Keith Moon Quotes

I like drums, really, if they're under control.

John Bonham was probably the most influential in terms of playing style and timing.

To play like John Bonham is the hardest thing in the world because you're not John Bonham. It's how you breathe out of your heart. It's your emotions.

Probably some of the most impressive drumming I've done is on the 'Far Beyond Driven' record.

As a drummer, you can't fake the instrument. A trumpet, you could be blowing air; a person who plays the trumpet could still say, "Oh, those aren't the right hand motions." On drums, you have to actually hit them. You can't fake it.

When I was in the marching band, I used to take my snare drum and turn it over and use my drumstick and scratch on the other side. That was just being creative.

I've never been a huge fan of drum solos.

I know that drummers tend to be the butt of a thousand jokes, usually from the uninformed and untalented, but I always felt I had an important role.

A great way to get your rhythm playing together is to work with a drummer, preferably someone that has a good groove and plays solidly in time.

When I first came out with the Winery Dogs, I had a Bonham set-up. That was such a departure from the huge kits that I had become known for. It was really enjoyable.

A lot of these guys come up and say, 'Man, you were my influence, the way you thrashed the drums.' They don't seem to understand I was thrashing in order to hear what I was playing. It was anger, not enjoyment - and painful.

That's where I learned, basically, all my skills from the drumming that I do - most of my style comes straight from death metal.

As a drummer, I always approach things as, 'I want to play just enough to keep other drummers interested, but not enough to go over the average listener's head.'

I studied classical percussion for ten years.

The closest things to an influence would be people like Charlie Watts or Al Jackson. But I didn't really listen to drummers; I basically played what I thought was needed for the Ramones.

Bill Ward, when you hear his beats, he's not just playing a straight 4/4 beat; he's doing almost a hip-hop beat. There's a song called 'Sweet Leaf.' The drum beat that he's playing, he's trying to kind of swing and funkify it. Now, is he doing a great job of it? Maybe not. Maybe.

I've been playing drums since I was 7.

I like a bass drum. A big one.

I'm a rock drummer. I couldn't sit down and pretend to be a jazz drummer.

What better to get all the anger and stuff out for what I do in Slipknot than to play the drums? You're punching everything, really fast, concentrated.

I was playing legit snare with a traditional grip, not a matched grip. After I broke my left wrist, I couldn't hit a snare drum anymore. From the age of 13 to 17, I couldn't really get a pop on the snare drum. I would hit it, and my wrist would almost shatter.

A lot of young drummers have a tendency to really overplay. Sometimes simple is better, and the notes that aren't played between the spaces are bigger than the notes that are.

The simplest beats, on what rock music or any music has been formed on, can be the toughest beats to execute and perform, because it's really easy to not respect a simple 4/4 beat, because people always want to play fast.

I guess I did make my name out of my drumming, and I have the big drum sets, and I'm doing all these crazy, odd-time signatures, so, yeah, I guess drumming was very important to what made me popular.

You need to have spent your time from playing Top 40 pop rock in order to know how to play a song like 'Ritual,' a song like 'Absolution' or 'Idolatrine.' You need to know your classic drumming and your classic guitar.