After Frank Zappa hired Terry Bozzio in 1975, the now-legendary drummer never had to worry about gigs again. He finished out the 70s doing stints with the Brecker Brothers and UK before founding Missing Persons, the quintessential 80s band with a twist — top-notch musicianship. Since then, Bozzio has maintained a steady musical diet of collaborations with everyone from Jeff Beck to French fusion with the Lonely Bears to heavy metal with Korn. Along with numerous one-offs, clinics, solo works, drum hardware inventions and innovations, interviewing and playing with other drummers on DrumChannel.com — the man marches to the beat of a different drum, so to speak, literally, figuratively, every which you can imagine.
For 2014, he’s celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first drum lesson with An Evening With Terry Bozzio. Taking what’s been called one of the largest tuned drum and percussion sets in the world, Bozzio hit Europe earlier in the year, and when I spoke with him, he was preparing for the North American tour, which opened on August 14 in San Diego and covers 40 cities in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. before landing back in Los Angeles at the end of October. During the course of our conversation, he went into great detail (see below) about the show and how his massive drum kit helps him create music. I didn’t edit out too much because any musician or scholar would appreciate this kind of information. I know I did.
One should never expect anything less from someone of Bozzio’s musical pedigree. When Frank Zappa invites you into his inner circle, it’s like being initiated into a higher order of musicianship, a club and a credential you wear proudly, the learning experience of a lifetime. He told me how he got the gig — a story he’s probably sharing with audiences, along with many more — and how it was the springboard for everything that followed. It’s worked out very well. Today, Terry Bozzio is on any short list of the world’s greatest and most innovative drummers.
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