Gary Husband
An interview during the recording of "Thrive" by Gongzilla.


Following is a transcription of an interview conducted while Gary was in the midst of recording the Gongzilla album "Thrive".
It took place at TMP Studio, Berlin, N.J., August 1996, and was never printed.



Q. Your playing is very melodic, with a lot of things going on with the cymbals creating their own melodies and counter melodies while the groove continues underneath.
Do you hear it this way or is it playing that comes without thought - a sort of happy accident?

Gary. Well it is ideally ALL coming up not out of thought especially, in fact I try to steer myself away from acknowledging any thought "chitter chatter" during the process of playing period. Unless, of course you happen to be doing a TV session or something! I mean, it's DRUMS right? By nature of it's "complimentary" function there is a certain strength and control one must maintain, but I suppose if I look at it I'd have to define my own approach as being quite, almost impressionistic, suggestive, hopefully complimentary in some imaginative kinds of ways. Textural, colourful hopefully, with some good inspiration coming out of me towards the rest of the personnel. I've always felt to approach the drums in a very emotional way too, in the music.

Q. If we talk about groove itself, do you feel this is secondary to musicality in drumming?

G. No, of course not secondary, but groove (to me) is something that kind of is or is not inherent INSIDE everything going on. You know, I'm talking about the kind of expressive kind of playing we're doing on this record for instance: Groove, to me, isn't something that has to heavily underpin everything down to a solid backbeat or something ... even though we hear a lot of that around, and there are great players who are very, very magnificent with this kind of style. It's a very subtle essential, which doesn't, to me, have to hit you over the head with some kind of leaden 2 and 4! Y'know, this is just me, ... a real personal thing.

Q. So it's therefore MORE musical.

G. Exactly. Not that I'm attempting to try and sound superior or anything ridiculous.

Q. Well, you have this pretty dynamic style, and you're using big toms, and great big cymbals. How do you find you able to reign in all of that and play so expressively?

G. Because, I guess big drums and big cymbals also possess a powerful capacity to be a very expressive medium! I mean, look, it doesn't make any difference. You can be making the most incredible music sweeping the road! There are probably artistic geniuses who haven't got a clue how to hold a pair of sticks with the most incredible talent. A very bizarre, poetry of life. I like power, you know? I like loud! But, I also like whispering through the drums, or being suggestive. I suppose I am going through a period of looking at bigger sizes for the moment, too.

Q. You have been very particular during these sessions about certain passages being just so, particularly fills, and even off beats. Have you always been so critical of your own playing?

G. Yes. Y'know I'm sure this is no unique trait! Not you? I'm very, very committed to this whole thing being as fantastic is it can be, but I am rather tough with myself, and others! Look, all this wrestling, the struggle, the achievement of some kind, the angst etc., is all part of this divine, mystical process ... at least, to me. I suppose we're all different, and through one's music all tends to be revealed! There are certain things, many things I should be a lot better at handling!

Q. When you're approaching a piece for the first time do you give a lot of thought to what you'll play, or do you plunge right in and see what you get?

G. Somehow, I adopt both approaches. There's something compelling I think about the immediate responses in how to approach something, and I honour them because that's kind of pure to me. At the same, another approach, one of reflection - a very important facet of being a musician - is something I'll spend a long hard period dwelling in. Usually though, there I'll come up, (and go with) with a pretty immediate conception of an idea. You know, it depends a lot on what is I'm doing too of course. For instance, with Gary (Moore) I'm required to be quite "standard" in a lot of ways, powerful and quite conventional. With Allan Holdsworth, I am always given a lot of free reign over how I'm gonna come up with something for his pieces. Just about all the recording I've done with him he's never specified a thing to me in terms of what kind of a beat or flow he'd like. It's a big compliment really, but I throw myself right in, to the point where you have beats like the ones on "Sand", or "Unmerry-Go-Round", "Atavachron", "Non Brewed Condiment" and all those. They are all a kind of counterpoint idea I had almost instantaneously, about how the drum part could enhance these pieces. I'm very lucky really, and I love him so much.

