I think about music all day long. This is like my version of Fantasy Football. What if I could come up with an imaginary band made up of musicians whom I feel are unique on their instruments...who'd be in it? I had to think about it for a minute or two but not too long.
The term unique is overused in the music biz but sometimes a musician comes along once in a generation or even once in a lifetime, like the late great Buddy Rich, who plays so differently than everyone else that they can truly be called unique. Speaking of late, every musician I've chosen is deceased, but it doesn't matter because this is an imaginary band.
Since I'm a former drummer I'll start with the drums. Any band is only as good as the drummer, so I need a great one. This is a toughie because obviously there's a ton of drummers I love.
Many regard Buddy Rich as the greatest drummer in the world and I agree, but he'd be strictly a Jazz guy, and this band can't be limited by genres.
I could go with my boy Bill Bruford, because if ever a unique drummer picked up a pair of sticks it's Bill, but with all due respect, and there's a bunch of that, Bill might be too unique. His playing is incredible and it demands attention, which in this case, imaginary or not, might be too much.
As much as I'd love to have Bruford, John Weathers of Gentle Giant, my favorite drummer John Hernandez of Oingo Boingo, Barriemore Barlow of Jethro Tull, Carl Palmer of ELP or any one of a thousand great drummers, I'd have to go with John Bonham.
Bonham played with so much power but he was smooth and incredibly accurate. What made him unique was his drum sound. To this day drummers and studio engineers are still trying to get "that Bonham sound." His name has become an adjective, and that can't be overlooked.
He had no problem with odd meters, and although Zeppelin wasn't a "Prog" band I have no doubt he could handle that stuff. I have to go with power, accuracy but most of all sound. Bonham's the guy. If this band could somehow exist in another dimension or something, very few people would be unhappy with Bonham on the kit.
To complete the rhythm section I'd go with Mick Karn, solo artist and member of the band Japan on bass. He truly is worthy of the term unique. He played a fretless bass and he never used a pick. His playing was generally legato, although he could play the staccato Pop stuff too.
Mick's playing is so unique that it would color the overall sound of the band, but not to the degree that a Bill Bruford would. Just like drummers there's a lot of great bass players that I adore and would be happy to use, but this band would be about uniqueness, and that's Mr. Karn. I have to say that after reading his biography I came to really like him as a person, and personality is crucial to a band.
On keyboards I'd have to go with my favorite Rock keyboardist of all, Keith Emerson. He had the best left hand in the business. He could play anything from Classical to Jazz to Rock. Enough said. He's my guy.
On guitar I'd have to go with Jimi. I'm a closet guitar guy and I love great guitarists as much as drummers, and there's a stack of them who could work, but nobody played like Hendrix. Nobody.
You'd have to have an extraordinary singer. I started to go with Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo, for his range, power, ability to sing all styles, his knowledge of music and because he's a total badass in general, but I have to go with the golden voice of Greg Lake. There's a million great singers but to my ear only one Greg Lake.
So that's my imaginary band. It may be stupid to even think about, considering they're all deceased. Then again the general view among many scientists and String Theory guys is that there are multiple universes, with the possibility of different outcomes, so one never knows.
Even though I have 2/3 of ELP it wouldn't be a rehash of that band. Interestingly when Emerson was with The Nice they toured with Hendrix, and Keith and Jimi played together several times. When Keith started ELP there was talk of Jimi joining, so instead of the band being abbreviated ELP it would've been HELP. That's a band for yet another universe I guess.
I didn't come up with a name for this band but it doesn't matter. They'd surely be an amazing group. I'd go see 'em. I'd buy a t-shirt too. Imaginary or not, rock on.
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