ClarkCast Chapter 8: Drummer and percussionist Walfredo Reyes Jr. is awesome!

Walfredo Reyes Jr., the legendary percussionist and drummer, is my guest on the ClarkCast Podcast. Currently the drummer for Chicago, we discuss our love for Steve Gadd and Jeff Porcaro, his love for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and why a not-so-spicy gumbo is the best gumbo.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Clark Cast is on the air.

SPEAKER_03 0:02

You're about to do something awesome. And I mean you do something awesome several nights a week when you're walking on the stage with Chicago. But say you're doing something else, you're walking into a room, you're walking in with your other band. Like, what's your walk-on music? What what song is playing in your head when you're walking into a room? You mean like walking on stage? Yeah, just like you're you're doing something. Like, what is your walk-on music? You can pick any song in the world. What's gonna what gets you hyped up in your head?

SPEAKER_05 0:30

Oh, you know, I got such a big variety of of music. Uh the in Chicago, you know, we we got like walk on music to get on stage, and then we played introduction, our first tune. But you know, I never know. I can't control ever. Like, you know, when when I'm going into different rooms in the house, whatever. It can be original music, just been born, or it can be something that I've heard before, or it's you know, so it's just like from um from rhythms to the past, the soundtrack of my life. Uh I got like like uh a million uh tunes in my brain jukebox. Right on, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Welcome to Podcast, conversations about life, love, music, and the pursuit of being authority. Here's your host, Jeff Carr.

SPEAKER_03 1:54

He needs no introduction, but he certainly deserves an introduction. Uh, he's a world-class musician, um, an amazing percussionist and songwriter and drummer. Um, he's currently touring with playing drums at Chicago. He's been doing that for about 12 years now. Uh, he's played with Lindsay Buckingham, uh Santana. He was he played with both Steve Winwood and Traffic. But all of that aside, he's also a good friend of mine. He's a lovely human being, he's a good person, and that that's what really matters the most. So, my my guest today is my friend Walfredo Reyes Jr. How you doing, man?

SPEAKER_05 2:34

I'm doing great. I'm here in uh Midland, Texas on my way to San Antonio and uh all the way Oklahoma and Arkansas until March 15, and then I get a little break. We started in Vegas, so this is like a five-week tour, and the tour is going great, the band is sounding amazing, and uh it's gonna be a fun year.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Right on, and look, let's talk about like you grew up in a musical family, your your father was a world-renowned percussionist. Tell me some of your like first memories of music that that you recall at at like any age.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

Well, you know, it's really crazy because I'm sure a lot of kids will tell you this that when you grew up in a music environment, you don't know any different. So, like, it's not like you're comparing your friend's parents. So I thought that that's the way it is. So I wanted actually to be a veterinarian uh because I saw the movie The Original Doctor Doolittle. And what do you do when you grow up in a musician family? You rebel. Right. You try to become a doctor, and then I've heard the opposite story. Well, I grew up with my parents were doctors, so I wanted to be a singer or a guitar player, you know. So um, what happened to me is that was my thing until around 12 years old. I, you know, I love music and play music. Uh I was raised in Puerto Rico, so I was playing from Latin percussion to salsa to listening to the American radio station with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Grassroots, guess who you name it. And so then when I was 12, I got the bug that I wanted to play in a band, and the drums, since they were available through my dad, which he was a professional drummer percussionist, um the drums seemed to be like the right vehicle for me to play the music I loved. So I started studying with my dad, and then we moved to Las Vegas, and I continue my studies uh seriously, and and the deeper I got, the deeper I got, because I realized you will always be a student with all this stuff you have to learn.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

And you uh once you moved to Vegas, you started, you told me this before, but like you started playing with Lola Falana at a at a a reasonably young age, right?