Q.Tell me about this latest project with Gongzilla.

G. Nice, exciting. Hansford Rowe and Bon have been really very, very nice to work with, and they went to the trouble of flying me here to do this with them. Hanny actually, and I first played together in 1978 or something! Neither of us can remember what we looked like, or how it sounded! The music here is fun. A little wacky, and quite open too. Actually, the engineer here is excellent too; Chris Muth - he also makes great coffee!! I'm actually quite impressed with the drum sound too, here, so I hope it will get out and people will like it.

Q. This record seems more aggressive to me than their last one, definitely a departure from the previous album, with more of an edge.

G. Edge is nice. Nice word. Well, you know I think if you change the drummer you pretty much everything. It's all been done very live too, all looking at each others grimaces and mugging!! There's been a lot of nice feeling about the whole thing. Maybe we'll even do some more. Hope so.

Q. Tell me about the time you spent in Level 42.

G. Well, I stayed around four and a half years, but you know the band didn't do that much work during those years. There were a few longish tours, but I had also a lot of time to do my other more creative things too throughout. I liked being able to develop the songwriting possibilities a little bit, I liked the commitment of the a sort of ongoing band quality too. It never performed less that 100%, except perhaps towards the end, majorly because there weren't too many in the personnel who could be that enthusiastic about it anymore. That's when I knew I had to get out, because that will eat away at me and destroy a lot. I had a lot of regard for them long before I joined, and Mark is a great singer and character. For the fans of theirs that didn't go along with the changes I represented, I'm sorry, but things have got to change! A very elemental law! You know, I've got some nice memories, and ones I'd rather not remember, but it was well worth the commitment, energy and time. I mean, I like all kinds of music, much to the disgust of the jazz/rock fans! A LOT of pop music over the years. I feel sure Mark and I will do something again at some point. I pretty much lost it with the others though.

Q. Of the drummers currently playing who gets you off.

G. Well, you know I'm working with Billy Cobham a lot now, and he is a very, very inspirational figure to me. Here's this guy putting me on a platform duetting with him in front of his crowd. This tells me a lot about the human being behind the talent. He's wonderful. Tony Williams, conceptually, completely changed the whole perimeter in terms of expression, for me. Miles Davis said: "Tony, if he hears someone stumble in the street ... he might wanna play THAT"! That's a great testament or summary right there. You know, I guess I come from Tony, Billy, Narada, Jack DeJohnette, Eric Gravatt, Mitch Mitchell in a lot of ways, and I went my own way from that point, developing that with my musical "brothers"; Allan, and Steve (Topping).

Q. You mentioned there will be a solo album in the works. Can you give us a sneak preview of who we might hear on the record.

G. Well, nothing's finalised yet. I'm having a great deal of trouble selling the idea!!! I'd like to put Allan with Steve Topping together again, ... you know we used to have a "free" improvising band together, called "Handlebars", way back in the early days. Certainly Jimmy Johnson, the GREAT bass player. I have this group now too; Gary Husband Group which features Steve with, at the moment, an English bass player called Michael Mondesir.

Q. There will be all Gary Husband tunes on the record?

G. Yes, pretty much, with the exception of "Anyone Who Had A Heart", but wait for the arrangement because it's barely recognisable!

Q. With all the projects you've got going on, where do find time to write?

G. Well, actually, and ironically, travelling, to me is very conducive to "hearing" things, writing, and developing stuff. It kind of falls in line with the way I've significantly practised over the years, too. Just hearing it in the head, with the feeling and experience of forward motion. Trains are GREAT for this!

Q. To me British trains are noisy, but I guess rhythmically they're good!?

G. Well they're actually more stationary than anything else these days!

Q. Gary, thanks a lot.

G. My pleasure.