Forty4

Nick Lauro on the drums (& cowbell) a very able percussionist who is seemingly unaware he is part of a ‘skin’ tight rhythm section!

(Lucas Campbell, The Rock of Ages Radio Show)

Nick Lauro – Drums

Stop! Go back now, before it’s too late!

Okay, well…if you insist on being a fool, you’ve reached the page of Forty 4′s very own GOM (Grumpy Old Man to the rest of you suckers).

Nick is not at all ‘big’, as Steve refers to him, by the fact that he still has the same 30″ waist that he had as an idiot teenage drummer.

Having been playing drums in bands since 1981, Nick recently realised that he really should have been a Bass player. Reckons there’s probably a ‘happy’ Nick residing in a parallel universe somewhere playing four strings.

Quietly friendly and a bit too complex for his own good, here are a few things you need to know about the little chap at the back…

Dislikes

• Drum Solos – Do not approach this man under any circumstances with talk of that latest Thomas Lang/Virgil Donati/Mike Portnoy video you’ve seen on You Tube! Unless it’s ‘Moby Dick’, ‘The Mule’ or something from the Big-Band Swing era, Nick would rather discuss football players WAG’s spending habits than engage in conversation about pointless drum-whiffery.
• Football – Hates it, or as as he refers to it: “40% tax payers kicking a ball around a field”. Having said that, he does retain respect for footballers from the Kenny Dalglish era and before, deeming them to be real ‘Sportsmen’, as opposed to the Sports-car driving ‘entertainers’ of today’s Premier League.
• 21st Century British Music – Cannot tolerate whining Brit bands like Coldplay, Keane, Oasis etc. “They’ve got no Soul or a groove between them to save their miserable white-boy asses.”
• Britpop – (See above)
• Reality TV Shows – For God’s sake, do not ask him about Big Brother/X-Factor/Pop Idol cheap TV for sheep. He would rather Hannibal Lecter offer him a piece of his own brain to eat…
• Show-off Drummers – “If you can’t selflessly serve the music without overplaying, then consider a bedroom solo-career or join a Prog-Rock/Fusion band with a minority audience.”

Likes

• Coffee – To the excessive point of Dave Grohl during his “Fresh pots!!!!” era.
• MOBO – Massively interested in the history of Black American music, especially when it originates from New Orleans.
• James Jamerson – considers him to be the greatest Bass player (and possibly musician) that ever lived.
• Bass Players – loves playing with ones who enjoy being part of a rhythm section as opposed to ones who think their role is to solo under the song.
• Red Wine – Not Spanish and only ever with food.
• Songwriters – the top of the food chain and without whom, drummers have no reason to exist.
• Border Collies – as defined by the International Sheep Dog Society (Google it!)
• Vintage American Drums – especially 1970′s Ludwig. Don’t try and rave onto him about your new Japanese exotic wood Snare drum, as he’ll only tell you that it will be sold one day when you need to raise the cash for an old Ludwig 400.
• 1970′s Music – being a 70′s kid, Nick believes that the best songs were written during this era, along with the Funkiest bad-ass grooves ever to hit vinyl.
• The Dalai Lama – Nick thinks Tenzin Gyatso is a pretty chilled dude.
• John Henry Bonham – though realised long ago, he’d never sound as great or respond to music as thoughtfully. Truly a one-off.
• Some other Drummers – but if you want to know who they are, we suggest you visit his website to find out.

I’m really not that great a drummer – in fact, if you asked me, I’d have to say that I’m a far better musician than I am an instrumentalist, so don’t ask for any solos!

(Nick Lauro, 2011)