SPEAKER_05 5:09

Oh well, Lola Falana was much later uh in my after my second year of college. I started really early playing at 16 while I was in high school in the lounges of the hotels and the clubs, and then I got the gig with uh Debbie Reynolds playing percussion, and and I had to get a sheriff's card and musicians union, and then I I did that through high school, and then I when I was graduating in uh uh high school and going to UNLV, I um I started playing this show called The Black Guys and Dolls with Leslie Ogams and Lyft Clifton Davis uh at the Aladdin Hotel. And while I was doing that, I was going to university during the day, and then I got the audition to play with Lola Falana, which took me on the road, and that's when I had to quit college. I couldn't finish my UNLV. I went there for two years, and with Lola Falana, she was a really hot performer, um performing not only in the United States, you know, at that time it was Atlantic City, Reno, and Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas was like the triangle of entertainment. Uh the Indian casinos were not happening at that time, so that's where the three main places performers played. But we used to play a long time, you know, we used to play like three-week and four-week engagement in each place. So uh so that was around 1977. So I played with Lola Falana, 77, 78, 79. At that same time, I worked with Doc Severinson's uh road group, the trumpet player from The Tonight Show. I also did uh Connie Stevens uh and you know a bunch of other uh um artists in Las Vegas locally. And then around 1980, I got the bug to move to Los Angeles to pursue a studio. And that's when I got the gig with Ben Vereen, and then when I moved to LA, I had a road gig that I can pay my rent and and my car payment, and then start getting into the LA scene. I work with Marilyn McCoo and then Paul Anka before that, and um and uh uh I worked in in in LA from 1980, pay dues 1980 to 1984, and then I joined Tania Maria, which was a Brazilian pianist, and we did the the jazz scene in Europe and Japan with opening for David Samborn. Oh wow, and and uh Spyro Gyra. And then during that tour in 1984, that I uh I met this bass player that was with David Lindley and El Rayo X, and then I joined David Lindley in 1985, and David Lindley opened up my door to a lot of more rock uh stuff. We started opening for Los Lobos and The Grateful Dead. We opened for Santana and The Grateful Dead, that's where Carlos and saw me play. So I worked with Jackson Brown and Bonnie Raid, and you know, a lot of people while I was with David Lindley did a lot of sessions and movie soundtracks. And then around 1989, I joined Santana to 1993. You know, I played with Buscax, Gloria Stefan around that time, and then 1994 I joined Traffic, and then that led to a 10-year association with Steve Winwood until 2004.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

Wow. That that that's really interesting to me that you got to play with both Traffic and and Steve Winwood. I mean, what a what an amazing time that had to be.

SPEAKER_05 9:09

Yeah, you know, as you know, Traffic, what a legendary band. Uh I I got to work with Jim Capaldi, which was an incredible drummer and composer of the lyrics of Traffic. Sure. And so, you know, Lil Spark of High Hill Boys. And of course, I had um um, you know, with with with Traffic, uh, I played drum set and percussion. I played drum set on all the tunes that um uh Jim Gordon and uh what was his name? Um uh the drummer with Muscle Schultz played uh Roger Hawkins. Roger Hawkins. So Jim wanted to play Jim Capaldi. And then when there was a song that had Roger Hawkins or Jim Gordon, I went to the drum set. But we had a great time, it was a long tour. My youngest son was born in 1994, and then from 1997 to 2004, I worked with Steve Winwood's solo project, you know, as an artist, as you know. So we we got to play traffic tunes, Spencer Davis tunes, blindface tunes, and Steve Winwood solo project songs. And I it's one of my favorites because Steve, kind of like the guys in um in Chicago, they're they're they're great musicians. There's no musical director. You go to the artist. The artist is the the genius musician, you know what I'm saying? So how you know you can have a musical director, but you go to Steve Winwood personally and ask him, what chord is this, or well, how do you want your song? The same thing I go to the guys from Chicago. You can go to any member of the band Chicago, and they're like genius musicians themselves, you know. So it was a great experience working with Traffic and Steve.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

And you also you've uh you toured with Lindsay Buckingham, too. I know you're very proud of that as well.

SPEAKER_05 11:07

Yes. So, you know, like when I finished with Steve Winwood, aside from working uh 1995 with Robbie Robertson, uh, we did the Native American uh tour. Uh I did the 2002 Winter Olympics with Robbie, and then you know, I did some tours with Mickey Hart, and then in 2007 I joined uh Lindsay Buckingham to 2011, and that was Lindsay Buckingham's um solo tour. But you know, of course, he wrote a lot of great songs for Fleetwood Mac, and he was like, you can say, um, the musical brain with a lot of those harmonies of the vocals and uh the chords and stuff like that. So we did a lot of songs that Lindsay did with Fleetwood Mac, and then some for his solo project. So I was working with Lindsay a mixture of drums and percussion, and yeah, so then you know it's really weird how life is because unfortunately, somebody with Lindsay's group, we were just about to tour in December uh actually uh like January of uh 2012. So uh one of the guys in the band with Lindsay got like a bad back and had to have an operation, and Lindsay canceled the tour. So in January of 2012, I found myself freelancing, like we do, sessions and lessons, and clinics, and masterclasses, and and a week over here and a week over there. And my brother started working with Zach Brown Band, and he also started working with Chicago uh as a percussionist, and I did a week for my brother while he was with Zach Brown Band, and in that week Robert Lamb hired me. And so I've been with Chicago from 2012.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

And still doing it, and you guys still play a ton of dates every year, right?

