Why Did Smitty Replace Aynsley Dunbar?

[SF-Dano]

From Herbie Herbert's infamous "Castle's Burning" Interview

Dicussion of Aynsley's termination starts at top of page.

http://members.cox.net/mrcarty/page6.html

Thanks Dano! Ya know, I've read that interview a couple of times and even have it formatted and PDF'd on my hard drive but for some reason I didn't remember that part of the interview.

I see you're near Sacramento. My folks retired in Paradise and I lived there for several years before flying the coop. Where abouts are you if I may ask?

Thanks again!

Paradise is beautiful. I had an ex-girlfriend that lived there years ago and few buddies that went to college at Chico, so I am familiar with Paradise. I live in Citrus Heights, a suburb of Sacramento. It is about 15mi ENE of downtown Sac. Thereare things I like about living here and things I hate. I guess that is the same anywhere though.

Dano - you play music? I'm in downtown Sac and my g/f lives in Fair Oaks. Been here for about a year, not bad, but just found out Sacramento's a potential major flood zone - not good...oh well

I used to noodle around with the bass many many years ago and do some screaming vocals for a thrash band. This was back in my early college days. Those days are long gone now. I do have a brother in law here who is always looking for people to jam with. He plays some pretty good keys, and has picked up the drums lately also.

Yeah the flood thing is just a matter of time. Unfotunately this state has no money or will to fix the levees, so yeah it is more of a when than if. The further east of Sacramento proper you get, the lower the flood damage will be.

Have to say I love summer time here though. Like it hot. Looks like we may finally be there as far as the weather goes.

[Saint John]

Perry wanted a formulated sound for ROR and wanted to use a click track to help structure that sound. Although it may not have been a good idea at the time, there is nothing wrong or demeaning with using a click track. Many great drummers use them, both in studio and live. If you see a video of a drummer wearing headphones while playing, it's because he's using a click track to help keep time. Smith tried the click track method for ROR and it didn't work out (he does appear on 2-3 songs on that album). He's said in an interview a few years back that he has since come around to click track playing and does it often.

While this is all true, Perry's voice was running on fumes leading up to, and especially during, this tour. He needed help and triggered backing vocals were a necessity. Add to that the fact that the studio version of ROR had huge layers of Perry singing backing vox, and you really have no way around click track triggered backing vocals. As it turns out, the tour was shortened because his voice gave out. They must've run out of Vitamin B shots.

Ok Captain Obvious, since you have no idea what a click track really is (it has nothing to do with triggering backing vocals), lemme explain. A click track is used to set up a beat or rhythm. Musicians use a metronome that plays the clicks to help keep time. What Perry wanted to do for ROR was sketch out the songs by using a click track to write the drum parts and have Smith follow the cues and play the pre-determined beats. Perry had a specific sound in mind and wanted to see it through. This is actually a lot harder for drummers to do than it sounds. You need to have a certain focus to do so. Smith was more of a free-form player at the time, which wouldn't mesh with the click track method. Larrie Londin was a great sessions drummer and worked well with the click track. I'm a HUGE Smith fan, but I also like Larrie's work on ROR.

Here's some more detailed info. Sadly, no mention of any Nostrildamus conspiracies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_track

From your link:

Some musicians also use pre-recorded backing tracks with additional parts such as synthesizers, strings or layered background vocals to recreate parts that would be impractical to play live, in which case a click track synchronized with the backing track is played through headphones or in-ear monitors to keep the musicians in sync with the backing track.

You can't trigger vocals, without ruining the show, if you're not keeping proper time. Drummers have a tendency to play too fast live and the click track is to music what a restrictor plate is to NASCAR. But I shouldn't have said "click track triggered backing vocals." Sorry, sir.

[bluejeangirl76]

Why Did Smitty Replace Aynsley Dunbar?

Because he's 100 times the drummer that Aynsley is. Was. Whatever.

