The interviewer was Leslie Judd - she was great, a clear communicator and clearly a very intelligent lady. To be fair to her colleagues at the BBC such as Peter Purves, John Noakes, Michael Rod, Ian McNaught-Davies (the other presenter in this clip) Judith Hahn, Howard Stableford and so on, the standard was much higher back in those days. There was some feature she did via (I think) the Pebble Mill program that had some accompanying fact sheet that you could send for - one of my parents sent away for it and when it arrived Leslie had actually added a few clarifications and extra bits of info and a 'hope that helps - good luck! - Leslie' message in her own handwriting. I remain impressed by that to this day. :)
And that, ladies and gentlemen is what we call TV ! At a time when television was educational and pertinent. Congratulation to the lady who obviously knows her topic. Serious journalism here !
Nice Lady Interviewer ...."Hello ....first of all, can you explain this pad ....the one you didn't hit" .... Bruford - yes I can, this avoids a lot of nob twiddling over on the main unit .... the one you're leaning on". Classic Bruford just made my day ....
David Pinnington Great to get to see and hear Mr Simmons himself. I'm 48, grew up with Simmons on almost every top pop songs in the 80's obviously, got some pads and SDSV but never had a chance or curiosity to google him up! What a treat!
Those drums were everywhere during the eighties. But I think their most glorious use was on Genesis "The Brazilian" where Phil Collins used them to create such beautiful sonic landscapes.
For me its SAGA: Wind Him Up & Time's Up from World's Apart album in 1981 Steve Negus was the first North American drummer recording with the Simmons on an album.
I remember Leslie Judd from the seventies, she's seen here displaying an obvious knowledge and understanding of the drums as evidenced by her questioning. I believe she was married to a drummer. An interesting bit of trivia?
Another early user who was also involved in the development of Simmons drums is Steve Negus, the original drummer of Canadian band SAGA. th-cam.com/video/bFepN57pI1A/w-d-xo.html :-)
I saw the comments before watching the video and I thought they were all being sarcastic - then I watched it, and discovered that Lesley Judd really was superb here. That’s Blue Peter for you - a hard-knocks high-pressure training school that most “adult” journalists would kill for.
Came for Leslie Judd, an old crush I must say.. Bill's a legend though, always struck by how he sounds very eloquent, would sign up to his music lecture class!
I used to sell these drums at McMurray Music Company in St. Louis, MO back in the day! Interestingly... world famous artist, Ernest Trova purchased a kit just like this one. He wasn't interested in playing them ... he just liked the way they looked---kind of a piece of sculpture that he displayed proudly in his art studio ... also here in St. Louis. Fun times!
bought one in our studio at that time, gave clients, but not so much. The pads was far better and less harmfull than the previous being which was some plexiglass
True comment. Out of reach of a teen amateur drummer in 1985 at $4995. Then, it cost me only U$500 for a used SDS9 kit (mint cond.) in 1996. What a fun time! $2500 nowadays will buy an electronic kit which can do virtually anything sonically with realistic drum head feel using mesh drum heads. Dave Simmons was THE pioneer that made electronic drums a mainstream item. These old hexagon pads still look like futuristic art!
@@timin770 That's not exactly a fair comparison, as the price of this stuff tends to trend downward rather quickly once the R&D is performed. Just a few years later the SDS9, which actually incorporated digital snare and kick (and which I owned and used to play out for years), was less than $1500.
Great to find this, I remember watching it at at the time; together with an appearance on BBC's Rock School, where he inverted the snare and kick drum mid-bar, great stuff to watch as a 14 year-old budding Drummer. I eventually got a Simmons kit, SDS5, still have an SDS400 which probably needs every Capacitor replacing by now!
I had a new Simmons SDSV kit about 1982 and then an SDS9 years later. The SDS5 kit was a ground breaker but it did hurt your wrist (hence the phrase ... 'Simmons wrist') as the pads were very hard so all the vibration went back into your hand. Can't remember how much the SDS5 cost but it was probably £500 or so and I still have the original Brain here but have sold all the 5 and 9 pads and stands years ago. By the way, by using the SDS5 kit, it taught me not to do delicate stuff on the drums as it couldn't handle it so, I just played straight stuff without any flams etc. A very interesting experience for me and others at the time I guess. I now have a Roland TD10 kit which can do all those sounds without the pain (in the wrists)!
