When I started this site, I never thought I would be getting to rub elbows with some of the most inspirational and professional drummers on the scene today.  When I heard that STYX was coming to town, I thought I would just give it a shot and contact Todd via e-mail and pitch the idea of him gracing us with an interview for the site.  Todd was very gracious in granting us some time and allowing us to meet him at the show.  I called him at his home in Austin, TX. and the results of that conversation follow. 

K&S:   Hey, this is Ron with Kick and Snare. 

TS:  Hey Ron, what’s going on man?

K&S:   Oh, nothing much.  I didn't know if our clocks were synchronized or not.

TS:  Yep.  I’m in central time here. 

K&S:   Where are you located right now?

TS:  I’m in Austin, Texas. 

K&S:   Austin, oh, that’s cool.  I’ll be going down there for the NAMM show in July. 

TS:  Sadly, I’ll be on the road.  I move to Austin, the NAMM show is here, and I’m gone. 

K&S:   So, you’re living in Austin instead of L.A. now? 

TS:  Yea, I moved here with my wife in December. 

K&S:   Oh, ok.  Because I read your write-up in Modern Drummer about your drum room, and I guess that was out in Los Angeles, wasn’t it? 

TS:  Yep, and I had to do it all over again here. 

K&S:   Wow.  Well, it was probably fun, though. 

TS:  Yea, it really was.  Now I have a bigger room. 

K&S:   That is great.  I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.  I just have a few questions I want to ask you. 

TS:  Sure.

K&S:   What are some of your favorite Styx songs that you’re playing?

TS:  I really enjoy the whole set from beginning to end.  It’s hard to pin any favorites down because pretty much there’s no rest or break for me in any capacity, so I have to be on top of my game from beginning to end.  But I suppose if I had to really narrow it down and answer the question correctly, I have a soft spot in my heart for anything from the Grand Illusion record, which is really the first record that I bought by the band.  So, I suppose in saying that, there’s something special about anything from the Grand Illusion record. 

K&S:   At the time that you purchased that record, did you have any clue that you’d ever be playing in the band? 

TS:  Goodness, no.  I was 8 or 9 years old. 

K&S:   You didn’t set your sights quite that far ahead I guess. 

TS:  It was the farthest thing from my mind. 

K&S:   Well, let’s talk about your clinics a little bit.  What types of things are you trying to convey to your audiences on your current clinic tour? 

TS:  Well, drum clinics are one of the only forums where a drummer can play as many notes as possible and have a bit of a fireworks show and play long extended 20-minute solo.  It has to be entertaining, yet musically interesting for the listener.  Conversely, I also have to drive home the point to some of the younger attendees that if they really want to have a career  in music and have a career as a drummer, the most important thing to do is to serve the music, be able to groove, have steady time, have good meter, be on time and prepared or early when you get called for something, and to be able to get along with people.  It’s a lot to sort of sum up a two hour clinic in two sentences or so. 

K&S:   Of course. 

TS:  That’s what I try to do, and then I’m essentially there as a teacher and a guide to answer any questions about drums, drumming, the music business, or the gear that I’m playing, actually showing on behalf of the company that has sponsored me for these clinics. 

K&S:   Ok.  Speaking of the gear, when did you first sign on with Pearl? 

TS:  I went with Pearl in 2000, although it took a while to receive my Masterworks kit, because they’re custom kits after all.  I’d played Sonor since I was about ten years old and, through a long story, I ended up with Ayotte for a time, and right after I went with them is when everything went down the drain with Ray Ayotte leaving the company.  Then I saw the Masterworks line from Pearl.  I’ve always judged what gear I want to play not only by the sound but by something that makes me feel like a ten year old kid again.  Something that really inspires me to want to play the instrument, and I’ve always loved exotic wood finishes.  I prefer thick shell drums, and I could marry the two, sort of old Sonor style with the Pearl Masterworks.  The fact that I’ve been using the same kit live with Styx since May of 2001 speaks volumes.

