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How good a drummer is Steve?

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This is an archived legacy thread. Replies are closed, but the discussion is preserved.

As a "hobby" guitarist its easy to form an opinion on Bernard's competence but are there are drummers out there who have an opinion on how good a drummer Steve is? I don't just mean He's great cos he's New Order's drummer!

Without a good ear for this it strikes me that songs like In A Lonely Place and Senses must be immensely difficult to play. Even simpler drum tracks like Crystal have some "off beat" tom tom beats which seems singular to him.

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he's got his own style, he can play like a drum machine, what more could new order want. he aint no john bohnam or buddy rich but hes miles better than the guy from bloc party, i think hes top, but i used to get paid to sound like him, it was hard work.:crazy:

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How strange, I was only wondering what Lead Foot thought of Steve the other day.

Fuck knows why, the question just popped into my head, rolled around for a bit then disappeared.

I was listening to a Monaco boot with fucking brilliant drunks on it at the time. T in t'Park from years ago. I take it that was you?

Oops, I meant drums, obviously!

Think I'd better go for a lie down.

:crazy:

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Top four post-punk drummers:

steve morris pete de frietas (bunnymen) steve shelley (sonic youth) peter prescott (mission of burma)

the best punk and post-punk bands had phenomenal drummers. Steve definitely inherited some of Paul Cook's fills (the dudda-da-dudda stuff in GSTQ can be heard in the opening fills to Transmission and LWTUA), but otherwise, his style is pretty unique.

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I'm not a drummer, but I can handle a decent beat if I had to. I play bass and guitar. But I think Steve is an awesome drummer because he's so precise, and he injects some interesting beats instead of playing the same thing over and over through a song.

I think Stephen Morris' drumming on "Behind Closed Doors" is illustrative of this.

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Best drummer ever mate:clap: :bow: :bow: :bow:

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Johnny wrote: Best drummer ever mate:clap: :bow: :bow: :bow:

Couldn't have put it better myself Johnny!

Amazed that this is a thread about a drummer and no-one has used :drummer: yet! :lol:

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New Dawn Fades, She's Lost Control, Disorder, Ice Age, They Walked in Line, Novelty, Sunrise, Primitive Notion :bow:

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shouldnt the question be "how good of an percussionist" steve is?. yeah hes a drummer but when u consider the programing skills he has in sequencing ect,and cmon the intro to bm no matter what any of us in here think of bm will be hailed as a classic intro for many a moon to come,no matter who wrote the line im sure steve had his input. when u look at the broad spectrum of the work that hook,morris,sumner have produced through ,stiff kittens,warsaw,jd,no. who could deny that his skills are anything but extrordinary,"best drummer in the world?"id say he goes beyond that and into one of the most innovative musicians of his generation. keep smackin tham skins lad.

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Sam the Stokie wrote:

Johnny wrote: Best drummer ever mate:clap: :bow: :bow: :bow:

Couldn't have put it better myself Johnny!

Amazed that this is a thread about a drummer and no-one has used :drummer: yet! :lol:

Not missin' this thread... :nonono:

Steve-- Drumming genius. Percussionist with class. Programmer with a whimsicality that's all him.

And he's been beating up drumsets for 30 years strong. :nod:

:shine:

:angel::stephen::drummer:

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Better than this:

:smoking:

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A few hours ago I was watching the soundcheck of Hacienda '87 concert (I got it in a weed)... Steve's drum soundcheck is the best part, simply. He sounds like a drum machine and created some fantastic drum riffs as "Wilderness", "Atmosphere", "Doubts Even Here", "Ecstasy" (my favorite) and "Primitive Notion". Very inventive. :bow:

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Aracri wrote: A few hours ago I was watching the soundcheck of Hacienda '87 concert (I got it in a weed)... Steve's drum soundcheck is the best part, simply. He sounds like a drum machine and created some fantastic drum riffs as "Wilderness", "Atmosphere", "Doubts Even Here", "Ecstasy" (my favorite) and "Primitive Notion". Very inventive. :bow:

That's really freakin' weird.. I am in the process of burning this onto NTSC DVD right now at this moment (for personal consumption of course). :) But I agree, one of the highlights was his drum soundcheck.

The date of said concert was June 10th 1987 I believe. 20 years...