Yep, I suffered "Simmons Wrists" too! Great time though, I ended up incorporating the pads into my acoustic rig, triggering an Alesis D4. It mostly worked, until the transducers starting going, then audiences would suddenly get a full-velocity blast of a sample out of nowhere! I have a TD30KV Pro now, sadly haven't used the acoustic kit in a long time, good live venues started dying out even before the current crisis, round here.
l dont know anyone thats mastered the Simmons Kit like Bruford! Super intelligent guy, far and away my favourite drummer! Good questions, and answers i this 'interview'.
Finally I saw the inventor of my fav electronic drums of all time. He is a nice guy =) Oh, ALF playing with this SIMMONS drums in one of the TV-series =)
The Simmons electronic drums are no longer used as much as they were in the 80's or not used entirely. Drummers today rely mostly on the classic drum set that always produces a much more pure, crisp and wider sound, Bruford was a big user of these and possibly was sponsored by Simmons.
She asked good questions. I never liked the sound of the electronic drums. I saw krimson in 95 and Bruford played a standard kit with some effects which was great.
He played a kit like this on the ABWH tour in '89 - so he really liked these things for a while - he had one regular old snare in the kit - but the rest were Simmons - they are just an 80's thing - but still better than a drum machine - esp. with Bruford on the throne.
From what I remember, that was quite common back then. People would use an acoustic snare and cymbals because you just couldn't get a decent sound for them out of the Simmons brain and using samples would often cause latency issues.
I watched this thinking 'I think I remember this segment from when it was first broadcast...'. When Dave Simmons said 'Aaah..! The obligatory DOG!' I knew that I had in fact seen it before. I was so enthusiastic about these drums that every dog I saw for the next few months was an 'obligatory' dog...
@@michaelwertzy9808 Lol! That's not an "enthusiastic smile", that's a pretty serious case of what's known as Drummer Face. Your brain is so occupied coordinating all four limbs _and_ maintaining your balance on the throne that you just sort of, lose control of what your face is doing. Bruford is lucky in that his version of the affliction actually looks _almost_ like an expression a human face might make. Mine makes me look as though I'm recovering from a stroke.
Simmons.... My metric at the time was Sly Dunbar in Black Uhuru. One day- hypnotic roots reggae. Next day- sounded like an assembly line in a funk factory. Modern for about 1 second. Now, an evocative effect.
@@ukkovuorela4196 To be fair, my SIMMONS drumpad from a few years back IS JUNK and sounds like there's been zero progress in 40 years! My 20 year old ROLAND drumpad, by contrast, STILL sounds as amazing as it did 20 years ago. I've toured the world as a drummer, and when I pull my "kit" out of my shoulder bag (think THICK laptop), every drummer scoffs....UNTIL I START PLAYING. (I only use my arms, and 2 drumsticks. No feet at all. I had to ADAPT to doing kick-snare with ONE hand and everything else with the other hand, and it sounds INCREDIBLE.) Every drummer should also own a Drumpad for when they don't want to carry or set up a big dumbkit.
Bill Bruford was a pioneer of using electronic drums, very innovative at its time. Who is that woman? She knows more about drums than average journalist
I remember those so well. I also remember judging them with a sort of self-righteous attitude. Today I play a Roland TD-30vk. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing quite like an acoustic drum set, but the Roland is a godsend for playing live in small clubs and studio work on a dime. The economics of modern live play are such that most venues don’t want you playing too loud as it runs the customers off. The reason bands play so loud in such situations is, well, drums are loud. Bass player turns up to hear himself, then the guitarist turns up, etc… and before you know it you got 80 dB in a wine bar and no one can hear the vocals. People start leaving, the venue manager doesn’t invite you back. So today, I play ever how intense I want, but I give the volume control the sound engineer who sits n the audience with an iPad. And no longer being the last guy to get set up - no more tuning, microphones, or laborious sound mixer integration - and now I’m first to be ready for sound check. In the studio it’s absolutely glorious with full MIDI out. Before, to fix a bad tune, poor choice of drum sound, etc., any solution was costly. Now, I just switched the drum sound from a vast library of killer sounds. If I decide the sound I really should’ve chosen was a 49 Slingerland, that’s available. Still my playing, just more options.