SPEAKER_05 13:08

Yeah, from 2012. Uh even at the pandemic, we were playing uh we were recording an album during the pandemic and doing videos, and so this band hasn't really uh stopped touring, I understand, for consecutively uh 59 years this year. So I've been with with them um from 2012 to 2018, I mean 17 on percussion, and I started on drums 2018 forward. So I've been on drum set since 2018, and the band, you know, every year we do like seven to eight months on and off all over the place, mostly United States. And this guy's just go at it and just like keep on playing and playing and playing. And um, I know there's a lot of criticisms, well, you should retire, or Terry Katz, you know, like we should guys give it up and goes, why should we? I mean, you know, it's just like the band sounds amazing. We're playing to sold-out audiences, and you know, there's a lot of noise of a lot of negativity online and all that, but you gotta look at look at the facts and the numbers. I mean, Chicago does well every year, and we we sold out in Vegas for three weeks, sold out in Albuquerque, El Paso, Texas. Now we're here in Midland. We're on our way to San Antonio, and I cannot even get tickets for the guest list. I mean, you know, that they that all the tickets are sold out, and and we're gonna buy uh we're about to to uh start a tour uh uh July through September with Sticks.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Yeah, man, I'm I'm very excited about that. Like I I I love Sticks. That's two of my favorite drummers playing together on a on the same stage, you know. Well, thank you. Gotta be exciting, you know. Todd, such a phenomenal drummer, you know. That uh that that's a great show. And you know, not only are you guys selling out, you're so popular here in coastal Mississippi that you had to add a third date, right? Like the Boer Vodge. It's like one time, one time wasn't enough, then it's been you guys come down here and play two dates for like the past few years, and now they've added a third date. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

Yeah, so you know, I mean, uh the critics always criticizing this and that, but you know, that's the way it is. We're going forward and it's selling out. So, you know, the day that we arrive and there's like a room of 7,000 people and we only have 500, that's the that's when we have to consider, okay, maybe maybe we should just go home. But you know, right now, I mean, um, it's what it is. And believe me, I'm looking forward to this. We already uh gotten in touch with Todd, and um, we're looking forward to the hangout, not only on stage, but off stage.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

So you so you guys will continue that tradition of bringing the horns out and the band out and doing a couple of songs together?

SPEAKER_05 16:15

Uh I'm not too sure. Um, you know, I know that with Earth, Wind and Fire we do it, and we have done it before with REO Street Wagon and the Doobie Boobies. But you know, um yeah, right now uh nothing has been uh said, and sometimes some of these bands like Styx and REO, they just want to do their show and go on. Right. Because it takes a lot of work because when you actually at the end of the show, Earth Wind and Fire comes back and and you know get gets on stage with us, like two bands on stage doing each other's songs. It's a long night, you know, uh for the bands. They have to wait around or we have to wait around for their show to kind of like be at the end. And so a lot of uh I don't know uh with Sticks how it's gonna be, who's gonna go first or second, or with Earth Wind and Fire, we we alternate it. Oh wow. One one one night they open, the other night we open. And so, but it worked out really great, and uh, we had a lot of fun. And I'm sure we'll be with Earth Wind and Fire again, hopefully in another time. That will be fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

Be great. Um, let's talk about like so you you you you started playing with Chicago when you were in your 50s recently. You had a birthday, and you're you're you know, you're now 70, you know. Like tell me how tell me how your life uh has changed, like you've gotten married during this time, like how how has your life changed?