K&S:   Yea, heavy touring usually will take its toll on lesser gear. 

TS:  Well, not only that, but there’s a lot of guys that want a different color kit every year and want new gear all the time, but these drums continually deliver what my ears want to hear, and I still look at this drum set like I’m looking at it for the first time and again making me feel like a kid and being excited about playing the instrument.  You know, the drums have to inspire you night after night and to get that when you’re playing 120 shows a year is invaluable. 

K&S:   What was your first endorsement deal?

TS:  My very first endorsement deal was with Vic Firth back in 1990 or 91.  However, now I’m with Pro Mark, and they make a stick for me­ called the SD330W model that hopefully soon will be added to the autograph series.  That remains to be seen.  It looks like we may be heading in that direction, hopefully.  It’s a maple stick that’s essentially the “fat five b” but maple’s lighter than hickory, so I’m able to have a nice thick stick but have it be a very controllable weight where I play the sticks as opposed to the sticks playing me, which happens a lot of times when you have a stick that’s too heavy or just isn’t right for your physicality. 

K&S:   I prefer the Maple to be honest with you.  It’s one of those things, I suppose, that when you get used to it, anything else feels out of balance.

TS:  Yea, but I pick up a lot of guys’ sticks that are big rock sticks and I feel like I’ve got little billy clubs in my hands. 

K&S:   With a schedule that is full from touring, recording, and clinics, when do you take the time to work on new ideas that are going through your head? 

TS:  Pretty much whenever I can.  It’s not always easy, and it’s not easy when you’re on the road, you know, taking a pair of sticks out of your suitcase and playing on a hotel bed.  It’s not really the same.  And sometimes if I’ve been out for five weeks and I come home and have four days at home, really running to the drums is not something I’m doing where you need a balance in life and you need a break.

K&S:   Correct.

TS:  We just had a three month break here and I was able to kind of have the time to get reacquainted with sitting down at my little jazz kit and playing swing time and playing other sort of light touch settings that I don’t get to do on the road with Styx, you know.  When I’m out on the road doing that, I’m very in tune to that, but if I were to get called for a jazz gig, my knees would be shaking. 

K&S:   What kind of kit is your jazz kit? 

TS:  That was the drum set I learned on.  That was my father’s kit.  It was an old 1969 Slingerland 4 piece kit with an 18 inch bass drum, 12 inch tom, and a 14 inch floor tom. 

K&S:   Bet it feels good to get in there with that smaller kit without all the distraction of a lot of gear and have to really improvise those sounds, and like you said, play that swing time and stuff. 

TS:  It’s nice to sort of get in touch with the instrument and get in touch with the ability to improvise and be firing on all synapses and all cylinders, to just have your whole improvising thing back to a high degree. 

I have three kits set up in my drum room.  They’re all very different, and they all inspire my musical thoughts in different directions.  I sort of hop from kit to kit.  You know, I don’t exactly feel like playing swing time on the triple bass Masterworks mayhem kit, but I’ll go sit in a little jazz kit and the sound and the feel will make me explore those types of ideas. 

K&S:   What areas of your drumming to you feel like you need the most work on?  For example, some guys will tell me they want to get stronger at playing Latin rhythms in a musical context.

TS:  No, man, I was in a salsa / samba band for a long time, and not that I’m the Latin master, but I feel I have a pretty good handle on a lot of that.  You know, what I work on when I kind of have a blank slate is just putting on the click track and just always trying to make things feel good.  Because Styx is not a groove gig.  Of course the music has to groove, it has to feel good, but it’s a very active, you know, fill every eight bar type of gig.  So, I just love putting on a click track and just playing time.  Because really, outside of Styx, which there aren’t too many gigs like that that allow that many notes played in one night,  when I get called for sessions, I have to play great time and I have to serve the music.  Actually, I probably play less notes when I’m practicing and just trying to make things feel good, so that when I do get called for that sort of thing, I’m kind of tuned into that zone. 