I do admire Bill and his learning drive.. plus, he´s an excellent drummer, no question about it. I do think he´s good. Its kind of ironic that the same year (July 1984), King Crimson was dissolved, so he had to use the new kit in his 'solo' career (Earthworks jazz band). Until the 1990s Yes Tour, with the "humiliating breakdown of Bruford's Simmons drumkit onstage at Madison Square Gardens on 15 June, necessitating a quick return to a minimal acoustic kit" (sic). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworks_(band)#All_Heaven_Broke_Loose_album;_further_touring_(1991-1992) By the time King Crimson re-united (VROOM 1994), he used an acoustic set back again. I feel that most futuristic designs in the 80s didn´t prevail, nor were they "survived" with continuity. I´m talking about the kind of music that was being recorded, ..fashion, and all that retro design that was being shown to the public. Oh, and great interview, by the way..
Everyone went through a synth period back then,Mahavishnu album with Danny Gottlieb on Simmons drums for alot of the tracks and John McLaughlin trading his beautiful guitar tone for a synth guitar,that album has a charm to it ,I think Gottlieb made full use of the electronic drum set.
It only makes sense that Bruford was the leading proponent of electronic drums because of his desire to explore but sadly, I think they never accomplished what he had hoped they would. Thankfully, he returned to playing an analog kit where his true talent could be appreciated.
I want Bill’s shoes! Not his specifically - the make and model he’s wearing, I mean. They look nice, and if Bruford’s playing in them, they must be comfortable and functional!! Anyone know what they are?
I don't know if I'm the only one, but in fact, I don't like when Bill Bruford plays electronic drums, because it is his unique non-electronic snare drum sound that I love.... Now he sounds like any other drummer, I can't blindly distinguish him.
Doesn't he play on a acoustic snare? Read it in the comments here. But I agree many drummers don't distinguish their sound. Lars Ulrich may not be the best drummer but he sure got the worst sounding snare.
@@dumpygoodness4086 It was a repetitive strain injury (sic) brought on by the very hard playing surface of the SDSV pads, but Simmons pads in general. The bounce-back that Bruford refers to in this clip is largely responsible for I and a lot of other electronic Drummers at the time tended to suffer from continual playing, with regular gigging. Also - the pads were hollow, so in a smaller Bar venue, the audience heard the acoustic sound of the hollow pads, more than the kit at times! It sounded like lots of knitting needles all at once. Fun times and lots to learn, but I still prefer a well-tuned, setup acoustic kit.
They were for the time. The last Simmons kit he played with Yes (Union) and ABWH, the SDX, was very much more expensive, with only 250 consoles made. Danny Carey from Tool had one. They are still fetching big dollars. Multi-zone intelligent pads, 2mb RAM, upgradeable to a whopping 8mb!
These were regarded as the "drums of the future" back then, with many people believing they'd eventually replace natural drum kits completely! I remember young drummers writing letters to the editor of muso magazines, asking if they should buy an electronic kit to learn how to play, instead of a real one :-)) - And that typical Simmons sound is now actually sooo much more dated than any natural drum sound ;-)
Yeah, I remember reading a Modern Drummer article where Dave was saying something like "the acoustic drum will be obsolete". I knew right then that he had overplayed his hand.
Looks like it, they were great; very smooth and fast; but not for me with size 14 (UK) feet! I remember breaking a Dixon pedal, the footplate snapped clean in half mid-gig. Luckily I had my trusty Premier 252 to hand as a spare.
@@darganx She had a brief uncredited appearance in 'And Now For Something Completely Different' and although just a cinematic remake of TV sketches, was their first film.
Be nice if regular TV programs today would do interviews/ features of the different instruments/ tech questions like they did way back when. Yes we have the internet?Yes we have Cable/ Dish. But regular TV could do more to emphasize the instruments. And the amazing Musicians that live in our time. Not just featured in a background way in advertising jingles and late night comedy programs where one only hears the bands doing covers or some made up things for a few seconds here and there while the show hosts/ comedians/ actors/ politicians/ athletes, etc get all the attention and glory 'cause 'They're the 'Real Deal'. They're the 'Important Ones' who shape the consumers choices, values, and culture'. Whilst the great musicians get the shaft on mainstream media. In it's simplest form? Who cares? Be surprised how important that 'simple form' introduction to music and the instruments really is/ can be. My generation was probably the last to see it before 'Reality TV' and all this other horseshit took over. Music programs always get cut first from school budgets. Sports programs never get cut no matter how horrible their luck/ teams perform. Especially in USA. Everybody wants their kids to become super jocks/ mechanical technicians of some sort/ Big Residential/ Industrial Contractors/doctors/ or lawyers. Idealistically. Doesn't always work out that way of course. Nobody/ Nothing is/are 'Equal' per se. And money earning/ spending/ bills/ etc are top 5 leading cause of stress, anger, divorce, drug abuse, alcoholism, infidelity, infighting, war, imprisonment, early death to start with so?! But all these people out there? The 'Experts' and 'Sensible' folks? They like to blame everything on 'That crazy music! It needs to go!'