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nmc wrote:

Aracri wrote: A few hours ago I was watching the soundcheck of Hacienda '87 concert (I got it in a weed)... Steve's drum soundcheck is the best part, simply. He sounds like a drum machine and created some fantastic drum riffs as "Wilderness", "Atmosphere", "Doubts Even Here", "Ecstasy" (my favorite) and "Primitive Notion". Very inventive. :bow:

That's really freakin' weird.. I am in the process of burning this onto NTSC DVD right now at this moment (for personal consumption of course). :) But I agree, one of the highlights was his drum soundcheck.

The date of said concert was June 10th 1987 I believe. 20 years...

:jawdrop: That would be just too freckin' awesome to hear....

:shine:

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[lost in benidorm...] ['sunshine'] wrote:

nmc wrote:

Aracri wrote: A few hours ago I was watching the soundcheck of Hacienda '87 concert (I got it in a weed)... Steve's drum soundcheck is the best part, simply. He sounds like a drum machine and created some fantastic drum riffs as "Wilderness", "Atmosphere", "Doubts Even Here", "Ecstasy" (my favorite) and "Primitive Notion". Very inventive. :bow:

That's really freakin' weird.. I am in the process of burning this onto NTSC DVD right now at this moment (for personal consumption of course). :) But I agree, one of the highlights was his drum soundcheck.

The date of said concert was June 10th 1987 I believe. 20 years...

:jawdrop: That would be just too freckin' awesome to hear....

:shine:

It's coming your way shortly. :shades:

Most of the drummers I've known that play/listen to the sort of music I'm into.. well, they site Morris as an influence. I know I was certainly drawn to synths and machines due to my own want to 'learn to play/create like that dude'. He really doesn't seem to play half-cocked, has a different approach than what, say, Bernard's said before "keeping the punk without practicing". I get the feeling Steve plays an hour or so a day just for the fun of it.

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Most drummers I know have at various points, tried to convince me that Steve plays nothing, because they cannot accept a human who can play with a Sync24/MTC pulse up his chuff. Of those I used to play with when I was still at it big time, only one liked Steve, and surprise surprise he was the only one who could play to a click or a machine well, the rest, who claimed Morris was MIMING!, drifted like a child on a lilo in a rip tide......then invariable blamed the machine (the same machine other live players(apart from guitarists obviously, timeless muppets....Barney is a SERIOUS exception to their general rule and all) could stay in with). I tried to forbid them to bring a kick drum when any of them played a club with me, reasoning that if I could stop them going off in a private groove, they would lock up to my atari better....they never listened, though I did take the chain off one's pedal one night and it helped a great deal.

It's like Leadfoot said, he's no almighty soloing prog rock drumgod. But not one of those buggers could play like him either. He said it himself..... "they were looking for somebody who could go Boom Bash at fairly regular intervals, and I thought, I can do that"

IALP, Denial, and the like are extremely physical pieces for any drummer **. But Ceremony, AoC and many other have him playing constant, sequencer tight 16ths on the hats, not easy either. And does he or does he not roll his snare like a nutter on Fine Time for 7 mins (unless that's a box, memory fails me).

He's learned a bit of funk in his old age, great for stuff like I told you so, but it's that (and Barney's FUCKING COMPING!!!!!!!!!) that decmiates the power of modern versions of shadowplay....sounds like a busker's version.

**Jazz drummers do not count as they can rattle out hemidemisemiquaver triplets at 400BPM without actually moving, FREAKS!

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His Holiness, The Pope wrote: Better than this:

:smoking:

First time I seen that I instantly thought....it's secret rehearsal footage of Steve Morris without the human suit on. :lol:

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Big Mouth Julio wrote: New Dawn Fades, She's Lost Control, Disorder, Ice Age, They Walked in Line, Novelty, Sunrise, Primitive Notion :bow:

you forgot heart and soul

i had the strange irony of when clicking on this link that a picture of steve playing drums

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BIGINOIL wrote: How strange, I was only wondering what Lead Foot thought of Steve the other day.

Fuck knows why, the question just popped into my head, rolled around for a bit then disappeared.

I was listening to a Monaco boot with fucking brilliant drunks on it at the time. T in t'Park from years ago. I take it that was you?

Oops, I meant drums, obviously!

Think I'd better go for a lie down.

