music: interview

> LITTLE DRUMMER BOY: PART I
Joe Travers is the touring drummer with Duran Duran, the vaultmeister for the Zappa family and a pretty darn nice guy. Did we mention he's from Erie?

Erie native Joe Travers was playing drums when most children were playing hide-and-seek. Now 32, he's living in LA and juggling a bunch of high-profile gigs. We spoke to him recently about his career, the music industry and his Internet likes + dislikes. Here's what he had to say.

ON DRUMMING

ErieEnt: How would you describe your drumming style?
Joe Travers: Adaptable. I really have... I know how to read music but I mostly play by ear. I could [always] memorize music quickly and I could memorize other drummers drum parts and other drummers "feels" pretty well and what I’ve tried to do is to be able to incorporate those feels and those styles in my own and make it sound not like I’m cloning somebody else but, you know, definitely pulling off the same vibe well and being able to to make the music speak the way it’s supposed to be.

I definitely have my own identity as a drummer but one of the things I’ve always wanted to do is to be able to play a lot of different styles authentically and not just styles of music but a lot of different styles of drummers, you know? Because there’s been so many great drummers out there that have done so many great things that it works a lot in a lot of different styles of music so if you can pull it off it, it’ll just work better to your advantage sometimes. So I’ve really made a point of trying to do that and yeah, it’s been fun. It’s been good. I’ve had a pretty good drumming career so far but I’ve always want to just keep going, you know? I just want to keep on trudging.

EE: What type of drum kit are you currently playing?
JT: Well, I’m endorsed by DW Drums and I have a silver sparkle drum set that I’ve acquired this year that I used on the tour with Duran and yeah, I love DW Drums! They’re great! They’re a great company. They make great products. I’m very happy with them. So, yes, DW is great.

EE: Do you want to write your own music or is that not…?
JT: I’m not capable of it. I don’t know how to write music. I’ve played so much music and I’ve listened to so much music that I know what the end result is but I’ve never taken the time -- even though I went to school for it -- I never really took the time to learn chord structures and melodies and scales and stuff like that. I mean I got by in school because I had to but I’ve never had an interest in it. Plus another thing too is that I don’t play a melodic instrument to a certain extent. I play a rhythmic instrument. I mean, drums are basically a rhythm instrument. It can be melodic but it’s not like I’m playing notes -- it’s not like I’m playing notes on a piano or notes on a guitar. So it’s hard to write music from a drum set, and since I’ve never played any kind of a instrument that involves keys and chords and stuff like that, that’s one of the reasons why I’ve never ventured into writing my own music.

EE: You don't play anything else?
JT: Nope. Nope. I’ve taken piano lessons just to get theory behind me and I’ve fucked around on a guitar but that’s really about it. You know, I can’t really do it. I’ve always just stuck with the drums.

EE: How do you feel about electronic drum and percussion gear?
JT: Well I like it as added on stuff to an acoustic kit but I would never want to rely on a full electronic kit as my main drum set. I just like the -– I like to play real drums. I don’t like to play you know synthesized electronic drums. But even with Duran I have a little, what they call a Roland Octapad over on the left hand side of me and I trigger all sorts of different sounds and passages in the songs and that’s cool you know, I don’t mind doing that. But if I had to rely on it, it would be a weird feeling. I don’t like to rely on electronics. I just like to play on real drums but it’s cool as an add-on.

EE: Do you do anything specific to psych yourself up for a tour or performance?
JT: Uh, not really. Not really. I don’t get nervous but I do get excited and when I get excited, I just... You know, I don’t warm up, really. I’m not the type of guy that has to sit and beat on the side of a couch for 20 minutes before a show, you know. I just loosen up my forearms a little bit and just make sure that I’m well-fed -- so I don’t get a headache -- and relaxed and just go out there and have fun. That’s basically all I do.

EE: Do you have any favorite songs to play live?
JT: Well, with Duran, I like, on this past tour, I had a lot of fun playing “Big Bang Generation”. That was a good song and I like “Girls on Film” cuz I get a chance to do a little craziness in that and we also had a lot of fun doing this little intro bit for “Notorious” which was cool – gave me a chance to stretch out a little bit and play with the bass player. But those would be the three with Duran. Uh... the other bands that I play with I can’t really remember right now.

ON DRUMMERS

EE: Are there any drummers who really impress you right now?
JT: Yes, there’s a drummer named Bill Stewart who plays with... right now he’s been playing with a jazz guitar player named Pat Metheny and I really like him a lot.

Uh, let’s see, well you know there’s a lot of great players out there. There really is. Um, it’s hard to find unique sounding players though. I like to find people that sound totally different than everybody else that’s out and done the stuff.

But I mean through the years, I mean probably my favorite drummers have been definitely John Bonham from Zeppelin, and when it comes to actual impressive crazy technical drumming, I think Vinnie Colaiuta gets the cake and there’s been a lot of -- Vinnie by the way plays with, well he used to play with Sting and Joni Mitchell and Frank Zappa and a lot of other people but he’s always playing all the time on soundtracks and a lot of local stuff here around LA -- but anyway yes, I mean, those two guys probably take the cake as far as the most influence that has been on me as far as drummers are concerned but there really are a lot of great players out there.

EE: Do you know Josh Freese? He's been getting a lot of attention lately.
JT: Well yeah. He was the first drummer in Dweezil’s band and you know Josh is definitely a great player. He’s got himself into a very popular act at the moment, A Perfect Circle, and he just released his first solo record. He’s also endorsed by DW Drums and has been for years and , he’s a good friend of mine. I mean I don’t talk to him that much but when I do it’s always, he’s always very friendly and you know we’ve met each other on many different occasions. We’ve hung out a lot and he-he’s definitely got a lot of energy. One of the things I admired about Josh when I first saw him is his energy. He just really kicks ass when he plays. I mean he really does his thing. He’s just you know he’s really energetic and he really lays into it and that was one of the things I needed to do when I first [laughs] met him which was back in 1991. He was playing with Dweezil when I first met him.

EE: Did you get to see A Perfect Circle at all?
JT: No, but Ball [one of Travers' many projects] rehearsed right next door to them in a place here in LA not too long ago and I got to hear them playing across the wall and it sounded good.

In Part II, Joe talks about the plethora of projects he's involved in. Continue >>>