Ahhh, Leslie Judd! I'm sure I had my first wet dream over her. Looking at this clip, I had good taste!😜 I can happily report that Bill got my juices going in an entirely different sense!😬🎸
She deserves a blue Peter badge for asking pertinent questions
Yes indeed. This interviewer was spot on with her questions. You would think she was a drummer as well.
Leslie Judd mmm
@@Dabberontour "Woo - nice!" :)
Glad the interviewer knows the basics.
maybe a lot more than - who can say ?
I was impressed.
If you ask Bruford good questions you get fantastic answers...I cannot say the same about Fripp🤣
Is that Lesley Judd?
Blue Peter teaches you a lot of stuff.
those hexagon shaped drums give the set such an arcane look. i really love it.
Over 30 years later and that kit is still damn impressive!
Was the future
These are exactly the kind of interview questions to ask a musician. Especially awesome ones, like Bill Bruford.
What an interesting interview! Great to have such a well informed interviewer and knowledgeable and articulate interviewee.
The interviewer was Leslie Judd - she was great, a clear communicator and clearly a very intelligent lady. To be fair to her colleagues at the BBC such as Peter Purves, John Noakes, Michael Rod, Ian McNaught-Davies (the other presenter in this clip) Judith Hahn, Howard Stableford and so on, the standard was much higher back in those days. There was some feature she did via (I think) the Pebble Mill program that had some accompanying fact sheet that you could send for - one of my parents sent away for it and when it arrived Leslie had actually added a few clarifications and extra bits of info and a 'hope that helps - good luck! - Leslie' message in her own handwriting. I remain impressed by that to this day. :)
And that, ladies and gentlemen is what we call TV ! At a time when television was educational and pertinent. Congratulation to the lady who obviously knows her topic. Serious journalism here !
Nice Lady Interviewer ...."Hello ....first of all, can you explain this pad ....the one you didn't hit" .... Bruford - yes I can, this avoids a lot of nob twiddling over on the main unit .... the one you're leaning on". Classic Bruford just made my day ....
She could of twiddled his knob, I wouldn’t of avoided it. 😂
It has been many years since I saw Lesley Judd. And with one of my favourite drummers - Dr Bill. What a treat.
That’s Lesley Judd from Blue Peter. Great interview.
@Sebastian We all loved her growing up in the UK during the 80s...
"On the main unit, which you're leaning on" Bill is so dry, love it.
Very savvy interviewer. Great stuff.
Such an intelligent conversation, bravo!
Interviewer: "Cymbals?"
Bruford: "Metals"
🤣
I had Simmons drums in the ‘80s but it’s the first time I see its creator and their _future_ lines. Great interview!
Wait you played for Kajagoogoo! Shy shy, Hush Hush Eye-to-eye.
Simmons Bruford and Lesley Judd - did not expect that on my feed!!
David Pinnington Great to get to see and hear Mr Simmons himself. I'm 48, grew up with Simmons on almost every top pop songs in the 80's obviously, got some pads and SDSV but never had a chance or curiosity to google him up! What a treat!
Those drums were everywhere during the eighties.
But I think their most glorious use was on Genesis "The Brazilian" where Phil Collins used them to create such beautiful sonic landscapes.
RastaSaiyaman Ahhhh, the Brazilian. Amazing 80’s sonic sounds from Collins and Banks 👍👍 That song still sounds amazing till this day
Home by the sea II
For me its SAGA: Wind Him Up & Time's Up from World's Apart album in 1981 Steve Negus was the first North American drummer recording with the Simmons on an album.
I Love the Electronic Drums on "Invisible Touch" Song and Entire Album.
