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Pretty much everything Billy Ficca does in the 15-minute version of "Little Johnny Jewel" from The Blow-Up double CD. It's like he's dancing with his drums.

Television bassist Fred Smith has observed that "someday people will realize that the sound of Television is the sound of Billy's hi-hat."

Neil Pert is far from my favorite drummer, but he's in the top ten. Neil has a great 16th note groove. It's taken from the Book Of Bruford, but that's ok.
It ain't like a Buddy Miles Band Of Gypsy's groove, but what is?

Wait, this is about fills.

I saw Rush on the 7th, and the fills during By Tor (and the Snow Dog) were life affirming. I was 14 again, listening to "All The World's A Stage", thinking "I should figure that stuff out..."

Dave Lambardo is not that great a drummer. Speeding up drum parts is punk-ass.

Ringo (and the rest of the band) could slow Rain DOWN and make it badass. His drumming on "A Day in The Life" is probably some of the most influential drumming ever recorded.

Great Fills:

Mitch Mitchell - Fill before second verse of "Little Wing"

John Bonham - Break before guitar solo in "Whole Lotta Love"

Bill Bruford - "Larks Tongues in Aspic", 4:45 (right channel)

Chester Thompson / Ralph Humphrey - Zappa "Roxy & Elsewhere" More Trouble Everyday

Hal Blaine - Carpenters "Goodbye To Love" fill after break near the end.

Allan White - Beginning of "Sound Chaser" from Yes "Relayer" ..Ok, more of a solo than a fill.

Johnny Barbata - Any fill in the songs Don't Be Denied or L.A. off Neil Young's "Time Fades Away" lp.

Lotz more.


Jay

alexdamon wrote:queens of the stone age
the radio hit "no one knows"
that drum fill that dave does...yeah you know which one.

absolutely. it's pretty similar to the ballsiest of the fills from La Grange by ZZ Top. i'll throw in a vote for that one too. both of them, i mean.

Maurice wrote:Television bassist Fred Smith has observed that "someday people will realize that the sound of Television is the sound of Billy's hi-hat."

That is so true.

I could start a thread a new thread called "best hi-hat playing." Now that would be nerdy.

charles

...Budgie from the Banshee's always had great fills. I think he's under-rated. You can tell he liked Elvin Jones or didn't take allot of stuff from more "rock" oriented players. Lot's of tomz.

Floyd Sneed from Three Dog Night was under rated, too. Lot's of great spots. I'm serious.


I still like Bill Bruford more than Neil Peart. Neil always seems to have more worked out drum "parts" (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I just like Bill's more improvisational approach and the way he opens up crazy rhythmic bear traps all the time. He's great on the Chris Squire solo lp Fish Out of Water.

Speaking of great cymbal work: Gordy Knutson on "Time Keeps on Slippin' " by Steve Miller. [I last saw Gordy playing Christian rock on cable access TV. Oh, well.]

DJ Bonebrake unloads a whole slew of great fills on the long fadeout of X's "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts." DJ's an underrated skinsman all around -- extremely musical, which is a rare quantity these days.

Hawaii Five-O theme song [Artist unknown. Anyone?]

John Densmore on The Doors' first LP, especially on "The End," after the father-killing/mother-loving scene.

Bonzo on Zeppelin's "D'yer Maker." You know: the part with about four dead stops.

By the way, after nearly thirty years I still don't get the intro to Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll." Is there an extra beat in there? I know that Page hits a clam at the end [open D] , but do he and Jones come in late at the beginning? This drives me nuts every time I hear it.

In my humble opinion, a drum fill should sling-shot a band from one part to another. My all-time favorite fill is in Shellac's Crow. After the guitar breakdown, going into the second pre-chorus ("in the corner...") that quick drum fill that goes like, budda-dum-TSCH.

Also a lot of stuff on Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power that I can't remeber in detail now.

dillinger escape plan - hollywood squares (between 2:40-2:50)
S.D.R.E. - the begining of the second song on LPII

STF wrote:In my humble opinion, a drum fill should sling-shot a band from one part to another. My all-time favorite fill is in Shellac's Crow. After the guitar breakdown, going into the second pre-chorus ("in the corner...") that quick drum fill that goes like, budda-dum-TSCH.

right on, STF! that part of the vinyl is almost worn through here in the floog household. 4 pages in on this thread, and you're the first to mention it...unbelievable. that fill is fuelled by simplicity, the sense of anticipation created by that guitar/bass breakdown and immaculate timing. i feel almost dizzy every time i hear it, and hence i was absolutely gutted when it wasn't repeated live in london a few years ago. err...maybe that's enough gushing...

i don't think a drummer has to be that technically good a player to create a good fill. i like that idea of getting the guitars from one bit to the next, using the space available to catapult them through.

how about the illusion of a complex fill? a friend of mine, many years ago listening to the MELVINS, was convinced that dale had a LARS ULRICH-size leviathan drumkit, only to discover when he saw them live that it was one tom sitting above the bass drum and one floor tom. they were just being very skillfully used.

i'm surprised no-one has mentioned jon wright from NOMEANSNO yet (although i haven't read all the postings here). i'll have to go and dig out some records and get back to you...