Without Metallica, I wouldn't be doing what I am doing. I have every Metallica record, of course, and I would spend hours on drums in my parents' basement with the stereo behind me, cranking those records and learning Lars' drum beats, beat by beat.
My son's taking drum lessons, and my daughter's taking piano lessons. One day they're going to start a band.
Dad bought me a toy drum one Christmas, and I eventually destroyed it. I wanted a real drum and he bought me a snare drum. Dad continued to buy me one drum after the other.
I learned how to play the drums. When we were in pre-production, when we were still in LA, I had a couple of drum lessons and then some in Toronto. I got the one beat down and that was it.
My dad was a kind of semiprofessional Dixieland-type drummer, and I learned the drums from him. When I was about twelve, we bought our first Ludwig drum set from a pawnshop - a marching-band bass drum, great big tom-toms, and big, deep snare drums.
I have to give my family credit for putting up with the racket, because as some of you may know, its not the easiest thing in the world to live with a kid who's trying to become a rock and roll drummer.
When I was at school, I was in choirs more than anything else, from a very young age, about 9 years old. And then I started taking drum lessons.
My wife was born in Korea, and we met in music college; she was there for vocal, and I was there for drums.
You can't show someone how to play the drums in six weeks, but you can point them in the right direction.
An uncle gave me a side drum and my mother decided I should have lessons.
In 2007, I studied with Peter Erskine because I was doing a Buddy Rich tribute concert, and I wanted to take my big-band drumming up a level. I went over to Peter's house with my sticks, feeling like a 13-year-old again.
Jeff and Mike had taken drum lessons at a young age. When the Beatles came out in '64, we all wanted to play guitar.
