5 Minutes With Mickey Curry
Drummer, May 04
What
tune have you picked to perform?
I’m doing the infamous Eddie Floyd tune “knock on wood”
Why?
Because I don’t have to play any fills and embarrass myself in front
of my friends! I’m doing it because I love the way that the song
grooves and I think originally it was Al Jackson on drums. Al just stomps
right though the tune.
He’s in and then he’s out. It’s right up my alley. I
figured go with what I know and do best
What’s been going
on in the studio?
I’m still working with Bryan Adams and we have almost finished the
new record, which we have been recording for almost two years now. Bryan
comes up with so many different ideas for every song, that we have many
versions of each track.
Most of the album was recorded at the Warehouse studios in Vancouver,
which is a studio that Bryan built a few years ago.
It’s a really great place to record and we get great drum sounds
there.
When he writes a song, he programs drum parts for the demos that he knows
I’d go with anyway.
He seems to keep in mind how I would approach a track. It’s very
kind of him, because a lot of the time I go into the studio for other
artists and sometimes the demo track bears no relation to what is really
needed.
It’s nice to go in and do a couple of passes at the song and then
we are pretty much done.
We have a new bassist, Norm Fisher, and it seems like we’ve been
playing together forever, plus, he’s a real R’n’B fan,
which works great for me and means that we listen to the same stuff and
can approach things from the same angle.
He’s a cool guy to hang with, and he dropped right into the band.
I did a bunch of tracks for the last Hall & Oates album and we had
a ball in the studio. It was two weeks of laughter and we just picked
it right back up, almost as it we had never been away.
They have a great live drummer, but it was nice to be asked to record
with them again.
What’s been happening
on the live front?
We have been on this schedule for some time now, where we are constantly
touring.
What Bryan likes to do is go out for a week, or two, and then we come
back and have two weeks at home, or in the studio, which works out great
for me.
We love to tour and play live, but equally, I like to spend some time
at home.
It’s a good balance.
We all have other things going on, so it works out great for all of us.
We should be coming over to Europe – it all hinges on when the record
comes out, but I expect us to be there at some point during the year.
Any other projects?
I’ve also been working with this guy from the US that brings in
these tracks from Taiwan. He writes and arranges tracks for Taiwanese
pop singers and we go into the studio for a few days and cut about 15
or 20 tracks, and then he takes them back to China and gets the singers
onto the tracks. We’ve had some hit records there and it’s
fun to work on the stuff. Some of the chord changes are a little odd as
they seem to be in a slightly different place musically, but it’s
comfortable for them.
You sort of get what the track is about as they give us the title in English,
but it’s always good to know if it’s a happy or sad song.
I don’t want to play the wrong thing.
I do the tracks with my good friend T Bone Wolk and we work really well
together and we have a blast.
That’s all recorded in a little studio in Pawling, which is upstate
New York, Called Apawling Studios!
I don’t do as much studio stuff as I used to, but I like it like
that as when I’m off, I’m off, and I can kick back a little
and enjoy being with the family.
Who do you want to
play with?
Anybody and everybody.