I saw him using this with Discipline. Blew me away. Leslie Judd's questions were great.
Fabulous interviewer!
I remember Leslie Judd from the seventies, she's seen here displaying an obvious knowledge and understanding of the drums as evidenced by her questioning. I believe she was married to a drummer. An interesting bit of trivia?
Very, but who was he?
@@aarthoor Anthony Relph.
Bill was one of the earliest and latest users of the Simmons kit in King Crimson and Earthworks, between 1981 and 1998. The company folded in 1999.
@@YesSource I can feel no...sense of measure.
@@scottlowell493 Got it!👏👍🤝
Another early user who was also involved in the development of Simmons drums is Steve Negus, the original drummer of Canadian band SAGA. th-cam.com/video/bFepN57pI1A/w-d-xo.html :-)
I saw the comments before watching the video and I thought they were all being sarcastic - then I watched it, and discovered that Lesley Judd really was superb here. That’s Blue Peter for you - a hard-knocks high-pressure training school that most “adult” journalists would kill for.
Came for Leslie Judd, an old crush I must say.. Bill's a legend though, always struck by how he sounds very eloquent, would sign up to his music lecture class!
Wow intelligent people talking intelligently.I miss it so much.
Every interviewer should be like her
The SDS7 kit sold for $4,995 in 1984.
I used to sell these drums at McMurray Music Company in St. Louis, MO back in the day! Interestingly... world famous artist, Ernest Trova purchased a kit just like this one. He wasn't interested in playing them ... he just liked the way they looked---kind of a piece of sculpture that he displayed proudly in his art studio ... also here in St. Louis.
Fun times!
bought one in our studio at that time, gave clients, but not so much. The pads was far better and less harmfull than the previous being which was some plexiglass
$12,456 in 2020 dollars yikes
True comment. Out of reach of a teen amateur drummer in 1985 at $4995. Then, it cost me only U$500 for a used SDS9 kit (mint cond.) in 1996. What a fun time! $2500 nowadays will buy an electronic kit which can do virtually anything sonically with realistic drum head feel using mesh drum heads. Dave Simmons was THE pioneer that made electronic drums a mainstream item. These old hexagon pads still look like futuristic art!
@@timin770 That's not exactly a fair comparison, as the price of this stuff tends to trend downward rather quickly once the R&D is performed. Just a few years later the SDS9, which actually incorporated digital snare and kick (and which I owned and used to play out for years), was less than $1500.
Saw Bill on earthworks tour was great show
Thanks for posting
Union tour...'Lift me Up' Bruford and White 🥁🥁🥰gives me goosebumps every!time!
Great to find this, I remember watching it at at the time; together with an appearance on BBC's Rock School, where he inverted the snare and kick drum mid-bar, great stuff to watch as a 14 year-old budding Drummer. I eventually got a Simmons kit, SDS5, still have an SDS400 which probably needs every Capacitor replacing by now!
She is really good...
I had a new Simmons SDSV kit about 1982 and then an SDS9 years later. The SDS5 kit was a ground breaker but it did hurt your wrist (hence the phrase ... 'Simmons wrist') as the pads were very hard so all the vibration went back into your hand.
Can't remember how much the SDS5 cost but it was probably £500 or so and I still have the original Brain here but have sold all the 5 and 9 pads and stands years ago.
By the way, by using the SDS5 kit, it taught me not to do delicate stuff on the drums as it couldn't handle it so, I just played straight stuff without any flams etc.
A very interesting experience for me and others at the time I guess.
I now have a Roland TD10 kit which can do all those sounds without the pain (in the wrists)!
Yep, I suffered "Simmons Wrists" too! Great time though, I ended up incorporating the pads into my acoustic rig, triggering an Alesis D4. It mostly worked, until the transducers starting going, then audiences would suddenly get a full-velocity blast of a sample out of nowhere! I have a TD30KV Pro now, sadly haven't used the acoustic kit in a long time, good live venues started dying out even before the current crisis, round here.
l dont know anyone thats mastered the Simmons Kit like Bruford! Super intelligent guy, far and away my favourite drummer! Good questions, and answers i this 'interview'.