K&S:  Click track playing is one of the things we’re trying to really advocate to younger drummers that are looking at our site.  That first time they get called to the studio, the click track is usually the thing that will either get you hired again or get you fired if you have no experience with it. 

TS:  Well, it’s a very organic thing that’s unique to the piece of music that you’re playing on any given day.  You could be doing a session and you could vary the click right in the middle, and there might be one section of the song, say the pre-chorus, where every time you listen back it feels like it’s speeding up or that it’s really on top, but you solo the drums and you solo the click and you’re burying it.  You didn’t realize it at the time because you’re burying it with a click.  However, when you go back to try and get the take, you know that you have to pull back at that section there.  Or if you’re reading a chart, and you know that bars 24 through 28, you have to pull back and get with the click and then bury it in the center or whatever after that, and then you go back and listen to the take, and then it seems smooth.  You’re not really aware of those adjustments until you listen to them, then you have to be able to recognize them and then make the adjustments.  So, it’s hard to prepare for that type of thing other than being able to play a little bit behind the click or being able to push the click, whatever the case may be, and then be able to execute it whenever you get called for a job. 

K&S:   That’s really good advice.  You have a really impressive snare collection.  Do you have a particular favorite for live situations? 

TS:  For live, I mean, I’m a good company boy, and I use a Pearl Ultra Cast snare drum live, and that speaks volumes about that particular drum that I would choose that drum over either the wood Masterworks or anything else in my collection.  How I started using that drum is I had Pearl send me one as a backup while I was using an 8-ply or 10-ply maple Masterworks that matched the kit.  One day in sound check, my drum tech and I decided to throw up the Ultra Cast, and Gary Loizzo, a house engineer, said, “Hey, what’s that snare drum?”  And I said, “Well, it’s this aluminum Pearl Ultra Cast snare drum.”  And he said, “That’s the drum, use that.  That sounds more like a wood drum than your wood drum does.” 

K&S:   I was going to ask about that, because the things that I’ve been reading about it was that for a metal drum, it’s got the best of both worlds.  It’s got the warmth yet the rigidity of a metal drum. 

TS:  It really is a great drum.  Gosh, it’s been three or four years now that I’ve been using that drum and, again, it speaks volumes that that’s the drum that I use live, and it’s been the same drum, and for a workhorse, that’s going to hold up on the road.  There’s a lot of great snare drums, but there’s a lot of snare drums that are really delicate, that take a lot of babying and a lot of care, and you’re careful when you got to change the heads, and you got to undo the bottom head as well when you change the top head because, you know, it’s a sensitive shell or the lugs might pull.  This thing, you know, you could throw it around, you could drop it, you could do whatever, and it’s just an amazing workhorse drum that is very pleasing to my ears and Gary Loizzo’s ears in the front of the house.  I have to trust his ears as well. 

K&S:   Ok.  I want one now.  Were you ever on drum line in high school? 

TS:  Yes.  And we had a competitive marching band and competitive drum line as well, and I marched snare all four years of high school. 

K&S:  Was the transition from rudimental snare to kit playing awkward?

TS:  It wasn't difficult as I was a kit player first.  I view the whole kit as an entire entity.  So I just had to jump into the drumline world and learn about that genre.  When I was a freshman and I had a lot to learn about the drum line world, but luckily, we always had good instructors and always had good players around and so it was just a matter of making the adjustments to that world.  But, you know, whether it was symphonic band or jazz band or gigs that I was playing outside of school, I just considered them all avenues of learning and I threw them all into the vocabulary bag instead of changing myself to do this one thing or whatever.  I kind of looked at it like tonight we’re having steak, tomorrow night we’re having lobster, you know, the night after that we’re having Chinese.  You know, I kind of looked at it like that. 

