[Slowhand] Interview with Steve Ferrone

[Richard Batty]

Does being a part of such a high profile band help or
hinder you in any way

Steve Ferrone: hmmm..hard question! I don't think it
is a hindrance. A lot
of people get to hear you play, but that happened
before Tom Petty too as I
played with high profile bands. I also played with
Duran Duran, Average
White Band (AWB), Eric Clapton so I've had a pretty
high-profile career. So,
to answer your question, I don't think it really makes
that much difference
either way - unless, of course, you have a hit record!

I believe I read that you opened for The Who at age
12. What can you tell us
about that experience, and at that age, did you have a
true sense of how
enormous that was?

Steve Ferrone: Yes I did open for The Who at age 12.
It was not that
enormous at that time, but later on down the line, I
could say it was a
quite an experience. As a matter of fact, two weeks
ago I ran into Roger
Daltrey... in a studio and I asked him if he
remembered playing in Uncle
Bunnie's Chinese Jazz Club and he did...and I told him
that I was the
drummer who played in the opening local band. So we
had a good chuckle about
that. That was before My Generation came out. They
were a pretty flambouyant
band even then - the only band that I had ever seen
who had their own lights
in a tiny club. They were very popular with the mod
crowd.

Who are the drummers that have most influenced you
over the years, and were
they cool enough to open for The Who at 12?

Steve Ferrone: I would say I'd like to start right off
with Ringo Starr -
the Beatles were a huge influence with me when I was
growing up in England -
Charlie Watts was another... Tony Meehan who played
with a band called The
Shadows... Later on, I found a guy called Bernard
Purdy and that was when I
started to work American bases in France. Then I
started to play with an
organ trio and we played some Jimmy Smith songs and
the drummer on those
records was a guy called Grady Tate. Then a saxophone
player called Lloyd
introduced me to Elvin Jones, Max Roach, and Art
Blakey. Also John Bonham
and Clyde Stubblefield... Al Jackson, Jr. was another
influence. Can't
forget Bobby Mason! And my favorite drummer Jack
Dejohnette... There are so
many!

Steve, what kind of adjustments do you have to make
when you are playing
Eric Clapton's blues-inspired music, as opposed to
when you play Tom Petty's
music, which draws on so many different influences?

Steve Ferrone: Well, none really... I'm more of a song
guy. I don't think of
the drums, I think of the songs. I started tap dancing
when I was very
young, three years old...and I used to tap dance to
standards such as
Georgia, Top Hat...just old standard songs and I got a
good feeling for how
a song is structured rhythmically from that. So when
it comes to a song, I
pretty much have the feel for what is coming next -
what is after the next
chord.



		
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