In a new interview with Rolling Stone, veteran drummer Gregg Bissonette talks about dream gigs with Ringo Starr and David Lee Roth, avoiding the Spinal Tap curse, the time he ate at Denny’s with Pat Boone, and how he landed a lucrative gig on ‘Friends’. An excerpt follows:

Rolling Stone: Tell me about your work on Friends.

Matt Bissonette: "My brother and I played bass and drums on all 10 years of Friends. It started when I was subbing for a great friend of mine, Doane Perry, on a Broadway album. The keyboard player was Michael Skloff and we really hit it off. We played really well and jammed really well. He goes, 'Hey, my wife is creating a show. If it happens, I want you to play drums.' Six months or a year later or something, I heard, 'She’s got the show. Come on down and bring your brother.'

"That was Friends. His wife was Marta Kauffman. That was 10 years. What a blast. We had a great guitar player. Michael would play keyboards. We didn’t do the theme song though. That was the Rembrandts. But we were on all 10 seasons. Say they’re on a couch and then they go to the bowling alley... [imitates drum sound]. If we liked a take, we’d all put our hands in the air like it was a touchdown. 'Good take! Next one!'"

Rolling Stone: That show is still making hundreds of millions. Do you get any royalties for all that work?

Bissonette: "Yeah. One of the great things about the Musician’s Union is they have two different checks that go out throughout the year. One is for all of the albums that you’ve played on. It’s called the Phonograph Special Payments Fund. The other is called the Motion Picture and TV Special Payments Fund. Friends is in syndication, so that’s always a huge part of my check. The union is on that."

Read the complete interview at Rolling Stone.