K&S:   Yeah.  And sometimes you’ll have some kids come off drum line and try to make the transition to kit and may not have the feet for it right away.  They’ve got the drum line hand chops going on, but sometimes, I’ve just seen varying degrees of that.  I guess that’s why I asked that.  Match grip versus traditional grip.  You’ve heard a lot of debate.  Sometimes you’ll have old school guys who say there’s a proper way.  Some people are open-minded enough to say it’s just the way I learned.  What do you say?

TS:  There is no debate.  If someone held their sticks like chopsticks, you know, and was able to convey and execute their musical ideas, who’s to say that that’s wrong.  However, a lot of people will develop bad habits or do things to limit themselves and build up barriers where they’re not able to express their musical ideas or express their musical ideas with any ease.  Or even worse, hurt themselves while playing.  I learned traditional grip because my father was a jazz drummer and that’s the way I learned.  However, I also play matched grip and I’ll go back and forth depending on whatever feels good at the time.  I always encourage younger players to learn both grips, because you might be playing match grip at any given moment and, for whatever reason, switch over to traditional grip and it will inspire you to explore some different avenues that you wouldn’t have gone down had you not switched over.  I think it was Tony Williams years ago who said there’s a whole other universe there for you to explore, why not explore it. 

K&S:   Exactly. 

TS:  So there are benefits to both. 

K&S:   Ok.  Let’s talk about some tunes.  You were saying earlier that the Styx gig is not so much a groove oriented gig.  It’s kind of a heavy notes gig more or less.  I want to talk about a few tracks.  I guess what I consider essential Todd, if you would.  You can tell me what you think about these.  These are some of my favorites off of some of the recent albums.  “Great Expectations”, I feel this Bernard Purdy thing mixed with a reggae kind of a vibe in there, and I really like that tune. 

TS:  I hadn’t thought about that one in a really long time.  Interesting choice.  That album, “Brave New World”, I was very much a session player.  That was very far from a “band” experience.  I was called in—I was presented with the material.  Most of the material had some form of pre-existing drum programming on it, and I was able to take the ideas from whoever composed the songs, and I had a framework that I could work in to change up or hip up or do my own thing with.  But it was not the free framework of say the album “Cyclorama” that happened in 2003, which was entirely done as a band by guys in the room.  But, not to digress, getting back to “Great Expectations”, you know, that was kind of the beat that was programmed minus the ghost notes, and I guess that’s where your Bernard Purdy analogy comes in, which I suppose I was definitely thinking Bernard/Jeff Picaro on that track.  And that’s just sort of what fit the demo, what fit that particular piece of music, and I was able to get some ghost note things and a couple of step hat things in to hopefully sort of make it feel unique in that vane but hopefully, still sound like me. 

K&S:   It very definitely stood out.  It’s one of my favorites.  “I Will Be Your Witness” off that same album seemed to have a really strong groove to me and I liked your splash work on there, the way you worked between your hat and your splashes. 

TS:  Thanks. 

K&S:   That was very cool. 

TS:  Again, there was, you know, kind of a pre-programmed thing, but then I was able to go in there and spice things up with some ghost notes, a couple of little rolls and roughs and high hat things, and essentially some complicated patterns in the chorus when the right hand goes to the ride cymbal, it’s very much a lot of left hand work on the high hat in between the 2 and 4 and the snare and, again, with some step hat action, creating some sixteenth note undercurrents beneath the 2 and 4 which is the solidity of the groove of that particular song. 

K&S:   On the album, “Cyclorama”, the song “One with everything” ? 

If I didn’t know that was you, if I would have had to take a guess, if I didn’t know that you existed, I would have said that that was Neil Peart.  Just because the preciseness of it, the way the fills felt, just a Peart-ish kind of thing to me. 

TS:  Well, I suppose some of the odd time things, especially the 5/8 section, could be very Rush like.  And I suppose there’s some Neil in my musical makeup, but I really listened to Rush like 1976 through 82 and sort of never dealt with them after that.  That was sort of the golden era for me as far as Rush and Neil goes.  I was not channeling him or thinking of him in that particular song.  If anything, there were a few moments I was cognizant of Vinnie Colaiuta, with the seemingly straight quarters over the 7/8 groove, which is pretty derivative of some of his ideas on the Sting albums.  Yet this was in much more of a prog vane which I suppose would evoke thoughts of Rush. 

