Deep Purple’s Ian Paice picks his 15 favourite drummers of all time
Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice has been the only constant presence in the band’s line-up since they formed in 1968 and remains the absolute heartbeat of the pioneering group. Paice has inspired a generation of drummers, including Dave Grohl, who once quipped: “Their drummer Ian Paice was amazing and a big influence on me.”
Paice himself is inspired by a series of drummers who taught him the ropes and influenced his playing style. From an early age, Paice listened to music differently from most and focuses on drumming when he plays an album. He studied sleeves of records religiously to find out more information about session musicians, who he then proceeded to hunt down more material from in the pre-internet age.
On his YouTube channel, Paice opened up about his 15 favourite drummers of all time and stated: “We are going to talk about some drummers today, drummers that have affected me. This is always very subjective, and my opinions will differ from other people’s. That’s fine, and how music should be.”
The first drummer Paice named as an inspiration was Earl Palmer, who played on many of Little Richard and Fats Domino’s biggest hits. In his explanation for selecting Palmer, Paice said: “We are going to start with the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll. (In the) 1950s, one guy did nearly everything, and that was a guy called Earl Palmer. People think that he invented rock ‘n’ roll drumming, and I think it’s probably true.”
Another legendary figure named by Paice is The Beatles’ Ringo Starr. He noted: “Every Beatles track from the very simple rock tunes at the beginning to the more complex stuff when they were getting into Abbey Road, The White Album, and Sgt. Pepper, especially Sgt. Pepper is brilliant. I don’t think anybody could improve on that, I don’t care how much technique they’ve got, it can’t be improved. It’s absolutely perfect.”
Paice also found time in his list to give props to the unsung heroes of drumming, who work tirelessly in the background to enhance the work of others as session musicians. He included Jim Keltner, who he discovered playing on an album by Hungarian guitarist Gábor Szabó, and immediately took it upon himself to hear more recordings featuring Keltner.
He also championed Clayton Fillyau, who was once part of James Brown’s band. On his brilliance, Paice said: “There’s a wonderful album called Live At The Apollo, and it’s all good, but one track just hits me in the face every time I listen to it. It’s a track called ‘There Was A Time’, it’s a long, long track, it’s about ten or 12 minutes. Clayton Fillyau just hits the groove and holds that whole band together in such a vibrant, swingy, funky way.”
Watch the full video below of Paice discussing his favourite drummers and see the full list.
Ian Paice’s favourite drummers:
- Earl Palmer
- Greg Errico
- Gene Krupa
- Joe Morello
- Carmine Appice
- Ringo Starr
- Buddy Rich
- Jim Keltner
- Steve Gad
- Russ Kunkel
- Clayton Fillyeau
- Al Jackson
- Richie Haywood
- Billy Cobham
- Sheila Escovedo
