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From the Basement to the Coliseum
The
musical journey
of legendary drummer
Bill Lordan
By Bill Lordan
with Diana Olson
___________________________
Excerpt from
Chapter 5 – The Robin Trower Decade
After
a year and half or so with Sly and the Family Stone, my friend Donny
Crissey, who worked at Studio Instrument Rentals called me and said that
Robin Trower was looking for a drummer. Robin had been in Procol Harum
and played a bluesy Jimi Hendrix style guitar. I called the Hotel
Continental Hyatt House on Sunset and asked for Robin Trower.
Surprisingly, I got him on the phone and he said, “come on down.” I
played, got the job and moved to England in September 1974.
Robin had said this about Bill
Lordan: “Bill’s a great drummer, y’know. He’s got to be one of the best
drummers there are. I mean, you can’t play with someone like that and
not have it change you. These are our first gigs we’ve played with Bill,
and y’know, the first night was classic! We went on and he was right for
us. He knew he was right for us before we did. He’d been into us from
the time the first album came out and he’s been trying to get hold of me
ever since, ‘cause he knew he was The Drummer. He phoned me up and said,
‘I’m the guy you want. Don’t listen to anybody else.’ And he was right.
He was absolutely perfect. See, he’s been into it right from the first
album. Bill, on drums, has added so much, a completely new dimension.”
My first gig with Robin was in
Rochester New York in January 1974 with Black Oak Arkansas. We went on
stage to do our first set. I had my cassette tape recorder on behind
the drums and we were not quite sure if it went as good as we hoped it
would. When we got back to the hotel and Robin came to my room and
heard the tape from that night, he was elated. It was better than he
even thought it was. After that first tour we went back to Los Angeles
to start recording “For Earth Below”. The album went to number five on
the billboard charts and we started to headline shows.
MP3 Samples from Bill Lordan’s
Discography:
·
“Simple Life”
from the "Best of BLX"
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“Drum Solo/Midnight”
from the "Best of BLX"
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“Chamber of My Heart”
from the "Best of BLX", winner of 2004 LA Music Awards
·
“Dance to the Music”
from the “Best of BLX”, Sly and the Family Stone from Soul Train, 1974
·
“Little Bit of Sympathy”
from the “Best of BLX”, Robin Trower live
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