The Bangkok Rock Report column by Benny White
For those of you who wonder what all the fuss was about outside AUA the other day, it was because there was a “monster” in town. No, not one of the furry kind with big teeth and evil eyes, but a ‘monster’ player who never fails to dazzle the fan base he commands in the global drum community.

I’m referring to someone who’s credit list measures about the length of a mid-size town’s phonebook…Simon Phillips a.k.a. the drummer in the multi-platinum selling group TOTO.

Phillips is probably one of the most celebrated and respected drummers in the business. His professional career began at an early age (12 years old) when his father Sid pulled him into work with his Dixieland band, a gig he stuck with until he turned sixteen. Then with an offer to play in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, his career path took a turn for the onwards and upwards and he has never looked back.

As I entered the room at his showcase gig in Bangkok recently, Simon was busy setting up the gear himself – yes, all the gear, including the drums and mics and making sure the EQ was right too!

“Yeah, I kinda’ like to be in control when I do clinics. I know where the mics should be placed and I know what sound I want,” he grins.

For someone with a rack and a separate 24 channel mixer right next to him behind his drum kit, you expect to hear nothing but perfection.

And disappointed we ain’t!

“I also want to set up the drums when there’s a new kit at every stop; on a road gig it’s obviously different. When I’m out with Toto or my own projects, I have my drums which are taken care of by my drum tech”.

As he was going through some of the wicked material selected for today’s clinic, I couldn’t stop myself from digging through my “limited brain-encyclopedia of musical compositions”, knowing I had heard the stuff before but, to my chagrin I still couldn’t quite place the tunes.

“That was Manganese, something I wrote for a compilation CD Modern Drummer put out a few years ago. We all (Mike Portnoy, Steve Smith, Terry Bozzio, etc.) contributed with a track each for that record.”

If you are a drummer, or a musician of any kind for that matter, you should definitely check out some of the stuff Simon has written (e.g., “Dave’s Gone Skiing” in 17/16 on TOTO’s “Livefields” or “Party in Simon’s Pants in 9/8 on Steve Lukather’s solo album “Candyman”). Odd time signatures are plain “ordinary” to him. Whether it be in Toto, where he co-writes much of the material, or in his own projects, what many consider complex arrangements come naturally to Simon.

“I studied odd time stuff at a young age so it’s something that falls quite naturally to me. I actually get some of my ideas from pop songs. I might have a melody in my head and somehow twist and turn it a little bit and before you know it, it’s developed into something else.”

“I don’t consider myself a keyboard player, but I usually sit down with a keyboard and a sequencer and start building chord progressions together with whatever melody I bring to mind. You know, I might hum along on something and feel aahh, this would be kind of cool in 7 or 9 (7/8 or 9/8)!”

After thirty years in the business, seven Grammy Awards, twelve studio albums and almost 30 million records sold, now six years after their latest – all original album “Mindfields”, TOTO are ready at last to release “Falling In Between”, a brand new studio album due for release on Frontier Records in early February, 2006.

Recorded by the band over a period of six months in Los Angeles, the record has taken shape as what promises to be the bands most daring and inventive release ever.

“Yes, I am really pleased with what we’ve got. We recorded most of it at my studio, took our time and worked in different sequences. At times we’d start with a cup tea and then start jamming, hit the record button and just let it roll and keep whatever we felt was right at the end of it all.

“Other times, Luke (Steve Lukather) might start with a riff, show Dave (Paich) what he was at, and as they fiddled with it for awhile, the rest of us would gradually fall in. It’s been some work but a good process. I’ve also ended up doing the engineering and I guess they liked what I did as we are all very happy with what we’ve walked away with.”

TOTO’s upcoming “Falling In Between” world tour kicks off at the Apollo in London on February 25th, 2006. I hear rumors they’ve reached the level of “America’s best live band ever”. Hell, even Bill and Hilary Clinton showed up at their N.Y. show in September.

Let’s hope they’re heading our way real soon.

Phillips is optimistic: “We had a really good time the last time we were here and we all love this place so, hopefully if everything goes right, we’ll be here sooner than you think”…

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