Hey, not sure if this has been posted and discussed yet, but the Wikipedia entry on Bill Rieflin links this very interesting interview with Bill Rieflin circa Nov 99:
He seems to downplay his role as a drummer within the Ministry camp but suggest he didn’t get enough credit for his other contributions:
“A lot of how Ministry worked was that everybody kind of did everything. There were songs on which I didn’t drum at all, and songs on which I did some drumming and programming, songs on which I didn’t play drums but played keyboards or guitar.”
If Bill is telling the truth, which I don’t doubt, then I think we can safely assume a lot of the overall Ministry sound that we all know and love from late 80’s through the mid 90’s besides just the drumming can be attributed to Bill Rieflin.
Another interesting insight shedding light on Paul Barker can be found in this quote:
“There were songs where Paul Barker did all the programming and the drums and I would play his parts (live), because they sounded so good.”
This surprised me. I mean we all knew Barker had a huge influence on the overall sound of Ministry from the bass/keyboards/programming he was credited for, but I was not aware that he was so influential in that kick-ass drum sound always attributed to Bill Rieflin! “Just a bass player” my ass…
This interview just re-affirms what so many of us here already know, that many people over the years have contributed to Ministry’s sound while in the end the ego- maniacal drug-addled lead singer takes all the credit!
No wonder nobody from the older days wants to work with Al anymore!
I remember this interview from when it was new. Two things stuck out in my mind - he downplays his abilities as a drummer (which I thought was odd because I love his drum sound), and he makes it a point to mention that he was never a full member of Ministry (which I thought was odd because I heard, ages ago, that he turned down the opportunity to be a full member).
I definitely believe it. On the ‘88 Toronto video, Bill only plays guitar and keys throughout the show (Jeff Ward was on drums). I could see Paul programming a lot of those drum tracks on Rape and Honey and Psalm 69. Reading Chris’ book also gave some good insight to the songwriting process in that camp.
bill rieflin is one of the best rock drummers in the world.
he bowed out of ministry because he was tired of al’s bs and felt it was time to go forward with his own deal. period.
he’s still good friends with everybody else.
Are there any drummers here?
I remember talking to a friend of mine a few years back about Bill (he had just seen him play live with REM) and he maintained that Bill was a pretty limited drummer, competent at what he played but no great shakes, something to that effect anyway. He was familiar with Ministry and knew of Bill before he joined REM so I dont think he was basing his opinion purely on his REM performance (which wouldnt give him any ground to do much anyway, lets face it REM are gay rock). This chap was a pretty good drummer himself (he was acknowledged as the best in my school and was wanted by a few bands) so I took it that he knew what he was talking about.
But anyway are there any drummers here that can shed some light on the topic? Did he have a point or was he talking shite?
I’m no expert on drumming, but it seems to me that much of that drum sound on the Land through Psalm Ministry years comes from the layering of both live and sequenced drum tracks. Some of the beats just seem to be technically impossible to do by one person or one track alone.
When you watch “In Case…” you see Bill and Martin playing together, and while neither of them is playing a terribly complicated rhythm on their own, working together they come up with an incredibly thick layered sound. Having two drummers rather than relying exclusively on a sequencer or DAT tapes was probably the best possible way to recreate the sound they captured on the albums in a live arena.
I would say Bill is certainly an adequate drummer, but not a great drummer. (Not to say he’s not a great musician overall, which I believe he is.) Rey Washam, Dale Crover that guy from Rush and that guy from the Police are some examples I can think of of great drummers.
I know squat about drumming myself, but I always thought Carmine Appice was pretty cool. Dominic Howard from Muse sounds pretty cool too. John Tempesta deserves a mention too; ‘Astro Creep:2000’ was nice and heavy. I remember I saw footage of him live at the time and it was class; on a huge set and he pounding all over the place.
He might claim he’s not a good drummer (and does) but if you read stuff about the early Blackouts “he could play circles around everyone else in the area” or something to that effect. Everyone’s ‘taste’ in drummers is different and ‘best’ drummer is like ‘best’ guitar player.
I just caught Rieflin as part of the Venus 3, backing Robyn Hitchcock (w/ Peter Buck and the guy from Fresh Young Fellows) on Comcast’s On Demand thing.
when you’re at that level (playing with REM - a band whose been around for decades) you don’t experiment. bill is a professional. he plays what they want. they (REM) don’t sit around and smoke pot and go “yea that’s cool” anymore. it is a focused machine at that point.
I personally think that Rieflin’s a GREAT drummer. I can’t think of too many other artists who sound so goddamned distinctive with a PERCUSSION instrument.
Speaking of Rieflin, I saw R.E.M. promoting their new album on The Colbert Report not too long ago. Did anyone else catch that, and was that indeed Bill behind the kit?
Yeah, that was him, but conspicuously left out of the interview portion. When he hooked up with them, I was really hoping for a little spotlight on Rieflin, but they seem to be going out of their way to make sure he stays a “hired hand”. A shame.
On the other hand, the new REM album is the best they’ve released in ages. Certainly runs circles around their last few they’ve put out.
perhaps the new rem sounds better because maybe just maybe bill contributed to the songwriting. i don’t know.
he gets paid. they all like each other, enough to go on lengthy tours, and yeah, bill is very professional.
i can’t argue about rey . he’s as good as bill, different style.
and i’m not a musician, as i’ve said before. i do listen to everone else’s (the musicians in the room) comments.
neither bill nor rey got hired because they were adequate.
On the other hand, the new REM album is the best they’ve released in ages. Certainly runs circles around their last few they’ve put out.
I’m very pleased with the new R.E.M. Love the title track (and track 1) the most, and I tell people who haven’t heard it that it sounds like a mix between Monster and Reckoning (though Living Well is reminiscent of These Days from Pageant). Short album, but their best one in many years.
You guys shouldn’t think of anything after (IMO) the “Out of Time” album. Murmur, Fables of the Reconstruction and Life’s Rich Pagent are brilliant records.
You guys shouldn’t think of anything after (IMO) the “Out of Time” album. Murmur, Fables of the Recostuction and Life’s Rich Pagent are brilliant records.
The ONLY CD that was any good was Automatic…(and now that CD sucks) As far As Stipe goes… Bring him on! I’ll shove a lead pipe up his ass in a way that won’t put a smile on his face[pirate]