SPEAKER_05 17:48

Well, you know, you know, I I've been in the music business for like 54 or something like that, and um uh I met my new wife in 2017, and so we were gonna get married in 2020, but the pandemic hit, so we had to cancel our wedding. We got married anyways. Uh so you know I moved from I was living in Los Angeles, and then I moved to Las Vegas in 2017, but I decided, you know, um she's from Cincinnati, so I I moved uh to Cincinnati, northern Kentucky area, and we have a house there, and uh it's really great. And we'd survived the pandemic, and you know, I go on the road, she comes on the road. I just had my daughter, Liliana, that plays and Saints with George Spencer, uh, visit me in Las Vegas and we jam uh uh during the day uh on stage, you know, to so she can learn rhythms and and up the level on percussion. So, you know, it's been great. You know, the road is difficult for any musician. My kids are grown right now. Our bass player has a little kid, you know, which is it's hard to have little kids and be on the road all the time. Hopefully, you know, they can visit you and and at different times, but when they start school, you can be on the road with dad, you know what I'm saying? Right. So it's always really difficult. And uh, like right now, for example, uh before this podcast, um my dad passed away. Also, my dad, my wife's dad passed away one month after my dad. So um we're trying to arrange uh for his birthday, June 14, uh a celebration day and and his heavenly birthday, and we started organizing it and you know the catering and get putting a band together and all that, and then Chicago booked June. And so, like, I'm not gonna be able to be there. And you know, I miss my daughter's USC uh Thornton School of Music graduation, and I couldn't be there. So, you know, it you pay a price by being a musician, it's not all like Peach Keen, you know, like everything's cool, you know. Right. You know, it's difficult. And you know, uh, this is my third marriage. Uh I uh so you know, I have a boy, a girl, and a boy, and they grew up in um with me on the road with Santana and Gloria Estefan and Steve Wynwood, and they they grew up watching me on stage and and hanging out in the dressing rooms, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

You know what I what I've always admired about you since I've known you since 2016 or 2017 is like I know you enjoy being out on the road, but I know and and and you you show this so well in your Instagram and on your social media. You like being at home in in northern Kentucky, Cincinnati, hanging out with your wife, too. Like you have zero problem with that.

SPEAKER_05 21:02

Yeah, I I you know I learned something in the pandemic. Uh, of course, you know, I like to write music and teach music, and uh, it's not just all Chicago, like Chicago is just part of my my drumming. It's a big chunk because it takes eight months out of the year and then some. Um, but you know, I like to be home practicing recording, uh, have my little studio on the third floor, and I do tracks for people on percussion or drums from wherever. Any, you know, technology is amazing. I can get a call from somebody from India or Italy or whatever, and I'll do the tracks and send them. It doesn't matter if they're down the street or in Calabria, Italy, or in Europe, or you know what I'm saying? So it's just really an amazing time we're living. And uh when I'm home, I'm more like of a uh homebody my Wife, my wife, I think, is just more energetical and more uh social. And um she likes to travel, of course, and she's a scuba diver, and and uh we we just love being at home and uh cooking and and uh doing stuff around town. I have a trio, I'm putting out some tunes, uh the Walfred Arreyes Jr. trio, and they're all singles now on on all the music uh platforms. But hopefully after I do three more tunes, I'll I'll make a CD. But it's these two musicians in Cincinnati, they're young, they're old souls, and uh the tunes are great, you know, tunes that people know, so they're all uh cover tunes of different forms of music, and uh it's fun and uh it sounds great. So I I really uh look forward to doing more gigs live around the Cincinnati area.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

You uh you did a Christmas one, right? The Vent uh Ventch Giraldi Linus and Lucy. Y'all put that out as a thing.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

Yeah, I actually I did uh I put a version of uh Linus and Lucy, and I put a version of uh uh Can't Help It, you know, Michael Jackson, uh uh another Stevie Wonder tune, uh and uh two Herbie Hancock tunes, and uh uh La Puerta, which is a Spanish bull uh slow dance. I mean, there it's all a Brazilian tune, uh Maskinada. So basically it's like a variety of music. And the way I wanted to do this trio is not just hardcore jazz for the musicians and be impressive, but I want, for example, if you have a party and you have different people from different walks of life, I want them all to enjoy the music without going, can you turn that thing down, please? Right. You know, well, there's a there's there's music that I understand that it's just for percussionists in tans and jazz players, and some things are deeper than others, and then uh some some music is just like Peter Gabriel say it said, I I want to hug everybody and bring them in, you know, from different walks of life. I don't want just like to to categorize my music in one style, you know.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Right, and I think you've done that very well with the body of work you produce, like your you know, your Wally World album, which is you know world music, if that's even a thing. It's your the music you chose to do, uh jamming at the baked potato, which I'm I'm a big fan of. I love that that record, some great cover songs, war, uh Bill Weathers, different stuff on that. So I mean I think that you know, you it it it shows, you know, that you really love making music, you know.

