Born in Greenville, Mississippi, Keith Carlock has been playing professionally since his early teens. Keith has appeared live and on recordings with the likes of Grover Washington Jr., David Johansen, The Blues Brothers, Paula Abdul, Heads Up Superband, Wayne Krantz and Sting to name but a few.

During the 2003 tour Keith did with Steely Dan 2K, they described him as “unique, tasteful, musical, and muscular…destined to be one of the greats”   We caught up with Keith at the Modern drummer festival weekend for a chat.

Let’s begin in the beginning…..Can you give us a little history about your musical background?
I somehow cme out the womb wanting to play the drums.  Maybe it was seeing the drummers on TV and "animal" on the Muppet show here in the US.  Whatever it was, I had the drum bug......

I learned (in the beginning) by listening to records and trying to emulate what I was hearing. I''ve played in bands with other musicians since I was about 10 years old, which is so important.  My parents would take me to the clubs we played so I could get in to check out the bands.  Later, I began taking lessons from some great teachers (George Lawrence, Bud Berthold, Quinous Johnson, Brian West) and got into the school band programs in Mississippi where I''m originally from.  A lot of it was rudimental drumming, then applying it to the drum set.  I then went through some groove oriented books, started learning how to read rhythms, later drum charts, and so on.  By the time high school came around, I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life, but felt I needed to explore other music and really learn what else was out there.  So, I decided to go to music school at the University of North Texas.

Keith Carlock

They have a well respected jazz studies department. So I immersed myself into jazz and wanted to learn the concepts of improvisation, and the jazz "touch" on the instrument, phrasing, soloing, etc.  I studied with Ed Soph, and he really gave me a lot of things I still try and work on to this day.  He teaches the Moeller technique, which really loosened me up from the school drumline days, and it drastically changed the way I play and sound.  I really got a lot out of being there. You learn so much from your peers as well.  Everyone there had the same hunger as I did, so we really pushed everyone to be better on the instrument.

During and after leaving UNT, I worked professionally in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area playing with many types of groups doing recordings, jingles, and whatever else came along. It became my time to really focus on who I was and to put all of this knowledge I had gained to use. I really tried to find my own voice, and experimented a lot with my tuning, set-up, etc. It''s an ongoing process, and I am still searching for what I hope is something a little more of my own than sounding like someone else or just another generic drummer.

So I decided to make the big move to NYC, and the rest is what it is. I didn''t know what to expect, but I knew I had to give it a shot. And fortunately, it has worked out okay. 

Can you give us a bit more of an insight into your stick technique, and your kit setup? I use mostly the fingers for the strokes, and the wrist and arm come into play for more power.....it''s sort of a whipping motion with the arms. I only play one motion...the down stroke. The stick rebounds naturally by itself, and I control that rebound with the fingers for the next down stroke.  So it''s essentially "pulling" the sound out of the drum instead of "digging" into it - which keeps me from becoming tense and tight.

My setup has gradually changed over the years. I have always used a standard five piece kit most of the time, although I have used a second floor tom lately on the tours I have done recently.  The snare drum and floor toms are angled away from me and the rack toms are flat without an angle. This way I am most comfortable, because I sit high (compared to most) and the drums are fairly low in height.  Because of my technique, this makes the most sense for me.  This stuff is easier to demonstrate in person, but I play on top of the drums instead of below, which would change the motion and angle at which you strike the instrument.

You played on the last two Steely Dan albums the second one "Everything
must go" you were the first (session) drummer in Steely Dan’s history to play on every track. How were the tracks presented to you (i.e. charts, demo) and what kind of freedom did you have with them? 

Donald and Walter would give us a demo and charts ahead of time, usually. They really wanted to capture the vibe of the demo (which were done by computers), but to make it human. I really played the record "Everything Must Go" pretty simple, and would take what was on the demo and make adjustments that I felt would sound good for the song.  The basic rhythm tracks were recorded live, but without any vocals or knowing what was to be added later, which is another reason I tried to play it simple, but outline the form and transitions.  The challenge is to play a very consistent feeling track from beginning to end.  I think my job was to give them that to have a skeleton to work with.  I learned a lot about playing time from those guys, they really know what they want, and everyone involved has so much respect for them and the music so you work until you get it.

Did you have any favourite tracks?
My favourite tracks on that record would be "Things I miss the most" because it has a slight "Hey Nineteen" kind of feel, and I think Walter and I really had a good lock together. ''Godwhacker" has an interesting feel, and "EMG" was nice because it really reminds me of classic Steely Dan.

For most of 2004 and the begging of 2005 you toured with Sting how did that gig come about?
I was hired by recommendation from several sources that Sting trusts and the interesting thing was that the first time I played with the band was rehearsing for the promo before the tour.  That was unusual because you would think an audition may take place for a gig like that.  His management is based in NYC, and I believe they saw me with Steely Dan and also Wayne Krantz in NYC.  I was also working with Chris Botti and he put in a good word as well. Alot of times these things happen because the timing is perfect and somehow everything falls into place. 

You are currently working on the new Donald Fagen album, the last album
being the massive album Night fly, what can we expect from this album?
 Donald also had another solo record after Nightfly entitled Kamakiriad, so this will be his 3rd solo record. I think this will be another great Donald Fagen record.  It''s been almost a year since I did the drum tracks, so there''s been a lot of work going on since.  I''m just as excited as anyone to hear the end result. He always makes amazing records, and this should be another one.

What have you been working on recently and have coming up?
Since being home, I have been doing recording sessions, jazz festivals, and a few gigs in town that I haven''t been able to do for about 2 years - playing with Wayne Krantz, Oz Noy, Leni Stern has been a lot of fun to do again.  I played at this years Modern Drummer Festival and I’m also doing the Montreal Festival later this year.  There''s also a few tours and clinics coming up soon that I will announce later on my website.

Since you arrived in New York eight years ago you really have been a big success,  what were your big breaks and what advice would you give to any up-and-coming drummers out there?
I think it''s a combination of believing that you have something to say in a unique way and just getting out on the scene and letting people know you exist - with humility, not overly aggressive, which can turn people off in my opinion.   Of course, being prepared and knowing the music for the gig, being responsible, showing up on time, etc. is very important.   Also, I think what separates the great players from the not so great players is playing with passion and emotion.  So many drummers get too much into the "thinking”, technical side that they never tap into the emotion of music.  Really mean every note you play and people will feel that. Listen to your influences and learn from them, but don''t copy them.  Try to take from it, and put your twist on it to make it your own.  I think that will help this art form of drumming move into new directions.  I think that should be the goal for all of us.

Some great advice there from a very nice guy and an excellent musician.  As Keith mentioned you can get updates about what he’s up to from his website www.keithcarlock.com