GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
Modern Drummer, December 1983
Cubby O'Brien:
"When I joined the Carpenters, I had three days to learn the show with no music—only a tape. I walked around A&M Records with the tape to my ear, rehearsing and learning all the drum fills because Richard wanted to reproduce everything that either Karen or Hal Blaine had done,” he laughs, imitating a Hal Blaine fill in the air. “I was going crazy trying to learn all these fills and what song they went in and where. At that time Karen was playing too, and we were playing exactly the same fills on the same drums. We did that for a year or two with Karen still playing. She gradually got away from the drums, which was like pulling teeth. She loved to play, and at first, she hated being out front. When she came out front, her drumset disappeared and I more or less played everything. We did do one big Gershwin medley together where she had all the Hal Blaine tom-toms, timpani and bells, and we did a big drum number, trading fours and eights and such. I enjoyed playing their music and never got tired of it. As time went by and I played the show more and more, I changed a lot, but nobody even noticed it. I still did the fills that were important. If there was an obvious thing, like in ‘Close to You,’ where the drum fill was an obvious drum fill, it would stay that way because that was part of the record, and you don’t want to mess with that. "
Source:
Cubby O'Brien - Modern Drummer Magazine
Cubby O'Brien:
"When I joined the Carpenters, I had three days to learn the show with no music—only a tape. I walked around A&M Records with the tape to my ear, rehearsing and learning all the drum fills because Richard wanted to reproduce everything that either Karen or Hal Blaine had done,” he laughs, imitating a Hal Blaine fill in the air. “I was going crazy trying to learn all these fills and what song they went in and where. At that time Karen was playing too, and we were playing exactly the same fills on the same drums. We did that for a year or two with Karen still playing. She gradually got away from the drums, which was like pulling teeth. She loved to play, and at first, she hated being out front. When she came out front, her drumset disappeared and I more or less played everything. We did do one big Gershwin medley together where she had all the Hal Blaine tom-toms, timpani and bells, and we did a big drum number, trading fours and eights and such. I enjoyed playing their music and never got tired of it. As time went by and I played the show more and more, I changed a lot, but nobody even noticed it. I still did the fills that were important. If there was an obvious thing, like in ‘Close to You,’ where the drum fill was an obvious drum fill, it would stay that way because that was part of the record, and you don’t want to mess with that. "
Source:
Cubby O'Brien - Modern Drummer Magazine