SPEAKER_05 24:55

Thank you. Um yeah, I forgot to mention that. So this is my third uh solo project. Like you mentioned, uh Wally World started out uh as uh extension of my DVD, instructional DVD Global Beats, um from grooves of different parts of the world. And then I I recorded them properly, and it's like a trip around the world. It starts like in Venezuela with the Horopo rhythm and kind of like funky New Orleans kind of rhythm. And then it goes to uh Afro Cuba with a rock thing, and then it goes to uh Rio de Janeiro, and another one goes to Recife, which is more North Brazil, it goes to Puerto Rico, New York City, uh China, Africa, and it ends in India. So it's like a trip. If you put your headphones, you're going, wow, I don't have to spend no money on plane tickets. Right. And then the baked potato is just cover tunes that we loved, uh, different band. Uh that uh when I was off with Chicago, I would just book this guy without rehearsal because the traffic in LA is so bad. That's why you have to be a good musician in LA. You don't have too much time to get together and rehearse. Just I'll see you at the downbeat. And and so um, so we would go like um what do you what songs you got? Hey, let's do this song. Oh, let's this song, oh, this song is the the same tempo as this song. Oh, so let's do both one after the other. And that's the way I recorded the um jamming at the baked potato.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

It's a great record. You know, one thing I wanted to ask you about, I saw on your Instagram recently that uh you got to see Steve Gadd perform while while you were in Vegas. What how how was that? I mean, one of my favorite drummers, you know, obviously.

SPEAKER_05 26:48

Yeah, Steve. Steve has been uh not only a uh drumming idol, uh, but you know, like his work ethic and his concept of recording and making the music better, not using music to elevate yourself, but using your drumming to elevate the music and the artists. And that's what Steve's concept is. Whether he's playing jazz idioms or he's playing Latin or he's playing pop music or RB, I don't care what style, Steve Guy will come in and make you sound better. And I said that that's my guy. So like uh I got to know him back in 1979, and then I can tell you many instances where I've been with Steve, but I remember and I told him this uh uh when I saw him in Vegas. Um I was with Santana in 1993 Montro Jazz Festival. It was a lot of drummers, a lot of musicians, and I played, and then when I went back to my room, I was kind of like in a down mood, you know, always thinking that I could have done better. And uh there was a message, and I thought, oh my God, I hope that it's not a bad message from home. You know, the lady in the front desk is you have a message, Mr. Reyes, and I go, okay. So I open up and it was like uh a message from Steve Gatz saying, Wally, your energy was amazing. You played your ass off. Um, you I really enjoyed watching you play uh safe travels. And I took that and I framed it because that was almost like the UNLV degree that I never got. Like uh uh that message from uh one of the best world known drummers, it was so I framed it like a diploma, and I told him that he was there with his wife, Carol, and Steve is just a great guy. So I went to see my friends from Santa Fe on in Las Vegas every Monday night at the Copa Room at the Bootlegger Italian restaurant. There's the best band in Las Vegas, it's a horn band, and I've known them since uh Jerry Lopez, since my college days in Vegas, when we used to play North Las Vegas clubs uh and be out all night long until four in the morning, and then go into breakfast, and then I used to go to school at UNLV. And so Jerry's been around for a long time, and the band is so tied and so amazing. So um I came in with my wife Kirsten to see the band, and I got tapped on the back, and when I turned around, it was Steve Gadd. And so he sat in for two tunes and he sounded amazing at 80. Yeah. I mean, you would not believe that this guy's 80 the way he sounds, and I'm going, there you go again. I loved him in the 70s, in the 80s, in the 90s, the 2000s, and it's been almost 60 years of making music. Whether he plays with Eric Clapton, whether he plays with James Taylor, whether he plays jazz with Chick Caria, Steely Dan, he re you name it. Uh, the guy just enhances the music, you know. So uh and I told him, I said, man, you you're like an inspiration humanly, uh work ethic, and your drumming is like will always like like the old drummers from uh New Orleans from Baby Dots and uh all the the beautiful fantastic legacy of drumming from jazz, blues to RB, all these drummers, the the drumming will will continue forever, and Steve Gass drumming will continue forever.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

I I I read a story online recently and saw a video about it where when they were doing the sessions for, or Leo Sayer was doing the sessions for You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, cut the demo with Jeff Picaro, right? And then had uh Ray Parker Jr. come in, Larry Carlton and all this stuff, brought Steve Gadd in, and then so the part the drum part that we're familiar with, that's that's Steve Gadd. So then the next day the producer had to tell Jeff Picaro, who's also one of my favorites, hey man, sorry, but we cut it with Steve Gadd. I mean, like, how incredible is that? Those are two of the best, you know.

