Achieving Dead Stroke: Drumming Up Inspiration

I love music. There’s something about the way a musician is in total command of his or her instrument that I relate to my pool playing. It reminds me of that scene from “The Hustler” when Paul Newman explains how the cue feels like it’s part of his arm.

Stephen Perkins is probably best known as the drummer for Jane’s Addiction. I couldn’t name a single one of their songs, although I’d probably recognize a few of their hits. I’m not a huge fan of The Who, but I can appreciate their place in rock history and know that each of the four members were highly skilled musicians — basically they were one of the first super groups. As a tournament player, I’ve heard The Who’s song “Who Are You” hundreds of times at the Riviera Tournaments in Las Vegas and in dozens of pool rooms.

Stephen Perkins channels Keith Moon of The Who.

Perkins has clearly spent many, many hours listening to the original recording and practicing the piece. He’s not in a tribute band. He’s not doing some one-off Keith Moon memorial concert. I’m sure he’s a sponsored musician by Drum Workshop and possibly by Guitar Center, but he’s obviously doing what he loves. Perkins is making an appearance inside the Hollywood, California Guitar Center as a promotional event. There’s a fair sized audience strewn about the store, but I suspect he’d be playing with just as much vigor and joy if it was just him and the afterhours janitor rocking out.

I recommend you plug in headphones or watch this on a PC/Mac with a good audio system. And turn it up pretty loud.

Watch out for these highlights:

0:04  Stephen Perkins takes time to tell the small audience what to look for in the performance and I suspect what speaks to him about Moon’s drumming in the song. He hasn’t simply made a technical breakdown of the drumming. He’s broken down the song, identified themes, and alludes to struggles that the band and Moon were going trough. You get the sense he could talk about Keith Moon and percussion in songs by The Who for hours on end. He’s genuinely interested and appreciates the ground broken by them in rock history. The song is now over 35 years old and Perkins is currently 45 years old. He has a sense of history.

1:16  The kick drum shakes the tripod supporting the camera. Sheesh, it must be LOUD in the store!

1:57  The first fill. Speed and accuracy right out of the gate. He seems to be in dead punch like a pro from the word go.

2:44  Supreme control of his whole body. An awareness and intimacy of every piece of his drum kit. Although the equipment looks beautiful, it is the product or the sound that matters. If it sounded great, I don’t think he would care if the drums were as tattered as his torn T-shirt.

3:15: He’s not bothered that he’s lost his china cymbal. No panic or agitation is apparent. The show must go on and this simple equipment slip up has now made this performance unique and memorable. I imagine he’s sort of glad that an unexpected challenge is going to force him to flex his improvisational muscles or find a way to get back on track. It’s returned to the podium and immediately put into service. At his first opportunity, he makes an adjustment so it’s positioned to his liking. The cymbal drop episode ends with a thankful smile to the helper. The smile to me says, “Thanks! Yeah, we’re rocking. It ain’t any fun until you’ve broken something!”

3:41  The quiet section of the song. He takes such care to feather the cymbals and head rings to accurately reproduce the track note-perfect. He’s got range. It’s not all about power.

4:35  With the mallets, he seems lost in the song. He’s not playing to the audience or putting on a show. He seems lost in the music and coaxing the exquisite sound for his own satisfaction.

7:25  Another smile as if to say, “Oh, I forgot you all were here. Wow! Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed that as much as I did.”

So how does this help my pool game? I appreciate the dedication, passion, and attention to detail that Stephen has put into his drumming. He switches his snare on and off and switches from sticks to mallets and back to sticks. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. No panic or fumbling. I feel like he’s done this Keith Moon breakdown and tribute almost as a labor of love. The passion and joy he shows stands above all. He seems like he’s playing it as if it’s the last time he’ll ever hear the song and he wants each strike to be remembered. It inspires me to dig deeper into learning certain pool shots or techniques. It makes me realize that watching some great pool player with a unique style might get me to think creatively and devise new skills or attitudes that I can incorporate into my game.

I’ve probably watched this clip upwards of thirty times for my own enjoyment, inspiration, and in preparing this article. I’m no drummer, but I sure do get stoked to see a good one at the top of his game. Or maybe it just took that many viewings to wash the image from my brain of CSI:  Miami actor David Caruso delivering cheesy lines and removing his sunglasses to another Who track, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”