-track real time sequencer for storing and playing back bass lines, accompaniment or complete performances (the data is stored on a RAM card). The machine also has a three-band graphic equalizer, key transposer, built-in stereo speaker, chorus effect and pedal functions for damper, soft start/stop and program change. The higher priced DP-3000C includes all of the 2000’s features, but has an 88-note keyboard that can be split—and the voices can be layered.

DOD R-231 Dual Channel 31-Band Graphic Equalizer

From DOD comes a new dual channel graphic equalizer: the DOD R-231 series C. It offers two channels of 31-band, one-third octave equalization in a compact rack space of only 3V2 inches. The bands are ISO centered and cut or boost up to 12 dB. The equalizer has a low cut filter with 23 dB per octave roll off that is at -3 dB at 40 hz. The slider pots have center detentes and 40 mm of movement. This is an excellent equalizer for squeezing a lot of accurate signal processing in a limited space. Suggested list price: $569.95. DOD Electronics Corporation, 5639 South Riley Lane, Salt Lake City, UT 84107.