Phil Collins
Finally I saw the inventor of my fav electronic drums of all time. He is a nice guy =)
Oh, ALF playing with this SIMMONS drums in one of the TV-series =)
I think I remember that episode, too! The father was imitating Elton John, playing and singing 'Saturday's Alright For Fighting' :-))
it would be great to see the complete interview
The Simmons electronic drums are no longer used as much as they were in the 80's or not used entirely. Drummers today rely mostly on the classic drum set that always produces a much more pure, crisp and wider sound, Bruford was a big user of these and possibly was sponsored by Simmons.
At 4:35 ‘...that’s a whiskey bottle sound....of course empty ‘ haha 😂 love the English humor
I always loved that hexagonal design.
Wow a interview w Dave Simmons fascinating. 1 1/2 mb 😊.
1984; amazing. And I was 26 at the time. Still amazing.
I remember watching this!
She asked good questions. I never liked the sound of the electronic drums. I saw krimson in 95 and Bruford played a standard kit with some effects which was great.
I think Bill Bruford became disenchanted with them. The Simmons kits had a habit of going wrong when playing live.
I've never seen bruford play a fully electric kit like this. It's always been an acoustic with some electronic pads.
They’ve come a VERY long way!!!
Bruford's interviewer is Lesley Judd - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesley_Judd
He played a kit like this on the ABWH tour in '89 - so he really liked these things for a while - he had one regular old snare in the kit - but the rest were Simmons - they are just an 80's thing - but still better than a drum machine - esp. with Bruford on the throne.
From what I remember, that was quite common back then. People would use an acoustic snare and cymbals because you just couldn't get a decent sound for them out of the Simmons brain and using samples would often cause latency issues.
Love you Bill
So Bill was in KC at this time.
Simmons drums were such a prodoct of their time - a time which has, thankfully, passed.
I amazed of the technical questions the lady did to the drummer much like she also played drums
Intelligent and articulate people.....
I watched this thinking 'I think I remember this segment from when it was first broadcast...'. When Dave Simmons said 'Aaah..! The obligatory DOG!' I knew that I had in fact seen it before. I was so enthusiastic about these drums that every dog I saw for the next few months was an 'obligatory' dog...
Bruford is always such a serious dude.
Please include Leslie Judd in the title. Great interview. She was married to a drummer.
Bill 💚 what a style what a guy
Good bit of trivia Michael Hanrahan. She was married to drummer Anthony Relph. He played
with the Eric Delaney Band, then became a session drummer.
He still looks so young in the interview so how old was he when he recorded 'closer to the edge' 14?
@Nelson Robert Willis, I love his genuine enthusiastic smile when he gets into the "zone"!
@@michaelwertzy9808 Lol! That's not an "enthusiastic smile", that's a pretty serious case of what's known as Drummer Face. Your brain is so occupied coordinating all four limbs _and_ maintaining your balance on the throne that you just sort of, lose control of what your face is doing. Bruford is lucky in that his version of the affliction actually looks _almost_ like an expression a human face might make. Mine makes me look as though I'm recovering from a stroke.
Simmons.... My metric at the time was Sly Dunbar in Black Uhuru. One day- hypnotic roots reggae. Next day- sounded like an assembly line in a funk factory.
Modern for about 1 second.
Now, an evocative effect.
Check out VSDS if you want a VST of Simmons drum sounds. They sound amazing.
Where did it all go wrong from electronic drums? This video is from 35 years ago, it feels like we haven’t really progressed from these Simmons kits.
Todays electric drums are million times better than this. Those sounds are funny to me
@@ukkovuorela4196 To be fair, my SIMMONS drumpad from a few years back IS JUNK and sounds like there's been zero progress in 40 years!
My 20 year old ROLAND drumpad, by contrast, STILL sounds as amazing as it did 20 years ago. I've toured the world as a drummer, and when I pull my "kit" out of my shoulder bag (think THICK laptop), every drummer scoffs....UNTIL I START PLAYING. (I only use my arms, and 2 drumsticks. No feet at all. I had to ADAPT to doing kick-snare with ONE hand and everything else with the other hand, and it sounds INCREDIBLE.)
Every drummer should also own a Drumpad for when they don't want to carry or set up a big dumbkit.
Bill Bruford was a pioneer of using electronic drums, very innovative at its time. Who is that woman? She knows more about drums than average journalist
I remember those so well. I also remember judging them with a sort of self-righteous attitude.