SPEAKER_05 31:12

Crazy. Well, Jeff was another idol of mine, and I got to know him, and I learned a lot from Jeff. Uh I I feel so honored that in between Santana tours, I did uh a stint with Bus Gags, and Bus Gags and I were walking in Tokyo somewhere, and you know, we're just talking and uh we're going to get something to eat. And and I said, Boss, like, how did you hear from me? He goes, Well, Jeff Forcaro. And I goes, You're kidding me. And I I at that time Jeff was gone. He he he passed away, you know, and I went, I I I was like, What? You know, like I couldn't believe it. And so uh, so apparently, like, you know, I met Jeff. Um, I met Jeff because, you know, before when I was growing up in Vegas, I knew a few guys that passed through Las Vegas. And then on the school festivals, the jazz school festivals, I met uh in Orange County a drummer, Carlos Vega. So Carlos Vega was uh the same similar situation as mine. He was an immigrant from Cuba, parents immigrants from Cuba. Uh Carlos went to LA, and of course, my family went to Puerto Rico and then Las Vegas. So when we met, we had similar backgrounds, and we stayed in touch. And then another guy that I uh befriended in Las Vegas was Luis Conte, great percussionist. Well, he was with uh the Supremes and then Diana Ross. And then there's a drummer that came from Puerto Rico, he's from Peru, but he was a good friend of my dad and lived in Las Vegas, uh, Alex Acuña. So Alex Acunha not only is my friend, my mentor, but uh a great drum teacher and percussion teacher. So we used to practice together. So when I it was time for me to move to LA, I had Alex, Luis Ponte, Carlos Vega, and then a few other people that I've met through my career. And thanks to them, they started throwing me some, you know, some w work here and there. And when I went to the baked potato with Carlos Vega, Jeff Percaro was playing, I met Jeff Percaro there, and he gave me the best advice uh in unsolicited advice. He was drying his hair from his sweat, and he goes, So you're new in town? He goes, Yeah, man, I just moved from Las Vegas to LA, and he goes, quote unquote, Well man, all these people around here, what they want is for you to play a groovy beat so they can lay their shit on top. And I said, Oh, cool. And so I went home and I really like started thinking about that. And what he really meant was the majority of the work that I do, and I get hired as a session musician, all these people, meaning producers, arrangers, composers, artists, songwriters, what they really want is for you to play a beat that feels good, a groove that feels good, so they can lay their music and their artistry on top. And basically that's what it is. I'm that's what I'm doing with Chicago. That's what I did with Steve Winwood, that's what I did with Lindsay Buckingham. What do you guys need? I'll give it to you. Checks on time, they're happy, I'm happy. I'm not using the music from these people to show off or to f put the light on me. If they give me a feature solo, fine. If not, fine. Right. You know, so that's that's what I do for a living on percussion and drums.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

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SPEAKER_02 35:30

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SPEAKER_03 36:00

When you were uh when you were with Boss Gag, were you playing percussion or were you behind the kit? No, drums.

SPEAKER_05 36:05

We didn't have a percussionist. What happened with Boss is like he had diminished his band and he didn't really feel comfortable. The first one was a quartet. And then later on, he got a B3 player, he got horns, he got girl singers, and that was more like Boss when Jeff Percaro was with him, you know, a bigger band. And that made it better. Uh, we had no percussionists at the time, unfortunately. Uh, but yeah, uh, you know, I tried as a drummer to fill in and uh color my grooves with percussion. Um, you know, today you have a system of uh many different things that you can play with a track, like for example, with with uh Lindsay Buckingham, I was in charge of percussion and drums. He just wanted to hear it. He didn't care how, if I was triggering or using my legs and my limbs or or whatever, or if I like sometimes uh he would play a click and I would play shakers on the verses and tambourines on the on the choruses with a little triangle and a swish cymbal, and that would be my my my track. Like not only with a click, but the percussion was on a click, of course, but you know, the all the percussion that I played, and now I can play drum set. Right. And you know, the reason sometimes you artists do that is because you're not gonna hire a percussionist for three tunes and buy a plane ticket and hotel rooms and travel arrangements and per diem and salary, so they can play a couple of tunes when you can actually cover them yourselves. You know, so that's the way of today. It was not the way of the 60s and 70s, but you know, uh it that that's the way a lot of people are doing um music today.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

So when you were uh when when you were out with Boz, were was was lowdown in the set. So were you literally playing that great Jeff Picaro iconic drumbeat? That had to be kind of exciting for you.

