Gareth Grover (Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes) - Interview

Gareth, a massive thank you for taking the time out to do this. Tell us how it all begin? What made you pick up the sticks and how did you find the drums?

I can't really pin point an exact moment or anything particular that made me want to start drumming, but through my Dad exposing me to loads of 70s prog rock like Led Zeppelin, Cream, Traffic, Genesis etc, and (credible) 80s pop - basically a tonne of Prince - I always new I had an innate connection to music and to rhythm in particular. As soon as I hit secondary school and the opportunity of weekly drum lessons, I hounded my parents and that was where it began. I was lucky to have an incredible teacher from the start (he was a jazz pianist as well as a drummer), he knew what was most important right from the beginning - not just learning the instrument, but applying it in context as early as possible by forcing me (whether i liked it or not) into the school training band, concert band, orchestra and eventually the jazz band. Some of the contexts took a while longer to appeal to me musically, but as the music got more challenging I just ate up the opportunity as I physically felt the benefit to my learning in a really holistic way. It's the most important thing I've taken from that early introduction, applying it all through my career so far, the importance of musical context, how to blend and become more musically effective on the drums as part of the music, not sticking out from it like a sore thumb. My first teacher, Andy, always said, a good drummer should be felt but not heard......or was it heard but not seen ?!? Ha. You get what I mean though - what they do should add to, not detract from, the musicality of a piece.

You’re currently touring with your band Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, who are one of the hottest punk rock bands in the UK currently. Can you tell us who else you are currently working with and who you have worked with in the past?

Before the Rattlesnakes I've played and written with a number of bands, going backwards chronologically......Youth Imperial (an unfortunately never released EP, and various shows including Finlay Quay supports, and upstairs gigs at Ronnie Scotts), Haunts (album and support touring with bands like White Lies and The Eagles Of Death Metal and Funeral For A Friend), and Aconite Thrill (EP, album and touring including supports with The Dillinger Escape Plan, Lamb Of God and Atreyu.)

Those acts are what I'd have referred to as my main-stay bands at the time, but you learn quickly as a musician bent on a career in the game, you need as many irons in the fire as possible, preferably spanning all walks of the industry. A few examples past and present......depping for live shows with a band called Moones; studio sessions for artists like Noahfinnce, Bryde & Frank Hamilton among others; pantomine pit-band work; and, i'm currently learning the set for an arena pop act (I'm not allowed to mention names) as a 'Covid-deputy' in case their main-stay drummer goes down with Covid during the tour. I also regularly play bars/parties/weddings etc with a couple of party bands. So I do everything and anything that comes my way, and among all that I teach as well!
 
 How do you approach a tour? Can you talk us through how you prep for it, what/how you programme and how you get familiar with the songs? How does a tour with Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes work in the prep stages?

Mainly I just play, as much as time allows, it's the only real way to build the muscle memory required. With the Rattlesnakes, I'd have been in and amongst the process of building the songs and productions through the arranging and recording process so I usually know those tunes already like the back of my hand. In preparing new tunes for live shows there's usually a kind of musical-director process we go through as a unit to work out where/how/by-who certain sounds will be played, sometimes a juggle to work out how to represent the grooves as closely as possible if they include layers not easily performable with only 2 arms and 2 legs. Then we just rehearse like any other band - to begin with just as a stripped down band unit to get the parts and muscle memory nailed, then as a bigger production rehearsals, including in-ear monitoring and our FOH engineer mixing and recording the rehearsals, all to ensure everything sounds as it should, like guitar tones, sample volumes etc etc.

 You’re a Gretsch artist, right? What Drums are you using at the moment and what other gear completes your set up? What sizes are your Kit? Any companies that you love dealing with?

Yes!! And they're incredible drums.

Live, I'm using a Gretsch Broadkaster in Vintage White Marine Pearl wrap- 22x14 kick, 12x8 rack tom, 16x14 floor tom, a 14x6.5 Brooklyn hammered chrome-over-brass main snare, and a 14x6 hammered black steel 2nd snare.

For my home studio I have an almost identical Broadkaster in Gold Glass wrap (with a 13 x 9 rack instead of 12 x 8) and matching 14x6.5 snare, and a Brooklyn set in Creme Oyster wrap (20x14, 10x7, 12x8, 14x14) plus a few snares - 14x5 USA solid aluminium, 14x6.5 Brooklyn straight chrome-over-brass, and 10x5 Brooklyn solid steel.

Cymbals, I use Paiste - I have a big collection of all sorts for different applications in the studio/live etc. Some of my favourites are the 2002 Big Beats, the Masters series, the Signature Traditionals, 602 Classic and Modern Essentials ranges. They have such a massive range of options, there's always something for everything.