Today I play a Roland TD-30vk.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing quite like an acoustic drum set, but the Roland is a godsend for playing live in small clubs and studio work on a dime.
The economics of modern live play are such that most venues don’t want you playing too loud as it runs the customers off. The reason bands play so loud in such situations is, well, drums are loud. Bass player turns up to hear himself, then the guitarist turns up, etc… and before you know it you got 80 dB in a wine bar and no one can hear the vocals. People start leaving, the venue manager doesn’t invite you back.
So today, I play ever how intense I want, but I give the volume control the sound engineer who sits n the audience with an iPad.
And no longer being the last guy to get set up - no more tuning, microphones, or laborious sound mixer integration - and now I’m first to be ready for sound check.
In the studio it’s absolutely glorious with full MIDI out. Before, to fix a bad tune, poor choice of drum sound, etc., any solution was costly. Now, I just switched the drum sound from a vast library of killer sounds. If I decide the sound I really should’ve chosen was a 49 Slingerland, that’s available. Still my playing, just more options.
I do admire Bill and his learning drive.. plus, he´s an excellent drummer, no question about it. I do think he´s good.
Its kind of ironic that the same year (July 1984), King Crimson was dissolved, so he had to use the new kit in his 'solo' career (Earthworks jazz band).
Until the 1990s Yes Tour, with the "humiliating breakdown of Bruford's Simmons drumkit onstage at Madison Square Gardens on 15 June, necessitating a quick return to a minimal acoustic kit" (sic).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworks_(band)#All_Heaven_Broke_Loose_album;_further_touring_(1991-1992)
By the time King Crimson re-united (VROOM 1994), he used an acoustic set back again.
I feel that most futuristic designs in the 80s didn´t prevail, nor were they "survived" with continuity.
I´m talking about the kind of music that was being recorded, ..fashion, and all that retro design that was being shown to the public.
Oh, and great interview, by the way..
The empty whiskey bottle EP ting!
His shirt is phenomenal
Everyone went through a synth period back then,Mahavishnu album with Danny Gottlieb on Simmons drums for alot of the tracks and John McLaughlin trading his beautiful guitar tone for a synth guitar,that album has a charm to it ,I think Gottlieb made full use of the electronic drum set.
It only makes sense that Bruford was the leading proponent of electronic drums because of his desire to explore but sadly, I think they never accomplished what he had hoped they would.
Thankfully, he returned to playing an analog kit where his true talent could be appreciated.
I want Bill’s shoes! Not his specifically - the make and model he’s wearing, I mean. They look nice, and if Bruford’s playing in them, they must be comfortable and functional!! Anyone know what they are?
They look comfortable for sure, but I bet he could play barefoot or wearing flip flops and he would still kick ass.
Deve was ahead of his time
BILL BRUFORD PRA MIM É O MAIS VIRTUOSO DOS MAIS VIRTUOSOS BATERAS QUE CONHEÇO. ELE SEMPRE FOI A CARA DO KING CRIMSON.
How nicely everyone speaks back then. The art of clear speech seems to have been lost.
I don't know if I'm the only one, but in fact, I don't like when Bill Bruford plays electronic drums, because it is his unique non-electronic snare drum sound that I love.... Now he sounds like any other drummer, I can't blindly distinguish him.
Doesn't he play on a acoustic snare? Read it in the comments here. But I agree many drummers don't distinguish their sound. Lars Ulrich may not be the best drummer but he sure got the worst sounding snare.
what a futuristic thing
Shame it's not an SDS5.
Simmons were like playing a countertop...but much better than my Tama techstars.
Hence the 1980s medical condition known as "Simmons wrist."
@@hubbsllc what was that??!
@@dumpygoodness4086 It was a repetitive strain injury (sic) brought on by the very hard playing surface of the SDSV pads, but Simmons pads in general. The bounce-back that Bruford refers to in this clip is largely responsible for I and a lot of other electronic Drummers at the time tended to suffer from continual playing, with regular gigging. Also - the pads were hollow, so in a smaller Bar venue, the audience heard the acoustic sound of the hollow pads, more than the kit at times! It sounded like lots of knitting needles all at once. Fun times and lots to learn, but I still prefer a well-tuned, setup acoustic kit.
Bruford quite an inspiration back in the day and today as well!
I bet that whole kit was very expensive!!! Interestingly, electronic drums never really replaced old-fashioned drums!
