36-47 Vibes
3/7/08
11:41 AM
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has a very famous name. When you’re with a company for a while, sometimes you kind of get put on the back burner. You’ve got to not let your ego get in the way.” But Kottak is hopeful for a boost in his exposure with a new ddrum endorsement, coming as it does on the heels of Scorpion’s most recent release, Humanity Hour 1. “For me it’s the best album – I’m not just saying this – but really, the best album I’ve done,” he says. “Not just the drum parts, but the whole vibe of the record. It just has a certain character to it.” Kottak was especially juiced at being able to wait until the very end of the recording process to lay down his final drum tracks. “Talk about luxury – it was great,” he says. “I was able to listen to the tracks; I practiced at home with the tracks, with the click, and with the music. And I had weeks to really create my parts around the
INSIDE TRACKS
Scorpions Humanity Hour 1 NEWDOOR
Memories of the classic stadium-rock era waft like an herb-scented breeze throughout the latest release from this apparently immortal band. Every ingredient is in play: the keening, two-part vocals, the squalling lead and massed backup guitars, the elephantine tempos. Sure, it’s well-trodden territory, but these guys rule it. And of course James Kottak is the definitive drummer for this idiom. Even on dirges like “The Future Never Dies,” he plays with a kind of slow-motion intensity, as if his kit had been set up underwater, compensating for the heavy tread of the beat by emphasizing the dynamics masterfully and using his fills to add punch to the vocal melody. And when things pick up, his performance remains predictable yet totally satisfying. Check out “321,” where he shifts the quarternote pulse from hi-hat to a crisp articulation on the bell of the ride, and then to a washier pattern on the choruses. It’s all been done before, but when executed absolutely right and with authority, it still coaxes a smile. For that reason alone, Kottak remains one of the most consistently rewarding players in rock and roll, on any instrument. BY ROBERT L. DOERSCHUK
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song, which makes way more sense – to do the drums last.” But new album aside, having been in the band for 12 years now, Kottak knows what really counts is what happens in front of those 50,000 screaming fans waiting to hear “Rock You Like A Hurricane” exactly how they remember it from the radio. “The recordings are really classic, so I don’t screw around with them too much,” he says. “But it has gradually
become my own style.” Luckily, Scorpions stuff is pretty straightforward rock – the kind of stuff Kottak has played his whole life. “I was doing Scorpions tunes back in the ’80s when I was in cover bands,” he says. “So it’s kind of like I’m still in a cover band. We just do all Scorpions music. “With this band consistency is king,” he continues. “Every gig, we play it as if it were our last gig. And that’s a lot to live up to.”