K&S:   I was thinking more of Neil from Test for Echo and Vapor Trails.  This is the song you played on the last clinic tour as part of the show, right? 

TS:  Yeah. 

K&S:   Ok.  I thought it sounded familiar when I was listening to it.  I had to kind of pull some things back out and do a little homework. 

TS:  Yea.  But there’s a lot of sort of flam drag things, which evokes to me more of a Tony Williams, Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Smith, sort of thing, yet again in the prog rock framework.  So that’s sort of a melding of multiple influences, which, hopefully, comes out sounding unique, you know. 

K&S:   Well, you’ve definitely established a sound for yourself.  The song is a drummer song to me.

TS:  What I really like about the overall effect is that you would play that and people would maybe not think that that was Styx.  Or as to those who are in the know, Styx does have a tradition of some prog rock myths, you know, in its past albums.  But for those whose only reference for Styx is, you know, Babe and Mr. Roboto, I think that would come quite as a surprise.  So, that is the effect of listening to the piece of music as a whole. 

But that’s what I dig about that.  We normally do play that in the set if we’re able to play a full two hour show.  There are a lot of places that only want us for ninety minutes.  And I fear that perhaps the Shreveport gig will only be a ninety minute show, reason being is the promoter, or people that purchased the show, set the time, the length of the set.  And most casinos don’t want a show longer than ninety minutes because frankly they want the people out on the tables. 

K&S:   Yeah.  You get them feeling good and then they will go play the games.

TS:  Well, if we play a two hour and fifteen minute show, that’s 45 minutes the casino’s lost of the crowd out there gambling.

K&S:   Well, I go there for the shows and stuff.  I’m not for putting my money on the tables and that sort of thing. 

TS:  If it were up to me, it’d be a two hour and fifteen minute show every night.

K&S:   Yeah.  I’m hoping to eventually catch up and maybe do a little traveling and check out one of your clinics when it gets close enough to this area.

TS:  Hopefully, one of these days some drum shop in your area will bring me down for one. 

K&S:   The clinics have been few here lately.  We have hosted guys like Virgil Donati, Tommy Igoe, Terry Bozzio, Chad Wakerman, Mike Mangini and Carl Allen.  But we have not had a name in here in a while now.

K&S:   You have the big drum festival coming up on the Cape, right? 

TS:  Yeah, that’s at the end of April, and that’s something I’m very much looking forward to.  It’s by far the biggest drum festival I’ve ever been asked to participate in.  And to be on the bill with players like Gary Husband and Billy Cobham is not only an honor but tremendously exciting for me.  I’m just looking forward to the whole experience and looking forward to the eight plane rides I’ll be taking that weekend to get from Austin to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

K&S:   We already known you don’t like plane rides. 

TS:  Well, you know, if they’re big jets, it’s ok.  I’m going to be in a couple of little dinky puddle jumpers.  This is how it’s got to be done, and I’m willing to do it. 

K&S:   I would like to eventually attend those big events so I can cover them.  Unfortunately, I have a day job, so if I’m not playing at night or working my day job, I’m trying to fit this in between.  Like I said, this is definitely a privilege for me to get to talk with you today, and I’m sure that all my readers are going to appreciate it, too.

TS:  I don’t know what the status is of our ticket sales at this Shreveport event, if it’s sold out or not, but if it’s not, encourage all your musician friends and your drummer friends who don’t have gigs that particular night to come on down and check it out, because no matter what your preconceived notion of what Styx is, I’m sure that we will change your mind and surprise you and entertain you. 

K&S:   Well, there’s no doubt about that.

TS:  Ok.  I appreciate your time and your interest, and we’ll see you on Friday. 

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