SPEAKER_05 38:17

Oh yeah, I mean you you know it's really uh strange when I think back. Uh part of my my um I don't know even what to call it, what people I guess call me for, or I have been called, it's not a decision I've made. It's just snowballed into this. So, you know, for example, uh Boss Gax, it's like who recorded the albums? I mean, you gotta get deeply into Jeff Percaro and and then trying to emulate his sound. And then, you know, I started with David David Lindley, it was Ian Wallace, uh, and so like uh then I joined Santana. So Michael Schreefe is the original drummer. But Santana also had uh not in chronological order, but Michael Shreef, Undugu, Leon Chancellor, uh Shesser Thompson, the drummer, uh um and then Graham Lear before me. And then I joined Santana, and after me, there was a lot of other drummers that we talked about. And then, you know, when I joined Traffic, it was, you know, the drummers that recorded. And you get into their style and to their sound, and you try to pay respect to what they did because, you know, like now, uh, you know, it's his drumming licks become hooks. Like right now with Chicago, Danny Serafin wrote the book. He did the hits. And, you know, so I listened to Danny, you know, like beginnings and make me smile, what he did. You know, the band allows me and sometimes wants me to do something different, you know. But sometimes I go, well, I don't want to do something different because I I love those licks that Danny did on the original song. However, Danny was uh, I think with Chicago until like around 1989, and then Trey S in Bowden, which I loved also because of the his work with Kenny Loggins, was with Chicago 28 years, and that's a long time. And then he infused his funky, dirty grooves to the music of Chicago. So when I took over uh with Chicago on the drums, it was main mainly Triss. I I basically had to do what Triss was doing, which was great. And we played together when I was with on percussion and Triss was on drums. So I knew what what he did. And Chicago, the reason some of these guys are not in the band anymore is not because music is like a different situation. So like uh so Triss was drumming was great, and Danny's drumming was great. So, you know, I try to like like uh uh grab the essence of Danny Seraphim and Triss and Bolton and make it uh in the songs that that they were doing. Now, if I record an original song with Chicago, like say like the Christmas album, there's no precedent. So like I'm the guy. And then sometimes, you know, these guys say, We're gonna do this song a little faster, but don't do it like the record. Just do your thing. And a lot of people don't understand that, you know, like they say, Well, you don't sound like the record. Yeah, no, Chicago in 1974 didn't eat sound like the wrecker either when I heard them. You know, they sounded like Danny was doing different fills and all that. So why should Chicago sound like the record in 2026 if they didn't in the 70s, you know? And so uh they I just heard the other day a live album from I think um uh Madison Square Garden or somewhere like that. And you know, beginnings and make me smile. Danny was just doing some other fresh stuff because artists they develop and they change and they continue growing, you know. So what should they be stuck to 1969, you know? So, but it's uh it's an interesting thing, you know, to actually be in a position where you are not the original drummer, but you have to sound kind of like the original drummer and then some right.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

Hey, uh last time you were down here, we actually got to hang out. We got to spend the day in uh in Bay St. Louis over at the Hunter Man Hall. How was that? Did you have a good time?

SPEAKER_05 42:45

Oh my god, I loved it because you know, as we talked about about it before, I'm really into the history of the instrument. You know, I I cannot I think I tell the my students add weight to your drumming by knowing the history. Like Undugu Leon Chancellor used to have a thing on his uh classroom at USC. Know your music, know your history. You know, if you're a musician and you don't know who did this song first, where does it come from, what are the influences, you know. So I love ethnomusicology and uh that place that we were there. I mean, that's where Robert Johnson and all these blues players were playing, and what they had to go through to actually travel, you know, sometimes endangering their lives to bring music to a place and play. I mean, so and then the culture, the food, the the it's just amazing, amazing uh history, and that's where a lot of the music in that region, even though the rock and roll uh uh museum is in Cleveland, because of the DJ that started using the word rock and roll and not R and B is in Cleveland. But the if you actually study American music from the early 1800 1800 to the 1900s, you realize that most American music uh whether it's um gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, Dixieland, Zydeco, Cajun, this is southern music.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Yeah, you also got to see firsthand our uh our drum program, the the Bay Ratch, which you know my son, and we're very proud of that program, you know.

