While this blog tends to focus on the guitar-related aspects of the music scene (for good reason: the founder plays guitar as does this contributor), here’s a treat for the drum geeks out there. The L.A. Times has a really interesting Q&A with Glenn Kotche, the drummer for Wilco.
Here’s my favorite excerpt: “We were on tour in Leeds, and there was a fire drill that went off in the middle of the night, and they had a roll call. They evacuated everyone. I recorded it. I record constantly. I have a digital recorder with me all the time. If I go on a walk, it’ll be with me. Anywhere I go, if there’s an interesting sound, I hit record. I’m always cataloguing sound. It’s all percussion, whether it’s a baby crying in an airplane, or an amazing escalator vibrating thing.”
I love the idea of finding sounds, hearing everything as music and using it to create songs. Tom Waits does that, too. In a recent interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air he talked about putting rocks in a garbage can, dragging it around his yard, recording it and using that rhythm as the basis for a song. Cool stuff.
