Speaking of Opeth, I heard you had to help them out on that run?
Yeah, I did. Their drummer Martin got real sick, and played the first 8 or 9 shows regardless. Sadly for him it took its toll and the band sent him home, and they asked me to step in and play a couple of songs with them, which I was delighted to do. How do you manage to learn such complex songs in such a short space of time? Well I already played with them before, when they toured North America a while back. Again they needed some help with the drums and asked me to play a song at their Vancouver show. I knew Devin (Townsend – SYL vocalist) was going to the show and was a big fan, so I called him and asked him what song I should play. He was like “Drapery Falls!” so I listened to it overnight, played it through once at sound check and nailed it right off the beat. I had such a blast I learn another one straight away and didn’t even sound check it. As we played it onstage that WAS the practice run! Wow, that’s gutsy. Obviously you’ve been playing drums for a long time now in bands like
