People talk about John Bonham….People talk about Keith Moon….
BUT, there was a drummer I first saw in the early 1970’s that amazed me maybe more than any of them… His name is Neal Smith and he is the drummer of The Alice Cooper Group…
BUT, there was a drummer I first saw in the early 1970’s that amazed me maybe more than any of them… His name is Neal Smith and he is the drummer of The Alice Cooper Group…
He turned drums into a “lead instrument”… His jazz sensibilities, the sheer power, his tasteful understanding and use of the back beat, and his classy drum rolls into every corner of his work make the Alice Cooper Group’s music just leap from the speakers… The song “Billion Dollar Babies” is organically built around his “Lead Drummer” lick that starts the song…. How many songs get written THAT way?? That’s just the technical side of this guy… Never mind that he was the MOST FUN to watch drummer by far in the 1970’s…nobody brought more rock and roll “attitude” to the stage… He perfected the drumstick finger roll with all 4 fingers on both hands… “Halo Of Flies” was a tour de force to see and hear… And just last week, his fills and “lead drumwork” were SO spot-on in the ACG reunion in Dallas that it just left us in jaw-dropping awe… Really folks, as a rock and roll drummer – does it get any better than Neal Smith?
Photo by Mark Bowman Images – (shot with a Leica D-Lux 5) Dallas, Texas – October 6, 2015
