This is the latest installment in my ongoing list of influences. The past few posts have been influences in my early days of drumming. Today, it’s Bill Bruford. Bill Bruford may be my favorite living drummer. He has done a lot of amazing work with a lot of bands like King Crimson, Genesis, and Earthworks, but my favorite is his work on the early Yes records.
I’m not sure how I first heard Yes. I just remember ordering the Fragile CD from BMG or Columbia House—one of those companies that lets you have 8 free CD’s and then you have to buy 3. They charge you like $20 + shipping for the 3 you have to buy. Anyway, Fragile rules, and it’s worth $20 to me. Yes was another prog rock band with sprawling, epic tales of fantastic who-knows-what. Jon Anderson’s lyrics are so weird that you’re never really sure what he’s talking about, but you always know he loves you and he loves whales. If Rush was the sci-fi prog band of the 70’s, playing primarily in outer space, Yes was the fantasy prog band playing mostly in ethereal, Middle Earth-esque realms inhabited only by Yes, some whales, some unicorns, and of course elves. Yes was the type of band known to wear capes and have more analog synths than you can shake a stick at. It just so happens that they were also awesome. The emphasis is on “were”. Bill Bruford left after Close To the Edge and they weren’t the same after that. In fact they got progressively worse.
Fragile will forever hold a special place in my heart. “Heart of the Sunrise” is one of the coolest, epic prog songs EVER. Bill Bruford is a jazz drummer playing in a rock band, so he makes 4/4 sound like an odd meter and he makes odd meters groove. He has really good chops. His singles are really smooth and fast. He plays really creative fills, and unlike me, he rarely hits cymbals. He was one of the first drummers I heard incorporate rudimental drumming to the kit. That was huge for me. I tried to play along to Fragile a lot, but it was really hard to memorize the parts because the songs were long and Bruford scarcely repeats anything. One more reason to love him. His drumming has had a profound effect on my own, although I am nowhere near as good as him. I still listen to Yes and other projects that Bruford has been a part of, and I’m always blown away.
A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of seeing Bill Bruford give a drum clinic. He showed clips of himself drumming through the years including footage of him playing with Yes and a head-to-head dueling drum solo with Phil Collins. It ruled. He broke down parts of each song and showed a different technique he used. In addition to tearing it up on a kit, he was funny and British. Who could have a problem with that?
