By Mitch Lafon

‘Who’ is the reaction that is most often heard when the name Allan Schwartzberg is mentioned, but for many rock legends he’s the studio drummer extraordinaire that has saved many recordings from the trash heap. Artists as diverse as PETER GABRIEL, GLORIA GAYNOR and JAMES BROWN have used his services as have rockers KISS, ALICE COOPER, CHEAP TRICK and JIMI HENDRIX. At one time, he was producer’s Bob Ezrin’s favorite ‘go-to-guy’ when a recording needed just that little extra something in the drumming department.

Bravewords.com tracked down the kindly musician to get the scoop on his ‘secret’ recording sessions and to find out how it was to be a ghost on the inside of some of rock’s biggest names and albums.

Here is Part II of BraveWords.com's exclusive chat with Allan Schwartzberg.

BraveWords.com: I’ve heard that you played drums on KISS’ Animalize and Asylum albums? Any truth to that or did you simply provide overdubs?

Schwartzberg: "Asylum, I did and on Animalize I did overdubs.”

BraveWords.com: How did KISS get in touch with you for those projects?

Schwartzberg: "I had already worked with Gene and I go back with the guys to the time when they were called WICKED LESTER.”

BraveWords.com: So, you go back to the late ‘60s/early ‘70s with them.

Schwartzberg: "Yeah, I was working at Hendrix’ studio (Electric Lady Land) and they were in the other studio working with Eddie Kramer. They were walking around in their boots and I was playing on a B.J. THOMAS record.”

BraveWords.com: Did they show up to record in full make-up and outfits?

Schwartzberg: "Well, I do remember them showing up in boots. Might not have been the big blocky boots, but they were decked out.”

BraveWords.com: Getting back to Animalize – this was 1984 and KISS were almost going for a heavy metal sound. They cranked up the amps and the drumming was a lot faster. How was it working on those overdubs? Do you know why Eric Carr wasn’t handling the overdubs?

Schwartzberg: "I don’t know the answer to that. I remember playing a lot of drums fills – fills that either weren’t there or they didn’t like and needed replacing.”

BraveWords.com: When you listen back to an album like that can you pick out your parts?

Schwartzberg: "I actually can. It’s a weird thing. It’s kind of like penguins amongst a million other penguins; they can still find their babies. I do hear myself in there.”

BraveWords.com: You ears perk up when you hear yourself…

Schwartzberg: "Yeah, exactly.”

BraveWords.com: A lot of people don’t know that you played on KISS’ Asylum album, but you did. Simply overdubs or full tracks?

Schwartzberg: "To be honest, I don’t remember. I really wish I could tell you. Gene would remember though.”

BraveWords.com: Are there any other KISS albums that you remember playing on?

Schwartzberg: "No, I think that’s it.”

BraveWords.com: That’s five albums. That’s pretty impressive.

Schwartzberg: "It was fun. Gene’s a good guy.”

BraveWords.com: Let me ask you about ROGER DALTREY. He’s the lead singer of THE WHO, obviously, and you played on his 1984 Parting Should Be Painless solo album. How did that come about?

Schwartzberg: "Mike Thorne the producer who did Voices Carry and a lot of dance records… is a super guy and super producer. We went over to Battersea Studios in London and we did that for a better part of a month. We had Chris Spedding on guitar. He was with IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS. They did that song ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3’. I believe that that was the very first rap record.”

BraveWords.com: I actually was going to ask you one rap question. You played on JAMES BROWN’s ‘Funky President’ and it’s been sampled by pretty much every rap artist since its release…

Schwartzberg: "Mitch, I didn’t realize… It was sampled on a lot of the SALT N’ PEPA…”

BraveWords.com: Do you get credit or royalty checks from it being on all those other albums?

Schwartzberg: "Oh no no – no credit and no royalty checks. It’s a shame too. It’s really a shame. I should, at least, get a session payment. Now, they pay you if they take a snatch of your song.”

BraveWords.com: So, no retroactive payments?

Schwartzberg: "No.”