They were for the time. The last Simmons kit he played with Yes (Union) and ABWH, the SDX, was very much more expensive, with only 250 consoles made. Danny Carey from Tool had one. They are still fetching big dollars. Multi-zone intelligent pads, 2mb RAM, upgradeable to a whopping 8mb!
here i am in 2021 wishing 80s tech
From king crimson!?
These were regarded as the "drums of the future" back then, with many people believing they'd eventually replace natural drum kits completely! I remember young drummers writing letters to the editor of muso magazines, asking if they should buy an electronic kit to learn how to play, instead of a real one :-)) - And that typical Simmons sound is now actually sooo much more dated than any natural drum sound ;-)
Yeah, I remember reading a Modern Drummer article where Dave was saying something like "the acoustic drum will be obsolete". I knew right then that he had overplayed his hand.
Know how much Bruford loooves Simmons drums now?
I had a simmons kit from 1986 and it was more fun than a barrel of monkies.
I wonder if this was used on King Crimsons Indiscipline album?
Yes
Yes. All three albums from 81 to 84 I believe.
I thought this was blue peter?
Is that a Camco pedal he's using? Good pedals.
Looks like it, they were great; very smooth and fast; but not for me with size 14 (UK) feet! I remember breaking a Dixon pedal, the footplate snapped clean in half mid-gig. Luckily I had my trusty Premier 252 to hand as a spare.
Lesley Judd.... My first crush, before I even knew what a crush was.
Yes and genesis. Great days.
A non-cringe music interview, great job!
She was in the first Monty Python film
Are you sure it wasn't Connie Booth?
Connie Booth and Carol Cleveland were both in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' But Connie Booth...
Is American born. I thought so.
Leslie Judd is a former dancer turned TV presenter. She would have been on Blue Peter at the time, highly improbable.
@@darganx She had a brief uncredited appearance in 'And Now For Something Completely Different' and although just a cinematic remake of TV sketches, was their first film.
I love how English there all are. Lost times forever......
Be nice if regular TV programs today would do interviews/ features of the different instruments/ tech questions like they did way back when. Yes we have the internet?Yes we have Cable/ Dish. But regular TV could do more to emphasize the instruments. And the amazing Musicians that live in our time. Not just featured in a background way in advertising jingles and late night comedy programs where one only hears the bands doing covers or some made up things for a few seconds here and there while the show hosts/ comedians/ actors/ politicians/ athletes, etc get all the attention and glory 'cause 'They're the 'Real Deal'. They're the 'Important Ones' who shape the consumers choices, values, and culture'. Whilst the great musicians get the shaft on mainstream media. In it's simplest form? Who cares? Be surprised how important that 'simple form' introduction to music and the instruments really is/ can be. My generation was probably the last to see it before 'Reality TV' and all this other horseshit took over. Music programs always get cut first from school budgets. Sports programs never get cut no matter how horrible their luck/ teams perform. Especially in USA. Everybody wants their kids to become super jocks/ mechanical technicians of some sort/ Big Residential/ Industrial Contractors/doctors/ or lawyers. Idealistically. Doesn't always work out that way of course. Nobody/ Nothing is/are 'Equal' per se. And money earning/ spending/ bills/ etc are top 5 leading cause of stress, anger, divorce, drug abuse, alcoholism, infidelity, infighting, war, imprisonment, early death to start with so?! But all these people out there? The 'Experts' and 'Sensible' folks? They like to blame everything on 'That crazy music! It needs to go!'
Bruford mismo decía que aquellos tiempos con sets electronicos fueron una pesadilla.
Por?
Ahhh, Leslie Judd! I'm sure I had my first wet dream over her.
Looking at this clip, I had good taste!😜
I can happily report that Bill got my juices going in an entirely different sense!😬🎸
sds9?
1.5 Mb ROM, 8~32Kb per channel...
* King Crimson Interviews
Sounds like one big commercial for Simmons Drums.
The sound out of that kit is GRT and 1984 amazing...but then it's the bloke out of king crimson....
Lesley Judd, Gorgeous. Bill Bruford, Brilliant. Electronic drum kit.... Shite.
Haha! 😃
Here today, gone tomorrow.
Did he say, "32K". LOL
Imagine what he could do with 1gb 😮
"The drummer looked around" British af 🤣❤️