RobbieFrance.com is the place where I, Robbie France, can write about the various projects I’m involved in now, and provide little snippets of history from my career.
It’s from the 1984 Canterbury Tour I did with Diamond Head. In particular, it’s from the gig we did in Leicester. Here’s a bit of background:
I think Sean & Brian likedthe fact they had good players in the band. They relished the fact that no matter what they threw at us, we came up with the goods. This intro… predominantly 7/4, was something we threwtogether at the rehearsal studio. Once I’d moved to Stourbridge and was determined to make a real go of the situation, Sean & Brian seemed to really trust me with ideas and were less wary in general about experimenting.
So a couple of quick blasts. Then the same with a few long tom rolls. These were the things I loved about Billy Cobham as a kid. Those rolls which just seemed to have no ‘timing’, but a beautiful descending note. (I do the same in the Robbie France Drum Tutorial Video Part 2. At the end of the middle part, to reintroduce the build up melody.)
Then 7/4 melody over 4/4 drums. Back to 7/4 with the band. A couple of fills, a nod of the head to Billy Cobham & Lenny White…And back to a straight 4/4 a ‘Highway Star’ type snare thing, a quick bash and there yas go! Intro. Simple.
This solo is from the Diamond Head University Tour 1984, recorded at Leicester, taken from ‘Heaven From Hell’.
A bit of background:
Sean & Brian were well aware that I could `play a bit’…it was Sean’s idea to do the drum solo half way through the set. One of our most popular tracks was ‘Heaven From Hell’, that’s where we chose to introduce the fans to my style of playing.
Most of you who are here, I hope, already know me, or know something about me. Perhaps you listen to my Radio Shows, or have attended one of my Drum Clinics around the world, or even been to see me play live in one of the bands I played for way back when.
you may know, you may not, that I have another blog out here on t’internet - Robbie on the Radio.
Anyway, from time to time I post articles on there with opinions about the state of the music industry. Some of these articles are picked up and published elsewhere, like in the local Beachcomber Magazine based here in Spain.
After seeing the quality of some of the Ellis Beggs and Howard videos on YouTube, we had a dig around in the Robbie France Archives and thought we’d give it a go ourselves. Here’s the first offering (see if you can spot me in the background).