BraveWords.com: That doesn’t seem fair. Let me ask you about the present. What are you doing these days? Have you retired from drumming?

Schwartzberg: "Well, I opened a studio called Deep Diner Music with oldest friend, Bob Mann (guitarist from JAMES TAYLOR). We have our website Deepdiner.com. We did the ROD STWEART Standards albums there. We did three of those albums there.”

BraveWords.com: Really? Did you play on those?

Schwartzberg: "Yes, I did. I played on three of them. We did DIANA ROSS’ last album. We do a lot of jingles and stuff like that. Please go look at the site.”

BraveWords.com: I almost forgot – back in the day Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner did a lot of the NY studio sessions. Did you have a chance to work with AEROSMITH like they did?

Schwartzberg: "I never worked with Aerosmith. They’ve always had a good drummer. I never did stuff for Aerosmith.”

BraveWords.com: How about for JOHN LENNON?

Schwartzberg: "No, but I did do stuff for YOKO ONO. I did get a call to come in and do the Double Fantasy session, but I was on stand by and never got to record, but I would have loved that. It would have been great. I’ll tell you a funny story about Yoko though. My friend, Jimmy, had been called by Mike Barbiero (he later went on to produce a lot of heavy metal records), and he said to Jimmy to ‘call some guys to do a session with Yoko’. So, we all get to the studio and Yoko comes in about an hour late and it turns out Jimmy had never heard Yoko do anything musically before. He did not know what her music was. She comes in and says ‘ok, B Flat’, so I count off and we start playing. We get to the seventh bar, the eighth bar and then Yoko comes in screaming. Jimmy jumps up from behind his instrument and throws off his earphones because he thought it was feedback and he screams ‘what the fuck is that?’ So, I glanced over at him and said ‘just keep playing… just keep playing. He simply had no idea what she did.”

BraveWords.com: The guys from CHEAP TRICK also had the pleasure of working with Yoko…

Schwartzberg: "Cheap Trick is another band I did overdubs for.”

(Editors Note - On October 28th, Cheap Trick's management contacted BraveWords.com to dispute and deny this claim.)

BraveWords.com: Really?

Schwartzberg: "Yup, but again without credit.”

BraveWords.com: What can you tell me about that? What album?

Schwartzberg: "I don’t remember what album. I just know it was Cheap Trick. I didn’t much care at the time.”

BraveWords.com: Was it around ’78 or ’79?

Schwartzberg: "Yeah. It was in the ‘70s and it was at Media Sound studios.”

BraveWords.com: Was it Dream Police?

Schwartzberg: "That sounds familiar.”

BraveWords.com: That’s interesting because Bun E. Carlos is a fantastic drummer...

Schwartzberg: "I think they changed their minds as to what they wanted the drums to do. When they did the overdubs, I think the drummer wasn’t available.”

BraveWords.com: It’s important to add that just because overdubs were done that it doesn’t mean the original drummer wasn’t good. It just happens that sometimes a recording needs to be punched up and the drummer may be on tour and thus unavailable, may be ill, may be a million things that make him unable to come back into the studio.”

Schwartzberg: "Right, and sometimes they work on a song so much that it changes the character of the song and the drum part is no longer as relevant as it should have been.”

BraveWords.com: Are you working with anyone now?

Schwartzberg: "You’ll crack up when I tell you. I’m working on a new album with REGIS PHILBIN and his wife. His wife (Joy) is quite musical. The album is called Just You Just Me. It’s a duet album. I produced it. I wrote the liner notes. I picked the songs and he came to the studio every other day for six months. Now, we’re doing some live things with it and I’m having as much fun doing that as I had doing anything. I’ve had an amazing little voyage and thank you for acknowledging it. I appreciate you calling me…”

BraveWords.com: And thank you for taking the time to talk to us and sharing your stories…

For more information about Allan Schwartzberg, his studio or label visit:

Deepdiner.com

Bigdotrecords.com

Part I of BraveWords.com's exclusive chat with Allan Schwartzberg can be found at this location.