:crazy:

yep that was me, thank you, the one thing that stands out for me about that gig was there was about 40 or so scotts lunatics at the front who went nutty from the moment we came on stage until we were long gone, even through blue and billy bones:bow: :clap: :crazy: :nuts: oh yeah and sean hughs drank all our rider while we were on stage, cunt:angry:

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You know what's good about this thread? It's the only fookin' decent one we've had in a while,makes a change from either 'split or no split' or rehashing/digging up of old ones,or 'what's your favourite song/album/couplet/guitar intro'/pizza topping....for the thousandth time.Fookin' boring.:banghead:

I'm just fed up 'cos it's Friday afternoon & I want to go home:\ohwell:

Anyway,he's a fookin' unique great drummer/percussionist/programmer.But I'm biased:bow: :thumb:

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Good point you raise there Kel. His programming's great as well. It takes a player to program well, everyone knows that.Mind you I don't think Steve imposes the "two handed, two legged microchip" rule, like some do (I've watched drummers frett wildly that something they're trying to program uses more limbs than they have available in the real world, even if the whole piece is NEVER gonna get played on a kit, or if it's downright bolloxking hard from the get go, whether ther's abit that uses two toms and a snare at once or not :lol: )

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Doctor? wrote: And does he or does he not roll his snare like a nutter on Fine Time for 7 mins (unless that's a box, memory fails me).

I really hope that is programmed - because if he did that live EVERY other drummer might as well just bugger off now!

:tank:

I've always thought of NO as a Percussion-led band (with lead bass natch:thumb: ). Steve's rhythms - live or machine driven - have always amazed/impressed me.

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kel wrote: You know what's good about this thread? It's the only fookin' decent one we've had in a while,makes a change from either 'split or no split' or rehashing/digging up of old ones,or 'what's your favourite song/album/couplet/guitar intro'/pizza topping....for the thousandth time.Fookin' boring.:banghead:

I'm just fed up 'cos it's Friday afternoon & I want to go home:\ohwell:

Anyway,he's a fookin' unique great drummer/percussionist/programmer.But I'm biased:bow: :thumb:

Thanks Kel - as a mere Candidate I was a little hesitant about posting a new thread as the typical reaction to "new" threads is people jumping down people's throats for not knowing that this was already covered 3 years ago.

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Nah, the noose is only for those who post

"what is 1963 about" and "when are noo ourdar plyn buggery county YEWW ESSSS EHHHH"

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Ah - I understand now. 24 to go and then I graduate to ....?

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Powerful with JD. he created a new way to play drums. In a way he is a low profile genius! With No is , obviously,much more a percusionist....and a drum machine too. :clap: He's got his own style, everyone will agree with this. He's not very "lyrique" ( i don't know the english word, sorry), he doesn't play drums with a lot of liberty. I'd say he is a new kind of Moe Tucker. :wink: With a man like him behind u , u can play quietly! there's no chance a mistake will happen with the rythmn sequences!

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Simon Simpson wrote: Ah - I understand now. 24 to go and then I graduate to ....?

Actually, you're a Young Offender now! :nod: Massive Kudos, and Cheers to bringing up that topic concerning my drumtastic hero! :thumb:

:shine:

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JEAN NOEL BOUET wrote: Powerful with JD. he created a new way to play drums. In a way he is a low profile genius! With No is , obviously,much more a percusionist....and a drum machine too. :clap: He's got his own style, everyone will agree with this. He's not very "lyrique" ( i don't know the english word, sorry), he doesn't play drums with a lot of liberty. I'd say he is a new kind of Moe Tucker. :wink: With a man like him behind u , u can play quietly! there's no chance a mistake will happen with the rythmn sequences!

Much better than Maureen... What she does on drums anyone can do. But what Steve does, eh... I think few drummers could do it, really.

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I'll probably get yelled at and stoned to death for posting this video, but who cares. Steve is amazing, and I certainly like New Order more than Rush, but the greatest drummer/percussionist of all time has to be Neil Peart, as shown below:

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Aracri wrote:

JEAN NOEL BOUET wrote: Powerful with JD. he created a new way to play drums. In a way he is a low profile genius! With No is , obviously,much more a percusionist....and a drum machine too. :clap: He's got his own style, everyone will agree with this. He's not very "lyrique" ( i don't know the english word, sorry), he doesn't play drums with a lot of liberty. I'd say he is a new kind of Moe Tucker. :wink: With a man like him behind u , u can play quietly! there's no chance a mistake will happen with the rythmn sequences!

Much better than Maureen... What she does on drums anyone can do. But what Steve does, eh... I think few drummers could do it, really.

u're right! Obviously Steve doesn't play in the same league! And he's much better than Moe Tucker as a drummer. But in a way they are both playing with a similar attitude. Regular beat, not a lot of 'extras'...But the way he pkays drums is very interesting and it's not the same with Moe. Once again u're right. But well, my son is a drummer and he can easily play Steve lines. But , anyway, that's not the problem. He's got his own style, his own technic and he's fooking good:perfect!

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