[Art Vandelay]

Perry wanted a formulated sound for ROR and wanted to use a click track to help structure that sound. Although it may not have been a good idea at the time, there is nothing wrong or demeaning with using a click track. Many great drummers use them, both in studio and live. If you see a video of a drummer wearing headphones while playing, it's because he's using a click track to help keep time. Smith tried the click track method for ROR and it didn't work out (he does appear on 2-3 songs on that album). He's said in an interview a few years back that he has since come around to click track playing and does it often.

While this is all true, Perry's voice was running on fumes leading up to, and especially during, this tour. He needed help and triggered backing vocals were a necessity. Add to that the fact that the studio version of ROR had huge layers of Perry singing backing vox, and you really have no way around click track triggered backing vocals. As it turns out, the tour was shortened because his voice gave out. They must've run out of Vitamin B shots.

Ok Captain Obvious, since you have no idea what a click track really is (it has nothing to do with triggering backing vocals), lemme explain. A click track is used to set up a beat or rhythm. Musicians use a metronome that plays the clicks to help keep time. What Perry wanted to do for ROR was sketch out the songs by using a click track to write the drum parts and have Smith follow the cues and play the pre-determined beats. Perry had a specific sound in mind and wanted to see it through. This is actually a lot harder for drummers to do than it sounds. You need to have a certain focus to do so. Smith was more of a free-form player at the time, which wouldn't mesh with the click track method. Larrie Londin was a great sessions drummer and worked well with the click track. I'm a HUGE Smith fan, but I also like Larrie's work on ROR.

Here's some more detailed info. Sadly, no mention of any Nostrildamus conspiracies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_track

From your link:

Some musicians also use pre-recorded backing tracks with additional parts such as synthesizers, strings or layered background vocals to recreate parts that would be impractical to play live, in which case a click track synchronized with the backing track is played through headphones or in-ear monitors to keep the musicians in sync with the backing track.

You can't trigger vocals, without ruining the show, if you're not keeping proper time. Drummers have a tendency to play too fast live and the click track is to music what a restrictor plate is to NASCAR. But I shouldn't have said "click track triggered backing vocals." Sorry, sir.

Don't let it happen again! Yeah, that all does makes sense, SJ. Makes you wonder what was scrapped from the original ROR/Freedom session. If I remember correctly, they recorded and scrapped an entire album before going back and doing ROR.

[SF-Dano]

Why Did Smitty Replace Aynsley Dunbar?

Because he's 100 times the drummer that Aynsley is. Was. Whatever.

That is simply not true. Steve is technically a better drummer (now), but not by the margin you are stating here. I bet you Steve Smith would say so too. As always, entitled to your opinion, but this is definitely not fact. I think if your were to look at (listen) to the entire body of Dunbar's work, you would see that he was a top level rock drummer. Just look at the top flight muscians that have sought out his services over the years. Heck, he was almost the drummer for the Jimmy Hendrix Experience. Journey has always been blessed as far as the musicianship of the band goes. (Well maybe not Ross, but he is at least solid).

[Art Vandelay]

Why Did Smitty Replace Aynsley Dunbar?

Because he's 100 times the drummer that Aynsley is. Was. Whatever.

That is simply not true. Steve is technically a better drummer (now), but not by the margin you are stating here. I bet you Steve Smith would say so too. As always, entitled to your opinion, but this is definitely not fact. I think if your were to look at (listen) to the entire body of Dunbar's work, you would see that he was a top level rock drummer. Just look at the top flight muscians that have sought out his services over the years. Heck, he was almost the drummer for the Jimmy Hendrix Experience. Journey has always been blessed as far as the musicianship of the band goes. (Well maybe not Ross, but he is at least solid).

Also, keep in mind that we're comparing Dunbar to Smith circa 1978....much different that today's Steve Smith. He was definitely ahead of the curve back then, but nowhere near what he's capable of playing today. If anything, being fired from Journey back in '86 gave him the time to learn, study and become one of the most influential drummers and musicians of our time.

Here's a cool video of Smith playing with Jean Luc Ponty...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkJZs2pUYkM