SPEAKER_05 44:43

Oh my god, yeah, let's definitely don't forget that because these guys just kick some butt in a historic place and they're so young and they they're continuing with the tradition of you know rudiments and drumming but now you take that and use it to play music, you know, like with guitars and vocalists and and so those guys are fantastic. And uh and I have to say I told my wife this um whoever did your gumbo I've had a lot of gumbos but that was one of the the my favorite gumbos ever.

SPEAKER_03 45:18

We're uh we're actually planning our second annual Walfredo Reyes crawfish boil as we speak. So we will we look forward to I Brian Wallman my my best friend who uh is the director of the program actually made that gumbo. So he's gonna make it for you again man.

SPEAKER_05 45:34

You know man because you know unfortunately I my body I think I have an allergy to spicy so I cannot really eat spicy but that gumbo which wasn't spicy you can put all the hot stuff and all and believe me you do have a lot of Louisiana hot sauce uh but you know you you people can do that but you know like for a person like me uh that was so good um it was a great day and the crawfish I didn't have time to peel at all but man that it's just like I I really really love the whole culture not far from New Orleans but that whole coast um has a lot of history and um you know in cuisine music fashion you name it yeah it was a great day and we're looking forward to doing it again uh look I know you're you got other things you want to do so the last thing I ask everyone because this is a podcast about life love music and the pursuit of being awesome so how do you stay how do you stay awesome like what's your what's your trick to your success what's your secret to your success well I I just want to feel healthy feel good to do the stuff that I love to do and of course drumming play music to be able to walk travel uh you have to watch your diet you know um because it's really easy to put junk on your body um you have to be hydrated and um uh just like stay in shape to you know drumming is like like an athlete you know you you play two hours drumming with Chicago and you need to be flexible need to be relaxed you know uh I don't go to the gym and lift weights but the doctor told me uh swimming and walking are probably the best exercises I can do right now uh and to keep in shape and I keep on practicing my room the practice pad is your friend uh I teach and I learn uh I'm a student and a teacher at the same time I try to be a student to everything and not only in cuisine everywhere I go uh every place has a history uh so like I try to absorb on my travels you know something I can learn from where I'm traveling from and so um also you know just keep your creativity by composing playing with people action reaction and giving you know giving back I mean giving back means a lot of things giving back means charity work to basically yeah I go to some places and like for example the kids with cancer or uh chicago goes to the uh the centers or in in the city of Chicago where um uh St. Joseph uh and uh the the Ronald McDonald House and locally you know I try to help kids like at the university and schools and uh because it's a tough time for them you know that they're exposed right now and online with a lot of um I mean if I get criticism in my own social media and I block all these trolls and haters and all that some of the kids get the same thing you know and so they need a lot of support they need a lot of uh energy and compliments from the people that know to to for them to to have the the the what do you call it the the munition to go forward and not get bugged down by haters and negativity and uh that that's something that some some humans can't take well and some of them will fall you know I'm not for this I want to be more private and when once you are in a band and have public life you know every you're like everybody can attack you and compliment you but it also you know so um that's something that I've been um uh it makes me feel good when I have like um even online kids asking questions can you guide me what's your symbols uh what should I do I just graduated high school should I go to college or should I you know all kinds of things I'm like everybody's dad and uh I have three kids but you know like uh uh I try to help everybody's kids because I know what it is like I've been there you know it was not easy I've had a lot of people that were my mentors that helped me along the way but you know there were some experiences that you know the even though you do great things um there's always somebody that will tell you that you suck and you should hang it up and uh you know blah blah blah da and you have to take that and actually go really you think that that's what it is well let me prove you wrong instead of putting the tail between your legs and quitting it's just like oh no you just excel me to go three steps forward and higher onward and forward so um so that's the energy you need to do you it's like believe in what you got uh push the level constantly uh add value to to what you do if you're a drummer and play percussion you add value if you're a drummer and play percussion and compose music you add value if you're a drummer composer that plays music and can sing and engineer and it's like okay this guy is like wow you just added value to your whole package cool awesome well thanks so much man it was it was great having you on well thank you so much for having me and um I am looking forward to um uh uh being with you and and going to the cookout and and uh having another um great time I'm spicy gumbo man uh such a great time with great people great music and uh we're always looking forward to playing in um in Bo Rivage for the the audience