Kenny Aronoff

Kenny Aronoff Interview with The Black Page Drum Magazine part 2

• Report rights infringement
• published: 16 Sep 2013
• views: 838

Kenny Aronoff is interviewed by The Black Page drum magazine. Here is a short excerpt of the interview. For the entire interview please visit www.theblackpage.net The Black Page: Kenny, I feel sorry for Nate. You were talking a little bit about Nate today, your tech -- you put him through the paces. Kenny Aronoff: I'm a great guy but when I go perform -- especially with a guy like Forgety we're in battle. The guy is demanding so much from me so I don't need my tech to miss strategic things, like the mic that's fallen on my tom. I shouldn't spot that first -- he should spot it. Sorry dude, I'm under pressure, you work for me you gotta be on it, you gotta check everything out all the time cause a two hour show -- guaranteed, stuffs going to break. I go Nate are you ready -- do you realize something is going to break tonight?! There's going to be a disaster! Are you ready? You don't know what it's going to be, do you? But you better be ready! TBP: Nate earns his money then is what you're saying? Kenny Aronoff: Oh, yea. I'll crack a die cast hoop, I'll break a cymbal. I should say also that he is mixing for me too -- but he's got to be on top of it because I'm under pressure from Fogerty. I'm grabbing towels to wipe the sweat; god forbid if my ear starts "flooding out" -- my ear starts to "flood out" from the water coming down the side of my head. If Nate hasn't got three cue tips there wrapped with tape so I can quickly clean out my ear, I'm like -- DUDE! DUDE! I'M FLOODING!! If I can't hear, I can't hear my boss. TBP: I get the odd person asking about teching -- what makes a good tech, how do you get tech gigs? So, he's got to be on you more than you are on you. Kenny Aronoff: Right -- proactive. A good tech is somebody who's ahead of me. In some ways it might not be fair because I will be doing a solo and I am so on top of everything. Remember I told you my brain is in slivers? Well starting out I might have had a hundred, now I've got a billion. I love it -- more is more. But that's why I'm always working, I think. They did an article in the New York Times Sunday Edition -- which is one of the biggest papers in the world, for some reason why they would do an article on me, a three page article -- and the interview was done with the producer Don Was. When they asked him why he hired Kenny Aronoff who lives in Indiana and over all these great drummers that live in LA, he said because when Kenny comes into the room he makes everybody play better than if I don't have him. He motivates the room; the energy is positive energy. I don't take credit for that at all. You know what I take credit for? One thing -- hard work. I can go "Make yourself work hard!" I was genetically born with this -- the energy, the personality. Of course my parents helped by supporting me and all that, but I was born with a certain make-up and I had great genetics