During Silesia Drum Festival in w Chorzów, Poland, we had the opportunity to interview the artists who performed on stage that day.
Today, Hungarian fusion drumming master, Gergo Borlai, talks about his favourite drummers.
BeatIt: Your top 5 drummers. If it’s top 6 or top 10, it’s also fine.
Gergo Borlai: You know this is the hardest question.
BeatIt: I know it’s the hardest one because it should be top 100.
Gergo Borlai: Exactly. All-time top 5 or right now?
BeatIt: Well, maybe do both. Why not?
Gergo Borlai: Well, all-time is easy. It’s Billy Cobham, Vinnie Colaiuta, Terry Bozzio, Kirk Covington, Dennis Chambers, Gary Novak, Steve Gadd of course, Keith Carlock. I love Keith a lot.
BeatIt: Any reasons why it’s those guys?
Gergo Borlai: Well, I mean, Billy. I mean, can you imagine coming out with that drumming in 1971? A black dude in a white band playing two kicks.
BeatIt: I was born a year later, you were born a few years later. It’s hard to imagine.
Gergo Borlai: That’s true.
BeatIt: It must have been an earthquake, basically.
Gergo Borlai: I mean, you know, double-kick drum set, three floor toms, open handed, unlimited power, speed and fury and odd time signatures and like a train, you know,. It was just something different. I read an article, an interview actually with Claus Hessler years ago and he said when Billy came out he kind of blocked the drummer world for a while. People couldn’t handle it, because it was just way ahead of anything else.
BeatIt: True.
Gergo Borlai: Including everything: the sound, the speed. No one played that fast. I mean, Buddy Rich was fast but in a totally different way. That super punchy single stroke that Billy had is just unbelievable. Vinnie, I mean, another special UFO from another planet. I mean everybody knows Vinnie.
BeatIt: True.
Gergo Borlai: Dennis, you know, for me, Dennis is a groove maker. I mean, besides how much I love his solos, for me, he’s one of the best band members. If I could make a fun jazz fusion rock band, I’d definitely call Dennis. Just to be relaxed, laid back, not overplaying.
BeatIt: And you’d be on bass, I imagine.
Gergo Borlai: Maybe. Good idea, actually. Let me call him. Kirk Covington – the drummer from Tribal Tech. He’s just different from anybody else.
BeatIt: Also that fusion generation.
Gergo Borlai: Yeah, he’s the Vinnie generation, actually. Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl generation. Came out with the weirdest drumming ever. Super extremely colorful and musical. He’s the guy who’s always changing sticks while he’s playing in one song from brushes through to chopsticks. He’s always really into it. He’s so special. I remember when they played with Scott Henderson somewhere, at the end of a song the band went crazy. That was the final. Kirk just choked the cymbal in the middle.
For me, Gary Novak and Keith Karlock are, like, the last real drummer generation after Vinnie and Weckl. Born in the late 60s and still pioneers and still changing the world. I mean, when Novak came out with the Chic Corea Electric Band II album, it was just something different. I mean, bringing back the full-headed 18-inch drum, low tuned kick sound and still having the punch when playing double pedal. It was something. And Keith is also this super kind of second line New Orleans vibe and super New York. His playing is just something different. I love those guys so much.
And Steve Gadd. I have no words about Steve Gadd. Everybody knows Steve Gadd. We all love Steve Gadd.
BeatIt: True. So what about these days? Top five these days?
Gergo Borlai: These days. I mean, Louis Cole. Definitely Louis Cole. Besides how much I love and admire him as a composer. I so much love his playing. It’s just weird as heck,you know, the whole concept. Recording drums with one or two microphones in his bathroom or somewhere in the house. And the playing is like, you can’t really decide if it’s a groove or loop from a DAW or if it’s him. I love it. Such a great concept. Besides, he has serious technical ability.
Who else? Ronald Bruner Jr. Always and forever. Chris Coleman, of course. One of the cleanest and precise guys I ever saw. Besides how funny he is and the endless power. Moritz Müller. My secret favorite from Germany. Super, super. All these quintuplets. He started to play a decade ago or almost two decades ago. Sometimes I felt like he came up with the concept Matthew Garstka came up later. You know, actually Matthew Garstka, another one. Incredible.
