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Floyd
Sneed on his Plexiglas double bass Zickos set
(circa
1972)
When
I first started playing with Floyd, it took me close to 6
months just to find the "1" on certain tunes. Playing with
Floyd was like playing with a drummer AND a conga player at
the same time. He was so innovative and nontraditional in
his approach, when left to his own choices. Floyd once told
me that he saw a movie with Stewart Granger called, "King
Solomon's Mines" that had jungle music that captivated him.
The jungle rhythms applied to a "trap set," is how he
describes his interpretation. Kind of Latin, kind of
African. LaAfrican is the word he coined. As time went on, I
became aware of the obvious similarities in different
countries music. Take African music. with it's unique wood
on tree trunk, hypnotic native rhythms. Then go a little
further, out across the Atlantic, till you reach the
Caribbean and compare the music and the rhythms. The same
with a little twist, similar, but distinctly different due
to social and local religious chants. Go on over to Mexico,
Central and South America and it changes a little more, but
still a blending of the same source rhythms. Further out
into the Pacific Ocean, Tahiti and Hawaii have their own
variations. It's all linked geographically. Like a gradient
tool on a musical level.
Floyd
was the inventor of the rock n roll drumbeat that has the
ride cymbal playing on the "and" (upbeats), while the snare
does the back beat on 2 and 4. This can be heard on our hit
single "Black and White." It has become a staple in todays
music. This was just one of Floyd's innovations. Playing
with Floyd was like playing with a train. Maybe that is why
I found him so intriguing. Since my youth, I had loved the
churning rhythm of a train. With Floyd and Joe, all you had
to do was just get on and ride. What a ride! Sometimes, the
groove was so deep that I swear it was shaped like a giant
"V." You basically could do no wrong. You could play all
around the beat and still slide safely to the bottom of the
pocket, to the bottom of the "V" and just groove on home.
Normally in a group, the bass player and drummer are
considered the rhythm section, but I too became part of the
rhythm section. From Joe Schermie's Mexican band experience,
as well as my own experience with Mexican musicians, I took
a style of guitar playing that Joe was developing and
applied it my own way. It's slightly different than Joe's,
yet of the same matter. My years of jamming on acoustic
guitar with Joe, in hotel rooms across America and the
world, have shaped my playing greatly. (Don't get a big head
Joe!) My other duties/joys were to be part "color" man,
along with Jim Greenspoon, adding occasional lyrical
embellishments to "suggest musically" what the lyric was
singing. Sometimes, I was so into the groove of the
musicians, that I didn't even know the lyrics. Not something
to aspire to, but it did happen on occasion. I was so
enthralled with the music from the musicians, that it became
a distraction for me, to some extent. That is to say, we
began making the music parts TOO complete within themselves.
Our writing attempts often fell short because of that very
reason. The songs that would come out would be less than
complete instrumentals, but a little too complete
melodically to add a vocal. This was a true joy, but a real
problem as well. Back to the music structure of playing with
Floyd Sneed and Joe Schermie (born Schermetzler). The
simpler I played, the better it worked with Floyd. Joe found
that to be true, as well. I began to feel songs in double
and triple time with a half time feel superimposed under it.
That was a major "light" coming on for me. Once I could play
in that realm, we turned over some wonderful musical "rocks"
together. Nobody was more thrilled than we were concerning
what came out of our bonding and just plain having fun with
it. Wonderful! Perfect! I want to thank someone, but who?
God? Okay then, thanks God.
I
want to invite you to read the tribute to Floyd, located in
the tribute section of this web site. It includes a recent
article in a magazine called "Vintage Drummer." You can
click on this thumbnail picture of Floyd to go directly to
his section. There is a corresponding link that will return
you to this page.
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