I use Vic Firth sticks, mallets and beaters; Remo drumheads; Protection Racket cases and Snareweight dampeners. In the studio I use a real mish mash of recording gear, but couldn't live without my Aston and SE Electronics microphones, my Audient preamps, and my Focusrite Clarrett interface.

 The majority of your work has shifted from studio life to a live environment. How do you keep yourself in touch with the ‘normal world’ going on around you and keep yourself healthy both physically and mentally?

Despite being linked to the job, teaching really helps keep me well in touch with normality - I meet such a range of people, ages and abilities, and the business/admin side of it means I still have to keep well organised. I also have a family - wife & two kids - so the routine of work/school/life around that helps a lot too. It can also mean there's an intense load of activity to keep track on, and that in itself has proven enough in the past to mean I've had to check out from life for a period and put myself back together mentally. It taught me that lack of sleep, utter disorganisation, lack of exercise and worry about things I can't control are all seriously unhealthy factors it's easy to succumb to, especially working in the creative industries. Fast forward 10 years from that period, and i'm into a good routine of daily stretching (yoga-ish), weekly exercise like circuit training, swimming and running (though that's had to stop to give my knees a break), as well as every-day mindfulness (and a bit of meditation when I can find the time) to help keep everything in perspective.
 
 As an Educator, I always find it important to try and show my students as many different drummers as I can and allow then to take influence from drummers of different styles. Which drummers influence you?

I agree with this DEEPLY. It's all linked to that idea of musical experience and musical context I talked about above. Basically without you doing that for the students, they may never discover these artists and players.

Too many to name, but some....in no particular order......Vinnie Colaiuta (session great), Benny Greb (sessions, educator) , Jose Passillas (Incubus), Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Ginger Baker (Cream), Bill Bruford (YES, King Crimson, Earthworks), Mark Guiliana (solo, session, Bowie, St Vincent etc etc), Buddy Rich (legend), Max Roach (jazz great), Jack DeJohnette (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, jazz legend), Tony Williams (Miles Davis, and a tonne more!!)........I'm lost now, I take influence really from most people I hear play in some shape or another, soaking in different parts of their playing i connect with.
 
 What’s your favourite piece of gear you own? Are you a vintage Drum lover?

Ha ha ha. I think that changes all the time; drum-wise, currently it's the Gretsch 14x5 USA Aluminium snare i just got......cymbals-wise, the 20" Masters Thin, studo-wise it's the Audient ASP880 preamps.

Vintage drums, YES. I firmly believe in the idea that instruments break-in and sound better as the years pass. Not sure why, who knows if there's science to it or not. Having said that, I don't own much vintage gear, mainly because of space, but give me a lock-up and a load of cash and I'd get deep into vintage buying I'm sure.

 If you had any advice for your younger self what would it be?

PRACTICE MORE THAN YOU DID. It may sound stupid to say, but It's literally the only way to improve to the point of serious muscle memory and assimilation of new techniques/material. I have always been quite ADHD about the way I practiced - disorganised, distracted and not commited to the long game. That's party just wisdom and hindsight now, the trappings of youth, partly that no-one really impressed it on me with enough vigour, and mostly because life always got in the way somehow or another. It's a hard balance to find often, but if you're passionate about chasing your goals, then you have to be serious about the work it takes to get there.
 
 What’s next for you? Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

Who knows, but I want to be playing the drums, writing music, and enjoying the lifeforce it brings with it until I physically can't do it any longer. I really enjoy teaching, and with the serious practice and progression I've been making over the last couple of years, I have discovered some things I'd maybe like to try packaging up for the educational world somehow. And of course, I want to be still out there with the Rattlesnakes on album 10 (at least), still showing the world how to party.
 
 Finally, can you share a quick tip or give us a small exercise you always use?

YOU MUST START SLOWLY WITH EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING NEW. Learning things deeply by going slowly first is ALWAYS the quickest way to improve control and speed. If you get impatient, all you'll be teaching yourself is how to be more impatient in the future, and how to slip up at those faster speeds in the same way every time.

As far as exercises, LEARN YOUR RUDIMENTS PROPERLY AND THOROUGHLY!! The 'Savage Rudimental Workshop' book by Matt Savage is an excellent source of material for that - one of the best I've found. And, 'The Language Of Drumming' book by Benny Greb (the first third in particular) should be fixed in history as the Bible of drumming. Many of the principals can be found in many other books over the years, presented in all manner of different ways, but the way Benny has packaged it up, the clarity of the system in use, and the guaranteed progression it'll inspire, is unparalleled.

Find Gareth Online:

@garethgrover