Steve Holloway
"The Best Drummer I've Ever Seen"
Do they still make drummers?
There just ain't nuttin'
like a real rhythm machine. And, the other day I saw one with
my own two eyes.
Now, I've seen a lot of drummers... big, small, famous
and otherwise... but, I've never seen a rock drummer
that is more "on the money"
than Steve Holloway (of Stop That Noise!.) For
instance, Carl Palmer impresses me... and Phil Collins... when he played
on the Robert Plant tour... that was real nice... come to think of it,
Bun E. Carlos might come close... hmmm... or how about Bill Bruford?
Naaa. I'd still go with Steve.
I've always been a professional musician, and played gigs all through high
school. In college I was playing and studying jazz almost exclusively, until
a friend gave me a Police album to check out....that completely changed my
life! So since then, I've had one foot in jazz and the other in rock, and
all
sorts of other influences have been buzzing around as well.
Since I play drums to pay rent for my overpriced NY apartment, not every
gig I play is what you'd call "artistically satisfying", but for the most
part,
I've been lucky in that I play with a lot of great bands that are diverse
in
styles and approach. A lot of the musicians I've worked with are from your
neck of the woods, Philadelphia, so you may be familiar with some of these
folks. For three years my main gig was with a world class bebop jazz
guitarist from Philly, Jimmy Bruno. During that time we recorded some
pretty cool CD's for Concord Jazz. I also recorded a lot of tracks with the
great Irish musician, Seamus Egan, who lives a few blocks from me in
Manhattan, but he always records at Sigma Sound in Philly. Lately, another
Philadelphia band I've been working with is Siora, a Brazilian-flavored
contemporary jazz quintet, that is currently planning an extensive tour of
Africa for next year.
There are so many other great musicians I'd love to mention, but for now
that gives you the idea...as a free lancer, you have a chance to wear a
lot of
musical hats, and because I LIKE a lot of different styles of music,
it's fun
to play in a lot of different bands. Of course, Stop That Noise is my hard
rock expression, and you can imagine how interesting it is to go from
playing light jazz with brushes one night, to literally attacking a set of
drums the next night with Stop That Noise! It's a fun challenge,
and that's just the way
I chose to do it. I'd go nuts if I played the same stuff 6 nights a week,
even if
it was something I loved.
Hey, Steve. How do you do it?
I'll be happy to give you more details of my musical/professional life, an
informal, conversational approach, perhaps?
