VINNIE PAUL Cites PETER CRISS And NEIL PEART As Influences
August 24, 2010, 14 years ago
Michael Lello of The Weekender recently interviewed HELLYEAH drummer Vinnie Paul. An excerpt follows:
With PANTERA, Paul earned a reputation as a drummer with serious chops, working aggressive double-bass runs into his playing. His cited influences all fall into the hard-rock and metal categories, but with a lot of diversity among them.
“Peter Criss is the one that made me want to play drums,” Paul says of KISS’ original drummer. “When I got KISS Alive and I heard it… Look, anybody can air drum to KISS songs. But it just blew me away.”RUSH’s Neil Peart — “that’s a very technical drummer,” Paul says — inspired him to add “tons of drums” to his kit at the time. And the playing of Tommy Aldridge (WHITESNAKE, OZZY OSBOURNE, PAT TRAVERS BAND, BLACK OAK ARKANSAS), turned him on to double-bass drum licks.
“First time I ever heard of him was ‘Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)’,” says Paul, referring to a track from Travers’ 1979 Top 40-charting Live! Go for What You Know. “That’s what I want to do. I want to double kick. I like the thunder it brings.”To read the interview in its entirety, click here.
