During this year’s edition of the Musikmesse, held, as always, in early spring in Frankfurt am Mein, Germany, we met up with a few drummers whose skills, professional CVs and (as it turned out in eye-to-eye contact) also personalities deserve the attention of anyone interested drums, let alone rock drums.
BeatIt’s report from Musikmesse 2017
Will Hunt is an experienced drummer with numerous musical collaborations under his belt. In the last 20 years, he has worked with such acts as Dark New Day, Static-X, Mötley Crüe, Methods Of Mayhem, Staind, Slaughter, Vince Neil, Michael Sweet, Black Label Society, Vasco Rossi or Device. Currently, he is a member of Evanescence, White Noise Owl and Rival City. Evanscence will be on tour across Europe in June. Will is endorsed by such brands as Zildjian, Pearl, Remo and Vater.
Will Hunt (Evanescence) talks to BeatIt, Pt. 5
Beatit.tv: You also do clinics. What’s your approach to clinics? I mean, what’s the general message you want to convey to those who come to your clinics?
Will Hunt: I say to people it’s about choosing a lane. There’s a saying in the States: ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. I think there are a few people that are able to go in and out of certain genres and doing pretty well. For myself, going back to what we talked about earlier, I decided that I’m good at being a rock drummer and I like it. How can I push the boundaries with this and explore more things? That was the lane that I chose. So I tell people that it’s really all bout deciding what kind of a drummer you wanna be. I wasn’t the guy that was gonna spend hours and hours in my bed room practicing ratamacues as fast as I could around the kit. I wanted to move people. I wanted to transcend and share that feeling that we get with an audience and your band. That’s a different path. That’s really more about learning how to play for the song, which in rock is sometimes simple, and learning how to write songs. I probably should have spent more time on my ratamacue but I spent more time learning how to write songs, you know.
B: Arrangement.
W.H.: How the drums fit into that. So that’s what I tell people. I’m like: ‘If you’re here to find out some kind of technical breakthrough, you came to the wrong clinic ‘cause you’re not gonna get it here. But you will get some really cool, creative, ripping fills when it’s time to have them, and some really cool big fills when it’s time to have them, and a whole lot of groove. That’s the bottom line. It’s really more about that, I think. Kind of helping people, pushing them to figure out what what lane they want to be in.
B: What would you say are the best, worst or at least most memorable moments in your career?
W.H.: I think the best ones haven’t happened yet. Some of the most memorable ones have been when Evanescence played the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Norway. Opening for Iron Maiden at the Download Festival.
B: Did they play ‘Aces High’ at that gig?
W.H.: As a matter of fact, that was the tour they were playing that record. They had Eddie in the turret. I got to sit behind Nicko McBrain for a part of that show. Freakin’ amazing! And then pretty much playing any show with Vasco Rossi ‘cause it’s a stadium of people and the Italians are amazing people. Man! There’s a lot!
B: What do you get out of drumming? What does it do for you?
W.H.: I think it keeps me sane. I don’t know, man. I’ve talked to a couple of my band members about this before and it’s not necessarily just about drumming. It’s about that feeling. It’s like, you go to a warehouse with your guys, or a studio, whatever. And you come out with a new song. It’s like: ‘Man! That’s so good, dude!’ and everybody’s feeling it. It’s an irreplaceable feeling. Almost kind of washes everything away for a little bit and all you can think about is like how good that is and how awesome that sounds. We made that from nothing. I can’t wait to share that feeling with people. That would be it.
B: That’s a good way to finish our conversation.
W.H.: Yeah, man!
B: Very positive.
W.H.: Thank you.
Drummers and Drumerettes! Will Hunt in the fifth and final part of an exclusive interview for Beatit.tv!
